–Figueira says Mark Phillips, small-party candidates no match for ‘the Coalition’

By Vanessa Braithwaite

AS the countdown to the reputed ‘Mother of all elections’ begins, the one thing on everyone’s mind, more so with the recent announcement that long-time Linden resident and former Army Chief, Brigadier (rtd) Mark Phillips, is the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)’s prime ministerial candidate, is whether this ploy will compromise the thousands of votes expected from the mining community, which is a major stronghold of the ruling APNU-AFC.

Speculation is rife in some quarters that choosing Phillips is a political strategy used by the PPP to pull votes from Linden, and that should it succeed, the Coalition will be in deep trouble.
In 2015, the Coalition garnered over 16, 000 votes from Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice).

APNU-AFC officials on the ground in Region Ten are confident that the Coalition will capture even more votes than they did in 2015, and that Phillips’ candidacy will have no affect on this. In fact, many have expressed confidence that these votes of which they speak will not only be pulled from Linden alone, but from other outlying communities in Region Ten, based on the response and feedback they have been having from those communities at reference.

Speaking on the issue is Chairman of the Region Ten People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Jermaine Figueira, who is also playing an integral role in the campaigning machinery in Linden. Testimony that the Coalition’s base is still in tact, and that there is nothing to fear, is the thousand-strong supporters who travelled from the mining town in a convoy last Friday to attend the grand campaign launch.

Figueira boasted that Linden had one of the largest contingents, and that many of those persons also travelled from other communities in Region Ten to join the supporters.
He is of the firm belief that the astronomical development that has been taking place over the last four years in Linden and the wider Region Ten is what is motivating the base to give the Coalition a second chance. While many persons had expected to see much more done in Linden, he believes that that is only fair, but some of it is based on comparison to what the PPP did in their stronghold during the 23 years. “Being on the ground, while the majority of the response derived from the electorate is favourable, some people are of the belief that the government should have pumped more into Linden.

And I totally understand why they feel that way,” Figueira said, “seeing what the PPP did for their base during their tenure in office. But they did so at the expense of the rest of the country. And we in Linden felt it more; we in Linden were completely marginalised. And development coupled with economical boosters were at an all-time low, because they completely neglected us and focused on their cronies and supporters. By contrast the Coalition has tried its best to equate the pie for all Guyanese, whether you are a base fan or not, coastland or not, African or Indian.”

TOUCHED LINDENERS HEARTS
Zeroing in on some of the developments that really touched the hearts of Lindeners, figueira said that first and foremost is the effort to strengthen the community’s economy by pouring millions of dollars into the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN). Since taking office, the government first pumped some $155M into the organisation in 2015, followed by $100M in 2016; $90M in 2017; and $200M in 2018, which investment has seen over 400 residents benefiting in terms of accessing business loans. This was an avenue for Lindeners to create their own means of employment by becoming entrepreneurs and agro-processors.

The significant increase in the regional budget has also created an avenue for the funding to be trickled down to the common man, through the empowerment of local contractors, and the utilisation of local content. The 2019 budgetary allocation was $3.9M, and this significant increase, Regional Executive Officer Orrin Gordon said, should not be overlooked, since it contributes to the employment of over 1200 residents of Region Ten, and provides earning to scores more through various government projects.

Hundreds of Linden youths also received training in the areas of ICT, entrepreneurship, STEM, and agro-processing amongst other things and have testified of either becoming their own boss or being employed because of the skills they would have acquired.
In addition, infrastructural development in Region Ten has increased significantly, with many communities having roads for the first time, such as Victory Valley and Kara Kara. Again, hundreds of residents in Region Ten are now legal owners of the land on which they’d been living on for years, thanks to the intervention and regularisation efforts of NICIL. This excludes the over 400 house lots that were allocated to primarily youths since 2015 by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), despite the former administration leaving Linden with not a single developed house lot. Linden families have also benefited from the housing unit project from CHPA and LEN. The region has also benefited from decentralisation services with the construction of a passport office.

The construction of the Linden Synthetic track is also a significant development in the area of youth and sports development that residents are expressing appreciation for. In the Linden community of Amelia’s Ward alone, development is evident with the construction of roads, the installation of a new well, and the construction of two new schools, amongst other things.

These developments have also been reflected in the outlying communities of Region Ten such as in Ituni and Kwakwani.
Ituni’s campaign manager Keisha Griffith said she is confident that the base will express their appreciation for what the government would have done for the community in their votes on March 2.

She said the campaign team is fired up, and is receiving positive responses in the fields thus far.

NOTHING BUT A JOKE
Relative to Phillips, Figueira said he takes his aspiration to be the Prime Minister and more so to pull Linden votes, as a mere joke. He questioned where was he when Lindeners were marginalised over the last 23 years and nothing was done for them, and when three martyrs were gunned down during a peaceful protest in 2012, following the very same PPP Government’s proposal to hike the electricity rate in an already economically dead community, when roads and other infrastructural development was at an all-time low, and absolutely nothing was filtered into the town from Central Government.

“If Samuel Hinds, who lived and worked in Linden and consolidated with the people to some extent through his tenure at the bauxite company was never able to gain Linden votes, how does Mark Phillips, who was only born here, and has never returned to give back or build relationships or shown his support at the national front for Lindeners think he can?”

Figueira also believes that at the national level, Phillips will be of little help to the PPP, especially in pulling African votes, since he was notably quiet when over 400 Afro-Guyanese men were killed in cold blood, when rampant gold and drug smuggling was at its apex in the country, when ambassadors were being ‘cussed out’, amongst other things. Similar sentiments were shared by People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Executive Member, Rear Admiral (rtd) Gary Best, who said that Phillips is “a no contest” when compared to President Granger. Best further explained that if one were to compare the score cards of the David Granger-led Coalition government with its improvements in all areas, one would not see a “serious competition” between Phillips and the President, both retired army men.

While Phillips hails from Linden, other small parties have also picked up candidates in Linden, in an effort to capture the base and pull votes from the Coalition. At the launch of the A New and United Guyana (ANUG), Linden candidate, Akanni Blair said he is confident Lindeners will vote the opposite to what they did in 2015, since they would have expressed to him how fed up they are, and in need of real change. Despite this, less than a handful of Lindeners showed up at the launch. Change Guyana has also announced its Linden candidate and National Rugby Player Ryan Dey, with the hope that his candidacy will pull Linden votes. The Coalition team is confident, however, that they will neutralise these small parties as election comes closer.