APNU+AFC grifted their supporters – VP Jagdeo

VICE PRESIDENT (VP) BHARRAT JAGDEO LAST WEEK PILLORIED THE MAIN
PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION chastising the A Partnership for National Unity, Alliance
for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition for ignoring job creation during its 2015 to 2020 rule even
snubbing its bauxite-mining stronghold of Linden.

During the runup to the March 2020 polls, Jagdeo and the Peoples Progressive Party Civic
(PPP/C) blasted the Granger administration for shedding more than 30,000 jobs nationwide
while safeguarding their collective future by securing prime property for dozens of loyalists.
Jagdeo pointed to the Official Gazette to back up his charges of land acquisition by some
APNU+AFC top guns even after the last General and Regional Elections.

At his press conference at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre, Liliendaal, ECD, Mr. Jagdeo
said the Granger government slashed jobs in the mineral-rich-but-impoverished Linden
municipality by throwing scores of workers on the breadline.
“In Linden they closed the call centre that the PPP had built and we lost nearly 100 jobs there.
You let them tell you about a single job initiative in Linden or anywhere else in the country.
They can't name a single one, or did they have any plans for it in the future. They had absolutely
no plan. Zero! That is their legacy in job creation,” Jagdeo, obviously in a combative mood, told
reporters.
He highlighted the APNU+AFC continuous rhetoric when it comes to Linden against the reality
of the poverty-inducing decisions it took which endangered future prospects of residents of that
Upper Demerara/Berbice (Region Ten) community
“The only people who benefited in Linden were people who were connected to the Government
directly. So (MP) Figueira got money for a pig pen, a big grant from the SLED programme. In
fact, most of the money from the SLED programme went to about six or seven Members of

Parliament and this was supposed to create entrepreneurship among ordinary people. MPs, many
of them are current Members of Parliament, took that money,” Jagdeo revealed.
On the contrary, “you can go to Linden and point to things that the PPP did. This is the reality if
you go to the empirical way of judging performance,” the former Guyanese President boasted.
“I can say that the Amelia’s Ward housing was done by the PPP. The Block 22 housing scheme
was built by the PPP. The hospital was built by the PPP and the new water treatment plant was
built by the PPP. Most of the major roads were done by the PPP (too and) we built the Call
Centre, when the Bauxite Industry was collapsing. We managed to keep bauxite alive in that
area. We continue to subsidize Linden Power of over $25B a year. We had the LEN (Linden
Enterprise Network) programme, which is a small loan programme for people. What can they tell
you?” he rhetorically queried.
Jagdeo lashed out at Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Joseph Harmon, castigating him and other
APNU+AFC leaders for exploiting their constituencies for personal political advantage
demanding they come clean about their five-year dismal performance while in government.
“What can Harmon tell you? They can tell you how (MP Jermain) Figueira got two plots of land
on March 21, 2020 after the elections, and 45 (other) persons (received plots) on March 21. You
can check the Gazette. This is after the elections, that 45 members closely aligned to APNU got
land along the right bank on the (Demerara) River in Linden,” VP Jagdeo divulged.
Charging that the APNU+AFC administration grifted Guyanese before being forced to demit
office last office, Jagdeo said then Finance Minister, Winston Jordan “signed …the vesting order
transferring land to them. It’s in the gazette, that is what they got.”
While the ordinary Lindeners were hardly benefited from the government’s land distribution
programme, Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Mr. Keith
Lowenfield, benefited significantly, Jagdeo charged.
“Lowenfield got 200 acres at Millies Hideout.  Ordinary people didn’t get land. There was
no housing programme for Lindeners in the last five years. Only people connected with

APNU+AFC (received). Today they go to Linden and shed crocodile tears now-and-again
(while) they were hollowing out the economy. They did nothing there,” Jagdeo reiterated.