Nandlall appeals… ‘We must secure the 1,000 votes we lost in Enmore’ — Details ‘nature’ of APNU+AFC

By Vanessa Narine, May 5, 2015, Source

A LOSS of 1,000 votes for the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) in Enmore, at the 2011 elections translated into a loss of opportunity and Anil Nandlall, last evening at Robert’s Square, Enmore, underscored the need to maintain support, regain support and attract new support.“In 2011, over 1,000 people in Enmore did not vote and you have seen the dangers to which you and the Guyanese people have been exposed. I urge the 1,000 of you to vote….I appeal to you to come out and return the PPP to a majority government. Will you do that?” the PPP/C member questioned.

The response was a resounding “YES!” from a massive gathering of supporters.

Nandlall added, “This time next week Monday, every single finger in Enmore must have that ink because every single person must go to the polling station and vote solidly for peace, progress and prosperity… this election is perhaps the most important election we are going to have as a country…this is when the country will decide whether the PNC (People’s National Congress) comes to power or whether the PPP continues its developmental agenda in this country.”

He lauded the people of Enmore for their understanding of the “politics” of Guyana, as well as its history and the struggle of the Guyanese people.

“We endured and you are the people we are depending on to inspire the other villages…we need to get people to vote, get people who left the village to come back to Enmore and vote… we must show them that they getting licks like peas,” Nandlall stressed.

The PPP/C member appealed to the residents of Enmore to vote for the security of Guyana’s future. “We are depending on you on May 11 to secure the future of our country,” he said.

NATURE OF THE BEAST
The ‘nature of the beast’ is reflected in A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change’s (APNU+AFC) list of candidates, according to him.

“Look at the list of those who put themselves to you as alternatives to the PPP. Examine that list carefully and you will see that this is a different PNC,” he charged.

Nandlall noted that the Guyanese people lived under a PNC that “brutalised the people of Enmore and brutalised the people of Guyana.”

He said, “In those days, they used the army and their instruments to unleash terror on the people of this country as they stole our ballots. The army was used as a weapon to deny you your choice of your leaders….the difference is that those army officers are now in the Opposition.”

Nandlall declared that the APNU+AFC leader, Brigadier (ret’d) David Granger, was a political commissar that supported the subversion of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) – an assertion he has not denied to date.
“Those people are on the list of the PNC, now calling themselves APNU+AFC,” he said.

On that note, he referred to the missing GDF weapons, which Granger has refused to answer for.

At the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI), last August, Lieutenant Colonel Sydney James, who spent three days on the witness stand, testified and submitted documentation that the GDF loaned high-powered military weapons to the PNC’s Ministry of National Development. The records that Lieutenant Colonel James tendered as evidence to the Commission show that the GDF loaned 200-odd weapons to the Ministry, as well as paramilitary organisations and other agencies. Of those 200-odd weapons, 155 are still missing today. Even as calls have been made for answers to be given regarding missing weapons, the current Administration insists that the Army is actively engaged in trying to locate them.

“These are the facts,” Nandlall stressed, questionng Granger’s refusal to answer about the missing weapons, which turned up in the hands of criminals during the crime wave of the 2000’s.

CRIMINAL CONNECTIONS
The PPP/C member appealed to residents to ‘connect the dots’ and take note of the alliances between the political Oopposition and criminal elements.

He noted that Granger, in Bartica last week, promised “not another massacre,” and pointed to the infamous recording that identified former Commissioner of Police, Winston Felix, detailing how the police force was diverted from apprehending criminals.

“The connection has been made between the PNC and those on that list and the criminal elements in our country,” Nandlall said.

On that note, he made it clear that the May 11 General and Regional elections are about protecting the “future of our children” and about “in whose hands we want to put the future of our children .”

The PPP/ C member drew the nexus between this ‘disturbing development’ and the reasons APNU+AFC wants power.

“Why do they want to get into government…what did they do in Government? Did the people of Enmore benefit?” he questioned.

The resounding “no” from the huge gathering of supporters saw him shifting attention to the APNU+AFC prime ministerial candidate, Moses Nagamootoo, and underscoring the “hypocrisy” he has personified.

He noted that the same political Opposition that Nagamootoo wrote against is the same political Opposition that he is now aligned himself with.

“He is prepared to sacrifice your welfare, your children’s future, simply because they promised him a position. Will you allow that?” Nandlall questioned. His answer was a thunderous “no.”

“You are an intelligent people. They came to as PNC and you rejected them. They came to you as PNCR and you rejected them. They came to you as PNCR-1G and you rejected them. They come to you now as APNU+AFC.

Will you reject them?” Nandlall asked again, receiving another thunderous “no.”

ILL-CONCEIVED PLANS
Drawing the attention of the masses to the vision that has been laid out by the political Opposition, as opposed to the vision of the PPP/C, he stressed that “the difference” is clear.

“You can see the difference…this Government delivers for you, look at what they are promising and that is why you have to vote, vote to protect your country,” Nandlall said.

According to him, the ill-conceived plans of APNU+AFC address grand plans, without a strategic framework and without clear plans on how these will be financed; while at the same time promising a reduction in taxes.

The plans for private property and constitutional reform, were also highlighted by Nandlall, who is also the Legal Affairs Minister.

He rubbished the plans in these areas and stressed that without democracy there can be no progress and without freedom there can be no development.

“We brought democratic reforms to this country and we are prepared to judged by the people,” Nandlall said.

He was emphatic too in stressing that power for the sake of power will not translate to representation of the interests of the Guyanese people.

“We are not in office merely to be in office. We see power as a means to bringing development for our people… APNU+AFC is prepared to preside over a graveyard…government for them is a means to an end…. they see power as an end and that is what you will be voting against,” Nandlall said.

Consequently, he called for the people of Enmore to “send the political Opposition a clear message” with a resounding victory for the PPP/C.

“We must send them a clear message and we will rid this country once and for all of the PNC,” the PPP/C member concluded.

By Vanessa Narine