Wading into the Opposition APNU+AFC for telling “untruths” about inequality and not doing its part in trying to bring unity since he took office, President Irfaan Ali on Monday challenged opposition supporters to judge him by his actions and to fact-check assertions from the opposing party.
Ali on Monday addressed the nation on the one-year anniversary of his presidency which was followed by a press conference that included local and regional journalists. During the press conference he said that he “side- tracked” to address a number of “untruths” being peddled by the opposition, some of which he said were belittling opposition supporters for accepting government grants.
Reference was made to Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon’s Emancipation Day programme where he raised a number of issues and criticised the PPP/C’s distribution of COVID-19 and flood relief grants and aid to communities, saying that strongholds of the APNU+AFC were being discriminated against.
Harmon raised concerns also over government’s announcement of $7 billion in flood relief saying that the party fears that the same fate will face opposition supporters during distribution.
The Opposition Leader has repeatedly asserted that the government’s relief programme is rolled out in a discriminatory manner and that some areas in regions Four and Ten feel the brunt of this action.
But Ali averred that when aid programmes are designed by his government, it is to meet the needs of all Guyanese and that they are never crafted to be discriminatory.
The President posited that Harmon’s equating of aid to the vulnerable and those affected as welfare-like or making them dependent “on handouts,” was a condescending act and insulting to a people hard hit.
“He insulted communities saying that or implying that we’re making these communities receptive of handouts… and not building their economic independence. He don’t understand the functioning of an economy, the concept of wealth transfer, he don’t understand the concept of bridging the inequality gap. He don’t understand the concept of putting back more disposable income in the pockets of people…,” the President rebutted.
Ali compared social policy decisions of his government to that of the APNU+AFC saying that his gives back to the people while the other was based on over-taxing the people.
“Maybe in his head, taking away from the people in taxes was giving them independence,” he said while contending that APNU+AFC “lavishly” gave “selected few” in their government.
“When policies favour the better off in a society that is not referred to as handouts. But from the time you give the poor, from the time you support the poorer sections of the society, from the time you support vulnerable communities, they call it handouts.
“Well that is not handouts. Those are policies and programmes to secure the welfare of the people. It is part of social transformation. It is part of social transport. It is an integral part of an economic system of governance. Do not dare insult those people about handouts….,” an impassioned Ali declared.
