“I cannot lie to myself anymore” – former AFC MP, citing visible progress under PPP

…says APNU/AFC betrayed, failed citizens

Former parliamentarian representing the Alliance for Change (AFC) in the National Assembly during the 2015-2020 period, Reynard Ward is now throwing his support behind the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

Addressing a political meeting hosted by the PPP at Sisters Village on the East Bank of Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) on Tuesday, Ward expressed that AFC failed the citizens of this country when it was in Government in a coalition with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
“We had a bold manifesto. Youth were the focus. We promised everything. I stood here, and I made bold promises. Post 2015, I don’t have to tell you what happened, but I stayed on. In 2020, I did campaign for the coalition again because I thought that there was an opportunity for persons to change, for things to change,” Ward informed.
“I stayed out of politics for several years. And come these elections, I had to make a choice. The choice is clear. The choice that I have made, and that you are making, and that a lot of people, 90 per cent of Guyanese, will make come election day, it is clear. It is clear because of the work of His Excellency President Irfaan Ali and his team, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo and his Ministers, and all the supporters would have done for this country,” the former AFC member expressed.
He testified that over the past five years, along the East Bank of Berbice, residents would have seen tremendous development when compared to the years under APNU+AFC.
“I was always one who stood for the conditions of the road. I know the Regional Chairman, David Armogon, used to get some licks, but now I cannot say anything because he and his team would have produced what they would have done tremendous work on the East Bank.”
“You can see the progress, not only on roads, the infrastructure, the drainage and the irrigation system.”
Pointing out that the communities in this area heavily depend on agriculture, Ward highlighted that the PPP/C Government would have invested billions of dollars in the sector.
This, he said, is unlike the approach of the previous administration.
“… I asked the then Minister of Agriculture [Noel Holder] to assist farmers, but that went on deaf ears,” the former AFC parliamentarian said.
“But the PPP/C came into office, and from day one, they started to do what the people were asking for. And that is assistance – help to help them make their livelihoods better.”
He noted that under the PPP/C Administration, thousands of acres of land were cleared for farming purposes.
“And not only for one set of people, not only for one colour of people, not only for one texture, but for every single farmer. The cash grants and the flood reliefs weren’t given to ‘Tom’ that belonged to the PPP or to Jones that belonged to the PPP. It was given across the board,” Ward explained.
Meanwhile, Region Six Chairman David Armogan, who also spoke at the same meeting, recalled that even though the people on the East Bank of Berbice depend heavily on agriculture for their livelihood, between 2015 and 2020, the then Minister of Agriculture only visited the community once in comparison to scores of visits to that community by the current Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustoaha since being at the helm of that ministry when the PPP/C came into Government in August 2020.