Brigadier David Granger – Presidential Candidate of A Partnership for National Unity – has announced in his New Year message that 2012 can be a ‘year of hope’ for Guyanese.

Mr. Granger, declaring that ‘175,000 persons can’t be wrong,’ said that the people voted for change in the 28^th November general and regional elections. The year 2011 sounded the death knell of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic-style ‘winner-takes-all’ political culture that had poisoned ethnic relations, divided the nation, fostered massive corruption and hampered economic development over the years.

A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change parties, collectively, have been given a ‘mandate from the majority.’ Their vision is clear and their voices must now be heard. The parties’ task will be to advance change through the legislative process in the National Assembly.

The New Year must be made one of hope for the population at large. It must become a year in which our children can look forward to better schools, our youths can expect employment, our workers can feel more secure in their jobs and our women and girls can be safe in their homes and villages. Everyday life in this country must be different from the past 19 years of PPP/C one-party rule. That’s what the people voted for because that’s what they want!

Mr. Granger said that 2011 had been a ‘year of discontent’ for the majority of the population. Numerous factors – including the high rate of unemployment among the young; the high rate of dropouts from primary and secondary schools; the high rate of migration of educated graduates; the high cost-of-living aggravated by low salaries for government employees and a burdensome Value-Added Tax and the high rate of crime, especially piracy in our coastal waters, banditry in the hinterland and domestic violence in our villages – combined to make life miserable for the majority citizens.

Mr. Granger called on the PPP/C to stop pretending that it could run a one-party Government and not to continue to ignore the public will as the old PPP/C Administration did in previous years. It failed spectacularly failed to address the people’s day-to-day problems then and it will fail again unless there is change. The electorate, as a result, had sent a clear message that it was fed up with the old politics.

Mr. Granger encouraged the population, especially young people, to remain hopeful. At last, a real start can be made in fulfilling A.P.N.U’s electoral promise of providing “a good life for all Guyanese.” He said, summing up A.P.N.U’s approach, “Determination must defeat desperation and the politics of cooperation must overcome confrontational relations in 2012.”

Happy New Year to all!