Minister Annette Ferguson takes political campaign to funeral

Feb 03, 2020 News

– calls dead ‘party comrade’ by wrong name

Minister Annette Ferguson

With Guyana’s General and Regional Elections mere weeks away, the major political parties are travelling to every nook and cranny to let Guyanese know why they should vote for them.
And it seems that things have gotten so intense that even the dead are not spared.
This was the case last Saturday, when Minister with Responsibility for Housing, Minister, Annette Ferguson, used a funeral service, to rally mourners for votes.
A video of the embarrassing escapade has surfaced on social media.
It captured Minister Ferguson launching into full campaigning mode at the funeral of a man that she later told Kaieteur News was a ‘party comrade.’ while his grieving relatives stood nearby in shock.
The video, lasting one minute forty-three seconds, shows Minister Ferguson standing over the dead man’s casket and preaching to those gathered of the good things that the APNU/ AFC government had done for the residents in the area.
“As I came in this afternoon, I was informed of the many developments this government would have done for this area,” Ferguson told the mourners.
“Once Brother James was alive, I know that March 2, 2020, he would have been voting for the A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change.”

Screenshot of the video showing Minister Ferguson in full campaign mode at the funeral.

But, this was not the man’s name. In fact, while the Minister spoke, family members could be heard in the background repeating the dead man’s correct name; ‘Raymond’.
But the Minister continued: “As I close, I want to say here to you this afternoon, you have seen what this government would have done, you have seen the many changes, not only in your life, not only in your community but by extension, this entire nation.”
Ferguson then told the mourners: “The provision of boats in the Pomeroon River to get our children to and from school speaks volumes of a government that cares; a President that cares, because this is where the initiative was birthed.”
In her closing, Ferguson urged the gathering to “vote for APNU and AFC.”
The video garnered over six hundred comments and shares with persons expressing their disgust.
Many of the viewers stated that a funeral was not the place to be in campaign mode.
But in a brief response to Kaieteur News regarding these sentiments, Minister Ferguson said that she attended the funeral since the deceased was a staunch supporter of the APNU/AFC government.
Insisting that her actions were not inappropriate, the Minister stated that she uses the opportunity to root for her party wherever she goes.
According to her, family members were in no way upset at her comments.

(Please see link below for video by Romel Roopnarine)

https://youtu.be/RxCNuUsGQHg