Dr. Jagdeo highlights “barrage of lies” by Opposition to people of Region 10

The APNU+AFC Opposition has been slammed by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo for what he said as been spreading a “barrage of lies” to residents of Region 10 at the weekend. It was noted that Opposition leader, Aubrey Norton along with a number of his party members held a walkthrough in the mining town on Saturday, handing out flyers with “misleading” narratives.

VP Jagdeo during a media conference at Office of the President on Monday, pointed out that a section of the flyer claimed that a mere $9M has been budgeted for an agro-processing facility in Linden, while $7.3B has been allocated for Enmore. “No money has been allocated for Enmore in the budget, zero,” Dr. Jagdeo argued. The VP went on to explain that some $1.2B has been allocated for an industrial estate to be established in the Buxton/Foulis Neighborhood Democratic Council (NDC), which will provide jobs for hundreds along the East Coast corridor.

It was revealed that the opposition has also accused the government of informing the United Kingdom Caribbean Infrastructure Partnership Fund (UKCIF) in 2019, that the Linden/Mabura road project was not a priority project for the PPP/C. However, Dr. Jagdeo noted that the concern was that the APNU+AFC Government was moving forward with a project that was not the highest priority at the time.

The VP explained that while the Linden to Mabura road link is important, it was not the most feasible part of the link which spans from Soesdyke to Brazil. “So, they were focusing on getting the British to fund the part from Mabura to Linden without any plan or financing to do the Soesdyke-Linden, and if you look at any feasibility study, it would show that has a greater value to the people in Region 10 and particularly those in Linden,” he stressed.

The Vice President called out the opposition for what he dubbed as their blatant attempt to paint a narrative that only one COVID-19 cash grant allocation was received per household in Linden, while multiple persons per household in other parts of the country received the grants, valued at $25,000 each. “This is not factual; they cannot substantiate with a single bit of fact. But again, this whistle blowing sort of racism, because they mislead the people in Linden, they say to them you are treated differently than the rest of the country. This is an absolute lie.” Dr. Jagdeo said.

He pointed out that the APNU+AFC also claimed that it provided over 1,000 scholarships in five years, where youths in Region 10 benefitted. However, Dr. Jagdeo measured the claims against the 6,000 scholarships the PPP/C Administration has already distributed during its first year in office. It was revealed that the flyer further highlighted that under the APNU+AFC old age pension was increased from $7,500 to $20,500. But that is a “blatant lie,” Dr. Jagdeo reiterated.

The VP stressed that even before the former government assumed office, in 2014 the payout for old age pension stood at $13,125, “but they said its $7,500, that’s what their document has.” The VP pointed out that investment by the PPP/C government for pension currently stands at $5.4B, with plans to double the old age pension by 2025 as promised, representing an annual increase of about $14.4B or above.

The former president disclosed that the opposition leader was busy spreading lies on the same day the government was investing in the interest of the people with the launching of the part-time jobs and small business grants initiatives.