LAST Friday evening a team from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) headed by new comer Charles Ramson Jr., while conducting a “flagging and postering exercise” on Sheriff Street were approached by A Partnership For National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) members who verbally abused them. This was according to Ramson during a recent PPP/C press conference at Freedom House. Ramson disclosed that “On Friday evening while I had a team doing some flagging and postering on Sheriff Street a group ‘roll up’ on us with vehicles bearing persons such as Khemraj Ramjattan and Freddie Kissoon along with about seven others wearing APNU + AFC T-shirts.”
It appeared as if the APNU+AFC members received a report that they (PPP/C members) were pulling down their flags, said the PPP/C new comer.
He state that upon hearing that he notified and showed the APNU+AFC members that their flags were well intact and no vandalism whatsoever was done to any of their campaign materials.
“Nevertheless in their effort to intimidate us, Freddie Kissoon stared cursing at me very hostilely and one of the persons held him back and push him in the car as though he was trying to intimidate us,” said Ramson.
Apart from that, he highlighted that another incident which left him thinking was when one of the individuals in the group said to a gentleman that was a part of the PPP/C’s team who is of mixed ethnicity, “I am very surprised at you, do not sell your birth right twice.”
According to Ramson, this was in the presence of APNU+AFC’s vice-presidential candidate, Ramjattan the APNU+AFC, Freddie Kissoon and the individuals who were apart of his team. Further noting that at no moment during that confrontation did that Vice Presidential candidate or Kissoon attempt to accost the individual who made that statement.
“Do not sell you birthright, what does that mean? You choose to support a political party that is other than yours and they’re selling their birthright, maybe because they are of a different race and if that is the case, then that is not only disturbing, distasteful, but is also diabolical for the kind of future we would like to see for the future of Guyana,” he said.
Apart from that he emphasised that “just because we were flagging an area, I found it to be extremely disturbing that this is the type of democratic political process that is going on by a party that is offering themselves to lead our country.”
RACE
Meanwhile apart from that he alluded to the fact that all of the individuals who were with him are young people, who don’t care about race, as they believe in the PPP/C and their candidates, their visions and track record, and that is what the election is about, he noted. Therefore, “why is this conversation an elections gimmick and why does it have to go to race?” asked Ramson Jr.
VANDALISM
Forgetting the issue of race, he highlighted the destruction of PPP/C campaign material which was done by APNU+AFC supporters. Some of which included the destruction of PPP/C billboards in Linden and Mahaicony. Ramson made it clear that the ones who are destroying it are not PPP/C supporters, therefore, why haven’t APNU+AFC issued any statements accosting individuals or disciplining individuals.
“We don’t roll up on APNU+AFC supporters, and that is not one the PPP/C’s campaign strategy…big APNU flags are flying across Guyana and that is not something that shouldn’t be fought against, it’s a freely competitive elections and APNU+AFC supporters should desist from destroying the PPP/C’s campaign materials and let there be a free and fair elections.”