The New Movement (TNM), a new political party promising a vision to transform Guyana for all and boasting a clean slate and young leaders in key positions, was launched on Thursday afternoon.
TNM, comprising young professionals, most of whom are doctors, said successive administrations have failed to address social issues plaguing the country and promises made during their respective tenures.
Describing itself as a non-traditional political body, the TNM said the party was founded by young professionals who want to be the change.
“For the past fifty-five years, the country has been led by political parties who divided the land with racism, encouraged nepotism and thrived on an oligarchy system riddled with corruption at the highest office. This needed to change; the country needs to move forward together and these young people saw the dire need for this to happen…,” the party’s website states.
The party leaders said the TNM is “brand new with new ideas, new mentality and a new crop of young professionals” who are willing to steer and propel Guyana into being the manufacturing hub of the South Americas and the Caribbean.
Speaking at the simple launch ceremony on Thurs-day, Presidential Candidate Dr Asha Kissoon, 30, said she never dreamt of entering the political arena but given the need for change and transformation of Guyana she has decided to step forward. “I work and I hear of the challenges everyday people face and you know people need help. Now there is a political need which we are hoping to give as the new political party,” Kissoon noted.
“In my personal journey, I never imagine standing before you today as a politician… my main distress is when I turn to the left, there is one party fighting with another. I turn to the right there [are] racial barriers. I turn to the left again, there is favouritism in the system, so because I was so tired of it, I decided to come forward and work with my colleagues to achieve the vision that we have,” Kissoon, who currently works as a doctor at the Georgetown Public Hospital, explained.
The presidential candidate, who grew up volunteering, said with her new platform she hopes to address pressing issues, such as domestic violence, violence against children and poverty.
“We have solutions for it on how to find jobs for women… how to bring them out of poverty and set them on a road for prosperity,” she noted.
Kissoon added that too many promises of change have been made to the population by other political parties. “…We want improvements. Change has been promised to us 100 times… what we need [are] improvements in Guyana,” she said.
The symbol of the party is an eagle, Kissoon noted, and it illustrates the vision of what the party can do for Guyana. “The eagle is able to rise above destruction and that is what we believe that we should rise above,” she noted.
The vision of the party is to improve the delivery of healthcare by having specialised hospitals in every region of the country; reform the education system by paving the way for nontraditional methods of teaching in schools; research and development of technology; constitutional and prison reform; and creation of jobs through the hemp industry and the construction of an oil refinery.
“Every promise that we make to you, we have a solution which is a strategic plan to tell you how we are going to do it. We have the exact cost, how many jobs will be created…we have our road map to prosperity which will benefit all Guyanese,” Kissoon disclosed.
Dr Turhane Doerga, who is well known in the rice industry and had been a supporter of the coalition government, is the founder of the party, according to a TNM Facebook post.
However, when asked about his position in the party, Kissoon said he is a supporter. “He is just supporting us, a hundred percent. He doesn’t want any position or anything. He saw our team and said he was impressed with what we were doing and he said he is going to support us,” she noted.
Addressing the gathering, Doerga said the newly formed party will be a challenge to the major political parties as he was confident that with youth on its side, it will be able to make an impact at the upcoming March 2nd, 2020 elections.
“…They will tell you it will be a straight fight between the PNC and the PPP but I have bad news for them. You don’t know these youths; they have the stamina, they have endurance…,” he said.
He explained that he has decided to endorse the party “because this is the second time I am seeing young people saying enough is enough… They are all young people and we are living a different age… They have the drive to take Guyana forward.”
Doerga stressed further, that the party has “the road map to transform Guyana. They are highly educated [and have a team] with economists, sociologists, doctors and other people to make the change. Going up to elections they are going to have more business people and professionals coming on and endorsing them… because this is the team that will bring the change…”
Also speaking briefly during the launch was the party’s Prime Ministerial Candidate Dr Gerald Forde, who was describe as a passionate community activist. He said that the Guyanese population has been divided for too long by major political parties and that has been its downfall. Forde is no stranger to politics as he had in the past contested for a seat on the Golden Grove/ Diamond Place Neigh-bourhood Democratic Council as an independent candidate at the Local Government Elections.
Forde also noted that there is no economic liberation for the average man, which his party wants to change.
Financing for the party, Kissoon said, is being secured through funding raising activities. She said that the party has committed to not accepting any large sums in the form of donations. “We have not been accepting big donations from anybody because as young people we believe we have to do it ourselves and break the culture of handouts and collecting money,” she said when asked about campaign financing.
