REGION One residents, confident of victory at the upcoming polls for the PPP/C, on Tuesday lined the streets from the Mabaruma and Port Kaituma airstrips to their communities to welcome presidential candidate Donald Ramotar and other candidates. Shouting “We on the winning side”, part of the lyrics sung by Progress Youth Organisation Port Kaituma member Pamela Calistro for the President, the residents urged each other to “Get your flag and wave for Donald.”
The President, accompanied by prime ministerial candidate Elisabeth Harper and National Top-Up List candidates, Africo Selman and Peter Ramsaroop, as well as several regional candidates, met the residents in their communities for the Region One PPP/C rallies.
The President said Amerindians had been historically neglected by the political Opposition with few developments in their communities and even the few developments did not work well. He noted that they were marginalised, as up to 1992, there was only a single Amerindian doctor and recently under this Government, 33 had graduated.
“They ain’t got no shame,” the President said of the Opposition now trying to convince Amerindians that they care after axing funds from the budget for key projects that would have benefited them, including the Amerindian Development Fund.
“They have a mentality that if they make things bad in the country, they are making it good for themselves.”
He noted that they have sidelined and disrespected Amerindians on their candidates lists, noting that was why Africo Selman left. He also noted that they have Richard Allen and Sydney Allicock on their regional lists as candidates, but they too will become unimportant when the PPP/C wins the regional seats.
“Over the last 65 years, we in the PPP/C have stood by you. The Opposition had abused our people…Now we ask you to stick by us for an overwhelming victory come May 11.”
Ms. Harper noted that the PPP/C doesn’t want power they “want to continue with the incredible progress that started in 1992 throughout the length and breadth of this country. Progress is for everybody. No one [will be] left behind. [We] want to ensure jobs [are] created and gainful employment in their own businesses,” she said, adding that there are new industries opening up as Government continues to explore the country’s potential.
She commended the Blue Flame Women’s Group in the region who are engaged in making products from Crabwood. “We have to realise that Guyana has so much potential, and we have to begin to embrace that belief; we have to believe in ourselves; we can do so much to become a developed country…our people are bright…So many of you will be voting for the first time; go home and think about the issues that you have read and will read in the PPP/C’s Manifesto; what we want to give to you people to remain in this country and build Guyana,” she said, adding that among those considerations is the provision of scholarships for hinterland students, including athletic scholarships.
“This party has a concern for vulnerable groups in our society,” she said, noting that prevention of domestic violence is high on the agenda for the next term, as well as elderly persons who are differently abled, employment for the physically challenged and give employers incentives to hire people who are differently-abled.
She also pointed out that there will be improved ferry services with a new vessel for the region and Government is investing heavily in the road networks.
She said as these developments are taking place, her party is sensitive to the crime situation. “We need to live in a safer, more secure environment, to aggressively pursue measures with law enforcement to allow for a more professional police service and to equip the police and army with more resources to execute functions. Police are humans too with wants, needs and desires as others, so their welfare and interest are important to the Government and caters to their welfare.”
She said her party’s presence in the hinterland is “not just for campaigning, but a signal of long- term commitment to develop Guyana. So go out early to cast your ballots. Don’t be intimidated by anyone. Go in groups so we can secure victory for you and your children and for the PPP/C to continue the progress it has started.”
Addressing the people at Mabaruma, former A Partnership for National Unity Member of Parliament, Victor Fernandes said he left that party because of the progress he has seen under this Government in Region 1, particularly in health and education. Paul Pierre also echoed Fernandes’s sentiments, noting that 57 primary schools have been built in Region 1 and all of them have trained teachers. “Each community has a school and we have more than 30 teachers studying in Georgetown. We now have health centres and a doctor in every health centre,” he said, adding that the Mabaruma Hospital has also been significantly improved and now offers new services such as ultra sound.
Referring to the APNU campaign slogan “It is time to respect Amerindian rights,” the Chairman said…“Time to respect Amerindians started in 1992, not now like they now wake up; Amerindians started getting respect and [had] their integrity restored in 1992. We’re now more educated and more healthy. Don’t take chances with your future…the cup is the future of this country,” he said.
Notably present at the meetings were youths, many of whom will be first-time voters. Patrick Ashley, a youth from the PYO addressed the gathering and urged his peers to vote on the basis of the progress they have seen and not the empty promises they are receiving from the political Opposition.
Meanwhile, Ms. Selman, who left the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change to join the PPP said her decision was due to the fact that “I am tired of the corruption and the confusion in the alliance; they are the ones who have to learn to respect Amerindian people and their rights.” She said that given the number of Amerindians that were in the AFC, she expected greater attention to be paid to Amerindian development, but “they are only concerned with themselves. I have seen Amerindian women trampled on, beaten up and kicked out of their houses and they had no place to go before 1992, because there was no Amerindian Affairs Ministry. How can they say there’s no respect for Amerindians now?”
She noted that “Our future is secure with the PPP/C with the visionary leader H.E. Donald Ramotar. Whichever group you belong to you have a part to play to ensure the future of this country continues. Do not be swayed by people who come to “sweet talk” you. You have to protect your dignity and your children…and so when the alliance for corruption decided to cut the Amerindian Fund they cut a part of me and so I decided that I will not stay with a coalition that treats the Amerindian people like that…we have a duty to protect Amerindian people, especially children and women and so we are protecting our right to security and respect, a respect that was given to you by the PPP/C.”
Speaking to the PPP/C Manifesto, Guyana Version 2.0, Peter Ramsaroop, candidate on the National Top Up List for the PPP/C, said that included therein is improved transportation services that will open more markets for areas such as Region 1, which is remote.
“Regions such as Region 1 with cash crops and cocoa and cassava will see the benefits and you will have more money in your pockets and you will be able to build your homes and have better lives; and that is what Vision 2. 0 is all about,” he said, noting that the more cassava we grow, the more waste we get out of it, and more these communities will grow and this will result in new industries being opened up and additional career prospects for youths.
“Don’t make any U turn now. We can’t go backwards. Make sure those two jokers don’t get back in Parliament to cut any budget,” he said, referring to the coalition’s leadership.
Another candidate, Collin Croal, said that the party’s promotional materials were destroyed and no assistance was rendered by the police. He urged all of Region 1 to be respectful of each other’s right to participate in political movements of their choice and to express their support respectfully. In the last elections, the PPP/C fell short of 16 votes to get both seats in Region 1.
Regional Candidate Wilbert DeSantos, speaking at Port Kaituma, also noted that “things were bad in those days and the Amerindian people were not even counted as a race. They called us illiterate…People, today we can lift our heads high because we have Amerindian doctors, teachers, health workers, ministers and so on. Today there’s a change under the PPP/C…Indeed we are on the winning side.”
He recalled the horrors of having his home raided when flour was banned and having to eat rice as a constant staple since there were limited alternatives. He also noted that the schools were few and deplorable.
Similar sentiments were expressed by Mr. Fermin Singh, who said the PPP/C has impacted development in Region 1 significantly.
These developments include the linking of several communities via road, according to Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker, who noted that a road was cut from Baramita to Matthews Ridge, which has cut travel from about two days to one and a half hours.

“The PNC is in a state of denial, but we want them to know that nothing they did ever worked,” he said, referring to the cassava and orange juice factories, as well as an initiative to produce cotton.
It is therefore necessary for persons to vote them out, according to regional candidate Shem Cuffy, who urged youths to choose progress under the PPP/C and benefit as he did from a high standard of education, the University of Guyana graduate noted.