Linden, Agricola unrest won’t hurt APNU at polls

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:01 by GxMedia

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) on Thursday shrugged off suggestions that the opposition alliance would lose votes because of unrests in Linden and Agricola last year.

Insiders of the governing Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) say they plan to crank up their electioneering campaign to show their traditional supporters that the opposition was bent on destroying the country and preventing that party from governing effectively.

But APNU parliamentarian, Basil Williams expressed his grouping’s confidence in being victorious at either long overdue Local Government polls or General and Regional Elections.

“We are confident that any kind of elections that come forward, we will have a good showing in them,” he told a news conference.

He scoffed at the PPPC’s propaganda machinery, recalling that party had embarked on a vigorous and extravagant campaign at the November 2011 elections. The PPP scraped home with 32 seats, resulting in the country’s first minority government in the House. The Alliance For Change (AFC) with seven and APNU with 26 control the House.

Whenever local government elections are held, Williams said it would amount to an opinion poll on the performance of all parties. “Local government elections would be an opinion poll on all parties including the government,” he said.

He charged that the Agricola unrest in which innocent persons were robbed and their vehicles damaged was the work of the PPP. Residents had blocked the public road and burnt tyres and other material to protest the police killing of a 17-year old boy.

In Linden during July last year, three persons were killed at the height of a week long protest against higher electricity rates that have since been put on hold.

Ingress and egress to not only Linden but also several Amerindian and mining communities and the border township of Lethem were blocked, resulting in the depletion of fuel, food and other supplies.

A parliamentary select committee is about to conclude its work on several pieces of legislation that will significantly reduce the powers of the minister and put them in the hands of a Commission as well as legally define the mechanism for financing village and town councils.