President urges love, caring for each other, and progress
–  says  every community has right of access to President and resources of country
DURING a power-packed, hard-hitting, well-received address on Friday at the multi-purpose tarmac, New Market Square at Bath, West Coast Berbice, President Bharrat Jagdeo assured a large gathering that  the government never makes light of their problems.

This was because, he said, he and every member of Cabinet know the issues people want addressed are important since these have to do with improving the lives of children, families, communities and the country as a whole.

And while the government may not be able to address every problem in every community immediately because of resource constraints which force it to prioritise developmental programmes, it tries to implement as many initiatives as possible in an effort to meet the people’s needs, he assured.

President Jagdeo explained that the resolution of all the problems in the land depends on the availability of resources and cited the problems caused to the national economy as a result of the global meltdown  as people’s purchasing power worldwide has diminished drastically, with the correlating result of economies of developing countries such as ours being impacted.

However, the President reminded his audience that, although first world countries are sinking further into debt, Guyana’s sound and prudent fiscal policies and proper resource management has stabilized our country’s macro-economic fundamentals, even to the point where the impact of the global recession on this country’s economy has been very minimal.  He related that regional governments have now gone down the route of Guyana’s former administration, which is creating chaos in their respective economies.
President Jagdeo pointed out that the key policies of the PPP/C Government from the very inception have been grounded in the developmental imperatives of the nation, but this has been severely impeded and constricted because of the drag on the economy that the debt burden inherited by this Government created, along with the massive destruction of infrastructure and public morale in the nation.
Reminding his attentive audience that, because of the extravagance and indisciplined spending of the former administration, the debt of our country took 96% of national revenue to service; so this Government not only had to rebuild the infrastructure of the country on very little resources, it also had to create people development and empowerment initiatives along the way, because, along with the destroyed infrastructure and debt burden, they had also inherited a nation almost void of hope, and the current administration perceived the imperative need to rebuild national morale, hence the developmental initiatives in every sector, especially the housing programme.
He explained that, as the debt burden was gradually reduced, more resources were released toward public spending, until today when only 4% of national revenue goes toward debt repayment.
So one can imagine that, if so much transformation in the country can be effected with such a “drag” on the national economy, what would be the landscape of a future Guyana with additional resources, especially in light of the many projects the Government has either initiated or facilitated, with a great input from a very energised private sector.
President Jagdeo said the liberated resources would greatly accelerate progress in the land, because the removal of the debt burden has enhanced the Government’s ability to expand on developmental programmes, and also because the PPP/C Government has transformed this country into one of the most vibrant economies, despite the global financial meltdown.
Reverting to village colloquialism, the President said that “we have banded our waist” to achieve amazing transformation in the nation, and echoed the sentiments of Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon, who chaired the meeting, that the PPP/C needed to speak of its achievements because of all the misrepresentation and misinformation being peddled by the opposition cabal, including the two opposition newspapers, which he called institutions because, instead of disseminating information, they instead have a political motive of removing the PPP/C from office, which they are attempting to do by misleading the public through lies that they publish.
He adjured Guyanese to learn their history because their ballot gave them the right to dignity and choices, and warned of that right being under assault by persons who are attempting to reconfigure Guyana’s history.

He said the past must be used for analytical purposes, stating that the PPP/C has historically been grounded in Dr. Cheddi Jagan’s philosophy of bringing people together and alluded to opposition diatribes against the residents of Buxton for requesting state resources to help to restore their community after the ravages ensuing from the criminal takeover of that community.
President Jagdeo said it suits the purposes of the opposition to foster and sustain ethnic enclaves in the nation so that they can continue to trumpet false assertions of Government marginalizing and criminalizing communities over which they think they have political territorial rights.
However, the President argued, to loud applause, that all the people in the land has the right of access to the President and resources of the country and that his administration is intent on breaking down all barriers in the nation so that progress can be achieved by all the people striving together.
Denouncing the opposition categorizing Buxtonians as slaves, the President said such language is an assault on all the Guyanese people.
He said all the opposition does is criticize Government’s policies and programmes without ever formulating and/or advancing any development policy for creating a better life for the Guyanese people and cited the instance where the Government has been under fire from opposition elements for purchasing land from GuySuCo for expanding its housing programme.

Adumbrating some of Government’s achievements in the various sectors, President Jagdeo said that sometimes they have to make difficult choices for more long-term benefits, as in the case where they made a conscious decision to invest in the sugar industry when everyone was saying that after the EU had cut the price by 36%, sugar was not viable and that the country should quit sugar production.
However, the President said if they had taken this easy route then over 20,000 workers directly employed in the industry, and those many thousands of others whose income indirectly depends on continued sugar production, would have been out of jobs, with entire communities, especially in Region Six, would have been plunged into desolation.
So the Government took the difficult path, despite knowing of all the ensuing travails they would have encountered and invested in the Skeldon sugar factory, which is the largest single investment in the country, and a new packaging plant in Enmore.
He said the PPP/C’s job is incomplete and spoke of the problems that he knows are being encountered by persons countrywide – rice farmers not getting paid, electricity, water, drainage and irrigation, and others, and conceded that the Government still has a long way to go before it has satisfied the needs of everyone in the country.

However, he said that gradually the needs of more and more persons are being addressed, and that development is poised to accelerate in the near future with the expansion of IT capacity and the agro-industry through logistical enhancement; hydropower; and projected gas and oil finds offshore Guyana.

President Jagdeo said that, while they are focusing on the big pic
ture of policy development and enhancement of economic imperatives, they have not lost sight of the people empowerment and community development imperatives, but explained that both dynamics needed to be addressed simultaneously.
He showered praise on his young team, which he said displays leadership and vision because they are bright and experienced.
Saying that it is not about the Government or the PPP/C, but about the people, President Jagdeo called for love, people caring for each other and working together for progress in the nation.