– PM warns Guyanese against Jagdeo’s PPP
…says party cannot be trusted to lead nation

GUYANA has all the characteristics of a unique democracy with attributes of multi-party, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural democracy, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said, while promising to work tirelessly for the re-election of President David Granger.

The prime minister was at the time speaking on VYBZ 100.1FM with Malcolm Ferreira on Wednesday. “I believe you will be gambling with the future of this country to return Jagdeo and the PPP into office; I’ve been there for 50 years, I know what I say and I may not say everything,” he said.

He continued: “For this that I would not even say in public, the PPP cannot be trusted in its present leadership; it has a role to play and cannot be excluded from the governance process, it represents a large constituency, especially Indo-Guyanese and it has to better represent that constituency by saying that we would like to be in the governance process.”
He said that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has to come forward and say it wants to participate in a government of national unity while working with others in a national coalition.

The prime minister said he will not participate in marginalisation of any section of the populace.

“We have made tremendous gains and Guyana should consider itself a fortunate country; it enjoys a democratic government, parliamentary democracy, it has freedom of expression, a free, open and plural press. It has freedom of association, freedom to belong to a trade union, unions to represent workers, we have an independent judiciary,” the prime minister said.

He explained that such systems cannot and should not be reversed.
“I would not like to see that reversed; I would want to work with the last ounce of my energy to ensure that the coalition returns to office.”
When asked if he would serve in a new capacity under the APNU+AFC coalition once re-elected, the prime minister said he is always willing to serve in the nation’s interest and would not shy away from service.

TEAM PLAYER
“I am a team player, if I can’t bowl I will bat; if I can’t bat I’ll run. Sometimes you run on or run off the field, so I won’t have any problem if I have to go off the field or called to be on the field; whatever I do, I will play for the Guyana team,” Nagamootoo said.
He said whatever is the outcome of the Cummingsburg Accord it has nothing to do with his public service, since he has served as prime minister of the government and not just a party.

“What is important is securing victory, you can always distribute the positions in government after you secure victory; you have to have something first to distribute, because you can’t distribute nothing. My interest is to secure victory in the elections… personality issues should be kept at the lower level,” the prime minister said.
He said the coalition should put forward the best candidate who will capture the support of Guyanese.

“Get candidates that can energise the support base and I think the APNU+AFC coalition has been doing that together,” Nagamootoo said.

Meanwhile, on reflecting on the aftermath of the no-confidence motion last year and an AFC forum held in January 2019, the prime minister said he had even offered his resignation to President Granger.

“The President did not accept my resignation and this is the first time I am saying this in public… since an AFC man had voted to overthrow the government, the AFC should take responsibility for that, since the vote of no-confidence was against the President and prime minister, along with the government; therefore, the AFC should immediately step forward and reassert confidence in its leadership,” Nagamootoo said.
The prime minister said that there are certain protocols and standards when being a government official.

“There has to be a process of self-monitoring, and in my situation I am a team player. When the AFC nominated me initially, their nomination was for me to be the presidential candidate and at the Cummingsburg Accord, I decided on being prime minister,” underscoring his actions as a team player. Nagamootoo described President Granger as an outstanding statesman and called on the electorate to support the coalition government.