Guyana’s prez holds townhall meeting in Brooklyn

President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar told compatriots at a town hall meeting in Brooklyn, that the Republic has an exceptional relationship with the Unites States administration in Guyana’s fight against crime.

The head of state, who received a warm welcome at Woodbine Ballroom on Sunday, Sept. 21, said a recent agreement also with the Brazilian government would allow the Brazilians to use its satellite capability to monitor Guyana’s vast land space against smuggling.

Protesters carrying signs that demanded: “We Want Local Government Elections Now,” hastened Ramotar to call on Opposition Leader David Granger to decide if he wanted national elections or local government elections.

“We cannot hold both elections together,” added Ramotar who said he had planned on keeping his campaign promise to hold local elections as soon as possible after being elected, but did not anticipate the PPP would have a one seat minority in parliament.

The leader, who is here to address the 69th United Nations General Assembly, attributes investing in Guyanese through education as the reason for Guyana’s economic stability and growth.

“Guyana has the most enrolled number of children at the nursery school level in the whole Caribbean, noted the leader who said he has invested in trained teachers, a learning channel, online education and tertiary education in remote areas, in addition to state-of-the-art learning at the university level.

Guyanese will benefit greatly he said from new and refurbished hospitals throughout the 10 regions with wellness programs that were instituted to fight diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria. “We have more to do, but the number of cases has reduced significantly,” he noted.

Stating that the country’s biggest impediment is the lack of cheap energy, Ramotar called on nationals to help the government to secure inexpensive energy to stay competitive with other countries in the region,

“It is vital for Guyana to have cheap energy, this is the reason we have been pursing the Amaila Fall Hydro-Electric project vigorously. Every Guyanese would benefit greatly from this project,” added the politician.

The leader plans to upgrade villages in all 10 regions of Guyana. Drainage and irrigation, solid waste disposal, race relations, discrimination, retirement benefits, crime, the high rate of suicide and domestic abuse, are all issues the leader addressed during a spirited exchange with nationals.

Ramotar promised to focus on development in areas that would bring the greatest benefit to Guyanese, while making the country the most developed in the Caribbean.

Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues Burkett, Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, George Talbot, Consul General Brentnold Evans and other members of the diplomatic corps attended the event.