High Commissioner of Guyana to Canada Harry Narine Nawbatt has been campaigning for the PPP/C in Amerindian villages in Region Nine as the ruling party goes all out to gather support from a pivotal segment of voters.
Nawbatt accompanied Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett as they campaigned in indigenous communities over the past several days in Region Nine. Nawbatt’s role as a former Executive Director of the Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP), which had undertaken a number of development projects in those communities, was emphasised as he sought to convince attendees at the meetings that they should vote for the PPP/C. Observers say it is unusual that a lead envoy at an overseas mission would be deployed for partisan campaigning at home, more so as he was also formerly the head of the social relief programme, which entailed neutrality.
While he has been in the interior, Nawbatt’s presence in Guyana has not been declared or explained by the government.
At a meeting in Aishalton, at which Stabroek News was present, Nawbatt while acknowledging that the PPP/C is not perfect, said that the party “is perfect with respect to their treatment of Amerindian communities.” The party is also “perfect” in many other ways, he said. He also accused the PNC of discrimination and told those attending the meeting that that party chose persons for scholarships based on their political affiliation. The PPP/C does not discriminate, according to Nawbatt.
The PPP/C campaign meeting piggybacked on a graduation ceremony for Community Support Officers who were trained in ICT since last year and Nawbatt said that he understood that the graduation was funded by the Basic Needs Trust Fund and he looked forward to when someone from Amerindian community can hold the position of Prime Minister or even President. He encouraged their support of the government.
At another meeting in Karaudarnau, at which Stabroek News was also present, Nawbatt’s pitch for support of the PPP/C was not as explicit as in Aishalton. He hailed Rodrigues-Birkett, who worked under him at SIMAP, and said that she was the youngest Foreign Affairs Minister in the entire region. “I’d like to encourage you to make certain that your children benefit from the educational opportunities that are being offered by this government,” he also said, while noting that he understood that the Amerindians receive uniforms and hot meals. He encouraged the villagers to aim to follow in the footsteps of Rodrigues-Birkett and aim even higher.
Also pitching for the PPP/C was former Regional Chairman under the PNC administration Patricia Fredericks. “Nobody didn’t drag me, no one paid me to come here,” she said, while adding that she counts herself as a leader and feels that it is her duty to come and explain to the people why they should support the PPP. She said there has been development under the PPP/C. She also raised the issue of budget cuts by the opposition and said the four Amerindian parliamentarians on the opposition side “could have prevented that” but didn’t and now they are coming and saying “all sort of things.”
An employee of the Ministry of Public Works told the Aishalton residents that the opposition is playing at “sweet boy politics” and would not live up to its promises. “They treat us bad and we will treat them back the same way” on elections day, he said.
Rodrigues-Birkett told the Aishalton residents that elections are being held earlier than planned “because of what the opposition has done.” She said the APNU+AFC alliance is asking persons to forget the past but said that its past is an ugly past. “They used to beat up our friends,” she said. “My friend High Commissioner Nawbatt, he was beaten up quite a few times.”
The Foreign Affairs Minister said the PNC made Guyana a very poor country. “If they punished Guyana, the people they punished the most was the Amerindian people,” she added as she mentioned the state of the education system under the PNC and said now there are 400 primary schools in the hinterland.
“It is time they apologise for the things they did to us,” she said, while adding that the opposition is arrogant and does not want to apologise. Rodrigues-Birkett spoke at length about the budget cuts and heavily criticised the opposition for its actions. She also highlighted the Amerindian MPs on the opposition voting in support of cuts of allocations that would have gone towards Amerindian development. “We were shocked to see our own Amerindian” parliamentarians vote no on the Amerindian Development Fund, she said. The opposition has maintained that the cuts were due to a lack of accountability by government for the spending and fears of misuse.
The Foreign Affairs Minister attacked the opposition. “Comrades these people are wild,” she declared. She said that the Amerindians ask for ATVs and other vehicles and equipment and the PPP/C government can only say yes to these requests when it has a majority.
In Karaudarnau, Rodrigues-Birkett also alleged that the opposition would shut down the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs. She also continued with her statements of the PNC “beating up” PPP/C activists and said that the PNC used to hand-pick toshaos. She made a number of other criticisms.
Rodrigues-Birkett said that the PPP/C will continue to solve land issues and will bridge the Essequibo River at Kurupukari as well as give out laptops, solar panels, among other things, such as the presidential grant, but needs a majority in parliament. “We have you in our heart, we have you as our priority,” the minister said as she pleaded for their votes.
