Dear Editor,

I AM happy to answer the question asked by the PPP in a recent newsletter titled, “What have Mr. Holland and the APNU leadership done for young people in Linden and Region 10 in general?”

Firstly, let me state that it will take a series of letters to give all the answers available, so this response is Round One.
The PPP claims that when I asked Jagdeo if Guyana (was) his own, it reveals panic and desperation in the run-up to the November 12, 2018 Local Government Elections. The truth is, there is no need for the coalition government to panic in Linden, since we are all aware of the “State executions” under Jagdeo and the PPP.

However, whenever the PPP makes a pitch to Lindeners and Guyanese under some benevolent disguise at election time, it is most responsible of genuine leaders to debunk misinformation peddled by king liars, charlatans, despots and the whole dictionary of adjectives to describe Jagdeo and his cronies.

I have always allowed my name to be associated with good things, that’s why my people love me, that’s why I served them for two terms freely without financial perks, unlike Jagdeo who enriched himself. My entry into politics is the reason many of your supporters in the mines will not vote PPP any longer, and that’s why they spurned the PPP in my constituency at the last LGEs. To compare Jagdeo’s 12 years of tyranny with my two years of changing a town’s “Ghost” status left by the PPP, to a town among the most progressive, according to the financial indicators, is like pitting Sammy Scaff vs. Mike Tyson.

Jagdeo can only be described as the architect of modern Guyana’s societal ills, corruption, barbarism, and a leader who abused public service to Guyanese. Further, to claim I suffer from amnesia is impervious that the PPP feels Guyanese forget their atrocities and that is why Jagdeo claims he is whom he is not; that is why Jagdeo and the PPP are trying to blame the current administration for a money-gouging behemoth Berbice Bridge contract they signed in 2006. It is true that Linden and Region 10 bears the footprints and marks of Jagdeo, as until now the scars and deep wounds are still haunting Linden– which was revived after the 2015 Elections. To claim that the physical infrastructure of Linden,

including “Burnham Drive” was rehabilitated (around elections time), is a crying shame because fixing a major road once in 23 years should be seen as gross neglect. Further, the 1-inch election roads built by the PPP’s hand-picked contractors lasted just for about one month. Building a new Linden Hospital Complex was an absolute necessity because their

conscience bit them so hard that the nerve of their political wisdom tooth became exposed after they destroyed Linden’s healthcare, which was second to none in Guyana. The water treatment plants, both in Amelia’s Ward and Wismar, were leaking ‘White Elephants’, and millions more had to be spent by the coalition government to activate them. Three years later, these problematic plants are still being rectified by GWI. The LEAP programme was initiated by the European Union in partnership with the Government in the face of the continued decline of the bauxite industry in Region Ten, and the subsequent severe

economic dislocations caused by the PPP in 2002 with a planned injection of 12 million Euros, which Linden residents only dreamt of receiving after much of it got stuck somewhere else, only the PPP can say. In short, the PPP snatches praise for rectifying problems they created through sheer neglect, then blazes in like the cavalry, touting their so-called accomplishments. The people are much too smart to be duped by this trend. The PPP’s tactic is two-fold: Fail to act, then assume glory when they finally, and often sloppily, do act, or emerge like the fireman to save the day when they were the arsonists.

BOSAI and RUSAL were brought to Guyana to save bauxite, and the “savings” indeed, as an industry which once employed thousands under the PNC, was chopped down by the PPP and Sam Hinds’ “unbundling plan” to a meagre couple hundred employees in Linden, while RUSAL got the greenlight in their contract to act the way they did for several years until this government brought some ease to the plight of workers.

Who benefitted more from the few forest concessions given out in Region Ten? The residents or the PPP supporters? Housing development, schools and health centre’s under the PPP in 23 years cannot be positively compared to the development in these areas in just three years under the coalition. And this exposed the naked truth: That Linden was starved of development. Furthermore, investigate those projects, and measure how much was claimed as expenditure as against what disappeared like Houdini.

The PPP’s claim that Jagdeo, as president, entrenched democracy in Guyana is a fallacy that bears no logic. Isn’t it part of Burnham’s very ideas the PPP, under Jagan, tried to use as a framework for their development strategy, but it was bungled by Jagdeo’s crave and selfish desires? Jagdeo is such a shame to this nation that his name should ideally be stripped from alongside credible names of former Presidents of Guyana. To further identify what the coalition has done to enhance and enrich the lives of young people in Linden and Region Ten in general after they were left broken and marginalised by the PPP will surely be outlined in Round Two.

Meanwhile, Mr. Adams, the claimed writer, look no further than your own circle for what I did for Linden. While you sit in that red corner breathing heavily from these green salvos, please think carefully of what your trainer, Jagdeo, is saying to you as you sit on your red stool; feel carefully what you are being greased with by your cut-man, Romel. Check for sustainability, the choice of PPP over conscience, and think of what other fake news you will try to throw for the next 14 rounds.
Don’t throw in a red towel; after all, only white can be used. Stick to facts.

Regards

Carwyn Holland
Former Mayor