PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo last week said that it was wrong for one of the party’s councillors on the isle of Wakenaam to link access to a state cash grant with the purchase of tickets for a hotdog sale.
People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Councillor and activist on the Essequibo River island, Sadiq Ahmad had been recorded as threatening to remove recipients from the April cash grant list if they did not support a hotdog sale in aid of the PPP.
On the sidelines of a press conference at Freedom House, when asked about the incident, Jagdeo said, “People do this all the time from the other side. This guy he did something. There is no connection, if he links (the) cash grant to buying tickets from the government or the party then he should not have done so, and it is wrong. So as General Secretary, I’m saying that because we don’t connect benefits of the state to doing anything for the party. We have thousands of people around this country who because of our congress are engaged in party activities raising funds. They have one guy … who made that statement so it’s not something that we support, in fact we condemn it.”
In the recording, Ahmad could be heard saying, “Good morning comrades, I was made to understand that some people are refusing to buy the hotdog tickets, as it relates to the PPP. I want to see the list of names of people who buy the hotdogs, and if those persons who refused to buy the hotdogs and they are on this cash grant list that the government is going to give in April, I’m going to remove their names for failure to support the PPP. And I serious, I’m not making joke”
When contacted by this newspaper for a response to the recording, Ahmad said that he had no comment.
APNU+AFC Shadow Minister of Local Government and Regional Development with responsibilities for Region Three, Ganesh Mahipaul, stated on his Facebook page that it had come to his attention that Ahmad had shamelessly abused his position by threatening to remove persons from the April Cash Grant recipients list unless they supported hotdog venture.
“This blatant misuse of power and manipulation of taxpayer-funded aid is a disgrace to our democratic principles,” he added.
