President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday refuted reports that he is planning to run for a third term as head-of-state of Guyana.
Jagdeo made the denial while referring to an article in Thursday’s edition of Stabroek News, which he said quoted sources from a recent Freedom House meeting. “I have made it clear that that is not true. I am not interested. I am not going anywhere for a third term,” he said, addressing a large gathering of residents of Linden at a return visit at the Watooka Club. He added that he had made this statement numerous times publicly. He said that the Stabroek News is not interested in the truth but rather in fabricating stories. “For them it is more important to sell their newspapers than to report on the truth,” he added.
Jagdeo noted that the media is guilty of not carrying the truth when a response is sent, which he says is an effort to keep the country in a state of confusion. He added that it is a position that has to change. At the time of making the statement Jagdeo was speaking of the government’s efforts to move the country forward and the many negative politics that are attempting to poison the minds of Guyanese.
There would be a need to change policies to alleviate this problem because the influence of the negative politics causes a division of the masses whose energies would have been dissipated causing persons to be unable to work together to build the country. “…They are always suspicious.
There are some among us who profit from stirring up suspicion. They profit from that they want to see people divided in our country,” he said.
He said that it is important for residents, especially the youths, to ensure that this does not happen since the future of Guyana lies in their hands.
The crowd went wild when Jagdeo referred to five known contributors to the newspapers as “some bitter old people” whose intentions are to take the country back to the past, saying that they have lived their lives and should now move on and give young people a break. “Every day they in the papers with some old story, some sour story, all kinds of stuff… and half of them are totally useless.”
Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud said the news item about the third term being raised at a Freedom House meeting was based on credible sourcing.
