OPINION: Norton’s crazy economics

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 6:26 by Denis Chabrol

By Dr. Randy Persaud, Professor Emeritus

We have breaking news that Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton is flaunting the idea of paying one month’s extra salary to all public servants. While the idea glitters, I can tell you it’s not gold. You see, the world knows what happened when the PNCR led-APNU-AFC coalition were in office just a few short years ago. They broke every promise made during the 2020 election cycle.

They never paid the paddy price as promised. They had promised $9000, per bag. It never happened. They took away the financial support from students. Tens of thousands of students suffered as a result. Instead of making the sugar industry stronger and more viable, they fired 7000 thousand workers and basically sent 28,000-30,000 citizens into dire economic straits. Instead of cutting taxes, they placed 200 new taxes and fees on the backs of the Guyanese people. Small businesses either struggled to keep their heads afloat, or simply collapsed. and the saddest thing of all, they removed subsidies for those who needed the most, those that Clive Thomas once called the “poor and the powerless.”

Further, Norton’s APNU-AFC were the ones that cut off the same benefit they are now proposing that was in place for the Joint Services. Norton has insulted the people who protect this country and its people by implying that they were given special treatment, meaning that the army, police, prison officers, and firefighters are undeserving. This insult is completely unacceptable at a time when our sovereignty is under foreign threat, and when police officers risk their lives to beat back an amalgam of traffickers, fraudsters, and hoodlums.

Norton and his hapless APNU-AFC should take a page out of current efforts at strengthening port security and crime fighting. Instead of insulting the Disciplined Forces, they need to get on board and support newly established partnerships between the GoG and the FBI, DEA, and other foreign agencies.

The truth of the matter is that Mr. Norton and the APNU-AFC are running around the country making promises of free money that they themselves know they will never be able to sustainably deliver. They are supporting what could amount to a 200% increase for teachers and want to give $1,000,000 to every Guyanese. Of course, if we follow their logic it would also mean rounding up the Guyanese in the diaspora and their children in order to present them with cheques for $1,000,000 each. This voodoo economics is akin to Mr. Glen Lall’s unconscionably wild proposal to give every Guyanese $1,000,000 per month, free. I presume tax free, as well (KN Jan. 7, 2023). When Lall made that ridiculous offer President Ali was quick to state that “it is nonsensical because we can’t afford it even at the highest point of oil revenues” (Ibid).

When Norton’s little ploy is fully unmasked, even the cake shop political analysts will tell you that the reference to “public servants” in the context of elections, means quite a bit more than government employees. When the construct “public servants” is used by the likes of Norton, Vincent Alexander, Henry Jeffrey or GHK Lall, you should take it as a code for race mobilization.

It is astounding that the APNU+AFC can claim that public service employees are a natural political constituency. Public servants formed a forced political constituency during the PNC dictatorship decades because party paramountcy and state power were one and the same. That is no longer the case. The public service has a more complex demographic these days, and political loyalties have matured beyond the usual fault lines.

The crux of Norton’s promise is that it is an ill-conceived gimmick. The PNCR-led APNU+AFC is known for three things, none of which should inspire confidence. Firstly, the APNU-AFC are promise breakers; secondly, the APNU+AFC does not have anyone is a truly tested economist; and thirdly, when their economics goes ‘south’, the APNU+AFC are likely to rig the election. None of this is good.

Dr. Randy Persaud is Advisor – International Affairs, Office of the President