By Stabroek News

Copyright stabroeknews

Dear Editor,

Elections in Guyana have become meaningless; just going through the motions. Guyanese voters don’t have much to choose from; they are caught between the devil and the deep, blue sea (the ruling party and the other parties). After decades of economic stagnation and undemocratic rule during which the PPP and PNC dominated to the detriment of other parties, democracy was restored. Voting had become an exercise in futility.

No party has the ability to restore Guyana to its former glory, when it was known as the bread basket of the Caribbean and sugar was king. Guyanese may never recover from the trauma of communism and socialism. The major party could have changed the situation, but it chose to sit it out in the Opposition while the country deteriorated. It was more interested in propagating communism than free and fair elections. Hundreds of thousands of Guyanese like myself had no alternative but to vote with our feet and leave our dearly beloved country, since there was no light at the end of the tunnel in the foreseeable future.

Despite all the new-found oil wealth, there is no trickle-down effect. Guyana lacks basic infrastructure, the dollar has no purchasing value, and the ruling party is still Marxist Leninist. After all, it was President C. Jagan who said the objective of his party is to build socialism no matter if it takes 100 years. When a certain foreigner was elected President and Guyanese by birth were rejected by the electorate, it showed the level the country has descended.

Cliff Majeed