PPP to include more civil society members for LGE – Jagdeo

In a strategic political move, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) announced plans to change the system by which it chose persons to represent the Party at the Local Government level.
As such, the Party is looking to balance its list of candidates by having 50 per cent come from within the Party and 50 per cent from civil society, to contest the Local Government Elections (LGE) on November 12, 2018.
PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo said that his Party would ask possible candidates who were going to be on the list if they would have the time to serve or volunteer for these positions.
“We are going to ask them right up front … because they may not have the time and the work of the NDC (Neighbourhood Democratic Councils) or the municipality would suffer,” he stated.
Jagdeo said the idea of balancing the slate was to ensure that there were present people directly from the communities who have skills and could relate to the community and push to have them improved.
“These are people who are known in the area, people of good repute, law-abiding citizens who have done community work, religious leaders, young people in the youth movements,” he explained.
The PPP General Secretary said one of the major constraints was Councillors having little time to attend meetings because elected officials do not earn salaries and so many of them are “busy earning a living elsewhere”.
“…they have to give a commitment that they will support and defend the positions we campaign on.”
In each of the 81 areas, communities will do their own selection and screening of all of the candidates at the bottom and then in consultation with the Party leadership.
He said, “We’ll select the final, but it’s better because they know the people on the ground rather than Freedom House centrally trying to decide who will be the candidate.”
Candidates, he said, would be expected to possess good interpersonal skills and have a sound grounding in the communities where they reside, especially to prevent the PPP being labelled for something bad.
In preparation for these elections, the Party has launched its campaign in all 10 Administrative Regions throughout Guyana. The first meeting was held in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne). Meetings were held at Number 70 Village, Number 56 Village, Hogtown Chesney, and Hampshire.
Jagdeo has pointed out that the Party was implementing a 12-point criteria list for choosing persons to represent their constituencies at the upcoming elections. Addressing a crowd of about 400 at Number 70 Village, Jagdeo said one of the criteria was to ensure widespread consultation to select a representative.
“We don’t want the people who are selected to represent you in an area to be selected by a small group of people of the party group alone. We want widespread consultation with our people in the areas, so that the people that we select are the best people we put forward,” he stated.
The Opposition Leader asked all to participate in the process and said by August 18, the names of those selected should be submitted to the Party’s head office.
PPP Executive Member Zulfikar Mustapha explained that the Kilcoy-Chesney NDC area was critical to the Party.
“In 1994, when we had Local Government Elections, we had a tie in this NDC [Fyrish/Gibraltar] and we went back to a by-election and we won it… At the last Local Government Elections in 2016, we had another tie and instead of the Government and the Ministry of Communities go back to a by-election, the Minister decided to choose the APNU [A Partnership for National Unity] to appoint a Chairman and a Vice Chairman.”
The PPP has also launched its election campaign in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) and in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) where Jagdeo and others met with hundreds of residents. Jagdeo has also conducted a number of outreaches in Regions Three and Four (Demerara-Mahaica) in preparation for the campaigning season. The PPP/Civic is hoping to win the LGE by a landslide.
As preparations continue, Jagdeo said the PPP would be ready for Nomination Day, set for September 2018.
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Photo saved as: BJ
Caption: Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo