Targeting traditional strongholds of the People’s National Congress (PNC), General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday appealed to voters to trust their representatives with tackling issues in their respective municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils.
Jagdeo made the call as he announced that the party is currently finalising its list of representatives for the upcoming local government polls on June 12. He was at the time speaking at a press conference at the party’s headquarters at Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown.
“We have never won these areas. We are hoping politically that the people will give us an opportunity in these areas to prove that we can put together a stronger development plan and implement it …” Jagdeo explained.
The party is gearing up to contest in all 80 Local Authority Areas (LAA) in the country and will soon launch their elections campaign.
“…We are getting ready. We have already been assessing candidates across the country. We haven’t decided firmly, the executive of the party will meet… in the next couple of weeks to look at all the candidates… we are consulting with all the candidates in the areas across the country… settling on all the areas,” Jagdeo explained as he spoke of their process.
He said too that their list of candidates also attracts former APNU members and councillors who have expressed their willingness and interest to campaign for the party.
In this upcoming election, the party’s General Secretary said they are hoping to make inroads in areas they would have never been able to control since post-independence. He mentioned targeting areas such as Linden, New Amsterdam, and Georgetown.
Asked what his party is promising to city residents and what they can expect from a PPP/C-led council should they gain control from the PNC, the General Secretary said, “Greater accountability in the City Council, greater accountability and stewardship of the funds of the City Council. Once there is greater accountability, [there] is an increased flow of money to the City Council itself, because right now, there is no accountability here.” He added that with better accountability, there would be a greater level of development.
In the same breath, he took jab at the current management of the city’s affairs and accused councillors of lacking vision to transform the development of the city.
“The group in the City Hall is not at all focussed on development. It is an attitude, it’s a mindset. If you are focussed on development, like when I drive down the road now… I can see 10 different sets of problems… Those people drive past they don’t see it’s a mindset you have to have for development. And they don’t have that mindset. The PNC does not have it,” he asserted.
He noted that despite the fact that residents are paying taxes, they are not receiving any service from the money they are paying to the City.
According to Jagdeo, the central government has been footing the bill for matters the city should have been able to handle.
Almost
“Almost the whole city is taken over by central government. If you look at the improvements right now, the central government does it all. All the city council does is collect the taxes and spend on themselves on wages”, he contended.
It is in this vein, he stressed, that they are working to change the leadership of the council. He promised that should they move into the leadership of the city, they will bring the “dynamism and accountability” being seen at the national level.
He pleaded with voters to not vote based on history but rather the record of accomplishment they have been seeing across the country.
Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall, earlier this month informed GECOM that June 12, 2023, has been selected as the date for the long overdue Local Government Elections (LGE).
