– says URP head

By Naomi Parris
AFTER being dormant for some time, the United Republican Party has re-entered the electoral race with the theme ‘Onward, Upward May We Ever Go’ to gain the votes of Guyanese in the March 2020 polls.

Being one of the first political parties to show up at the Umana Yana on Friday to submit their list of candidates to the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) for Nomination Day, the URP is targeting both the youths and the elderly of Guyana since they believe that young people are the future and the older stalwarts are the teachers. According to Dr. Vishnu Bandhu, the presidential candidate of the URP, “The youths are the leaders of tomorrow and we would like the youths to be involved and we recognise also that without the youths, the elderly can’t survive and without the elderly, the youths can’t survive, because what the youths have is technology which is today’s world but what elderly has is experience, so if we can combine those two together, then we will be a powerful set of people.”

The URP will be contesting in both the General and Regional elections in all 10 administrative regions. Dr. Bandhu, told the Guyana Chronicle that, what sets him aside from the other political leaders is his interest in all Guyanese since he is not a believer of division and racism. “We are free-enterprise political party, a party for the people not for us, we are here to serve, not to be served and that’s the difference between the URP and the APNU/AFC and PPP/C and other parties,” he stated.

Additionally, he stated that persons must not identify themselves as Afro-Guyanese or Indo-Guyanese but as just Guyanese since we are people of ‘One Nation and One Destiny’. “We are the only political party that talks about the people in Guyana, URP does not believe in racism … as long as you are a Guyanese, you don’t have to be a member of the URP, come and work with the URP to build this country, this country is our mother land and we have to work to build it,” Dr, Bandhu stated.

As elections is being held at a crucial time, a time when Guyana has started producing oil, Dr. Bhandu noted that, the URP will not only focus on oil production, but on all the other resources, such as agriculture which he believes plays a vital role in Guyana’s development. “The URP is not focusing on oil alone, we are focusing on [what] we had before, agriculture, which is very important…oil is an addition for us,” he stated.

Mr. Eon Halls, a former member of the PPP/C who is now standing with the URP, told the Guyana Chronicle that after the last elections in 2015, he saw that the party needed him. He added that there was no conflict between himself and PPP/C and he was always a welcomed member of the URP before joining the PPP/C.

Mr. Halls, who is a Lindener, stated that, he would love to see several developmental projects in the region such as an oil refinery being built in Linden, better roads and different type of factories being built in the region so that Lindeners can benefit tremendously, hence he is standing with his close friend, Dr. Bandhu, who he believes has the best interest of the Guyanese people.

“I have pledged my entire life from 1976 to struggle for the people of Linden, even to the last drop of my blood being with other parties ….I believe in social cohesion and that is what I’ve been doing,” Mr. Halls stated.

Marcia Lewis, the deputy representative of the URP’s list of candidates, stated that like many others, she once supported another political but was disappointed and is now standing in support with the URP to see a change for the betterment in Guyana.
“I too like so many other Guyanese would have been disappointed because there were times when I would have been in support of another party but the failed promises and disappointments, I just decided to join URP and I’ve seen Dr. Bandhu work hard, many sleepless nights …and this is a man who is truly dedicated,” Ms. Lewis stated.

Judy Gordon, another supporter of the URP, stated that she joined the party to be apart of a revolutionary movement to see change in Guyana and that the URP’s aim now is to get a foot in the national assembly to make some necessary changes from within. The United Republican party was formed in 1997 in New York and once stood in solidarity with the Peoples Progressive Party to overthrow the Peoples National Congress Reform, however, the party returned in 2015 to contest against the PPP/C in the 2015 General and Regional Elections.