With a young Linden sports personality as the party’s latest public endorser, Change Guyana presidential candidate Robert Badal yesterday promised Lindeners to follow suit and support him as if elected he will ensure that equal developmental focus is placed in the region.
“We went to Linden last week and we were deeply disturbed,” Badal said of observations of his party to the mining town’s current state during a visit.
“When we talked to residents, we couldn’t find any development in the areas of roads, employment… there was virtually no development at all in that period. It is a case of broken promises and that has been the case all across rural Guyana,” he added.
So shocked were they at what was seen and heard, that Badal said he has begun a comparative analysis of the 2015 manifestos of both the PPP/C and APNU+AFC coalition.
“None of the manifestos had plans that would significantly benefit the people of Region Ten directly and yet they go for launches and things like that. I can tell you that they will come again with the same appeal to Lindeners but with no plan for their development.”
“The difference here is that we are formulating a special economic plan for the region because we have a vision for it to be a special economic zone, which we would create based on setting up wood processing and value added, setting up training facilities… and bringing investors,” he added.
Yesterday, Linden sports personality and national rugby player, Ryan Dey, endorsed the party at a second press conference held for this week at Badal’s Pegasus Hotel.
“All my life I have only known two leaders in our political history. And what have they done? In my view, neither is better… As a Lindener you have failed us, as a sportsman you have failed us, in leadership as youth you have failed us. Where are your policies for development? Looking at Linden, I think to myself, what has happened to our beautiful town? With all the promises not delivered, it is time to change, it is time I change, it is time for Change Guyana,” he said.
Badal said that a plan for Linden is needed and policy plans need to be clearly outlined in parties’ manifestos, which voters will be able to see when Change Guyana has their manifesto launch next month.
A national sawmill, a state-of-the-art furniture factory, moving transport of lumber from being towed on heavy duty trucks that destroy the Linden Access Highway and switching to transport by water with the building of a wharf, setting up a technical institution focussed on developing human resource capacity for all industrial sectors, establishing a university and instituting a US$5 per tonne royalty on bauxite mined in the region, are some of the party’s plans.
The Change Guyana presidential candidate lamented the current deal this country has with the Russian owned bauxite company RUSAL saying that it has “bled this country.”
“Rusal got more than US$500 million in concessions and what did we get in return for it? Nothing,” Change Guyana executive Sasenarine Seenarine added.
Badal lamented that even as companies continue to take lumber from the area, paltry tangible benefits are had by Region Ten’s residents.
“The logs are leaving in large quantities and there is no benefit to the people of linden. The royalties are collected and sent to Georgetown. Trucks are on that highway breaking up the road and in another few years we won’t have a highway. We have to make some structural changes that is amenable to all parties. You must have private sector investment to create a wharf and industrial-type loading facility to avoid the road so that the lumber could come by water and barges.”
“All the benefits of value-added are going overseas. We must have an economic zone. Lindeners can have small but thriving small business and a Change Guyana government will provide the technical support. We will engage people to create a wood factory and the stakeholders will be Lindeners. They have no concessions. All they are getting now is a truck that would stop by a restaurant or a bar and buy a drink or a meal and we are pushing for local content? We need our youths studying and working. We need radical change in the way we think about development. And out thinking will see this plan extrapolates to all other areas of development and there will be poverty alleviation.” he added.
That radical change, he said, will be seen when monies from forestry or any other industrial business are made as a Change Guyana government will ensure that a percentage is set aside for the direct development of the region. This formula, he said, will also be used for other regions. “Look, I want a royalty of US$5 dollars a tonne from bauxite. Just in principle, because we have to work it out with the companies and so on. We saw bauxite export at 1.5 million tonnes and all we get is US$1.5 million. What is that? The money we bring in will go to infrastructure and training programmes, vocational training so that Lindeners have the engineering skills, machining and fabrication. The youths will be engaged actively in higher paying jobs. The people must see direct benefits,” he emphasised.
