Luncheon on opposition’s public education shenanigans …
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr. Roger Luncheon has challenged the Opposition political parties to pattern their public education campaign after the administration’s efforts over the years in carrying out such exercises. He made the observation Friday during the third in a series of panel discussions entitled, ‘Guarding against Political Adventurism’, for airing on the National Communication Network (NCN), and said that while he wishes his political opponents well, he would want to hope that their efforts will be wide-ranging and inclusive.

“Let’s see if they can take this issue and go out there and call a national stakeholders forum and have their engagement in region by region,” he dared the opposition.

Recalling PNC/R Leader, Mr. Robert Corbin’s desperate bid to whip up support in Berbice during the recent Business Expo, Dr Luncheon said what was clearly shown was that irrelevance has now dawned on that Party, and has resulted in its trading in street protests as its ‘Number One’ action for going on a so-called public education campaign trail, which to him is a mere rehash of an old ploy.

“Preparing a dossier… I don’t know how many years that’s going to take for a normal intellectual activity, and again, it is the promo, Mr. Corbin,” he said, adding:

“At the end of this month, the evidence will be there to show whether he succeeded, and then after the Congress, one has to look to see if our analysis is correct.”

Corbin’s motive for confronting the government in the streets, he said, is just a smoke screen to show his militancy, and to hold on to the leadership of his party and the Opposition so as to enjoy a certain status in society.

“So the public education is just another ploy, another tool that Mr. Corbin and his acolytes have resorted to as they retreat from a frontal confrontation with the administration at the political level… street protests, extra-Parliamentary activities, to now something modest,” the HPS said.

Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, who was also a part of the discussion, underscored that the Opposition’s latest resort demonstrates that they are bereft of ideas.

He said that if the Opposition is really serious, as it claims, about promoting national cohesion and development, and sharing their differences, then the place to do so is in the National Assembly and not on the streets, or at press conferences or by other mischievous ways of creating problems for the government.

“Mr. Corbin, the PNC the AFC have, as it were, become victims of Guyana’s success,” Persaud said, adding: “When you look at the development in our country, they cannot fault the management of our economy; they cannot fault the support we have been giving to public servants, the aged and those who need help. The cannot fault our housing programme; they cannot fault us in terms of our approach to farmers, women, young people, and infrastructure.”

Noting that we’re still a long way off from achieving our desired goal, he said: “Yes! We are a country that requires much more to be done… From the President right down has been making the point that there is much more to be done, but they cannot fault us for addressing these issues.”