Minister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues said the APNU+AFC Opposition has proven itself ‘anti-development’ and ‘anti-progressive’ by attempting to obstruct development within communities.
Minister Rodrigues, during her weekly programme called out the APNU+AFC for putting its political interest above that of the development of the people and the country.
“How can you look at their actions and think they have the people’s best interest at heart, they don’t even care about their own supporters, how would they care about anybody else,” the minister questioned on Tuesday.
She added, “they can’t match us intellectually, so they have just descended to this thuggish kind of behaviour,” noting that Guyana’s development is moving at a rapid pace and the people do not deserve this kind of leadership.
Minister Rodrigues cited the recent incident in which an opposition Member of Parliament sought to block Public Service Minister, Sonia Parag from meeting with the residents of Belladrum, Region Five, on youth development.
Reference was also made to another recent incident involving the Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, where he told the residents of Mocha, EBD not to remove from an area where the government is building the Eccles to Diamond Highway, insisting that the lands are ‘ancestral lands.’
Minister Rodrigues said to facilitate the continuation of the highway, the government had engaged the squatters in relocating to a more developed housing scheme equipped with utilities and other amenities. They were offered land and compensation for their structures.
The majority of the residents relocated and have completed the construction of their new homes, while a few of them are refusing to move from the area.
The minister has therefore warned the residents not to take ‘set up’ from the APNU+AFC opposition and miss a golden opportunity to improve their standard of living.
“All of the developments you see in Mocha now it was done by the PPP/C, all the roads, and the communities and the houses and all those things in there.”
Minister Rodrigues said the Dr Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C Administration will continue to engage all the people in the community in a bid to improve their livelihoods.