Those who read Roots cannot forget when Kunta Kinte’s slave catchers cut off half of his foot to keep him from trying to get away again. This for me places the PPP’s policies for Guyanese over the years into context. The following seeks to provide clarity on the comparison of the condition of Guyana’s poor and those in a state of insufficiency with that of Kunta Kinte. We are being hobbled from achieving greater things by the policies of the PPP.
The PPP administration has yet to be taken to task for making a joke of the children of Guyana’s poor by announcing its $100,000 grant to mothers who give birth to children. This strikes a very low chord with children of Guyana’s poor and those in a state of insufficiency. Because that’s exactly who the PPP administration is hitting at with that grant to birthing mothers. No money for existing, stressed out and in-need children. The PPP’s joke on Guyana’s children. With the exception of pockets of well-to-do affluent people living in ‘old money’ areas or the new burgeoning ‘villes’ that are popping up as monied investors make their play in the real estate market, the 46% poverty rate has a face for all to see. Across Georgetown and the many outlying areas, all along the coast, going inland along the banks, across the regions, all of them, people don’t have enough, can’t provide proper meals for their children on a daily basis, are under employed, unemployed, incapacitated, dependent, in need. Name a village, a town. Poverty is there.
But the PPP administration has found its master plaster for Guyana’s children and the poor, many of whom it helped impoverish with its policy of arrested development through its failed education system, maintaining GUYSUCO as a voting farm, and frustrating wages growth by strangling public sector wages, not to mention its (until recently) dismissive attitude to the rice and fisheries sectors along with the other sectors which continue to underperform as a consequence of ad hoc and inconsequential government policy. Yes. Giving $100,000 for mothers giving birth to children plus its other cheap-skate budget measures will address poverty. Plus its yet to be announced $100,000- or $200,000 per person grant to buy votes for the upcoming elections is sure to be a big boon, with much if not all of these amounts going to retiring debts, leaving the condition of the poor unchanged. This to continue giving the oil companies your money.
This year again about half of the nation’s children writing exams at both the NGSA and CSEC will very likely underperform, with those in the latter category leaving school without much hope or opportunity for a proper job. Why? Because the Ministry of Education has done absolutely nothing to remedy the numerous problems which plague the delivery of education in our nation’s schools. This itself being an active policy of maintaining the underprivileged in their PPP-controlled state of insufficiency.
What is clear is that the PPP has no intention of actively addressing poverty and raising the welfare and income earning opportunities of the many unfortunate Guyanese, which it can do by simply developing poverty alleviation programs aimed at stamping out poverty and putting Guyanese families and their children on an even keel. For example, the DNC in its 2025 proposal has spelt out numerous measures to defeat poverty, these being a basis for permanently eradicating poverty from our society. First among these is a proposal to establish a poverty line for individual persons, children, dependents. Our initial proposal is a $60,000-$100,000 /mth poverty line (varies by location, status of individual, excludes children) whereby persons earning less than these amounts, for example $60,000, can apply for and receive $40,000 if $100,000 is designated as the poverty line for the area in which they are living. All of these being tentative measures, we propose $40,000/mth for adult dependents, $10,000/mth per child under 10 years of age, $20,000/child between 10 and 18 years of age. All families have to do is show cause.
We also intend to overhaul the education system completely through a variety of metrics, the first being to standardize class size and design of all nursery, primary and secondary schools, with Queen’s College as our basic model for secondary schools. Secondly, the salaries of all categories of teachers from nursery to secondary will be restructured to ensure that all teachers take home a salary they can live comfortably on. They will also be be reinforced with what we propose as our motto for the Ministry of Education – No Child Left Behind. Further, the Ministry will hold strategic sessions with all categories of teachers to understand their problems and challenges and fix these to deliver on our motto. We also propose to have all schools with adequate an large enough play ground, sports and TVET facilities.
We have also proposed allocating between two and ten percent of our budget towards financing new businesses across Guyana, creating new jobs, generating higher incomes and output.The DNC will be a learning institution. We have also developed a host of other measures (available at https://dncgy.com/the-dncs-elections-2025-proposals-for-guyanese/) aimed at kickstarting our Non-Oil economy with a view to ensuring that all Guyanese have the opportunity to get involved in business and generate higher incomes for themselves and their families.
If the Democratic National Congress can develop and implement these policies as simply and quickly as the time we’ve taken to get it done, why hasn’t the government of the PPP done this? My answer is that the reason is in their behaviour: They aren’t interested, and they don’t care. Yet they are happy to fork over US$billions of our money to the oil companies every year. Guyanese are urged to consider the stakes this year. Let 2025 be a year of great change, a New Beginning For Guyana, For Us All. The alternative, is to have the failures of our past be our future. The call is out for Guyanese to lead us into a better, brighter, prosperous future we can achieve with good government.
Craig Sylvester,
Party Leader, DNC.