PPP Anna Regina rally…Ramotar bashes media on Marriott

Apr 20, 2015 News

– but fails to address needs of Essequibians

Failing to adequately address the needs of Essequibians, incumbent President Donald Ramotar instead used last Saturday’s Anna Regina rally as a launching pad for a scathing attack on the Stabroek News, for what he referred to as the newspaper’s hatred for the ruling party.

President Ramotar at Saturday’s rally

Ramotar told supporters gathered at the iconic Damon’s Square in Anna Regina on Saturday last, that “no matter what we [PPP] do, they [Stabroek News] taking a negative line.” The evidence of this, according to the President, is seen in the Stabroek News Friday April 17 headline story, captioned “Tax payers’ Marriott launched”, which dealt with various inconsistencies in reports on the Marriott, and the details of the contract and funds which went into the project.
He opined that the hatred that Stabroek News has for the ruling PPP/C derives from the fact that the Party has a love affair with the people of Guyana, and the newspaper is only interested in representing the needs of a certain class of people.
“You see how they reported it? Because, the Stabroek News represents the era that has passed. They represent their own rich people who used to make decisions for this country over bottle whiskey at Georgetown Club.”
Ramotar, in defending the recently opened five star hotel, said that the Marriott is something that all Guyanese should be proud of. The “iconic” Marriott, according to the President, is “second to none in the whole world… the best Marriott in the Caribbean.”
Ramotar boasted that the PPP/C has always been an agent of change, and told those gathered in the Cinderella County, that his party is responsible for changing Guyana from being a poor under-developed country, to now being a millennium developed country.
The group of mostly rice farmers heard that the Stabroek News hates the PPP/C, “because they represent another class of rich people in this country. Those people who got rich when you could have gone to jail, for having flour, bread, tea, garlic, sardines, corn beef… if you had those things you could have gone to jail.”
Ramotar continued by saying, “When the PPP came on the scene, and we started to fight for universal adult suffrage, because when we came on the scene, you and I did not have the right to vote. PPP brought that right, Cheddi Jagan fought that struggle and today, you having that power… they believe that we undermined their power, by giving you the right to vote.”
During the President’s hour long address, scores of members of the audience could be seen leaving. Just before the rally kicked off on Saturday, Kaieteur News interviewed some farmers in the nearby area, who expressed concern that the government has not been doing enough for Essequibo, and had no vision for farmers living in the area.
They had hoped that President Ramotar himself would provide them with a solution to the problems they are having with farming and the production and sale of rice.