The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) on Wednesday revealed that it has filed a no confidence motion in Parliament against the A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government.
The motion filed under the name of former President and current General Secretary of the party Dr Bharrat Jagdeo is expected to be debated in parliament shortly.
Speaking at his weekly press briefing on Thursday, Jagdeo said that it is the hope of his Party that the country benefits from the motion, which, he said, is aimed at shaking the Government back to its senses and halting the destruction of Guyana.
The Opposition Leader said that it was made clear at the recently held Local Government Elections (LGE), where the PPP/C came out victorious with a whopping 45,000 votes more than the Government, that electorates are unhappy with the direction and policies of this Government.
As such, Jagdeo noted that it is time for the coalition to be called out for its continued failures.
“So one thing is very clear is that people across Guyana have rejected the policies of this Government, even in their strongholds…we know apart from the LGE which was unusually low…we gained 120,000 votes in this elections…clearly people are unhappy with the direction that our country is going in and with the policies of this Government…we, for a very long time have been pointing this out to the Government, that their direction is wrong, the policies are bringing more hardships on people..” Jagdeo said.
According to Jagdeo, even members of APNU and AFC have expressed their discontent with the “ways of the Government”.
Pointing to the failures of the Government, the former President reflected on the jobs already lost under the current administration.
“Since this Government took office we have lost 30,000 jobs, the sugar industry have been decimated…7000 workers have lost their jobs there…this Government has increased taxes by $6B even though it came into office on a promises to reduce taxes…they have lied to Guyana…came into office on a promise to reduce cost of living, but they have put VAT on water, fuel, electricity…promises of clearing up corruption, we have seen this Government in office unable to prove any of this”.
Moreover, Jagdeo made mention of the millions that Government can’t account to the Auditor General for the creation of the Durban Park stadium and the $150M expended by the administration on the sole sourced feasibility study for the new Demerara River Bridge which was flagged by the Procurement Commission and is reportedly being investigated by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).
According to the opposition leader, his Party will be calling for the restoration of privileges that were lost by the Guyanese public since the Government took office in 2015.
“We want to see a budget that restore pensioners water subsidy, restore the 10,000 grant for school kids, we want a restoration of the bonus for the disciplined service, commitment to public services kept, removal of VAT from water, food items etc, we want the land and water charges at the MMA that has been increased reduced to the old level, a reduction of the tax on fuel so that we can have more affordable gasoline, restoration of final tax for miners, we want the government to reverse the increase for water rates, we want a reversal of fees at the University of Guyana, we want the process of constituent reform be reversed” the former President stated.
Previously, while in opposition, APNU had filed a no confidence motion against PPP/C which was at the time lead by former President, Donald Ramotar. The motion which was backed by AFC.
Reflecting on this, Jagdeo said the Party had claimed a number of illegalities, illegalities which they are yet to prove.
“They had filed same against our administration then lead by Ramotar. They claimed that the Ramotar administration had illegally restored the budget for the Amerindian Development Fund, the hinterland airstrip and school vouchers. They filed it because the Government decided to restore the monies cut for those initiative. They then claimed that $4B given to GuySoCo was procedurally made and should not have been given. They claimed monies were also used illegally for GGMC etc.Those were there reasons for filing a no confidence motion… They even claimed corruption of Marriott and the airport” Jagdeo reflected.
According to the General Secretary, win or lose, his Party can assure that the country will benefit from the motion.
“It was tabled in Parliament and I suspect that we are going to be addressing it shortly…whether we win the motion or not, the country will benefit from it because we believe that we will get a chance once again to say to them what the electorates said to them in the elections, that their policies are all wrong and damaging our prospects for the future and the well being of Guyanese”. (Kizzy Coleman)
