As the nation approaches Local Government Elections (LGE) on June 12, the Opposition APNU wants Guyanese to reject the PPP’s desire, which it says is to “dominate and control” all aspects of people’s lives.
In a press statement yesterday, the office of the Leader of the Opposition noted that “in this LGE we are voting against PPP’s bribery and coercion of voters, PPP’s incompetence in dealing with high food prices and the rising cost of living, and PPP’s disregard for the plight and struggles of ordinary people across the country”.
APNU reminded GECOM and the Guyanese people that in democratic societies, every ballot is secret, and it is a violation of people’s rights when government employees and the wider citizenry are coerced into taking a snapshot of how he or she voted to ensure people vote for the PPP. As such the opposition urged GECOM to respect the law and convention and ensure that no one is allowed to take his or her phone into the polling booth. “Failure to enforce the law will bring the credibility of these elections into question.”
The statement issued a dire warning that “great dangers” await should the PPP win any new municipality or council, and in so saying listed several examples. 1) With the growing demand for land in urban areas, the PPP’s campaign in municipalities is intended to control town councils so that they can raise property taxes and confiscate lands from those who can no longer pay or who have outstanding debts. The PPP wants your valuable land to hand over to its elite, friends, family and favorites. 2) The PPP believes in domination, not democracy and will “ruthlessly” pursue their own political and ethnic agenda. 3) The PPP has little or no interest in protecting vendors and small businesses and will continue to harass and dislocate vendors to serve the business interests of PPP business cronies. 4) The PPP has “no plan” to raise the living standard of Guyanese, to raise household income above the poverty line, to create good jobs for youths, to transform the health and education sectors, and no plan to build safe, appealing, and modern towns and communities.
As far as the opposition is concerned, these are enough reasons to vote APNU and reject the PPP.
According to the release, the PPP strategy begs several questions. “If the PPP believes it is so popular, why does it need to bribe, intimidate, and coerce voters? Why does the PPP need to dehumanise Guyanese by threatening to take food out of their mouths and the mouths of the children unless they wear a red T-Shirt, attend PPP meetings and vote for them?
In contrast, APNU painted itself as the party of “inclusive prosperity and good governance.” It touted its “National Community Enhancement Plan” which it described as an attempt to transform communities into living spaces that are “safe, peaceful and pleasing, clean and healthy, physically appealing, socially inclusive and cohesive, and vibrant and buoyant.”
It went on to explain that the aforementioned plan targets several critical areas, such as: 1) the expansion of the financial, technical, and administrative capacity of villages and town councils through such actions as “massively” increasing government subventions to all municipalities, NDCs, and village councils. As well as conducting regular training of council staff and paying councillors and staff at the level of public servants to attract skills. This it opined, will “reboot” local democracy. 2) APNU wants to resuscitate and expand the Rural Agricultural Infrastructure Development programme (RAID) to ensure rural communities can optimally exploit their land resources and agriculture potential. 3) Establish Land Maintenance and Enhancement work crews in NDCs and villages who will be permanently employed and funded by the Central Government. 4) Construct multi-purpose recreational facilities as sites for school sports and community activities. 5) Retrain and reorient the police force towards community-oriented policing. 6) Establish a small-grants programme to support grassroots-organized initiatives aimed at building community spirit. And 7) Urban renewal and repurposing with understanding that Georgetown and other towns must be modernized.
The statement also assured that “no town, community or village will be marginalized because of its voting pattern or location.” Such activity it stated, “has no place in a democratic society.”
