‘A history of lies’
General Secretary of the PPP/C, Bharrat Jagdeo has urged Guyanese not to be misled by APNU, as the track record of its performance is there for everyone to assess
General Secretary of the PPP/C, Bharrat Jagdeo has urged Guyanese not to be misled by APNU, as the track record of its performance is there for everyone to assess

– Jagdeo slams APNU for ‘false promises,’ says PPP has a winning track record
– outlines massive development plans for Region 10

THE People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) from its initial years in office and later under the guise of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition, created a track record filled with false promises, poor planning and policies, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has said.

Jagdeo urged Guyanese not to be misled by APNU, as the track record of its performance is there for everyone to assess. He said too that the party is now spreading “rumours” about the work being done by the PPP/C-led government.

Addressing a massive crowd at Linden, the General Secretary said examining the period 2015-2020, due to the coalition’s lack of foresight and poor decision-making, essential services such as healthcare, education, and infrastructure deteriorated during those five years.

The result of this period was an increasingly impoverished population that struggled to access basic necessities, Jagdeo said, adding that the PNC’s corrupt practices and favouritism towards certain individuals and groups only exacerbated the situation.

“This party [PPP/C] will keep its word… it will do what we’re promising to the people of this region… Because people in these communities have been fed a history of lies about the PPP and often that has found resonance in many years. It has caused a mind set in many people to shut out anything that the PPP/C might say because they [APNU] are spreading rumours,” the General Secretary said.

He said that one of the rumours spread by the APNU was that the PPP/C was a racist party; however, the PPP/C is one of the largest multiracial political parties in Guyana.

Jagdeo also shut down several false rumours peddled by the APNU that the PPP/C would take away the free electricity from Linden and build a road to divert persons coming to the region.
“We started rebuilding the infrastructure…. We started investing in roads, schools and hospitals and a whole lot of things again. Our track record is a record that you can run,” he said.
He added that the APNU made promises and kept none when in government for five years, instead becoming one of the most corrupt governments in Guyana’s history.

He related that under the PPP/C, the minimum wage in this country increased by 1,577 per cent.

Jagdeo said there were great acts of discrimination by the APNU+AFC government during their tenure, especially when it fired over 7,000 sugar workers and some 2,000 Amerindian Community Support Officers (CSOs), placing them on the breadline.

The General Secretary said that the PPP/C Government is keen on the importance of investing in education and creating job opportunities for the country’s youth.

Jagdeo cited specific examples of successful initiatives that have been launched in recent years and expressed a commitment to continue this work in the future.

One of those initiatives is the cash grant to parents of children attending school, which was introduced by the PPP/C to offset expenses associated with children attending school.
However, this initiative was discontinued by the former APNU regime, and was recommenced when the PPP/C returned to office in 2020.

Under the 2023 budget, parents and guardians of 214,000 schoolchildren will now receive $40,000, which amounts to $8.6 billion.

BILLIONS OF DOLLARS
According to Jagdeo, the education grant, the income-tax threshold adjustment, the salary adjustment, and the expansion of the part-time job programme are part of the billions of dollars being put back into the pockets of people, as the government seeks to increase disposable income.

He added that in just two years, under the PPP/C, thousands of Guyanese benefitted from home and land ownership.

In fact, more house lots have been allocated under this administration, in just under three years than the APNU+AFC did in five years.

The PPP/C, in its manifesto, promised to provide 50,000 house lots during its first five years in office. The lots allocated to date total some 22,500.

In Linden especially, Jagdeo said that APNU did nothing for housing, but instead allegedly handed out lands to its party members and close friends.

“They didn’t see it fit to give lands to the ordinary people. When we came into the office what was the difference? Immediately, we started expanding another 400 plots of land at Amelia’s Ward Phase Four and over $400 million will be spent on that,” he said.

At the end of five years, Jagdeo said that nearly 1,600 persons from Linden will have a plot of land, which marks a huge difference from the APNU.

Addressing jobs and youth, he reminded the gathering that APNU closed the call centre, putting many Lindeners on the breadline.

“We lost jobs in Linden, we lost jobs across the country under them,” he added, noting that the PPP/C implemented the part-time job programme which is now being criticised by the APNU.
Jagdeo said: “Imagine the audacity of a party that was in power for five years, created zero jobs and then criticised you for giving 1,200 persons jobs.

He added that the PPP/C rehabilitated the call centre and bolstered the agriculture sector in Linden to address the damage caused by the opposition.

Among other things, Jagdeo said that the PPP/C is currently working to build more roads and infrastructure across Guyana, especially Linden.

“This year’s budget alone for roads in Linden is more than the five years that APNU budgeted in the past. And we made a decision that only contractors from this region will get the work to build the road in this region. That’s the difference,” he said to loud applause.

Among other things being considered is building a four-lane Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge.

He urged the citizens not to call prey to the “rumour peddling” from the opposition and let the PPP/C track record speak for itself.

“Historically this has been their problem. They’re obsessing about the PPP and can’t focus on development… Don’t let those things persuade you,” Jagdeo warned.

The PPP/C is running candidates in all 610 constituencies across the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs) for the June 12 Local Government Elections (LGE). The APNU is only contesting in 279, or 45 per cent of the 610 constituencies and 24 LAAs.

Georgetown and Linden have traditionally been two opposition-dominated areas, however, the APNU has lost support in those areas at successive LGEs.

Aside from Georgetown and Linden, the PPP/C has also made inroads in a number of other opposition-dominated areas, including New Amsterdam.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.