Well, who told the PPP to revive their “Because We Care” programme to assist parents of public-school children to get them ready for the new school-year; which, God willing, will begin in September!! The project will help some 17,000 students by passing on $19,000 to each of them – costing the Treasury some $3.2 billion. But from the reaction of the PNC, it’s minions and its camp followers, you’d think the PPP was just about to drop a hand grenade – with its pin pulled! – into the hands of our little darlings!!
Now, this grant isn’t anything new. Back in 2014, the PPP had taken cognizance of the challenge to many poor parents to purchase materials for new uniforms and school supplies for their kids to start the new school year. They shared out $2000 for uniforms and $10,000 for supplies, and it was a boon to poor parents. In Guyana, it’s a source of shame to the latter when they’re especially unable to provide new uniforms. But the kids, who feel they’d be pitied by their peers, are even more humiliated.
So maybe the PNC have their drawers and bucktas in a knot because they callously pulled the plug on the programme when they slid into office in 2015. While it didn’t cause them as many votes as the closure of the 4 sugar estates did, it certainly didn’t help their political fortunes in 2020. Was it another case of Granger’s unilateralism? Anyhow, as soon as the PNC finally left office last August, kicking and screaming after their defeat at the polls five months earlier, the PPP reintroduced the programme, but doubled the uniform allowance to $4000 and increased the grant from $10,000 to $15,000. And promised to keep on raising the grant incrementally over the next 4 years till it reaches $50,000. So all hell broke loose!
And against that background, we can now understand their tantrum. The PNC mandarins are afraid they’ll lose votes from their base, who’d been neglected in so many other ways! One tact they’ve taken is to insist the grant should’ve been larger right NOW! They couldn’t find it in their hearts to at least keep the programme at the previous PPP level, and now want it even larger with the present increase??!! Can you believe their chutzpah?? Well, their supporters can’t, and that’s the rub, isn’t it?!!
Another line of attack is to encourage parents who’re sending their kids to private schools to also demand the grant on the ground that SOME of these parents are also needy. Well, this might very well be true. And your Eyewitness is sure the administration will consider their request.
If those parents can show need.
…about PNC “crisis”
Some are pushing the line that “the PNC’s in crisis”. Now, a “crisis” is when a critical matter has reached an inflection point that, if it isn’t resolved, the entity might very well explode. In other (earthy) words, the sh*t will hit the fan. And we know that ain’t pretty!! So is the PNC in crisis? Nah!! This is just an intrinsic aspect of the PNC’s genealogy that impels its leadership to fulfill its urge to have a maximum leader at any cost.
So it was in the beginning with Forbes Burnham after he couldn’t become the authoritarian maximum leader of the PPP. He founded the PNC, where he could have his way, since he was the “founder leader”. Or he’d take his bat and go home!! Forget all the fancy talk about Congress and Central Committees and all that. The party’s the leader and the leader’s the party. Remember Rule 22 of the PNC’s original constitution?
The leader assumed all powers of the Congress between Congresses!!
…about Volda
Volda Lawrence supports the anonymous CEC statement that Granger’s unilateral approval of the one-person parties is anti-PNC. Her leadership bid is thereby doomed for veering from the footsteps of the Kabaka.
Which Granger didn’t!
