Jagdeo updates Guyanese diaspora in New York

BY EDWARD LAYNE

Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo has been met with Guyanese based in New York, United States of America over the past weekend, to update them on recent political and other developments in Guyana.

Jagdeo met with senior citizens and Guyanese community groups here to explain the situation in Guyana.

The former Guyanese leader visited a Mosque and Mandir frequented by Guyanese.

During these engagements, he spoke of the ongoing efforts to further strengthen the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), with heavy emphasis of injecting new blood in the country’s oldest political movement.

The Opposition Leader said the Party will continue to serve the people at the grassroots level.

Jagdeo spoke of the errors in the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections and shed light on the legal proceedings filed by the PPP/C, asking for a recount, due to several discrepancies on the part of the Guyana Elections Commission which were unearthed shortly after the polls.

He also spoke of the PPP/C’s insistence in ensuring the election machinery is strengthened at Gecom so as to avoid a recurrence.

The former Guyanese leader exposed the true intentions behind the government ministers taking hefty pay hikes, while public servants were handed a mere 5 per cent increase, while pensioners’ water and electricity subsidies were removed, and the Gy$10,000 cash grant for students in public schools was discontinued.

During the engagements, the Opposition leader also explained that the local economy has been on the decline since the APNU+AFC took office back in May. Jagdeo highlighted that currently there is a total halt in economic activities as there is a lack of confidence by both local and foreign investors.

Jagdeo said from all indications rice and sugar – two cornerstone industries of the Guyanese economy – are not being given attention by government and explained that should this continue Guyana would be on the path to the darks days of pre-1992.

The former Guyanese leader also explained the ongoing political and racial discrimination being meted out to Guyanese of all ethnicities who are perceived to be supporters of the PPP/C.

Jagdeo earlier attended a meeting of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States’ Eminent Persons Group (EPG) in Brussels, Belgium, where he along with 11 other internationally experienced and politically astute former Heads of State, Ambassadors, heads and members of international organisations and Heads of Government, went to finalise a report on the Future of the ACP post-2020, when the Partnership Agreement with the European Union known as Cotonou Agreement comes to an end.

The EPG, of which Jagdeo is a co-Vice Chair, will present the finalised report to Heads of State and Government of the ACP when they meet in the near future.

The EPG was established by the ACP in 2013 and was tasked with assessing the ACP’s performance, with the aim of proposing a fresh vision of the ACP as a contemporary international organisation in the lead-up to and beyond 2020.