EVERY voter at the upcoming May 11 polls ought to vote on issues and track records. This was the appeal of Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, as he took the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) 2015 elections campaign to Groenveldt Square, Leonora on the West Coast Demerara.Addressing almost 100 persons in that section of the community at the party’s most recent public meeting, held last evening, he detailed the comparisons between the contesting parties relative to several issues, and pointed to the difference in track records of the PPP/C and the Alliance of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).
RIGGED ELECTIONS
Nandlall highlighted that the majority partner of APNU+AFC is the People’s National Congress (PNC), a party whose track record is infamously characterised by the rigging of elections – a hijacking of democracy.
“What does it (rigging elections) mean? What impact does it have on your life? That is what is important…it means that the people were not important. The people were not important because the people did not elect them,” he said, lamenting the “authoritarian” approach to governance.
According to him, this authoritarianism was seen in the use of the army for political purposes – an era where the APNU+AFC presidential candidate, David Granger, was a member of the Guyana Defence Force.
“What would a political party want to do with 155 high-powered rifles?” he asked, adding that those weapons were found in the early 2000’s in the hands of criminals.
Last August, Lieutenant Colonel Sydney James, who spent three days at the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on the witness stand, testified and submitted documentation that the GDF loaned high-powered military weapons to the PNC’s Ministry of National Development. The records that Lieutenant Colonel James tendered as evidence to the Commission show that the GDF loaned 200-odd weapons to the Ministry, as well as paramilitary organisations and other agencies. Of those 200-odd weapons, 155 are still missing today. Even as calls have been made for answers to be given regarding missing weapons the current Administration insists that the Army is actively engaged in trying to locate them.
“The people were irrelevant to the political process of this country…the nation fell into disrepair…they dealt insult after insult to the people of the country,” Nandlall said, citing the ‘dismal’ state of affairs relative to education and health care, as well as other social sectors, and the economy.
He charged that APNU is no different from the PNC and turning his attention to the AFC, he pointed to their actions in the 10th Parliament, which found them on the same side as the PNC.
“We know what their track record is….that is why they do not want us to talk about it. No one wants to own a track record like theirs,” Nandlall stressed.

A CLEAR CHOICE
The Attorney-General was emphatic in stressing the difference between the PPP/C and APNU+AFC and made clear that on May 11 “every vote must count” given the importance of the elections.
“On May 11 this country will go to one of the most important elections in our independent history,” he said.
Nandlall added that the upcoming election is about the “future, legacy, future and country” that the current generation wants to leave for their children and grandchildren.
“Do we want to leave and unsecured future for them? That is what this election is about…we want all our children to reach their full potential…that they can live the life we want them to live. It is a clear choice between the PPP and APNU+AFC,” he said.
Nandlall added that a name change does not change the history, character or the propensity – as evidenced in the past three years – of the political Opposition.
“They come to you with a name change, but there is no change…the choice is clear,” he stressed.
Nandlall pointed to the successes of the PPP/C and its impact on improving the lives of the Guyanese people.
“Twenty years ago we saw a very different country from the Guyana we have today…the indignity we were subjected to…this is our history and we must never forget our history. We must never return to that history,” he urged.
On that note, the Attorney General reiterated the need for the Guyanese people to vote on the basis of issues and track records.
“You must make an informed decision…it is our duty to speak to our people to ensure that we secure a stable future for our country,” Nandlall posited.
Public meetings were also held at several other communities across Region 3 (Essequibo Islands/ West Demerara), at Aurora, Region 2 (Pomeroon/ Supenaam), Good Faith in Region 5 (Mahaica/ Berbice), Auchline, Light Town and Liverpool in Region 6 (East Berbice/ Corentyne) and Moblissa and Bamia in Region 10 (Upper Demerara/ Upper Berbice).
These meetings have been the tactic employed by the incumbent PPP for decades as a means of maintaining and nurturing support at the grassroots level.

By Vanessa Narine