PPP/C seeks Region Nine support at August 28 polls

 

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic is seeking the support of Region Nine residents, who are mostly Amerindians as it contests the polls next Monday. Presidential Candidate Bharrat Jagdeo and Candidate Carolyn Rodrigues hosted public meetings in three of the four sub-regions: Aishalton, Lethem and Annai, today August 24, 2006, telling residents that their quest for political power is not based on the need for personal gain, but rather the desire to fulfill the legacy of the Party’s founder the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan. This legacy the Presidential Candidate said focused mainly on improving the lives of the working class, who were neglected by the colonial masters and later on the People’s National Congress Reform during their 28-year dictatorship.

“You have a very valuable asset in your hand and I urge you to use it wisely…I am an economist by training, so I am not going to make you unrealistic promises. We see you as partners. We are going to be with you through the good and especially the bad times…I can promise you that once we return to Office, we’ll continue to work hard every day at the things that are important to you so that every child will have a better life than his/her parents had,” he pledged.

He also noted that a vote for the PPP/C is a vote towards securing the hard-won freedoms of this country, such as Adult Suffrage won by Dr. Jagan in 1953, which gave every citizen, aged 18, the right to vote, rather than obtaining that right only if they were educated or possessed wealth. Additionally, in the past Amerindians’ votes, like many others, were stolen or done by proxy without their consent.

“The PNC neglected the whole country, but the residents of hinterland areas, suffered the most,” PPP/C Candidate Ms. Rodrigues said.

She noted that the Guyana Action Party (GAP) won the majority votes in Region Nine at the 2001 Elections, but has done little, if any at all, for the Region’s development. “Continue giving us your support. We are here asking you to put our X next to the cup…but it would have been unfair for us to ask you to support us now, if we have not helped you in the past. Amerindians have seen more development under the PPP/C than they have ever had and we want to continue this trend. That is why we seek your support,” she said. GAP, headed by Paul Hardy, who does not reside in Guyana, but is here for the campaign, turned its back on the Amerindians shortly after the last elections, when they suffered losses on their farms, Ms. Rodrigues said, adding that he visited the region recently and was spreading rumours that the PPP/C wants to take away Amerindian land and the Party does not believe in God, which the Amerindians hold sacred. “That is absolutely untrue. During the time we were in office we have doubled the lands given to Amerindians legally from 6.5 percent to 13 percent and we will continue the process. Friends for all this development to have taken place during the past 14 years, God had to be with us. Do you know that today there are more churches in Guyana than before?”

The Minister said the PPP/C opponents are afraid of the Party’s message, which is about national unity and progress and “they can’t beat us on the policies and programmes, so their attacks are based on falsehood. They spread rumours,” she said.

Ms. Rodrigues told residents that the Opposition Parties’ plans and promises in this 2006 Elections campaign are all rooted in those being implemented by this Administration. She pointed to the Parties’ promise to yet again revise the Amerindian Act and when the Act was in Parliament they only had two objections, which were the name and they wanted village elections to be done by the Guyana Elections Commission. “So what would they change now? When they had a chance in the three years we had consultations, the PNC did not show up and in Parliament they agreed it was a massive piece of legislation, but now is elections time and they are making all kinds of promises,” she told residents. She further explained that the new Amerindian Act gives much power to the communities and takes away from the Minster’s authority. Rodrigues noted that the PNC had revised the 1951 Act in 1976 to give the government more control of Amerindian rights, “but we changed that.”

Speaking of progress in the communities, she recounted that the PPP/C has built more than 40 primary and nursery schools and teachers’ quarters in Region Nine, which testify to the growth in educational opportunities for the children. There are more than 90 Amerindian students now on scholarships at the University of Guyana and 19 of them are studying in Cuba, most of whom are from Region Nine, while teachers are being trained at the Cyril Potter College of Education and even through distance education. Additionally, hundreds of Community Health Workers were trained, as well as medexes.

Mr. Jagdeo urged residents to judge the PPP/C by its record in Office, which proudly boasts significant progress in education and health-care delivery, as well as in the areas of housing and water, the productive sectors, the economy and standard of living. He explained that Guyana inherited a foreign debt of more than US$2B and has repaid about US$1.1B. Additionally, through debt relief and debt repayments, government has reduced the debt servicing to less than 20 percent as against the 94 percent it inherited from the PNC administration. “imagine if we did not have to spend all this money on repaying the PNC debt, what we could have done for this country,” he said.

The Presidential Candidate confirmed that there is still a long road to travel to attain a desired level of progress in Guyana and pledged his government’s support to that journey. He said the country could go a long way, but that depends on people working together. Outlining his Administration’s plans for the next term in Office, he said, much work would be done to further improve health care, education delivery, water supply, road links, bridges and importantly, transportation, both land and riverain, increased pensions and assistance for youths and single parents. Plans are also in tune to link the Karasabai roads to those in Region Eight by the end of the year, thereby reducing cost of living and transport and improve markets for local produce. Another $200M would also be spent on upgrading the Lethem to Georgetown road and the bridges along the route, while a new hospital is being built at Lethem. The Amerindians also benefited from a nine-month training programme after which each Village Council was given $1M to do a project of their choice, costing Government about 50M in Region Nine. A similar sum was spent on youths through the President’s Youth Choice Initiative.

“Judge us based on our records and trustworthiness…And that is why we are asking you for another five years,” he said.

Supporters braved the inclement weather to listen to their candidates’ presentation, which featured mainly on efforts to correct the historical neglect of Amerindian people, particularly by the People’s National Congress.

Also hailing the PPP/C’s track record were PPP/C Candidate Saisnarine Kowlessar and John Fredricks, who were at the Lethem meeting, Annai’s Toshao Mark George commended the Administration for the support his community has received, the most recent being $2.5M from the President to construct a benab for Heritage Day 2006

“Thanks for the wonderful work you have done here. You have been a responsible government to us especially the Amerindians. You have given us a number of schools and health clinics and then the youth initiative and the Village Council project,” he said.

Toka Toshao Eugene Issacs said he has always opposed the PPP/C in the past, but recently he learned that it is a party that gives freedom to express your views “and that is why I have joined them…we see a government here trying to bring a people that were neglected. We see the evidence of progress in every community,” he said.

All the areas were decorated with the Party’s colours, yellow, red and black and posters of its Presidential Candidate and Prime Ministerial Candidate Samuel Hinds.

At the meetings persons were also educated about how to vote so that there are no spoilt votes on polling day.

 

August 24, 2006

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