Latest update December 21st, 2024 1:52 AM
Linden requires no ‘Dear John and Jane’ letter
– Ramotar must visit the town – Nagamootoo
The agitation in Linden over the hike in electricity tariffs does not require a “Dear John and Jane” letter to the people of Linden from President Donald Ramotar, the Vice Chairman of the Alliance for Change Moses Nagamootoo said yesterday.
“He (the President) didn’t have to resort to letter writing. This is not a love affair…” Nagamootoo stated. “This is a political engagement that requires his presence there.”
As far as Nagamootoo is concerned, President Ramotar’s appeal would have been best read in the town itself.
The people of Linden began a protest against the imposition of the tariff hike on July 18 and on that very day three protesters were gunned down by Police. The protest is now stretching into its fourth week.
AFC Vice Chairman Moses Nagamootoo
The President issued an open letter to the people of Linden in a paid advertisement in yesterday’s newspapers in which he appealed to them to restore the town to normalcy.
Neither the President nor any of his senior government Ministers have visited the town since the protest began.
Nagamootoo did not agree with the President’s seeming one-sided position that he would not visit the town unless the roads are cleared.
Further, he said that the association of the word “extremist” with the letter as regards the protest in Linden, constitutes not only a hindrance to peace and orderliness, but could very well fuel it.
He said for the President to lump so-called “outsiders” and refer to them as extremists was in fact doing the same thing that the Americans did during the Vietnam war, that of putting Vietnamese against each other.
Nagamootoo said that this “Vietnamisation of Linden” would not help to solve the problem.
He said that the President is sending mixed signals by saying that there is a hold in the tariff hike while at the same time propagating that there has to be a gradual increase of electricity rates in Linden.
Further, Nagamootoo said that Ramotar’s Ministers are using the media to stigmatise Lindeners, suggesting that the people of the town are deliberately trying to avoid paying their share for utility services.
Rather than seeking to diffuse the situation, Ramotar has added to the agitation, Nagamootoo opined.
Nagamootoo said that the President has not acted on the no-confidence Parliamentary vote against Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, which could have helped to ease the tension.
Further, Ramotar said that the business community and the people of the interior regions affected by the protests in Linden should come out and support the cause of the Lindeners and call for a just resolution to the problem.
He said that others are suffering because “a callous and senseless government” has brought on electricity tariff increases in Linden without adequate consultation, without examining the level of poverty in the town and the ability of the town to pay those increases.
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