Granger urges PNCR members to strengthen local democracy

PNCR Leader David Granger has encouraged party members in the Mahaica-Berbice Region to strengthen local democracy in order to improve their livelihood. Brigadier (ret’d) Granger visited the region on Thursday and held a meeting with residents and party members, said a press release from the party at Congress Place, Sophia.

Among those accompanying Granger were Members of Parliament Basil Williams, who is the Party Chairman, Winston Felix and Jennifer Wade.

The release said further that Granger heard comments and complaints from residents about unsatisfactory drainage and irrigation, poor infrastructure, youth unemployment, land tenure and shrinking economic opportunities, especially in crop farming and animal husbandry in the region.

Granger, who is also the Opposition Leader, told villagers gathered in Calcutta that part of the solution to some of their problems lay in intensifying their participation in the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs).

These, unfortunately, were now being dismantled by the PPP/C administration, he said, but the PNCR had to be ready to fortify grassroots democracy by playing a greater role in local government nationwide.

“All politics is local,” he said, emphasising that may of the matters villagers raised had to be resolved within the region itself.

Meanwhile, Granger encouraged members to be proud of their party and its accomplishments while in office. He reminded villagers also that it was the PNC while in government that had reconstructed the coastal and Soesdyke-Linden highway system, sea defences, river bridges on the Canje and Demerara, international airport at Timehri, Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agricultural Development Scheme, University of Guyana Turkeyen Campus and other infrastructural projects to provide a good life for all Guyanese.

According to the release, the PNCR Leader reiterated his party’s absolute commitment to ensuring equality for all and protecting citizens’ fundamental rights, calling to mind the “ongoing brutish treatment of Lindeners at the hands of the PPP/C administration and the Police Force.”

Granger promised to work towards improving the party’s relations with trade unions and promoting inclusionary democracy in A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), the release concluded.