President David Granger yesterday ended his campaign for a second term the same way he started it—by telling his supporters that he is “the man with the plan.”
Standing in the same spot where his coalition launched its re-election campaign almost two months ago at the D’Urban Park, Granger stressed that on Monday the choices are him or opposition presidential candidate Irfaan Ali. “Mek you choice,” he told the sea of people clad in green and gold who welcomed him with confetti and flags at what seemed more like a victory celebration than a pre-election gathering.
At the last elections, the APNU+AFC coalition won office by only 4,506 votes and tomorrow’s elections is effectively a two-horse race between the APNU+AFC and the PPP/C for the presidency. However, with seven new parties contesting tomorrow’s polls – including the Liberty and Justice Party helmed by Lenox Shuman which is targeting the Indigenous vote – it remains to be seen whether any party will gain enough votes to obtain a majority of seats in parliament.
Speaking last evening at APNU+AFC’s final campaign rally, Granger told the roaring crowd of thousands that Ali was nothing but a copycat and a proxy presidential candidate for his party’s General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.
He also made a point of highlighting the fact that with 36 hours left before the start of polling on Monday the People’s
(Photo from APNU+AFC Facebook page)
Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was still to release a manifesto. “This is the first time in 70 years of the PPP they have gone into elections without a manifesto and I know the reason. The reason is they have nothing to say. They have nothing to tell the people. Everything I have been saying, Irfaan has been repeating,” he declared.
Last November, the PPP/C launched an outline of its 2020 manifesto and promised that a full manifesto would be launched in January. At the time, Ali claimed that the party chose to launch an outline more than three months before the elections to allow their plans to stand the test of scrutiny.
There has, however, been no further mention of a full manifesto and Granger took the time to point out that shortcoming.
According to the incumbent, when he called on young entrepreneurs to produce plantain chips for exportation, the opposition severely criticised him but within the last month Ali told voters in Wakenaam that they would build a plantain chip factory.
“He boss accusing me of running a plantain chip economy but poor Irfaan like he ain’t tell Irfaan and he go to Wakenaam and say he gone start a plantain chip factory. I talk about free university, Irfaan talk about free university. I talk about free school feeding, Irfaan talk about free school feeding. I talk about better hinterland roads, Irfaan talk about better hinterland roads. I talk about better Technical and Vocational Education and Irfaan talk about Technical and Vocational Education. Irfaan is trying to be like me,” he declared, while explaining that the PPP doesn’t need a manifesto because the APNU+AFC is doing everything they wanted to do if they had remained in power.
“They will never get back to power,” he stressed before describing his plan for a “Decade of Development.”
‘A vision’
According to the president, during his decade of development each Guy-anese mother will wake up under a roof.
“I have a vision…I don’t want to see Guyanese women living in Plastic City,” he stressed while reiterating that his squatter relocation commission would be in place within 14 days.
Granger has promised his supporters that this commission would be in place on March 15. Also promised are conditional cash transfers for families with school-age children and access to farming lands for laid off sugar workers.
Continuing to describe his vision, Granger explained that the mother who now has her own home will when morning comes take her child to a David G bus and say ‘Go to school safely and come home safely.’
“If they don’t have a bus, they must go to a boat. If they don’t have a boat, they must go to a David G bike but they must go to school,” he reiterated.
The Public Education Transportation Service (PETS), also known as the Five Bs: Buses, Boats, Bicycles, plus Breakfast and Books initiative, has been the president’s flagship project and he has insisted that if he is granted a second term it will be expanded.
“Mommies musn’t have to worry,” he told the sea of green and yellow before adding that his government intends to make sure that each community has a nursery school so that each child can be within walking distance of such an institution.
As light rain fell on the attentive crowd, Granger contrasted his planned ‘Decade of Development’ with what he called the “the decade of death under the PPP/C led by Jagdeo.”
He blamed the former government for the 2005 flood, which took 35 lives and flooded 70,000 households.
“He knew what needed to be done with the conservancy but he wanted to spend the money elsewhere,” he said of Jagdeo, who was then president, while accusing him of negligence.
Granger stressed that even though the 2005 flood cost Guyana 60% of its GDP, that year no investigation was conducted to ascertain the cause the same way no investigation was conducted into the murder of former Minister of Agriculture Satyadeow Sawh.
“That flood was not an act of God but an act of the devil…He is the champion of bluff,” he said of Jagdeo.
‘Win it by a landslide’
Granger came to the stage after his prime ministerial candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan, in what was only the second platform he shared with the president during the campaign. Ramjattan was warmly received but failed to excite the supporters.
He declared that Guyana was on the right track under the leadership of the APNU+AFC and presented the successes of the incumbent, including the holding of local government elections twice, before urging supporters to show up to vote on Monday.
“We must win it and win it by a landslide…we are going to beat them into numbness and silence,” he told the crowd.
Also encouraging voters to turn out in their numbers was PNCR Chairperson Volda Lawrence.
The first speaker to take the stage, Lawrence bolstered that crowd and called on them to go to the polls early and “vote like a boss.”
Previously she had called on the same voters to return for a “second shift” after the close of polls.
This call was roundly condemned and only on Friday the chair of Guyana Election Commission urged all political parties to ensure their supporters don’t congregate at polling places at any time, including after the close of polling and during the tabulation of votes.
The only other speaker to take the stage was Region Nine activist Michelle Joseph, who said that the leadership of the coalition has brought a sense of hope to the region.
She stressed that in the last four years there has been significant transformation, which has moved Lethem from a dusty little place to a township with asphalted roads and lights in every street.
Additionally, she claimed that the introduction of the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) programme has changed the lives of many indigenous men and women who are now running successful businesses.
Joseph also claimed that the hinterland went from receiving filtered months old information to being properly informed due to the availability of ICT hubs and Wi-Fi and that several communities now have year-round access to safe water for the first time.
“Government cares not just for those on the coast but also for those in interior. If so much can be done in four years, imagine what can happen in the next five,” she declared.
