No jobs created by Govt for young people – Charrandas

…apologises to supporters for doing nothing in 3 odd years

In an almost 30-minute post on his personal Facebook page, former Alliance For Change (AFC) Member of Parliament (MP) Charrandas Persaud once again touched on the No-confidence Motion in which his deciding vote in support of the Opposition caused the motion to be carried.
Among other things, Charrandas detailed his reasons for voting in favour of the motion brought in the name of Opposition Leader for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Bharrat Jagdeo.
One of his major focal points was what he dubbed as the failure of the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity (APNU)/AFC Government to create jobs for young people in Guyana. “Young people, what is in this country for you? What is in Guyana for you? What has the APNU/AFC given you? I see nothing and I was sitting in Parliament,” Persaud chastised.
The now embattled MP noted that the Government failed to create opportunities for the young people, more so failing to prepare them for the oil and gas sector that is expected to come on stream in 2020.
Persaud questioned why was no plan put in place at the University of Guyana for the over three and half years that this Government was in power, “to educate you, the youngsters, in oil and gas so that when you come out… you can have more than just the clean-up man’s job, why? Where is their vision, what are they doing with you?”
Further, Persaud encouraged youths to speak up and stand up against the wrong that the Government is doing.
The former MP noted that his hands were tied, and as such, he was unable to do the job that he aimed to do when he accepted a position in Parliament.
“You young people, learn not to be afraid, tell your parents that you have to stand up for the wrong that Government did, whichever Government is handling you, you need to stop it, you need to get them to work towards stopping it. I apologise because I could not do anything, I could not help the people but once the opportunity presented itself, I decided to support the vote of no-confidence and have them removed…”, he added.
Further the expelled AFC member related that whatever he did was for the best interest of the Guyanese populace. “I don’t think that the Government has anything to offer me, the position of an MP takes me away from my job, it’s more of a detriment to me than anything else… I took the position thinking that I could have done something for the people, not knowing that my hands were tied, my mouth was gagged and I would not be able to do anything”.
As such, he apologised to his supporters for doing nothing for them for the three and a half years he was in Parliament. The coalition Government was left stunned on December 21, 2018, when Persaud voted yes in favour of the motion.
During the tabulation, all 32 of the Opposition MPs voted in favour of the motion being carried, with the AFC MP giving them the one vote needed to have the motion passed.
When Persaud delivered his first “yes”, all hell broke loose. He received the first punch on his left arm by an APNU MP who insisted that Persaud “can’t vote against the Government.” This was followed by a series of expletives by the same MP and surprisingly Persaud also received another punch from another APNU MP.
Outside the Chambers, Persaud defended his vote against the Government claiming that he voted that way because of the AFC’s subordinate role to the majority APNU.
Persaud cited examples, such as Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence’s recent controversial statement about hiring party faithfuls, and pointed out that the AFC leadership did not condemn, but rather condoned the statement.
“I am an AFC member, and I’m extremely disappointed in the AFC team. My reason for voting in favour of the motion is that I have no confidence in what the AFC team will do,” Persaud said, when questioned by the media.
“We are sitting in Parliament as yes men to APNU, and we are AFC. We have not blended with the APNU, the other parties have; we’re not. Why are we doing everything they want (us) to do? We are not opposing, we are not saying no to anything. That is where the problem is. I can’t stand that. This is a conscience vote,” he had explained.  GUYANA TIMES