PRESIDENT Donald Ramotar has said he strongly believes he would get the overwhelming support of members of the military when they go to the polls today.Basing his conviction on the constant funding the military has received from the People’s Progressive Party [PPP] Government, Guyana’s Head of State, in addressing hundreds of party supporters at Adelphi Village in East Canje on Wednesday evening, noted that the parties in the opposition coalition were never in support of the military.

“Whenever the police kill a criminal whilst defending themselves, the PNC (Peoples National Congress) and the APNU (A Partnership for National Unity) would come out and attack the police. Never one day have they come out in support of the police in their fight against crime! That is why, on Saturday, I believe that the police and the army will vote PPPC!” an optimistic and upbeat President Ramotar declared.

Describing the opposition as “supporters of lawbreakers”, the President said, “The opposition coalition is anti-police and supporters of criminals! Just look at their lawyers. Who defend the drug lords in court? Who defend the same criminals when they kill people, the people who went and killed the eleven people at Lusignan? Who was the lawyer that defended them?” he questioned the boisterous crowd. “It was Nigel Hughes!” he asserted.

“The accused in the Lusignan massacre got off on a technicality because of a conflict of interest. The foreman of the jury was Nigel Hughes’s client for seven years, and it was never revealed to the court. It is the same Nigel Hughes, when they had the killing in Buxton [gas station] that removed the video footage from there, maybe to tamper with the evidence. There are others too, like James Bond and Basil Williams!” President Ramotar asserted.

Who are the biggest defenders of the drug lords and the criminal elements in our society?” he asked. “The opposition has a relationship with criminals in Guyana; our administration has never used the military for political purposes!”

His rationale was drawn from information emanating from the Rodney Commission of Inquiry and from the fact that when the notorious Rondell ‘Fine Man’ Rawlins was killed in 2008, the weapon found on him was determined to be one from the stock of weapons that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had given to the PNC.

In an effort to bash the opposition leaders and win the electorate in East Canje, the President reminded his listeners of the vindictiveness of the parliamentary opposition in cutting from the National Budget of 2014 funds that were earmarked for education.

“Those budgetary cuts included the $10,000-per-school-child allocation which Government was able to put back into the budget. There was also a cut to the student loan fund [University of Guyana] which students will not have to repay until they are gainfully employed,” the President said.

“If we did not put it back in the budget, many students attending university could not have done so! So, you see how vindictive the opposition is?”
President Ramotar asked his audience.

Referring to the opposition coalition as not being serious, while highlighting that the PPP/C is the party of change because of its transforming Guyana from being a highly indebted poor country (HIPC) to becoming a middle income developing country (MIDC), President Ramotar took the opportunity to chastise the critics of the ruling party, who are of the opinion that the PPP/C was not following the ideology of the late President Cheddi Jagan.

“Would Cheddi oppose giving youths free exercise and text books? Would he be against giving you school uniforms? Would he be against building a new hospital, where you can have bypass surgery? Would he be against more money for this country?” the President asked.

“That’s all we are doing, following in the footsteps and in the dreams of the late Cheddi Jagan,” he concluded.

By Jeune Vankeric