With temperatures failing below freezing, scores of Guyanese braved a cold New York Friday night to meet with the APNU+AFC Presidential and Prime Ministerial Candidates.

The fundraising event was held at the Woodbine Hall in Brooklyn and the Guyanese who gathered there were told by the candidates that “it is time for Guyana to change”.

Presidential Candidate David Granger told the gathering that an APNU+AFC government would set up a Department of the Diaspora which would focus on the needs of Guyanese living overseas who still have an interest in Guyana and who still want to return to Guyana and invest or remigrate. That department, according to Mr. Granger, will allow Guyanese who live overseas to be more connected to business back home and to prepare a path for them that would make doing business in Guyana much easier.

He said he understands the concern of many Guyanese who live overseas and want to pay a meaningful contribution but are at times turned off by an inefficient system to cater for them. The APNU+AFC government will change that, Granger said.

Mr. Granger encouraged the fundraising crowd to  keep paying attention to what is happening in Guyana and to keep in contact with their families and ensure they encourage them to head out and vote for change.  

Granger said a government under his watch would do more to encourage Guyanese to return to Guyana and invest.

The current administration he said, has led the way in encouraging others to take  out many of Guyana’s raw products with little benefits to the country. He spoke about poverty across the Guyana landscape and the absence of basic infrastructure for many Guyanese who are still home.

The PPP, he said, has “deliberately underdeveloped” much of Guyana and has left Guyana in the current state it is in.

Mr. Granger told the gathering that the APNU+AFC team offers hope for a new Guyana and he wants that hope to be embraced by Guyanese at home and abroad.

“North America, tonight I bring you a message of hope.But I want you to understand that this is a sober decision that we have made. It is good to have fun but the possession of our nation is what is at stake. We want to ensure that every Guyanese child could have that good life to which you aspire”, Granger said.

He said he gets very emotional about Guyana because the country should not be at the bottom of the ladder of human development, and the country does not have to be crime ridden and poverty stricken. “These things have been brought about because a few greedy men have been depriving a large number of needy people of a good life. The greedy must not overwhelm the needy and this is what the PPP has been doing for the past 23 years.”

Granger’s running mate, Prime Ministerial Candidate Moses Nagamootoo told the crowd that Guyana has moved away from the dreams of its fore-parents and it was now time to rescue the nation from the PPP.

According to Nagamootoo, the struggle ahead will be tough but it  is one that could be won.

He said the APNU+AFC Coalition is seeking victory for the small man because “indeed we are fighting Goliath who has imbibe in the ass kicking culture because they know that culture well because you can kick if you know to receive kick backs.”

Nagamootoo said the task for Guyana is to  move forward and it is time to part to the Guyana sea before it becomes the Guyana dead sea. He said Guyana must be built through cooperation between Guyanese at home and Guyanese in the diaspora. The struggle in Guyana he said is not an easy one and it is not a walk over.

The audience was told that Guyana needs national unity and a system whereby the winner does not take all.  That system is what the APNU+AFC has to offer.

The candidates will travel to a number of other communities in the New York and New Jersey area over the weekend as they continue their Unity Campaign.

Filed: 21st March 2015

News Source Coverage of Campaign on the Road 2015 in New York compliments of Fly Jamaica Airways with support from Caribbean Airlines. 

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