…WPA tells residents in Linden outreach
-urges them to get registered, give coalition a second chance

EXECUTIVE Members of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), one of the parties in the APNU+AFC coalition, on Wednesday rode into Linden urging residents to get registered and give the President David Granger-led administration a second chance.

The WPA believes it is the best government to entrust the wealth that will emerge from the oil and gas industry. Lindeners were urged to look at the bigger picture and that of securing the country’s patrimony and economic gains.

While there are several surface accomplishments of the government, the WPA stressed on critical accomplishments that can be deemed the hallmark of progress made over the last four years. Executive Member of the WPA, Dr. David Hinds, articulated that one of the signal achievements of this coalition government is that of upholding democracy and freedom of speech by not interfering in the civil liberties of its political opponents.

“This is the first government in the history of Guyana that has not gunned down and assassinated political opponents……this is the first government, that its hand doesn’t have the blood of opponents and that for me, is one of the biggest accomplishments….in fact, it is its signal accomplishment, the fact that this government has not locked up opponents, have not charged people for treason and gunned down opponents, that is a qualitative change,” Dr Hinds said.

Actions such as these prove that the APNU-AFC made a noticeable effort in transforming the society and changing the status quo by removing political fear from citizens, thus making the society freer.

Another hallmark achievement of the coalition is the return of dignity to the nation as well as the lack of corruption within its system, particularly at the level of the President. With the influx of wealth that is expected to flow into Guyana, corruption should be of paramount concern to every Guyanese so as not to return to the former days, where attention was given to only a selected few and constituencies where supporters of the former administration resided. “What Granger has done is that he has brought back dignity and uprightness to the top office of this country and I am sure that he will continue to give the country that….so sisters and brothers, what I am encouraging you here tonight is to think the big picture, the small picture is important….I am saying to you give them one more chance,” he urged.

The WPA called on youths, in particular, to demonstrate their democratic right and get registered while affirming the importance of house-to-house registration. Hinds stressed that while claims and objections will merely reform the list, house-to-house registration will completely clean it up and that is what is needed at this juncture, for free and fair elections. This ‘mother of all elections’ he stressed, is not about the citizens of today, but about the children of tomorrow. “Think about your children, think about what the next 10, 15, 20 years can be…”

While Hinds highlighted some challenges faced within the coalition, he believes that the bigger picture is not about loving one’s political partner as he has often been criticised as a critic, but it is about realism and reality. His constructive criticisms are only motivated from his genuine concern for the government to not adapt the mistakes of its predecessor. One challenge, he said, was the unilateral way in which the main players in the coalition acted and while WPA and the other smaller parties may not have the strength to pull as many votes, these parties bring their own forte and expertise to the table. He deems WPA as the intellectual party, and the expertise of many of its members could have been used at many top-ranking decision-making tables. In that way, the WPA could have been in a better position to influence policies, rather than to be given the role as sideliners. “We must do everything in our power so that when we win, we will make our coalition better,” he said, as he remains hopeful that the coalition will return to office.

Executive Members Kidackie Amsterdam and Tacuma Ogunseye also stressed the need to get registered during the ongoing house-to-house registration and to rally around the coalition government. “The first round of this battle is registration, the election war started with registration fight….the war has started and we have to keep our eyes to the future because oil and gas is like the promised land,” Ogunseye said.

WPA has commenced holding community meetings across Guyana. Linden was the second stop, while Buxton was the first. The executives stressed that while the bigger parties will hold rallies using bigger campaigning strategies, the WPA will serve as the foot soldiers, cleaning up the small constituencies and bringing deep reasoning on the transformations done by the government that is beyond surface achievements. In addition, the WPA will be on a recruitment drive to convince the youths to not only join the party but to get registered and vote.