In what is rapidly becoming one of the largest wealth transfers from the state to private coffers, the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) is executing a massive land grab that leaves party leaders as billionaires in a few years, while the average Guyanese citizen is left to struggle for survival. The PPP/C, with its carte blanche approach to land occupation and expansion, is systematically transferring the nation’s wealth to their friends, families, and favorites, while the common citizenry continues to wait years for a house-lot.
This unchecked expropriation is evident in the development of the Providence, Diamond, Great Diamond, and Diamond Grove backland areas, as well as Enmore, Regions 5 and 6, Linden, Bartica, Essequibo, and the hinterlands of Guyana. Roads and bridges are being built seemingly to nowhere, opening up backlands across the country without any transparency or accountability. Who is purchasing or receiving these lands? Why are these lands not open to the public? And why isn’t the opposition asking questions? The silence of the government is unsettling, we beseech the opposition to speak for the common man. The PPP/C does not feel compelled to offer any details to the people.
As these infrastructural projects proceed, funded by taxpayer dollars, the beneficiaries are not the average Guyanese but rather those with close ties to the PPP/C. Massive construction machines are being funded using taxpayer dollars and then transferred to family and friends. This massive development is happening under the guise of progress, yet it is nothing more than a strategic siphoning of the country’s resources.
Parliamentarians must speak on these critical issues. They must demand substantial answers from Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who rambles on about everything except the massive wealth being transferred to their friends, family, and favorites without any challenge from opposition parties or joint efforts.
The construction projects in question—roads and bridges built to nowhere while local community streets are riddled with potholes that look like small swimming pools—are obvious symbols of a government prioritizing its own interests over those of the people. Taxpayer money is being funneled into these projects under the pretext of national development, therefore we must know who the true beneficiaries of these projects are.
The average Guyanese citizen, who struggles daily with rising food prices and other economic hardships, will see no benefit from these grandiose projects. Instead, they are left to wonder when their turn will come, if ever, to receive a piece of the national pie. The disparity is glaring, and the silence from those in power is deafening.
The question remains, who will defend the people of Guyana? Who will stand up against the blatant corruption and land grabbing that is enriching a select few while the majority suffer? The time has come for a collective voice to rise, demanding transparency, accountability, and fairness. The people of Guyana deserve better than a government that prioritizes its own enrichment over the welfare of its citizens.