…says recent LGE results prove citizens are unhappy with Govt’s policies
Opposition Leader and General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said that a motion of no-confidence has been lodged with Parliament Office against the APNU+AFC Government.
He said that the motion in his name is an attempt to protect Guyanese and Guyana from the excessive borrowing, taxing and wasteful spending of the current administration.
Jagdeo said that it is the hope of his Party that the country benefits from the motion, which is aimed at shaking the Government back to its senses and halting the destruction of Guyana.
The Opposition Leader said that it was made clear at the recently held Local Government Elections (LGE), where the PPP/C recorded massive wins in the majority of constituencies across Guyana, and with a whopping 45,000 votes more than the APNU, that citizens are unhappy with the direction and policies of this Government.
As such, Jagdeo noted that it is time for the coalition to be called out for its continued failures.
“So one thing is very clear is that people across Guyana have rejected the policies of this Government, even in their strongholds…we know apart from the LGE which was unusually low…we gained 120,000 votes in this elections…clearly people are unhappy with the direction that our country is going and with the policies of this Government…we, for a very long time have been pointing this out to the Government, that their direction is wrong, the policies are bringing more hardships on people..” Jagdeo said.
According to Jagdeo, even members of APNU and AFC have expressed their discontent with the “ways of the Government”.
Pointing to the failures of the Government, the former President reflected on the jobs already lost under the current administration.
“Since this Government took office we have lost 30,000 jobs, the sugar industry has been decimated…7000 workers have lost their jobs there…this Government has increased taxes by G$6B even though it came into office on a promises to reduce taxes…they have lied to Guyana…came into office on a promise to reduce cost of living, but they have put VAT on water, fuel, electricity…promises of clearing up corruption, we have seen this Government in office unable to prove any of this”.
According to the opposition leader, his Party will be calling for the restoration of privileges that were lost by the Guyanese public since the Government took office in 2015.
“We want to see a budget that restores pensioners’ water subsidy, restore the 10,000 grant for school kids, we want a restoration of the bonus for the Discipline Services, commitment to public services kept, removal of VAT from water, food items etc, we want the land and water charges at the MMA that have been increased reduced to the old level, a reduction of the tax on fuel so that we can have more affordable gasoline, restoration of final tax for miners, we want the government to reverse the increase for water rates, we want a reversal of fees at the University of Guyana”, the former President stated.
Previously, while in opposition, APNU had filed a no-confidence motion against the then PPP/C Government which was at the time led by Donald Ramotar. The motion was also backed by AFC.
Reflecting on this, Jagdeo said the Party had claimed a number of illegalities, illegalities which they are yet to prove.
According to the General Secretary, win or lose, his Party can assure that the country will benefit from the motion. (Kizzy Coleman)
