as partnership marks 9th Anniversary
IN just five years, the David Granger-led Administration successfully removed Guyana from the Money Laundering Blacklist and elevated the country’s rating in its fight against Human Traf6dting even as it makes a case against Venezuela before tbt World Court in defence of the country’s territorial integrity, but these unprecedented developments are now under threat, Joseph Harmon said .as be marked the A Partner ship for National Unity’s (APNU’s) ninth anniversary.
Harmon, the General Secretary of the A Partnership for National Unity, in an address to the nation on Thursday, said the APNU together with the Alliance For Change (AFC) stands committed to further advance development in Guyana but the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has gone great lengths to thwart the will of the Guyanese people.
Based on the Election Reports submitted by the Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield to the Guyana Elections Commission, the APNU+AFC won the General and Regional Elections held last March, but the PPP/C, according to Hannon, has placed obstacles in the way of the Chairman of the Elections Commission, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, in declaring David Granger as President.
He said for 23 years, the people of Guyana suffered at the hands of the PPP/C, and such a party should not be allowed lO re-enter government, especially on basis of fraudulent votes. A national recount conducted in MayJune showed a win for the PPP/C but it also unearthed massive electoral fraud particularly in PPP/C stronghold areas.
Harmon said in those 23 years, the then opposition did not stand idly by as the PPP/C wrecked the country, noting that the battle was often about construction versus destruction; cooperation versus confrontation and the good Iife versus poverty and communal disintegration.
Cognisant of the need to unite, he recalled that on July 15, 20 II five political parties the Guyana Action Party (GAP), the Justice For All Party (JFAP), the National Front Alliance (NFA), the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) came together to launch A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
“It was clear then as it is clear now that the racial-based politics and policies of the past has no place in the future, and Guyana with all of its resources would not reach its true potential and embrace modernity if the old ways of doing business was allowed to continue. The Partnership (APNU) gave the nation a chance to hit the reset button, and the leaders, a new pallet on which to promote policies and programmes designed to advance the interest of all the people of Guyana,” the APNU General Secretary said.
The partnership, he said, is proud of its service to the nation in nine short years. “APNU has broken down barriers of social prejudice; smashed the barriers of bigotry and broke through with new ideas and a new vision for Guyana’s future. APNU is the future. We have chosen hope over despair and faith over fear,” he added.
But the A PNU created an even greater impact in 2015 when it coalesced with the AFC, and successfully defeated the PPP/C regime.
“We entered government in 2015 as a Coalition and over those five years we have restored hope to the people of Guyana. We have successfully ended 23 years of ‘wreckage’ carried out by the PPP/C. Block by block, we have rebuilt this nation from the rubble and restored national pride. We have gone from being viewed as a narcotic state to being removed from the antimony laundering blacklist,” he detailed.
Harmon added: “We have aggressively tackled corruption, which according to one newspaper editorial during the Jagdeo era was on an industrial scale. We have brought back the dignity of human life and placed a strong premium on Guyanese life; extrajudicial. killings are now a thing of the past. We have cleaned up the tattered legacy which Jagdeo and the PPP/C left us.” Additionally, it was under the APNU+AFC Administration, the country’s rating in the global fight against Human Trafficking significantly improved. During the period 2013-2015, Guyana was on the US Tier Two watch-list; in 2016 it moved to Tier Two and since 2017 it has maintained a Tier One status.
Emphasis was also placed on human and infrastructural development. “We have addressed, among other things, education, public infrastructure, public security, public health, and social protection and people are now proud to say ‘I am Guyanese, he posited.
Key among the achievements was the APNU+AFC Administration’s successful push to have the Guyana-Venezuela Border Controversy deferred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by the United Nations (UN) Secretary General for a final and binding judgment that the 1899 Arbitral A ward is valid.
“Over these five (5) years no foreign government has had the need to accuse us of corruption or mismanagement in public office,” Hannon said but noted that even as the APNU marked its Ninth Anniversary on Wednesday, “dark forces” threatening to pull the coalition apart.
“APN U believes in a community working together for a common cause. Our approach is rooted in the belief that each citizen performs best in a strong and safe community of people who share common values,” Harmon said in his address to the country.
Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_07_17_2020