Norton accuses govt of blatant corruption, discrimination

Aug 04, 2022 News

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Kaieteur News – As questions continue to swirl in society regarding the hefty prices being attached to the construction of small buildings to house state facilities, the Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton has told thousands of supporters that this is evidence of PPP corruption.

Norton made these remarks on Tuesday evening during a joint Opposition rally hosted at Burnham Court. The event coincided with the PPP’s celebration of two years in office and brought together hundreds of Guyanese to rally against corruption, the high cost of living and extra-judicial killings, among other issues.

The People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R), the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) supporters turned up in their numbers as they cheered on the Coalition’s Members of Parliament who took to the podium to assure that the critical areas are not, and will not be left on the back burner.

Charting the way forward was the Opposition Leader who insisted that when one looks at the way in which the government handles contracts, it is evident that they are not interested in development, but rather focused on raking in money for themselves and friends. “When you see the price for some lil lil buildings you get nara. They are very very corrupt and all Su did was to provide the evidence. We all know how corrupt they be,” he argued.

Furthermore, he explained that the Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo should prove his innocence by allowing for an independent investigation into the allegations made by his friend, Su Zhirong in the Vice News documentary, where he told the undercover journalists that the VP collects bribes to facilitate Chinese investors in Guyana. He reasoned: “I have said to Bharrat Jagdeo more than once, if you think you ain’t corrupt I gave you a simple task. If you got a house or you going to buy a house, when you go to buy the house you got to give the bank certain information and a percentage of your salary got to pay for it or else they does tell you, you can’t get it. I want him to put his wealth against his salary and if he can prove that that is gotten honestly, then I tell he I’ll resign. But he cannot do that. He is part of a kleptocracy that all they doing is getting rich.”

In addition to the Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton; David Hinds, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, Mervyn Williams, Juretha Fernandes, Sherod Duncan, Amanza Walton-Desir, Ganesh Mahipaul, Coretta McDonald, Christopher Jones, and Volda Lawrence were some of the popular faces who graced the event.

Shaking to songs of redemption, the supporters waved the National Arrowhead and their party flags as the sun went down. Opening the rally was WPA’s Kidackie Amsterdam who reminded the crowd that several young black lives were taken by the Guyana Police Force under the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government, adding that, “we will not stand for extra-judicial killings; we will not stand for a corrupt police force. Further, we will not stand for a government taking actions, making decisions which are against the constitution and blatantly illegal in the management of the Guyana Police Force.”

AFC’s Fernandes, during her remarks, gave the audience an overview of the economy, insisting that the country is not being managed well, as is evident by the rising inflation rates. She pointed out that even though the government enjoys boasting of Guyana being poised to be the country with the highest growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) globally, Guyanese continue to suffer to purchase food, in an oil producing nation.

“We see all the nice numbers and all the nice headings but you have to remember ladies and gentlemen that when it comes to sugar, what is going on with sugar,” Fernandes reasoned, as she went on to note that a selected few of the PPP friends are benefitting from the largest budget passed to date, while the majority of the population continue to suffer.

The PNC/R’s Mervyn Williams in addressing the supporters said in President Irfaan Ali’s vision for a “One Guyana”, the PPP has effectively used its one seat majority in the National Assembly to shut out the voices of 49 percent of the country. According to him, “When you talk about leadership, you have the Vice News release that points to corruption in the highest offices of the land. You talk about trampling on the national constitution, playing around with constitutional commissions so that certain ends can be achieved. The procurement commission only came in after the boys them succeeded in doing other mischief before…so when it comes to leadership, they get an ‘F’ in leadership.”

On the other hand, it was insisted that there must be no other elections without a clean voters’ list.  In addition to those present at the venue, there were over 4,000 viewers who tuned in online.

 

 

 

 

 

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