Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Sunday dismissed a statement from the opposition condemning the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) use of the state-owned Arthur Chung Conference Centre to host its congress and display its flag as “pure nonsense” and “pettiness”.
Jagdeo pointed out that the building, which is currently being used as the Parliament of Guyana, is a conference centre and is rented out for various activities, including weddings and other events.
“It was the National Convention Centre, built by the People’s Progressive Party in a time when I was president. They changed the name to the Arthur Chung Conference Centre. That’s what they did here. Like they did lots of name changes, put names on buses and stuff like that. But that’s all it is… It is a convention centre. We rented a convention centre. You know what convention centres are rented for? You rent it for people to hold activities; weddings. How many weddings we’ve had here? … Pure nonsense. Utter nonsense,” he stated.
“We rented this building and decorated it with our beautiful party flags that have a meaning… The flag signifies our strength and the fight for freedom. And the red [speaks] about our struggles. And the gold is for the future; the bright future…,” he emphasised.
Jagdeo criticised the opposition for focusing on minor issues like flag flying, rather than addressing substantive matters, and stressed that the PPP has every right to use the conference centre for its activities, just like any other group or organisation in the country.
“They have nothing of substance to speak of. And so, it’s all because parliament is held here now…The building doesn’t become the Parliament Building. It’s held here… once every two months or three months. It is nonsense for a major political party to reduce itself to this sort of pettiness. It’s shocking, shocking. They couldn’t find anything of substance to talk about… It’s a convention centre. That’s what it’s built for; to hold conventions and to hold all sorts of things… the government rents it out all the time, to different people,” Jagdeo concluded.
On Saturday, the Office of the Leader of the Opposition had issued a statement expressing concern over the PPP’s use of the conference centre to display its flags, calling it a disregard for established laws and democratic principles.
“It is in this context [that] we see the practice as politically destabilising and a threat to democratic principles and practices in Guyana. We call on the PPP to end this practice immediately!” the statement read.
