Granger is not a man of his word – his words are deceitful, sheer lies

By: Dr. LESLIE RAMSAMMY

Napoleon Bonaparte once warned the best way to keep one’s word is never to give it. David Granger says he is a historian but he clearly has little respect for history. Granger is not only aloof, insensitive to people’s sufferings, shamelessly disinterested in the welfare of the people, most importantly, he proves everyday he is not a man of his word. As he goes around the country begging for a second chance, he also reminds people every day how little his words mean, how little integrity his words bear. Both his words and his promises are full of deceit.

With the March 2020 elections in the horizon, Guyanese must heed a Gaelic Proverb: “There is no greater fraud than a promise not kept”.
This week, David Granger, the Leader of APNU (another PNC disguise), announced he will not permit anyone to “usurp his power to pick his Prime Minister candidate”.

But on February 14, 2015, Valentine’s Day, Granger’s APNU (PNC) signed an agreement known as the Cummingsburg Accord, giving his word that APNU will allow the AFC to select the Prime Minister candidate.

Now, with March 2020 looming, Granger disavows this agreement, rejecting Ramjattan as his PM candidate. He insists the agreement signed in February 2015 or any new one signed for this election cannot usurp his authority to choose whomever he wants, whether or not he signs such agreement.

How does anyone trust such a man who signed the agreement that the AFC will choose the PM position and now telling them such an arrangement usurp his authority? What is his word worth?
This, however, is only the latest of his betrayal; the latest example, that Granger’s words are empty, meaningless, full of deceit.

Moses Nagamootoo became the Prime Minister in May 2015, as the Cummingsburg Accord provides for. But Granger immediately in May 2015 rendered the PM position a paper tiger, nothing but a toothless poodle.

Nagamootoo became a PM with responsibility for the Guyana Chronicle, less than Kwame McCoy’s job under the PPP before May 2015. Granger had promised before the 2015 elections the PM under his leadership will have responsibility to chair Cabinet meetings. Nagamootoo never chaired the Cabinet. Granger’s words had no integrity, they were simply words to deceive the AFC and Guyanese.
This is the same Granger, who on January 30, 2015, announced APNU will nominate a “youth” as its PM candidate. When it signed the Cummingsburg Accord on February 14, 2015, Granger ignored his promise he will choose a youth for PM. He also promised his Cabinet will be a mixture of persons, with meaningful youth and farmer representation. There was no youth, no farmer in his Cabinet and in Parliament. His words had no meaning, only spoken with wilful deceit.
The same Granger promised the joint services better salaries and working conditions, more training, improved technology. The first thing he did for the joint services was to terminate the annual Christmas bonus Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP instituted.

When Granger led the more than 100% pay increases for his Cabinet on day one, they promised the joint services their time for large increases was coming. The joint services are still waiting for their bonus to be reinstituted and for their pay increases.

Granger’s words have been more thorns than roses for the joint services. Full of meaningless words, he had promised crime would be reduced. But five years under APNU/AFC, the spiralling crime epidemic is affecting Guyanese everywhere. This is what Dr Jennifer Bulkan, the sister of Ronald Bulkan, the illegal Minister of Communities, said yesterday after a brutal armed robbery at her home: “crime is now out of control”.
Granger spoke eloquently at public meetings in the 2015 elections campaign, promising sugar workers a 20% annual pay increase. The sugar workers have bitterly learnt those words were deceitful because for five years now, they have had zero pay increase. He also promised those workers and Guyanese no sugar estate would be closed. Four of those estates were closed between 2016 and 2018, terminating 7,000 jobs.

In the same vein, they promised rice farmers $9,000 per bag paddy and promised agriculture would be expanded. Instead, agriculture, sugar, rice and farmers have been under constant assault.
Granger gave his word corruption will be eliminated, racial discrimination would be erased and the Constitution will be supreme. All those words have been disregarded. Instead, corruption has never been so rampant, racial discrimination is State policy and the Constitution has been subjected to Granger’s whims and fancies.

His dictate now is the Constitution cannot usurp his authority to act in his own judgement. Remember how he promised Guyana’s global standing in the ease of doing business would be improved? The World Bank in its 2019 report has said Guyana has gotten worse.

How can anyone trust the words of Granger? Granger embraces the words of Niccolò Machiavelli: “The promise given was a necessity of the past: the word broken is a necessity of the present”.