See full letter of resignation submitted by PNC/R Member Lennox Gasper
Sub: Resignation from The People’s National Congress Reform – PNC/R
I, Lennox Andre Gasper of Linden, joined The People’s National Congress Reform PNC/R in May 2016 with the intention of helping the party execute a governance and development agenda, intended to serve the needs of the people of my town and Region and by extension the whole country.
I was convinced that the Coalition of APNU+AFC was going to change the political culture of governance, in the interest of transitioning the country to a new dispensation of accountability in development, with high hopes that all citizens would have been given a chance at the promised ‘good life’. Unfortunately, this was not to be.
I was also in high hopes that the Coalition would have implemented a rapid-development rescue plan for Linden, given that the party’s narrative over the 23 years of PPP/C rule was that Linden had been deliberately neglected and therefore underdeveloped. This too was not to be. We in Linden pleaded for job creation and development for four long years, while we watched with envy, as other newer towns were prioritized.
The choice of the Executive in 2015 to reward itself with a hefty salary increase as one of the first acts of governance was the ominous signal that we all should have heeded. While we waited and pleaded, scores of new taxes were hurled our way instead of an easing of our burdens. With lies, deception and bullyism, the majority party in the coalition (PNC-R) controlled the narrative in Linden and threatened to punish any local leader who dared to criticize its actions/inactions.
Hundreds of thousands of people across the country are now saddled in debt because they could not afford the continually rising costs of living and couldn’t afford basic food items, due to the albatross of new taxes placed around the necks of the working and middle class.
I became a Councilor at the Linden Mayor and Town Council with a promise to serve my constituency, town and country, without fear or favor, affection or ill will, to the best of my ability but, regretfully I could not deliver on that promise as a result of the constraints of control freakism imposed by the party and the heartless non-provision of resources by the government.
Notwithstanding those developments and the disgraceful abandonment of my town, the strong hold of the PNC/R, I campaigned hard for the Coalition again in 2020, hoping that with another term, our frustrations on the ground would be addressed and the shortcomings in governance rectified.
This too was not to be. The party suffered a devastating defeat at those elections fair and square but chose instead to revert to its old gestapo tactics of attempting to rig the results in its favour, dragging our hard-won democracy through the gutters for five long months. Throughout this period, the membership was blatantly lied to, in a web of deception and manipulation without any transparent access to the Statement of Polls, which would have most certainly proved otherwise, had they been revealed.
This week, as we observe one year since the vicious attack on our democracy by the Coalition, I am fully persuaded that the actions of the PNC led Coalition in the aftermath of the 2020 general and regional elections were born out of a selfish and unbridled lust for power, without any regard for the interests of Guyana and its citizens.
It was indeed an unbearably frightening experience that after 23 [years] in opposition, the PNCR under the coalition banner was barefacedly seeking to rig the elections in full view of Guyanese and the rest of the world.
Not surprisingly and true to form, even as the country reflects this week on the dreadful events post March 2, 2020, the opposition members of Parliament engaged in the most distasteful tactics to derail the passage of this year’s budget in the national assembly, openly trampling on established Parliamentary protocols and outrightly disrespecting the Speaker of the House.
Therefore, for the reasons stated above, I am hereby resigning from The People’s National Congress Reform PNC/R effective immediately.
I thank the party for the opportunity of serving as the representative for constituency two on the 3rd Council at the Linden Municipality in 2016. I will forever cherish the experience and knowledge gained while I served and wish everyone and my former Municipal Councilors and local leaders the best in the future. I sincerely hope that they can remove their political blinders and smartly work with the new government to help develop the Town of Linden and Region 10 for the better.
