INVESTIGATING MISCONDUCT AND CORRUPTION


The Guyana Police Force offers protection and security to the citizens of Guyana.  When, therefore the Acting Commissioner undertakes to improve rapport with the public and investigate misconduct and corruption, it should be welcomed.

Previous Commissioners have given such undertakings in the past, but the fact that they have had to be repeated again and again. It is because the problems of misconduct and corruption are not going away. There is no doubt that efforts have been made to deal with these problems but they are not effective. I encouraged two young men to make complaints to the Office of Professional Responsibility about the conduct two instances of misbehavior of traffic policemen and they were literally laughed out of the room without the traffic policemen even being summoned to answer.

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UNCONTROLLED MONEY SUPPLY IS INFLATIONARY AND HARMFUL


The call has been made by the Opposition and others for the doubling of the pension for senior citizens, a substantial increase in public service salaries of 20 percent and a reduction of VAT, in addition to the income tax threshold which has been increased. These are commendable sentiments and should attract the support of everyone. Unfortunately the full facts about the negative impact of such large increases are not and have never been placed before the same sections of the community for whose benefit the increases are demanded. Increases of the magnitude demanded, especially if the salary increase is not backed by an increase in productivity, would be inflationary and would harm most the groups who the increases are intended to benefit.

Inflation is the measure of the general rise in the prices for goods and services over a period of time. It is caused by an increase in the money supply among other factors. The increases being sought by the Opposition, if granted, would substantially increase the money supply in the economy. The rate of inflation would increase significantly. The end result would be that the initial positive effect of increases in pensions and salaries would be eliminated by the subsequent higher cost of living caused by increased inflation. This would naturally lead to demands for even higher increases thereby leading to a vicious inflationary cycle.

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INCUMBENCY FATIGUE


A few people were amused (see last Sunday’s SN cartoon), others intrigued, by the term ‘incumbency fatigue’ which I used at a press conference to explain the reduced vote obtained by the PPP/C at the elections. I cannot recall where I discovered the term but, whether rightly or wrongly used, I meant that some of us – supporters of the PPP – may have been sufficiently tired for no reason other than being in office too long that we could not be bothered to vote.

Everyone has a different take on what was responsible for the decline in PPP support from 54 percent in 2006 to 48 percent in 2012. Many look at the superficial. The reality is that Guyana’s political landscape is changing. It must after twenty years. There are demographic, economic, social and political changes that are deep going and which will continue to affect political outcomes. The PPP must adapt to the changes.

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FULFILLING THE PROMISE


The founders of Independent Guyana made a solemn promise that they will deliver us from poverty and lead us not into political division. That’s right. The message carried a messianic fervor. At least so it was received.

The large body of the poor and disadvantaged had known that they were exploited. They also knew that until 1950, no one outside of their own class ever took more than a passing interest in their welfare. To be then elevated to the centre of attention, to be told that with the vote they will determine who governs them, to be told that they are the revolutionary class which will determine the future of the country, was heady stuff. It was a completely new experience for them. Also significantly new was the message of ethnic unity, which they were hearing in political, and witnessing in organizational terms, for the first time. They eventually saw the evidence of strength provided by 1953. It imbued them with a sense of pride, purpose and anticipation that has endured throughout the decades.

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SPEECH TO THE THIRD CONFERENCE OF THE FITUG – July 13, 2010


I should like to thank you for your invitation to deliver opening remarks to this the Third Conference of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana. This acknowledgement from you that I may have something of interest or value to say to the trade union movement, is indeed a great honour.

Among the material I consulted when preparing my remarks, is the speech of Brother Ashton Chase to the first Conference of FITUG in 2006. It is a most enlightening document, reverberating with history. A portion of the speech traces the formation and suspension of FITUG between 1988 and 1993, and its re-establishment in 2003. This history demonstrates that FITUG’s birth and growth were inevitable outcomes of the underlying interplay of politics, workers’ struggles and trade unionism, that have characterised our history as well that of many other Caribbean countries.

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