When the new government finally assumes office, it will have to dedicate much time and resources towards repairing Guyana due to the damage it suffered under the five years of governance by the Peoples National Congress-led APNU/AFC Coalition.
This is according to former presidential adviser Gail Teixeira, who reminded that after the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) won the first free and fair elections in Guyana in 1992, it had to spend much time and resources rebuilding the entire country due to years of destruction and neglect under the then Peoples National Congress (PNC) Administration.
Teixeira, during an interview with Barbados-based CBC TV8 on Tuesday, lamented that the PPP/C will have to go through this cycle all over again.
In fact, she asserted that it is quite unfortunate that after years of rebuilding the country (from 1992 to 2015), the PPP/C is returning to government at a time when it would have to address the same challenges all over again due to the coalition’s mismanagement and discriminatory politics.
“We have to reconstruct, we have to rebuild, and we have to build trust and confidence of our people in institutions,” she stated.
In fact, it was former Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding who pointed out to the Organisation of American States on Tuesday, that it will take “a generation and significant institutional reform” for the damage caused by the APNU/AFC to be repaired.
Teixeira, who is a PPP/C Executive Member, said there are a lot of economic issues which will also need to be addressed urgently.
“The economic situation is getting worse, we haven’t had a budget…it’s now the seventh month in the year, there is no budget…so we are really in a delicate and potentially dangerous situation,” she said.
Moreover, Teixeira explained that during the APNU/AFC’s tenure in office, thousands of people lost their jobs and were forced to live in poverty – and this, she said, will also have to be addressed.
According to Teixeira, her party is also committed to inclusivity. “We are a people of many ethnic groups and there is a place for all of us, there are opportunities for all of us, there is no one ethnic group that is superior to the other,” she noted.
Asked how long more she feels the electoral process will be dragged out, Teixeira responded: “We are very positive we will succeed, the issue is how long it will take.”
“It is a matter of time, but in the end, every attempt to thwart the will of the people will be overcome, we are confident on that. It will end, it must end,” she added.
Teixeira noted that the PPP/C has the support of the entire world and all local civil society stakeholders and opposition parties.
The PPP/C Executive Member, noted that so far, over 133 countries have come forward to call on the David Granger-led Administration to concede defeat and to stop trying to prevent the declaration of the results so that a legitimate government can be installed.
“It’s a travesty and as Guyanese we are embarrassed by all this. Our international reputation has been damaged terribly,” she said.
According to the veteran politician, the embattled APNU/AFC is very desperate as is currently running out of options to hold on to power.
It is now close to five months since the March 2 polls were held and even though the recount results are widely known and accepted as credible by international and local observers, the incumbent APNU/AFC is refusing to concede.
