Latest update December 13th, 2024 1:00 AM
‘PPP and PNCR are expired goods’
…Trade unionist says during launch of new party
Trade unionist now turned politician Sherwin Downer, on Wednesday, launched a new political party called “United Workers Party”.
The launching was held in the Conference Room at the Caribbean Inn Inc, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara. Downer told the press that he joins “the hundreds of thousands of Guyanese who are fed up of the PPP/C and PNC/R dominating politics for the past 58 years… and I wish to say this unapologetically, that the PPP and the PNC are now expired goods; they are no longer good for our country.” Downer iterated that “they have outlived their usefulness.”
Sherwin Downer (Center) flanked by the members of his party, “United Workers Party”, addressing the press on Wednesday.
Downer then went on to state some of the things his party will do in the first 100 days, if elected into power. Among the promises he made are, setting up a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) to investigate the signing of the lopsided 2016 oil contract, replacing the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) with an independent investigation body and the depoliticising of trade unions. “The Federation of Independent Trade Union (FITUG) and GTUC, the Guyana Trade Union Congress will be dismantled within the first 100 days,” Downer said, explaining that both of them are politically influenced. Trade unions are not under the control of the state and operate as independent organisations. It is unclear how Mr. Downer will disband them. “They (FITUG and GTUC) are dividing the workers,” he added. “There will be no separate rallies anymore on Labour Day, there will be one rally attended by the President and the Leader of the Opposition.” Downer also promised an anti-corruption unit, which will replace SOCU which he said will operate independent from the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
Downer promised too that an independent prosecutor will also be hired to prosecute corruption matters. He then went on to talk about setting up a CoI to investigate the signing of the lopsided 2016 oil contract with ExxonMobil for the Stabroek Block. “As we know, the then subject Minister (Raphael Trotman) said he felt pressured, in his book, to sign. The people of Guyana need to know the contributing factors as to why he felt pressured into accepting the deal,” the Trade Unionist opined. “The CoI will get down to the bottom to know exactly if there were external interferences… or if his own government pressured him”. Other promises made by his party include, paying public servants a weekly salary, review the P.A.Y.E, introduction of grocery vouchers among other things.
(‘PPP and PNCR are expired goods’)
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