The Alliance for Change (AFC) said it is against government’s decision to impose higher electricity tariffs on a socio-economically battered community like Linden, and supports the right to peaceful protest action by residents.
In a press statement issued last week following the protest in Linden, the party said, that under normal circumstances residents in the mining town would not have reacted in such a desperate manner over the increase.
AFC said times have changed drastically, and asserted that no caring government would think of imposing such steep charges for electricity on residents in hard-hit Linden.
“The ad hoc and arbitrary manner in which the PPP/C regime is approaching a very sensitive issue that affects the lives of thousands of distressed persons is nothing short of unconscionable,” the party statement said.
According to the party, years of economic decline in the bauxite industry; the resulting high levels of unemployment; the social and economic hardship that is experienced by residents in Linden; and the inability of LEAP to live up to expectations to bring improvement to the community, all have had an accumulative effect on the socio-economic fabric of its citizens.
The party said when bauxite attracted high export earnings for Guyana, the people of Linden and Guyanese shared in the prosperity, adding that now the fortunes of the bauxite industry are bleak, government should cut Lindeners some slack.
Further, AFC said, it supports the peaceful protest action by the citizens and urged government to support their claim for relief.
The party asked rhetorically how much more should the people of Linden take without raising their united voices.
