Latest update April 30th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 14, 2011 News
The two major parties contesting the November 28 general elections head into Linden this weekend, hoping to
secure the votes of residents in the town.
Linden as a town is 40-years-old, with the majority of the population being Afro-Guyanese who have supported the main opposition People’s National Congress. The PNC is now the main party in the opposition alliance APNU which is looking to unseat the governing PPP/C.
The incumbent party has chosen Linden to announce its Prime Ministerial candidate and to roll out plans for job creation in Linden and the wider Region Ten. It is a subject in which Lindeners would be interested given that the bauxite industry remains the largest employer in the town and lack of alternatives for employment have been a continuing problem.
The Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) has proven a headache for the government, saying that bauxite workers in Linden and Region Ten have been ignored by the incumbent PPP in favour of the Indo-Guyanese dominated sugar industry that has sweetened the ballot box to its benefit.
It is a charge that has been dismissed as hogwash by the PPP government. Yesterday, campaign director Robert Persaud said that that charge has racial overtones.
As an example of the government’s commitment to Linden, he said that the government has been spending $2 billion annually to subsidise electricity in the town.
APNU will host a rally in the town today featuring political heavyweights Dr Rupert Roopnaraine and Deborah Backer.
The PPP/C rally is scheduled for tomorrow, with the party planning to spice up its entertainment programme by flying in overseas-based Guyanese artistes.
The APNU has said that ‘poverty, deprivation and destitution’ are on the rise in Region Ten.
The coalition has charged that the unemployment rate at Linden and Region Ten is well above the national average.
“What is more worrying is that there are investors, such as the investor who wanted to develop a citrus farm in the intermediate savannahs between Ituni and Kwakwani, who want to invest are prevented from doing so by a government that is bent on punishing Region Ten because the community supports the APNU,” the coalition claims.
The coalition has also claimed that under the pretext of constructing roads, the PPP/C regime provides PPP/C linked contractors with the opportunity to plunder state resources.
“Lindeners have noted that many of the roads and other infrastructure that they have built are already in a state of disrepair,” APNU has stated.
APNU has also taken note of other problems in the town and Region Ten.
The coalition claims that the PPP/C regime continues to restrict the people of Linden and Region 10 to viewing and hearing only broadcasts by the state-owned NCN, thus depriving them of the freedom to choose what they wish to view on TV or hear on radio
“Instead, the regime continues to feed the people of Region Ten a daily diet of crude PPP/C propaganda,” the APNU stated.
The PPP, on the other hand, continues to boast of increasing support in Linden and Region Ten. It said that vote counts coming having increased over the past two elections.
Persaud said that the PPP/C is looking forward to doing well in Linden and Region Ten, with not only better Parliamentary representation but more seats on the Regional Democratic Council.
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