– as Local Government Elections campaigns heat up

A People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Local Government Elections campaign in Bartica, Region Seven, has been met with rejection, at least by the Mayor of Bartica Gifford Marshall.
One day after the PPP public meeting was held, Marshall in a statement said the former President, now Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, on Saturday returned to Bartica – a place that remains scarred by one of the most heinous events to have occurred in Guyana under his presidency – the Bartica Massacre.

He noted that during the meeting, the opposition leader “painted a picture of gloom, pitting ‘us’ against ‘them’ and went even further in calling the President ‘useless’.”

According to him, the people of Bartica are up in arms against statements uttered by the former President. “We the people of Bartica reject his continued arrogant tirades,” he said.
He said that under Jagdeo’s presidency, Bartica was managed by a dysfunctional Interim Management Committee (IMC) and was denied Local Government participation.

“During the period, the lands in the Five Mile Scheme were sold at exorbitant prices by the PPP administration, without any infrastructure in place,” he pointed out.

Under the present A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government, a new power plant is under construction at Dagg Point, which will provide reliable electricity to Bartica. Marshall boasted too, that the new Transport and Harbours facility which is almost completed, will offer a state-of-the-art port of entry into Bartica.
“Jagdeo arrived at this very facility and walked comfortably to his vehicle parked on the wharf. Before 2015, he would have had to hop, skip and jump,” said the mayor.

He said that while Jagdeo failed to directly address issues in Bartica, the town remains a priority for the people there and when the elections are held on November 12, 2018, they will vote wisely. “We have evidently moved Bartica forward and will continue to forge ahead,” he said.