Guyana Observer News

People are induced to vote for the government with material things

Monday, 09 August 2010

Dear Editor,

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Guyanese do not seem to realize they are being conned into voting for the government with materialistic things. The only reason the government keeps pulling these gimmicks is because they work. A brand new shiny laptop is progress and development. It does not matter they cannot afford the internet rates or that there are no laptops in schools for their children or for the teachers to acquire knowledge. The government knows this. If there is anything the

PPP has learnt it is the value of masquerading with big nice fancy shiny things. Or give people things that were theirs to begin with. Take land for example. It’s virtually free to the government and belongs to the people. The government grades the land, cuts a few shoddy unpaved roads prone to flooding, forgets to build parks, pools and other basic amenities and sells that land to people to build houses. These are the same people many of whom earn next to nothing and pay taxes through their noses as well as corruption payments (bribes, etc). These people now have to take loans, sometimes at high rates. But they own their homes.

How is this progress and development? Particularly when their water and electricity bill for their homes in addition to a mortgage in addition to VAT in addition to the ‘small pieces’ they pay on a daily basis for basic services, puts them in a hole every day. Go ahead and take that new laptop but they will have to find a lot of money for internet every month in addition to the expenses I mentioned. If it wasn’t for remittances this nation would have been the scene of a major economic crisis. But the Guyanese people can’t entirely be blamed. After suffering through generational deprivation they want big fancy new shiny things. They see massive new cars and trucks and homes as progress.

The problem with deprivation is that it causes blindness. Give people a piece of land to build a home and they see progress.

It does not matter that the roads are a danger to humanity or there is no running water or no parks or hospitals or schools. They will only see one thing and one thing only. That is the difference between developed nations and poor nations. Citizens in developed nations want complete development.

If you build a new shiny housing scheme in the developed world and you fail to put in a playground or proper roads there will be a massive public outcry. Perpetually low expectations is one of the reasons why Guyanese see only one thing.

Finally, I judge progress not by what I have materially received or obtained but by the ultimate cost and benefit of it. If I get a laptop for free but I have to pay internet rates at a level that eats up 10% of my monthly disposable income I may want it but I really cannot afford it. It means I will probably have to eat less or live in darkness. For some Guyanese it may be a choice they will have to make to have a laptop. Similarly, there is no benefit if a Guyanese who earns 4% per annum of the average Guyanese-American income has to pay more for electricity every month than their brother or sister living in the USA.

If a Guyanese in Guyana earning 4% of the yearly income of a typical Guyanese-American is paying more for basic amenities such as water and electricity and for items such as fuel, how could this nation really progress?

Yours faithfully,
Michael Maxwell

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