At the People’s Progres-sive Party/Civic (PPP/C) rally held at Stewartville, West Coast Demerara yesterday, former president of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo urged the armed forces to “think before you vote.”
Reminding them about the hardships they faced under the People’s National Congress (PNC) government, he said there has been a major attempt to capture the hearts and minds of soldiers by the inclusion of ex-military people in the Opposition coalition – APNU+AFC.
The disciplined services are going to the polls a week before May 11 and Jagdeo said: “And I say to the soldiers and policemen…you sit down and decide who had always supported you.”
He mentioned that in 1990 the entire capital budget for the whole Army was $300,000 and that in 1991 that budget was $675,000 for the whole Army to buy equipment while in 1992 after the PPP/C took office it grew to $6M.
According to him, “Today the salary of the lowest person in the Army, a Private, if we look at his yearly salary, it is bigger than the entire budget in the Army of 1990 and 1991.”
He said that the opposition’s only legacy to the army and police was to push them to steal ballot boxes.
Jagdeo said too that many of them were forced to leave the country because they were bypassed by political commissars who were sent from the YSM into the army.
He urged the soldiers and the police not to listen to the rhetoric of the opposition because they are “trying to play on your fear. They want when they come on the streets, the soldiers and policemen will stay quiet, they wouldn’t do anything, they wouldn’t perform their duties.”
According to him, “How can they say they love you today and treated you with so much disdain? Soldiers didn’t have enough to eat in the military, they didn’t have equipment, didn’t have clothing to wear.”
In recent days, Jagdeo attracted controversy for saying that if the opposition alliance won the elections citizens faced the prospect of kick down the door attacks by military personnel. After former Chief of Staff Gary Best endorsed the opposition alliance, Jagdeo said the army under Best’s tenure had not been keen to go after criminals. He also questioned Best’s source of wealth.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo, called on the international observers to pay attention to the ballot boxes on May 11 because “we know what happen in 2011.”
He alleged that in some villages “they threw our polling agents out or where we didn’t have polling agents, the vote went up from an average of 74% to 95%. They stuffed the boxes in those areas. We have to guard against that happening again.”
He also wants the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to publish every instruction given to presiding officers “so that they do not act capriciously and if they do, GECOM must publish in the newspapers the penalties and jail term associated with tampering with the poll.”
Meanwhile, Jagdeo recalled that on October 12, 2012, the Alliance For Change issued an ultimatum to President Donald Ramotar to dismiss Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee or “you’re gonna see the consequences…”
He reminded the supporters that the road at Agricola was subsequently blocked and women and children were stranded and there was unrest.
Meanwhile, Ramotar told the huge crowd that, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, he would never give an illegal instruction to them.
He said the PPP/Civic has always been looking at the interest of the armed forces and that over the last few years they invested more than $2.5 B for improved services.
Prime ministerial candidate, Elisabeth Harper, said she has joined the PPP/C because it has the interest of all the people at heart.
She told the massive crowd that the elections are important as they would decide the future for the progress of the country and that they cannot afford to lose the gains the PPP have made in the last two decades.
She urged them not to be complacent but to go early to their place of poll and to also go boldly and peacefully to cast their vote, putting the X next to the cup.
