‘Give PPP/C a chance to lead Georgetown’ – Pres. Ali

With local government elections due soon, President Dr Irfaan Ali is calling on citizens of Georgetown to give the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) a chance to lead the capital city, assuring that key issues such as drainage and road maintenance will be better addressed under new management.

“I am interested in seeing a People’s Progressive Party Civic-led city council. I am interested in seeing strong government, strong leadership at City Hall. Don’t guess what I’m saying, my intentions are clear, and the intentions of the PPP/C are clearer than ever. We want a chance to run this city because the city deserves better than what it has today,” President Ali declared during the commissioning ceremony of the Aubrey Barker Road on Monday evening.

“It is time that we rise up and give the PPP/C that opportunity to lead the city, to lead the city in progress, prosperity, and to deliver good governance for the people of Georgetown,” he added.

Already, the PPP/C made history at last year’s general and regional elections, winning Region Four with over 87,000 votes.

In the general elections, the PPP/C got a remarkable 87,536 votes while in the regional, it secured 87,018.

For the APNU – which traditionally controlled the region – it earned 46,956 in the general elections and 46,772 in the regional.

For context, in 2020, the PPP/C had gained 80,920 votes in the general elections and 81,279 in the regional while the APNU+AFC had gotten 116,941 in the general and 116,403 in the regional.

Region  Four, the most populous and politically significant region, encompassing Georgetown and its environs, has long been considered a PNC/APNU stronghold.

With local government elections due soon, the PPP/C is now hoping to increase its representation on the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, which is dominated by APNU councillors.

In the last local government elections in 2023, APNU won 19 seats while the PPP/C secured 11.

While no date has been announced yet for those elections, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) earlier this year started preparatory works.

Meanwhile, the Aubrey Barker Road is one of over 50 city streets that have been designated as public roads – a move which the Head of State defended.

“We are not taking roads for politics. We are designating roads as public roads in the cause of progress. We have no political interest in dispossessing any entity. We are not playing politics for potholes. We’re not campaigning with congestions, grandstanding with gridlock. We are governing and governance requires responsibility,” he posited.

“If Georgetown is to become the finest city in the Caribbean, then its infrastructure must match that ambition: a modern city cannot run unbroken roads. A growing economy cannot move on yesterday’s infrastructure,” the President added.