By Clifford Stanley

APNU/AFC Councillors in Region 5 have vowed to continue their protest at statutory meetings of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) until Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal apologises for boycotting a function in the region attended by President David Granger.Represented by Abel Seetaram, Gloria Wolfe, Takoor Singh and Delon Crawford, the APNU/AFC members of the Council of Region 5 made their position clear during a media conference held on Friday to respond to recent statements made by Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal at Freedom House.
AFC Councillor Abel Seetaram said he did not believe, as one commentator had said, that disrespect for the President was a non-issue. “If the Regional Chairman does not have respect for President Granger as the Head of State, then the APNU/AFC Councillors have no obligation to be respectful to the Regional Chairman as head of this region. We will hold out: no respect for the President respect, no meetings,” he said.

Seetaram said he was convinced that Ramphal was bent on stymieing development in the region because he resents that the PPP/C was no longer in Government. “The issue of the President is not the only one. He is arrogant and disrespectful in his work as a Chairman. He spends more time at the PPP/C Freedom House at Bath Settlement than in his office.”

In a statement issued from Freedom House, Ramphal alleged that the disruption of the statutory meetings since January has had disastrous consequences for the region, since the Council had been unable to deliver services to which the residents of Region 5 are entitled.

Seetaram asked: “How could he say that there is no work going on in the region when all the facts show that work is ongoing throughout; that the works programme is at least 75 per cent complete at this date?”

He added: “The Vice Chairman, who is also a PPP/C Councillor, is the Head of the Works Committee which oversees all these works. Does the Vice Chairman not tell the Chairman anything?”
The councillors also charged that Ramphal, “in his arrogance”, has boycotted visits by every Minister of Government to the region. “The last time Second Vice President and Minister of Security, Mr Khemraj Ramjattan, came to look at the flooding in West Berbice, he, Ramphal, boycotted that visit and opted to go to Mahaicony Creek with Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo instead,” the Councillor said.

“Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Valerie Adams-Patterson, visited the Region recently and was just next door to his office. He remained in his office; he didn’t budge,” they said.

APNU Councillor Gloria Wolfe also said, “The Chairman does not want to work with us. We have committees in this region; he has told the PPP Councillors not to attend these meetings. Everything that the region puts forward he tells his councillors not to attend. He doesn’t want development; he doesn’t want to work with us. He is engaged in a deliberate and ongoing programme to deceive the people in Region 5 into believing that the APNU+ AFC is not working for them; that we want to stifle development.”

Delon Crawford said: “Mr Ramphal is placing politics before the development of the region. He is playing a game, and his game is a political game. It is not about the development of this region.”

And according to Seetaram, the PPP strategy of sabotage and frustrating development has been seen in the Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) which they control. “These councils are deliberately frustrating people. People go to them for a simple service and they chase them. They tell them: ‘Go to Fort Wellington. Go there to Granger people. Let them help you’.”

Takoor Singh charged that PPP/C councillors are not submitting projects to be done. “They are not proposing anything for the betterment of this region,” he said.

He said the APNU+AFC Councillors are prepared to work with the Chairman, but he sorely needs to show that he has the interests of the region more at heart than the interests of his political masters at Freedom House.”