No One Respects a ‘Suck Up’, Appeasement of Insecure PPP Leadership Will Not Help Afro-Guyanese

It is a disheartening sight. All over social media, there are young Afro-Guyanese proudly cheering for the $200,000 cash grant, applauding a government that throws pennies at them while pillaging billions. Many have taken to comparing the former APNU administration—devoid of access to oil wealth—with the current People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government, which has embarked on a reckless spending spree, borrowing irresponsibly for public projects and wasting taxpayer dollars on poor-quality roadworks. The PPP has unleashed an economic circus, fueled by corruption, incompetence, and foreign loans. Yet here we are, watching some of our own celebrate.

What makes it more nauseating is that some PPP supporters themselves can see through the scam and refuse to applaud the charade. But not so with certain influential Afro-Guyanese, who seem to believe that their survival depends on public displays of servility, hoping that by ingratiating themselves, they will somehow secure a better future in this increasingly corrupt system. To them, I say: no one respects a suck-up.

The PPP’s leadership, insecure in its power, has become adept at manipulation. Its grandstanding with oil money, despite the billions siphoned through corrupt schemes, has bought it praise from those too eager to abandon their dignity. The government’s empty gestures—offering households the equivalent of $1,000 US in grants—are meant to pacify and distract. Meanwhile, the real fortunes flow into the pockets of those in power, leaving crumbs for the people. Are we supposed to applaud this gross inequity? Are we to celebrate our own exploitation?

I imagine our ancestors, who fought tooth and nail against the yoke of slavery, must hang their heads in shame. They didn’t endure centuries of bondage, persecution, and systemic oppression only to give birth to a generation of cowards—individuals who have traded their dignity for a few dollars, clapping along to the PPP’s mediocrity as if this is the best they can hope for.

Where is the outrage? Where is the pride? We are seeing Afro-Guyanese leaders, voices of influence in our community, cheering this farce of governance as though standing up to the PPP is a risk too great to take. But the real risk, the real betrayal, is not in resisting corrupt power but in bending the knee to it. These “suck-ups” are condemning future generations to crushing taxes, to servitude under mendacious rulers, to a future where the wealth of our land is siphoned off, leaving only scraps for the rest.

The PPP’s leadership has made no secret of its disdain for real accountability. It has wasted no time in making backroom deals and cutting corners on infrastructure projects while stoking division among Guyana’s communities. By cheering their every move, these “suck-ups” are complicit. They are enabling a political elite to carve up our nation’s wealth while tossing just enough to keep the masses quiet.

In the face of such flagrant injustice, appeasement is not a strategy. It’s cowardice. These Afro-Guyanese who engage in this public spectacle of praise are not only disrespecting themselves but betraying the legacy of their ancestors. They are aligning themselves with a government that sees them as pawns, willing to trade long-term progress for short-term favors.

Our ancestors fought for freedom and dignity, not for the chance to live under a government that manipulates and exploits. We owe them, and we owe ourselves, more than this. It’s time to stand up and demand real leadership, real accountability, and real change—not more crumbs from the table of the corrupt. Anything less is a betrayal of our history, our community, and our future.

Enough with the applause for mediocrity. No one respects a suck-up.