Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo was on Sunday evening snubbed by residents of his home village — Whim, on the Corentyne Coast in East Berbice — when he turned up to host a political meeting ahead of today’s Local Government Elections.
Villagers and supporters of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP) also picketed the Prime Minister upon his arrival on home turf.
Guyana Times understands that Nagamootoo was forced to postpone a rally on Saturday after hundreds of PPP supporters turned up at a rally being kept a short distance away. That rally was addressed by former Health Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy, PPP Executive Secretary Zulifikar Mustapha, and former AFC member Veerasammy Ramayya.
On Sunday, members of the PPP chanted, “No, Nagamootoo!” “Nagamootoo not wanted in Whim!” and, “Whim is for PPP!” as they demonstrated along the
Some PPP supporters picketing the PM on Sunday
Corentyne Highway at Whim.
The two parties have been fighting for the support base of Whim ever since Ramayya broke away from the PPP and joined the AFC, more than a decade ago.
Ramayya, a native of Whim, like Nagamootoo, had been able to get hundreds of PPP supporters to switch to the AFC in the 2015 General Elections — a move which is being considered a huge contributory factor to the PPP being removed from power.
At the last Local Government Elections, PPP took most of the seats in the Whim- Bloomfield Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC). After that race, Ramayya rejoined the PPP in its bid to regain office.
The AFC has since been trying to pull most of the support from that community, mainly because the Prime Minister is from that village. However, only recently, scores of residents of Whim sought the intervention of the High Court to have their
Some of the residents who came out to listen to the message brought by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo
names removed from an AFC list, claiming they were tricked into signing AFC forms.
Residents told this publication they were trying to have their names removed from the list because of the stigma attached to the coalition party.
Meanwhile, the AFC is in a battle to gain control of the NDC at the polls, as the Prime Minister’s credibility seems to be on the line.
