APNU supporters attempt to disrupt PPP Berbice meeting

Supports of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Friday attempted to disrupt a Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) public meeting in New Amsterdam, Berbice where Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo delivered the keynote address.
Police officers were forced to caution the rowdy group which turned up with placards and started chanting during the meeting.

This, however, did not deter Jagdeo from addressing the gathering at New Amsterdam, Berbice. Jagdeo told the crowd that APNU Councillors on the NA municipality have been delivering broken promises, and from their track record, it can clearly be seen that they are incompetent. He noted that all Guyanese will experience more suffering under APNU.
“I urge you to come out and vote them out on November 12, so we can send a strong signal to them for 2020,” the Opposition Leader said, as he advised person to vote at the upcoming Local Government Elections.
He noted that at Central Government level, billions have been spent since the APNU/AFC took office, but there is nothing substantial to show for it.
According to Jagdeo, under the APNU/AFC Government, thousands of jobs have been lost, which has a direct negative impact on 150,000 persons out of a population of 750,000.
“While all this is happening there has not been a single major infrastructural development project,” he contended.
He went into details to outline the few major projects which are ongoing and said those were all started under the PPP Government.
“The Airport Expansion project was started under the PPP, the East Bank Road project was started under the PPP…We had a plan to develop a deep-water harbour here in New Amsterdam that would have created thousands of jobs…Remember in December 2016 Trotman (Raphael) said he was going to spend US$500 million to start a project in New Amsterdam from January 1, to do the deep-water harbour? Today that has disappeared. They promised 10,000 jobs there,” the Opposition Leader pointed out.
Jagdeo also made mention of the difficulties the bauxite industry is currently facing, and recalled measures which were put in place under the PPP Administration when a similar situation occurred to remedy the situation and save jobs.
The former Head of State, in his address which was tailored to expose what he referred to as an incompetent Government, explained that apart from the job losses, the entire economy is falling apart.
“If you think that we are at the end of the hardships, I just want you to know that we are just at the beginning of the hardships with this Government. We will witness more job losses, more depression and more hunger, and all because of the incompetence and corruption of this Government,” he predicted.
Jagdeo said the average Guyanese will feel the long-term damage that the current Administration is doing to Guyana.
“This damage will become profound, and the reversal of the damage will be hard to take place. By the end of four years, they would have spent one trillion dollars; that in one thousand billion dollars, and what do we have to show for it? Rice is in decline, sugar is in decline, the forestry sector is now producing half of what we used to produce, small gold mining is down, retail trading is down, construction is down. Every sector of the economy is not performing well. After spending $1 trillion of our money, we have lost 30,000 jobs since this Government came into office, although they came into office with a promise of creating more jobs,” he noted.
Jagdeo further lashed out at the current Administration, saying that both the education and housing sectors are in decline.
“We have a message for all Guyana, because we are a national party; and so I ask all of you to help on Election Day to get the PPP candidates elected, so we can strike another blow in favour of freedom, democracy and progress in Guyana,” he added.
At the meeting, PPP candidate for the constituencies of New Amsterdam also slammed the current APNU-led Municipal administration, calling for a pest control programme to be implemented in the town.
The Mayor and Town Council was criticised for its poor garbage collection system, increased property taxes, poor drainage, the poor state of the town’s cemeteries, and poor accountability of the town’s finances.
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo held a public meeting at Auchlyne Village, Corentyne, where he called for persons to go to the polls on Election Day and vote for a fit and proper persons. “It doesn’t matter if the person is from APNU, of from PPP or the AFC; once it is a fit and proper person, you vote for them,” he said.
The PPP supporters were also there, and picketed both Nagamootoo and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, who also addressed that meeting. The group was calling for the AFC to remove the names of the persons who were tricked into signing the AFC’s list of backers at Whim/Bloomfield NDC area.