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Govt. should condemn ‘thuggery’ at Region Five RDC – Jagdeo
From the onset of the year a number of statutory council meetings held at the Regional Democratic Council of Region Five have been disrupted by APNU-AFC council members. Opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo believes that the government should denounce this behaviour in the name of social cohesion.
Speaking at his press conference on Thursday, the former head of state called on President David Granger to step in and address the matter. “President Granger, who talks a lot about social cohesion and allowing local government organs to work, should look at what his government is doing.”
Jagdeo said that this type of behaviour from the government supporters has affected the region from carrying out its programmes. He noted that as a result, much of the budgetary allocation to the region remains largely unspent.
Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo
He added that the money which is being expended by the Regional Executive Officer is done without appropriate oversight.
The issue which fuelled the disruptions stem from the Regional Chairman Vickchand Ramphal failing to attend a handing over ceremony in the region at which the President was present. Ramphal had communicated in the media that he was absent due to not being in receipt of an invitation.
The APNU-AFC councillors found Ramphal’s absence disrespectful and have since vowed not to participate in any meeting which Ramphal is chairing. At the last statutory council meeting held last week, the APNU-AFC supporters were absent. It was the first time in months that the meeting was not adjourned due to interruptions.
Jagdeo said that throughout his presidency there were numerous occasions when Regional Chairpersons were absent during his visits. “When I was president, I went to many regions in this country and the regional chair did not show up to some of the meetings; I went to Region Ten that was controlled by APNU and many times the regional chairman would just ignore our outreach to the region.”
According to Jagdeo, his administration did not react to those instances, since they were not “thin skinned.”
Jagdeo noted that the Region Five councillors were not appointed but were elected by the people of the region and as a result, work will be affected. The opposition leader said that if all the councillors were cooperating then the region would have been in a better place.
“If the region was functioning, then we would have had probably a greater outreach, and maybe the entire RDC, APNU-AFC and PPP/C councillors could have worked together in extending more benefits to people.”
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I’d like to tell Jagdeo that the government is very serious about thuggery. It’s just that they’re very busy dealing with the past 22 years of thuggery to focus 100% on the current thuggery which, by the way, still involves some of the past participants in thuggery. In time thuggery will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.