Jagdeo defends bright young people on PPP/C list of candidates …never mind they’re related to party officials, he tells press conference in Toronto

TORONTO, Canada – GUYANA’S Former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has stoutly defended the inclusion of relatives of party officials in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) list of candidates, while blasting those coming out of the A Partnership for National Unity (APU)/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).

Addressing a press conference at the Radisson Hotel here on Friday, prior to the evening’s fund-raising dinner and dance, Dr. Jagdeo lambasted the Opposition critics for their take on the composition of the PPP/C slate for next month’s General and Regional Elections.
Describing the APNU/AFC lists of candidates as uninspiring and worn out, Dr. Jagdeo pointed out that “they have been around for ages, don’t have any ideas and are negative about our entire future.”
Contending that Opposition presidential candidate, David Granger’s daughter and son-in-law are part of the APNU/AFC list, Jagdeo observed, “We have about twenty/thirty young kids on our list, if we have eight of them, say Navin Chamderpal’s son, who is a young engineer, are we saying that this young engineer who has been doing party work all the time should not have an expectation and he should not be on the list because his father is PPP?
About Dr. Roger Luncheon’s daughter inclusion, Jagdeo said she’s a medical doctor. “Are we saying she shouldn’t be on the list simply because her father is there? These are young people with a future; they have to inherit the country.”
Assuring that the PPP/C list comprises people of calibre, Jagdeo said, “Contrast that with their list, Dr. Harold Lutchman is in his 80s, and I don’t want to say much about old people because old people can make contribution; but you have to encourage young people too. Granger is in his 70s, Nagamootoo probably touching 70. Look at their list…all of them in that era, they haven’t come with any fresh names.”
According to Jagdeo, “I would prefer to put a young engineer or a young doctor to serve our people than to provide some fossils who never made a contribution to the country and say everything bad about Guyana. They are stuck in that mindset, so I think if you look at the calibre of the people, although they may have relatives in the party, they are young bright professional people.”
Touching on allegations that several PPP/C members are enjoying unprecedented rich life styles under the present Government, Jagdeo cited the cases of Glenn Lall, Chandra Narine Sharma and Badal, who are opposed to the PPP/C, but have however flourished under its ruling. He posited that Lall was a shoe vendor in the Stabroek Market and now owns a media empire. C.N Sharma, on the other hand used to do refrigeration, now he owns an entire bloc in the city. In Badal’s case, the entrepreneur used to sell rice in Jamaica, “waiting in front of my office, now he owns Stockfeed, Pegasus and NEOCOL.”
Questioned on the influx of foreigners in Guyana, including Chinese, Brazilians, Indians and Russians, Jagdeo also criticised Granger for his take on the issue. Alleging that the Opposition Leader advocated that he would chase them out of the country while addressing a public meeting at Kwakwani, the former president said Granger conveniently omitted mentioning Indians while speaking in Queens, New York, a predominantly Indian-dominated city.
Jagdeo disclosed that the reality is that the foreigners make money. “These are the newly emerging economy; these are the most dynamic part of the world. We should maintain ties with North America and Europe and expand our relations with these countries. They are the most dynamic countries in the world. Everybody is trying to have relationships with them. If they didn’t invest in the bauxite company in Linden, when it was to be shut down, then today you wouldn’t have had 500 jobs there; and when ALCOA walked away from the Berbice River, we managed to get a Russian company and maintained jobs there so that Kwakwani and these areas can still be viable today.”
Jagdeo posited that, “if we are preserving 99.5 per cent of our forests, that is our agreement with Norway and the others, how come we are going to allow the Chinese to fetch away all our logs? They fetch logs up to .5 and still we can cut more logs in the .5 of those forests and grow the amount of logs that we export. It’s silly. The people are going to finance the hydro, so you want to chase away the investors, but want them to come and finance the hydro. It’s policies grounded in a different era, the 70s, that’s why I keep saying he (Granger) keeps remembering that period fondly.”
Jagdeo alluded to the fact that “these people are coming to Guyana and Guyanese sometimes say they are coming to take our jobs. I have to remind people that we go abroad and we expect people to treat us well. If we treat people badly who come to live and work in Guyana, and we need people to come and work, how are we to demand that they treat us with respect when we go to the Caribbean islands or elsewhere when we ourselves are xenophobic about people coming to work in Guyana. We can’t have double standards.”
Jagdeo asserted that the upcoming elections are “crucial and are very important for our future. We are going to campaign on our record of achievements which have been substantial. We have taken a bankrupt country and restored its economic viability. Today it is the most vibrant economy in the Region, experiencing nine years of continuous growth. No other country in the Caribbean has that record.
“We have taken a macro economic situation that was considered a basket case and today we have probably the most viable macro frame-work. When we assumed office, 94 per cent of revenue went to service external debts, today it’s down to four per cent, the best figure in the entire Region.
“On the social sector, we have seen huge transformation in education and health, and these are mirrored in growing standards of achievements at exams by our students. We’ve seen more people own assets and a growth in the middle class in Guyana…”
Jagdeo described the housing boom as the largest anywhere in the Region, with thousands of houses being built, and the Government’s programme to allocate cheap mortgages, “as well as to give particularly low-income people lands at preferential rates have paid huge dividends in people fulfilling their dreams.”
Pointing out that the PPP/C has restored freedom to Guyana, Jagdeo declared, “We have made Parliament viable and working, the judiciary has become truly independent. We have the most progressive Constitution anywhere in the hemisphere. We have departed radically from the past.
“We have a proud record of growing income, reducing poverty, people have better education and health care and we think that people will vote for this record of achievement and vote for us. We also have what we think is the most viable plan for the future. We have outlined in great detail what we plan to do in each sector and how this relates to better standard of living for our people.”
Jagdeo is accompanied by Minister of Housing and Tourism, Irfan Ali, while Guyana’s Consul General in Toronto, Sattie Sawh, was also present at the press briefing which was chaired by Manny Singh, a member of the Association of Concerned Guyanese (ACS). The visitors were guests of honour at a fund-raising dinner and dance, hosted by the ACS at the Elite Banquet Hall here on Friday night.