VICE President and Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, has accused the Opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) of re-introducing “aapan jaat” politics into the political landscape. The Prime Minister was responding to claims by the Opposition of ‘ethnic cleansing’, during his Budget 2015 presentation in the National Assembly in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

Addressing what he described as, “mischievous, malicious and wicked” comments from the Opposition, the Prime Minister said the PPP/C had attempted to incite racial sensitivities by accusing the now Government of not supporting the sugar industry when in fact the evidence would show that the governing APNU+AFC coalition supported the bailout packages for the sugar industry.
“No evidence could be introduced by those who make that claim,” PM Nagamootoo declared.

The Prime Minister also condemned all forms of political intimidation, especially ethnic and racial incitement.

JAGDEO’S ‘HARANGUE’

When Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo finished his budget presentation just before midnight on Friday, he, along with the Opposition PPP/C Members walked out of the National Assembly, although both Prime Minister Nagamootoo and Finance Minister Winston Jordan were left to speak.
But even the absence of the Opposition did not prevent the Prime Minister from weighing into the Opposition Leader, who served as President from 1999 to 2011.
Moving right into the Opposition Leader’s speech, Nagamootoo expressed disappointment in the “pomposity, arrogance, and above all, the love of power” that the former President, now Opposition Leader, brought in his rhetoric which lasted one hour and 40 minutes.
“He tried, in a very bigoted way, to lecture to the House and to the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, who wrote his speeches for many years, and to lecture someone like me, Moses Nagamootoo, who was writing his speeches when he was President,” PM Nagamootoo said.
Nagamootoo told the House during his budget presentation after midnight yesterday morning that Mr Jagdeo had come to the debates with a mission, “to buse down, and cuss down.”
The PM was convinced, however, that Jagdeo’s “harangue had failed to fall on fertile ears,” even in the just concluded elections campaign.
“The fact is that he is in the Opposition and we are in the Government. The fact is that he is the Opposition Leader, and I am the Prime Minister,” Nagamootoo said to the sound of his colleagues banging desks.
Nagamootoo said it is undeniable that the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) had won the 2011 general elections, since both parties, then in Opposition, had a combined majority.
He said however, that because of Guyana’s constitutional arrangements, the PPP/C held the Government. “We won the elections but we lost the Government. They had 32 seats and we had 33 seats on that side, but because of the present constitutional arrangement, it was conceivable that a minority could masquerade as a majority.”
The PM objected to statements made by the Opposition Leader and his party calling out the new Government for being unable to handle Guyana’s crime situation. Nagamootoo expressed shock that the Opposition Leader would even speak about Guyana’s crime situation.
“It was that Leader of Opposition, when he was the President, that wanted to bring an American here named Bernard Kerik. And Mr Bernard Kerik, he’s in jail,” Nagamootoo said. The PM went on to call the names of Roger Khan, Sonny Ramdeo, Khamraj Lall and Ed Ahmad, who were known affiliates of the PPP/C Government, and who are all either in jail or currently before international courts.

“I listened to him for one hour and 40 minutes, and you allowed him to speak, to bawl, to shout, to holler, to scream, and he fell with his own weight like a spent shell, he couldn’t go any further,” the Prime Minister continued.
Nagamootoo went on to denounce the Opposition’s claims of “ethnic cleansing” and attacking the sugar industry, which employs a considerable number of Indo-Guyanese in the lower economic bracket.
“We never opposed any subsidy to the sugar industry. We voted subsidies in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. And in 2015 we again voted [a] subsidy as a bailout to rescue the sugar industry because we believe in the livelihood of sugar workers,” the PM continued, adding that $57B has thus far been plugged into the sugar industry to keep it afloat.
The Prime Minister also accused the Opposition Leader of attempting to filibuster and leave the house. He said that even though the Government had compromised, allowing the Opposition extra time for considering the budgetary estimates next week, “they realised that we gave in and they had nothing to crow about in the public… so they walk out.”
The National Assembly is adjourned until Monday when the estimates for the various ministries will be considered from 9:30am to 11:00pm, ending on Wednesday.

(Adrian Narine photo)