Nothing new in Granger’s address to Parliament- Jagdeo

Last Updated on Thursday, 13 October 2016, 23:23 by Denis Chabrol

FLASH BACK: Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo meeting with President David Granger.

Opposition Leader  Bharrat Jagdeo sought to shred President Granger’s address to Parliament on Thursday, charging that it contained nothing new.

“I think people prepared the speech for him. They just brushed out the old documents and he genuinely believes that he is announcing new initiatives here. He just doesn’t know,” he said in reference to the President’s address.

He said Granger’s speech sounded like one shortly after winning elections in which the opposition is criticized and the new government’s broad agenda is provided.

He said Granger’s announcement that a Centre of Biodiversity would be established at Iwokrama and that the E-Governance Programme would be expanded is part of the Low Carbon Development Strategy, the Great Wall computers being distributed to teachers is from the PPPC’s One Laptop per Family Project and the approval of modern telecommunications legislation without any amendment.

Jagdeo accused Granger of desecrating the National Assembly’s Chamber with a speech that avoided the facts in a number of areas such as the 2002 to 2009 crime spree by violent and heavily armed gangs who were based in Buxton.

Jagdeo reiterated that those gangs had included drug traffickers and then opposition “insurgents” who had “operated with impunity” and killed and robbed police and civilians. “…not a single word of condemnation by the PNC at that time.”

The Opposition Leader rejected President Granger’s claim that his government assumed the reins of power with a poor economy. “They did not inherit a parlous economy. They inherited a growing economy,” Jagdeo, an economist and former Finance Minister, said.

The President announced thay negotiations would begin with local and foreign stakeholders to build a bridge across the Essequibo River, a National Intelligence Agency will be established to monitor Guyana’s borders and biometrics would be included in national identification cards to help stamp out identity theft.