PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar last week responding to allegations by A Partnership for National Unity that his administration has: “deliberately underfunded physical infrastructure needed for real hinterland development” related to the media that: “maybe they should not have cut the budget… they don’t have shame to make some of these statements.”

The Head of State’s response came after executive member of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Dr. George Norton last Friday at the party’s weekly press conference issued a statement blaming the People’s Progressive Party Civic’s Administration for “deliberately underfunding the physical infrastructure needed for real hinterland development.”
APNU is contending that because of these “deliberate” acts by the administration, they (the Government) are now faced with waves of angry protests in these hinterland regions. “It has deliberately undermined democratically-elected regional and local councils needed to administer the vast territory” the statement said.
The party pointed to several hinterland regions such as the Potaro-Siparuni area, revealing that some of the party’s Members of Parliament (MPs) related that secondary school children were fetching water to their dorms because of a broken well. Moreso, in the Upper Demerara-Berbice Region, it was said by APNU that: “Regional Democratic Councillors supported a residents’ call to block the Linden-Kwakwani Road protest against the deplorable state of the road; the roadway have been deteriorating for over ten years without serious long-term repairs.”
As such the party said that: “The People’s Progressive Party Civic for over two decades has demonstrated its unwillingness to improve the quality of life of the indigenous residents of the hinterland and to develop the physical infrastructure there.”
Responding to these allegations however, President Ramotar stressed that: “Well then they [the Opposition] should not have cut the Amerindian development budget.”
He noted that the party’s position can be described as “hypocritical” taking into consideration that the Amerindian Development Fund was cut by them, the opposition. He alluded to the fact that: “They’re the ones who have been cutting from the budget things like interior airstrips and all of that.”
According to President Ramotar : “When they [the opposition] were in Government the Amerindian communities were practically in total ruins.”
As such, the President urged the media to examine specific areas such as education in these communities such as Waramadong who has done exceptionally well at this year’s Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations. “I’m speaking of all the schools in region nine being better… I’m speaking about Region 1 where you have students within the top one hundred of this country…. I’m speaking about all of these things” the Head of State noted concluding that: “What I can say is that they [the opposition] don’t have shame to make some of these statements.”
The Amerindian Development fund was cut earlier this year when the combined opposition voted against the 1.1 billion-dollar initiative. The Opposition side of the National Assembly made it known to the government that the funds were being cut because they felt that the monies were being used by the administration to garner political support.

(By Ravin Singh)