Ramotar promises over 1,000 new bauxite jobs for Region 10
…names industry veteran Hinds as running mate
PRESIDENT hopeful Donald Ramotar at Linden last evening named Sam Hinds as his running mate for the upcoming elections, and outlined his developmental plans for Linden and Region 10, speaking of an immediate push for the bauxite companies to explore new products.
“Tonight, I am telling you that I have chosen a man to run with me as my Prime Ministerial candidate. He is a man who has shown tremendous intelligence [and] a capacity for hard work. He has shown dedication. He has shown that he is ready and he has indicated his desire to continue to work hard on behalf of the people of this country. He is a man from Linden. He is our well-known and beloved Comrade Samuel Archibald Hinds,” said Ramotar, to loud applause from the Lindeners.
Ramotar said that Hinds has given yeoman service to Guyana and that he still has the energy and desire and the will to continue to serve Guyana. “I want Comrade Sam with me as we take Guyana to another level,” he said.
He said that immediately upon taking office, the new government that he heads will “negotiate, encourage and press the two bauxite companies that operate in Guyana to expand their production and to develop new products that will see greater value added in the bauxite industry. “We expect that we will succeed in pressing them in this direction and you can expect almost immediately…that we will create over 1,000 new jobs in this region in a very short space of time,” he said.
“I see Region 10 being pivotal to the development of Guyana. Apart from the increase in production and the new products in the bauxite industry, imagine what Linden and Region 10 will look like when we connect the road from Linden to Lethem, when that becomes a main corridor for our international trade, when that becomes linked to a deep water harbour,” he said.
Ramotar spoke of the new possibilities for the people of Linden and Region 10 that the new fibre-optic cable will create. “It will create the conditions for us to move the communities to a higher level,” he said, promising to fulfill all of the promises and projects put forward by President Bharrat Jagdeo.
He said that with the Amaila hydro project coming to fruition, the already subsidised cost of electricity to the people of Linden could be further reduced. The cheaper electricity will mean more possibilities for more manufacturing and value added activities in Linden and Region 10.
“The time is not very far off when we will not be exporting merely bauxite from Guyana. The possibility is coming for us to export alumina and aluminium from this country. Imagine how your life will change when all of these things begin to come on stream,” he said. “You will have the opportunity of earning much more by providing more and more services to the people of our country,” Ramotar said.
“We have made a lot of changes in Guyana. But most importantly for us is the fact that we have built a society in which freedom is one of the most important values that we have brought our country,” he said. “Because of that, we have been able to create the conditions for our people to produce more,” he said.
Speaking to the gathering, President Bharrat Jagdeo said that the APNU’s call on Saturday for the people of Linden to turn off their lights in a protest to the government is an attempt to return to the dark days of the past. They have no vision. They are stuck in the past, he said.
The President lashed out at the members of the Opposition parties and some media houses, which he referred to as hostile to government, vilifying those persons who might have ‘crossed the floor’ into the arms of the PPP/C.
He said that for those who believe the PPP/C Government discriminates, they are right. “We discriminate in favour of women and children and the poor. This is what our party stands for. We don’t discriminate against people because of their race, or how they look, or their religion,” he said.
Other speakers at the Linden rally included Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, Robeson Benn and Phillip Bynoe.