As the new parliament was being convened yesterday, members of APNU-affiliate Youth Coalition for Transformation (YCT) staged a peaceful protest in front the Public Buildings to lobby the new Members of Parliament (MPs) to deal with issues that are important to the people.
According to Jermaine Grant, YCT’s Chairman, they will be in front of the Parliament Buildings at every sitting to ensure their concerns are being addressed.
Critical issues identified include an increase in public servants’ wages, a reduction of the 16% Value-Added Tax (VAT), more scrutiny of the Guyana Elections Commission, ending NCN’s radio monopoly, creating an investor-friendly atmosphere so that the country can flourish and the creation of a “people’s parliament,” where the best interest of citizens is paramount.
Executive member of the YCT Wayne Mason also said that the group made the decision to come out to support APNU’s MPs and will continue to support them at every sitting of the assembly. He added that they wanted to ensure that APNU’s parliamentarians work and table legislation with the people’s best interest at heart.
Vendor Kota Thornhill was among those present and she said she was there to have her voice heard because she felt that her livelihood was being snatched from her.
“I am a vendor all my life and now a city constable come and tell me that I can’t sell there anymore and after tomorrow I will have to move,” she explained.
Thornhill added that she was concerned about how she would go about earning a living if she had to relocate and she hoped that the present administration would do something about the situation. She said that she will wait and observe what is tabled in the newly-convened assembly and how it affects/betters the lives of vendors and the Guyanese population as a whole.
There was also a group of pensioners protesting for the first new bill to be tabled to be one to review the old age pension, to ensure them more money. They also said they were concerned that the elderly residents of the Palms geriatric home are not getting their pensions.
Famo (only name given) said, “I am pleased that our President Granger has entered Parliament to look after our rights” as she hugged a poster of APNU leader David Granger.
Arnold Sealey said that he was a miner in the interior and wanted the administration to examine the number of Brazilians in the country, since he believed that many of them are illegal immigrants who are exploiting the mining industry.
“…Many of them are taking Guyana gold and sending it to Brazil to develop their own country,” he said.
After yesterday’s sitting, as the parliamentarians were leaving many of the opposition member went to greet the crowd of persons, which chanted “People of power! No dictator!”
