Labelling the party’s 32nd Congress an overall success, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) said the PNC-led Opposition is shaken up by the huge turn-out and comradery shown by members.
The PPP wrapped up its three-day congress today.
Speaking at a closing press conference this afternoon, GS Jagdeo said the event was a “resounding success” with diversity on display and significant content as well as weighty issues dealt with – much to the ire of the Opposition.
“Overall, our Congress was a resounding success… There was, throughout it all, a spirit of comradery and unity, and a commitment to build on that spirit to take the party into elections next year and to win those elections.”
“I’ve seen some people griping all the time but I think it was the shock value of what they saw here. The ethnic diversity… people of every race coming from Linden and from different parts of the country… the comradery, the spirit of what took place here – when you look at that, it’s unbelievable. And I think it shook up the PNC, that’s why the gripers went into a hyper-mode.”
According to Jagdeo, the PPP has grown enormously since its last Congress held in 2016 while the party was in Opposition with more than twice the number of delegates and volunteers participating in this weekend’s event.
Some 3000 delegates and volunteers from across the country attended the Congress, held from May 3 to 5 under the theme: “Strengthen the Party, Defend Guyana, Unite All Our People for Progress and Prosperity”.
The PPP General Secretary went on to call out the Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton for his criticisms of the party displaying its flags across Region Four and its use of the ACCC to host its Congress.
A statement from the Opposition Leader’s Office on Saturday said the PPP flags should not be displayed in such magnitude “outside of election periods,” and even more so at the ACCC, which is being used to host Parliamentary sittings.
While PPP Executive Member Gail Teixeira has already declared that the party will fly its flags “in and out of elections,” Jagdeo argued today the facility was built, under a previous PPP Government, for this purpose.
“It is a convention centre… Convention centres are rented for people to hold activities… So, we rented this building and we decorated it with our beautiful party flags – that have a meaning (for each colour displayed).”
“It’s pure nonsense, utter nonsense… They have nothing of substance to speak of… It is pure pettiness. For a major political party to reduce itself to this sort of pettiness, it’s shocking. They couldn’t find anything of substance to talk about other than this petty thing.”
Meanwhile, during Saturday’s opening of the PPP 32nd Congress, GS Jagdeo had talked about power-sharing, noting that while it is important to work with all political parties, the APNU Opposition has proven many times that they cannot be trusted.
He said the PPP is not against power-sharing, but this requires attributes including “trustworthiness.”
“APNU Supporters don’t even trust APNU because they fail to implement the manifesto promises. They can’t even get trust from their own supporters because they failed them,” he said.
Referring to the Cummingsburg Accord signed between the APNU and AFC to form the last Government, the General Secretary said; “the cummingsburg accord promised to the AFC, chairing of Cabinet, naming of Ministers; the ink had not dried on the Cummingsburg Accord and their partner in crime – the AFC- was…reduced to a rubberstamp.”
“How can you trust a party of that nature, how can you trust a political party that refuses to admit that it attempted to rig the 2020 elections and still claim that they have the SOPs (Statements of Poll) in a little box and can show they win,” he added.
Jagdeo alluded to the opposition’s attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections which were widely reported on, noting that the PPP believes in freedom for people to choose their government.
“How could we engage in any meaningful dialogue like what Cheddi Jagan always wanted…there must be willing partners and there must be some attributes to those partners and trust worthiness is a key one,” the General Secretary noted.
