Dear Editor,
It is an honour to be selected as a candidate for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic for the upcoming General and Regional Elections. Over the course of the last eighteen months, I have had the pleasure to work with many of the fellow candidates and work it has been as we have struggled with the obduracy of the Granger Administration. At 52, I am one of the older members of the list, which augurs well for Guyana’s future; the destiny of our country should be driven by youth guided by experience. The balance achieved on the PPP/C list is exquisite.
Those of you familiar with my advocacy via the letter columns will know of my fierce passion for honesty, accountability, and transparency in governance. The world has moved to a point where Governments are expected to work in fishbowls and provide unprecedented access to the decision-making process as well as contracts and public expenditure; Guyana under an Irfaan Ali-led Government would see a paradigm shift to openness in all its business. Looking at the team assembled I can assure that capability, competence, intellect and work ethic are well represented. I have no doubt that the PPP/C team can deliver on the policies, plans and projects outlined in our manifesto. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the opposing lists.
The APNU/AFC list is dominated by the same people who have squandered the country’s reserves in four and a half years, as they have engaged in their Danse Macabre since the fall on December 21 2018, they have racked up an overdraft of a billion dollars per week; at last count, in November 2019 our overdraft stood at G$76 billion, consider it was G$69 billion at the end of October! The Granger cabal has no intention of even appearing transparent, following the rule of law or giving a fig about our parliamentary democracy. The procurement process has been odiously bypassed; the ceiling for sole-sourced contracts increased dramatically and contract splitting has become the new order as the treasury has been emptied of reserves and filled with debt notes once again.
For we have been here before, the PPP/C inherited a bankrupt, heavily indebted poor country in 1992; 153 per cent of our country’s earnings were used to service debts. Granger has squandered with the hope that ‘oil money’ will be the panacea for all ills caused. I fear even massive oil revenues could not put this nation back on the road to progress if the geriatric, friends and cronies of APNU/AFC that comprise their list are ever allowed to govern again.
I urge the public to peruse our team list; it is full of successful people from a myriad of professions, who are fully prepared to do the hard work required in the service of our nation. Pele summed up what is required when he said “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do”. I reiterate that an Irfaan Ali-led Government would be the embodiment of these sentiments as we work for the love of our nation and its people. Elections are on March 2, 2020.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh