By Johann Earle
A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Basil Williams said Guyanese must vote out the PPP if they want better security and better economic circumstances and he argued that crime and poverty are handmaidens.
He spoke at an APNU public rally held last night at Turning Point, Tucville.
“Comrades the road to victory is going to be a long one…19 long years under PPP/C rule. That is akin to the suffering of the Children of Israel in the land of Babylon,” he said. “Comrades, after 19 long years, we are now at the turning point,” he said. “We are at the turning point, literally and figuratively,” he said.
“Therefore I submit to you that at the Turning Point, APNU is the solution. We will put the PPP/C out of business,” said Williams to a sizeable crowd. “The APNU will establish a government of national unity, which will include all the major stakeholders of this country. As [APNU prime ministerial candidate Dr. [Rupert] Roopnaraine said, even the PPP we will include but only those that come with clean hands,” he said.
He said that such a government, with everyone at the table, will make decisions for all Guyanese, not just some Guyanese.
Williams told the gathering that misery from people not earning enough translates into crime and violence. “One of the crimes that this situation has brought about is domestic violence,” he said. “If the family cannot have a breadwinner you will have problems in the home,” he said. “If the man can’t take home a pay, the slightest problem in the house is magnified and that is due to the inept policies of this Government. And so as [Shadow] sings, “you ain’t wukking noway, you ain’t got a payday…you looking for?” to which the crowd readily supplied the answer.
“Crime and poverty are handmaidens,” he stressed. “And comrades, we are saying to you that after 19 years it is time for this Government to go,” he said. “It is all in the palm of our hands,” he said.
He said that at APNU Government will guarantee public security, community security and personal security.
“An APNU Government will invest in you. We will take care of your education and your training, to prepare you for the job market,” he said.
“We will start very early. In nursery [level], we will provide free transportation for your children. We would provide free meals for your children,” he said.
Williams accused the government of paying “starvation” wages to the public sector workers and this is a contributory factor in the question of poverty and crime. He called Government’s latest announcements on wage and salary increases for public servants and members of the disciplined forces an attempt at “buying votes.”
He said that neither the APNU nor the workers are going to be fooled by this. “If they kept you marking time for ten years, why would you fall for that when you have another five days to go,” he said, referring to the countdown to elections on Monday.
“You must not allow them to induce you to sell your birthright. We tell the workers to take the eight percent increase,” he said.
Speaking about what he referred to as excesses by the President of Guyana, Williams said that an APNU Government would seek to remove the powers of a President and repose some of that power in a Prime Minister. “And that Prime Minister would be accountable to the people in Parliament,” he said. “We need to have Constitutional reform to get Guyana back on an even keel,” he said.
“The problem that the PPP has is that the masses of the Guyanese people are dissatisfied with them,” said Williams. “And that is why they are trying to hide behind big rallies and rented crowds. They can’t have bottom house meetings anymore because people are not going to them,” he added.
Williams lambasted the President for his latest stance on lawyers who represent criminals. “Now when he says we represent criminals, right next to him is Anil Nandlall. Now Nandlall represent people with cocaine in fish, cocaine in glue, cocaine in food, cocaine in lumber. But who is he attacking? Nigel Hughes, Deborah Backer, Basil Williams,” said Williams.
“The man ain’t calling Vic Puran, he ain’t calling Glenn Hanoman, he ain’t calling Nandlall. So what’s going on?” asked Williams. “We are not going to allow people to languish in jail. He (the President) can cuss out how much he wants. We don’t represent criminals, comrades. We represent Guyanese persons who have been charged with an offence and they are innocent until proven guilty,” Williams said.
He also accused President Jagdeo of ‘cussing out’ former Commissioner of Police Winston Felix – who Williams called “instrumental” in his role in corralling Roger Khan – for his part played in a taped conversation.
“The Minister of Home Affairs at the time Gail Teixeira, according to Wikileaks, is reported to have told the US Ambassador that the tape is not authentic. So why they knock off Felix?” he asked. “This is the nature of the Government that you have. They moved a man who was moving against Roger Khan,” he said. Felix is now on the APNU’s list of candidates for the upcoming elections.
Williams said that the APNU will double the old age pension as one of its immediate actions if it wins at the elections.
