The performance of the coalition government, of which the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) is a part, has been satisfactory as it has been able to deliver in several areas, including law and order and the fight against corruption, party executive Aubrey Norton said yesterday.
Norton made the comments while responding to a question on the party’s views of the APNU+AFC government performance.
The press conference was held at the party’s headquarters in Sophia.
Norton said his government has been able to achieve more in its four years of government than the opposition People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) did in their 23 years with the same amount of resources.
“My position is that the PNC is satisfied… The PNCR is satisfied that with the resources at its disposal, and here we talk about the same resources that the PPP had, we have delivered a lot of services..,” Norton said before admitting that there are still promises to be fulfilled.
Restoration of law and order, improvement in relation to corruption, upgraded water quality and service and improved drainage and irrigation are a few of the promises the government delivered on during its four years, he stated.
Norton further said that under the current government citizens have seen a reduction of gun-related criminal activities and more crimes being solved.
He contended that within the last four years it has improved the investigative capabilities of the officers in the Guyana Police Force and said that more murders and other criminal activities are being cracked. Norton alluded to the murder of Faiyaz Narinedatt in 2016 which had first appeared to be a fatal accident and the subsequent extradition from the United States of the alleged mastermind, Marcus Brian Bisram.
“We said we were going to restore law and order and reduce crime. Anyone, who is reasonable will accept that they can walk and feel much freer in Guyana. We haven’t solved crime, nobody can solve crime in four years. [But] first we improved the investigating capacity of the police, if you commit murder or commit any crime, there is a higher probability that you will be caught…” Norton said.
According to Norton, less crimes are being committed using high-powered weapons and government has put systems in place to address the situation.
Reasonable Guyanese
“The crime basically has been reduced, I am not saying there is no crime but any reasonable Guyanese would accept that there are less gun crimes now and rarely are you hearing of crimes with machine guns…” Norton asserted, before noting that his government has put in place, a network of cameras which will contribute to crime deterrence. “We are comfortable we have delivered on the law and order promise…” he said.
Norton argued further that his government has been working to create a professionalised law enforcement body and improving its capacity while getting rid of “bad eggs”.
“Every police force will have bad eggs and where it became necessary many of them have been removed… we are professionalising the police force. It is not there as yet, but anybody moving around would see more police on the road. They are doing their jobs…,” he added.
Touching on the country’s level of corruption, the party executive said “we have reduced corruption to the point where Transparency International just put out a graph where you see that Guyana’s corruption is on the decline. We have worked on corruption and we are getting more value for money we are getting better roads etc.”
Stabroek News reported in January of this year that Guyana has registered a score of 37 on the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Index Report and is ranked at 93 out of the 180 countries. The country was listed among the 20 countries which have significantly improved their scores in the last seven years.
Norton also said that Guyanese can attest to an improved water quality and service. He charged that while the PPP was in government, it was spending billions but services were not being delivered.
“We promised Guyanese at the last elections that we would deliver on water. We didn’t give all the communities and we can’t in four years but it’s a fact that many of the communities (have improved). PPP while they were claiming to be spending billions on water they were not delivering but we delivered,” Norton argued, while pointing out that in addition to delivering water to communities, they also improved the quality of water being distributed. He said that personnel from Guyana Water Inc were exposed to overseas training opportunities to improve on the quality of water being delivered in communities.
Turning his attention to the health sector Norton said they have made significant strides in minimising maternal deaths at public health institutions.
“We promised to improve (on the) maternal deaths (problem). We have taken action and there has been a marked reduction in maternal deaths today,” he boasted.
Additionally, he bragged of significant progress in improving the drainage and irrigation sector.
“If you look at drainage and irrigation and compare the money they (PPP/C) spent with what we spent and the results we would have gotten, you will see that the results are superior. The future is bright for Guyana we have water flowing in the drainage canals. Irrigation has been improved in that area…,” Norton stressed, as he emphasised that promises made by the coalition government were delivered.
He further said that there has been improvement in the cattle rearing industry in the Rupununi as it is now blooming.
He also made mention of the upgraded quality of roads being built across the country in communities.
“We delivered, we promised Guyanese at the last elections that we would deliver. I want to submit that unless it is Stevie Wonder, people will see that in four years this government delivered many goods and services,” he declared.
