PPP/C presidential candidate Donald Ramotar addressing the rally
Working towards a progressive Guyana, one that creates equal opportunities and wealth for all, was the thrust of PPP/C presidential candidate Donald Ramotar’s address on Sunday, October 9, as he told citizens why they should vote for him, come November 28.
He urged a crowd of approximately 13,000 supporters gathered at the party’s second rally at the Kitty Market Square to “vote for the cup”.
“We have made achievements in every aspect of life in our country. Woe be unto those who have eyes and cannot see; those who condemned everything that we do; those who refuse to see the progress that is right in front of their eyes.” Ramotar promised to continue improving all facets of Guyanese life, including the transportation and health sectors.
“In transportation, too, we see the massive changes that are taking place. The small ships that are being used to import and export goods in our country are becoming obsolete. The new transportation by sea (uses) huge ships… and we have to create conditions for that – we have to create new harbours, so we can grow with the new revolution that is taking place in the transportation sector… By doing so, it offers us enormous benefits: it will bring down for us our cost of imports, and bring down for us our exports, and allow us to have more resources to spend on our people. This is what we will do: speaking of transportation, we also have to modernise our air transport. We are going to work to build a new airport in Guyana with long runways, so that we can take bigger planes and more passengers and cargo.” Ramotar said he wants Guyana to become a transportation hub for the Caribbean and South America.
As the crowd voiced support for his ideas, he continued: “Most importantly, we will continue to invest in our people; not only in education, but also in health, to see that they have a proper quality of life in our country.
“That is why we are going to build a new hospital, a brand-new hospital that will be able to do the most sophisticated surgeries and operations, and provide the most modern of services….” Ramotar said his party has made significant strides, over the past 19 years, to ensure that the standard of living of every Guyanese is lifted; and if he is elected president, there would be further improvement.
Positive changes
“The changes that we have brought about [are] positive changes, changes that as long as you vote for the cup will endure forever in this country. We have already prepared the future path of our development.
“We recognise that we have to create more jobs for our people, create higher-paying jobs for the Guyanese people, and therefore we have to take the infrastructure to a higher level.”
Speaking of developments that are already in the pipeline, Ramotar said the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project is just one of the many plans in place to ensure that Guyanese are able to benefit from a cheaper source of electricity to propel manufacturing.
“Very soon, the hydropower plant that we are building, which will come on stream in another four years, will not be enough to drive our country forward, and we will have to look at other areas to develop more hydropower, more generation, bio-fuel; to use solar power and wind power to move our country forward as we are determined to do.” The PPP/C presidential candidate emphasised that, in the ever-changing world, Guyana must keep abreast and remain relevant.
“We are living in a world that is changing very fast. Rapid changes are taking place, and science and technology are developing at a rapid pace, creating conditions to do many, many things that we could not do many years ago.”
He added that his party is one that caters to the needs of all Guyanese, so all plans will be geared to benefit the entire country.
He disclosed that there are plans to ensure that not a single Guyanese –regardless of race or religion, creed or age – would be disadvantaged. “And we are going to ensure that every one of us would have access to the most modern technology,” Ramotar said.
He stressed that there would be the continuation of “love and our drive to bring all our people together, so that we can make a rainbow nation… one people, one nation, one destiny”, as supporters raised their flags and cups in solidarity.
He assured that as president he would work towards abolishing “poverty from this land… all of us will have a stake in this great land”. He noted that his party already laid the foundation to ensure that social and economic justice for all citizens is realised.
“Comrades, to do so, we have to create the conditions … powerful platform, a springboard to take us to another level of development.” New possibilities
The presidential hopeful stressed that new possibilities are on the horizon, especially with the ever-growing advancement in the area of technology.
“That will give us greater possibilities not only to build new call centres, but will allow us to move up in engineering, in accountancy. It will offer us the possibility (to pursue) any kind of education: technical, secondary and university education can be done in your own homes by using information technology. Comrades, we will ensure that we provide an education so that it could serve the economic development of our society. We will train more people in the science subjects (and) in technology.
“We will train more people in managerial skills, in accountancy, in skills that we need for the future development of Guyana. We must have all the relevant skills to make our country stronger and better.”
In wrapping up his 25-minute presentation on his plans for Guyana, Ramotar appealed to the public to vote for the PPP/C come November 28, so that all the dreams highlighted could become a reality.
“We would need your help. We would need the help of every one of you…” he said.
He emphasised that as president he would work with both supporters and the opposition.
“As president of Guyana, I will take their views into consideration, seek consensus, and try as far as possible to reach agreements with them. But they also must understand that if we don’t reach a consensus, they must recognise the people’s choice, and in the final analysis we will make a decision to move the country forward.” He continued: “We have come a long way; we fought every major fight for the Guyanese people… We have moved our country forward every time we have been in office, because our policy is rooted in serving our people… I want all of you to ensure that, from the length and breadth of our country all the way to the north and south, that on November 28, that we must all come out early, vote for the cup, vote for the PPP/C. Let us, hand in hand, build a better tomorrow.”
Comments are closed.