Strong action to be taken against lawbreakers regardless of political affiliation – GS Jagdeo

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said that enforcement action will be taken against those who participate in illegal activities regardless of their political affiliation.

The general secretary, who also performs the duties of vice president, made the remarks during his weekly press conference at Freedom House on Thursday.

Last week, several businesses and individuals were attacked and robbed, suffering great damages to property and wellbeing.

More than two dozen individuals were subsequently brought before the court charged with inciting public terror.

“If they break the law, I don’t care if they claim they’re PPP or not…I support strong enforcement action who broke the law. I support that,” Dr Jagdeo affirmed.

He said that while some of the individuals appear hell-bent on creating havoc, there may be a few who were unjustly arraigned and others who were influenced into participating in illegal activity.

Government’s intention, the general secretary said, is not to have these young people fall by the wayside even after facing the consequences for their actions.

“We have been making an effort to get all of people [trained and employed]…we will continue to work because we cannot lose these youngsters,” he assured.

To ensure a sustainable system, Dr Jagdeo said that the government has already begun to explore compulsory schooling for inmates.

Meanwhile, the general secretary lambasted the opposition for laying the blame at the feet of the PPP/C, suggesting that the looters only participated in the violent protests because they were poor and neglected by society.

He posited that it is the same group of people who did nothing to help these very individuals during their past tenure in office.

“In 1990, eight-seven per cent of the population was living under the poverty line…so [they] didn’t only dispossess or made poor a small group of people, you made almost the entire country poor. That is their track record,” he said, referencing the People’s National Congress’ tenure in office up to 1992.

“Where was Nigel Hughes or Cathy Hughes then? What did they do with these kids? In fact, more people started losing jobs again…they lost welfare [when they were in office]…since we have come back into office, we now have labour shortages. So, if any of these youngsters want to be trained, we have publicly said that we will pay for every training,” he explained.

Dr Jagdeo said that the APNUAFC preferred to keep these youngsters in intellectual bondage in order to consistently have them at their disposal.

“It’s APNU that doesn’t want them to be trained, because this is an army of people that they can mobilize to do their bidding and then dissasociate themselves from them. They’re not interested in these youngsters to change their lives. The only want them to remain in a situation where they can be mobilized,” the general secretary asserted.