A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) yesterday said that the PPP/C has deliberately misled residents in several Region Nine communities about the 2012 Budget cuts and the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project and had failed to inform them that it has yet to receive foreign funds for the LCDS.
According to a press release, Amna Ally, MP and Chief Whip of the Parliamentary Opposition accompanied by Dr George Norton, MP, and Sydney Allicock, MP, paid a three-day visit to the Rupununi, in the wake of a PPP/C visits in recent weeks.
APNU said during its interactions with residents it found that the PPP/C had “deliberately misrepresented to the indigenous communities, the cuts made to the 2012 Budget.” Ally disseminated in all the communities, extracts from the 2011 Budget speeches and photocopies of pages of the 2012 Capital Estimates as well as the relevant Project Profile pages from the 2012 Budget Estimates. “Residents of Region 9 are now convinced that the Government was intent on misleading them especially on the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) project,” the party said.
The release said Ally explained to the residents that since 2011 government announced in the National Assembly that $1.8B was used to purchase 27,000 laptops, yet no laptop was given to any resident of the Rupununi. She also explained China’s input to provide funding for the laptop project.
Further, APNU said the government has not told Region Nine residents that they are yet to receive foreign funds for the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) because it has not satisfied the requisite criteria for a drawdown. “…Gone are the days when this Government can continue to fool the people of this country. They must recognise that the Indigenous Peoples are intelligent and can certainly evaluate developments and arrive at their own conclusions,” APNU said.
Residents said that there had also been an attempt to malign the character of Allicock. However, residents said they fully support Allicock, who is “highly recognised and respected in his region” and is a capable representative of indigenous interests.
