In her hometown of Bartica, APNU Prime Ministerial Candidate, Juretha Fernandes, blasted the governing People’s Progressive Party and its policies, which she believes, have left Bartica and the wider Region Seven community behind.

Region Seven is known for its gold and diamond mining, and the town of Bartica is its regional capital.

At an APNU Public Meeting on Saturday night, Fernandes said while Bartica has been home to gold mining, under the current Government, mining lands have been dolled out to its “family, friends and favourites”, while Barticians have been left behind.

“The PPP administration, they don’t care about whether you have access to mining lands, because they have access to mining lands. From the helm of their organisation, they have access to mining land and they make sure that they collect the lands that will give them the most. And then they send you to collect the lands that have absolutely nothing on it”, Fernandes stated.

She floated a plan for local content legislation to also cover the mining industry to allow locals within the communities to benefit more from gold mining activities and exploration.

“When we have big companies coming into our country and coming into our communities, we need to ensure that the people in the communities are benefiting also. We have thought about it and we have planned it, and we will execute”, the Prime Ministerial Candidate told supporters.

Fernandes said the town of Bartica and the Region Seven will form part of the APNU’s development plan. She said the town and communities in the region would see upgraded airstrip and other facilities to create easier connections. According to Fernandes, the ideas may only appear to be farfetched, because Bartica and the region have been left behind.

She said an APNU-led Government will also tackle the current impact of the rise in the cost of living, explaining that the indigenous community deserves special attention since many of the indigenous villages are hardest hit by the cost of living problem.

Fernandes spoke of Guyana’s earnings from the sale of carbon credits, and said while it is the indigenous communities that are at the forefront of protecting and caring for the forests, they are getting the smallest amount.

“When it comes to protecting the forests, the first people in the line of defence for the forests are our indigenous peoples. But guess what, when the money came in, they decided that 15% has to be split up for all the communities, 15%. I am telling you here tonight that we will be increasing that 15% to 50%, and guess what, we will not be directing it to the Councils, we will be giving it to the indigenous peoples themselves. We will be making sure that the families within those communities benefit from those resources because we know many of those Councils are corrupt and many of them are PPP dominated and run, and many of them have no bookkeeping being done to show what they are doing with the money and the people have no idea of the projects that the money is being used to do, we will put that money back in to your pocket”, she promised.

Speaking earlier in the night, long time PNC Reform member and former Member of Parliament, Judith David who is a resident of Bartica, said the current Government has left Bartica behind, while it has chosen to focus on its families, friends and favourites. She accused the current Government of running away from Bartica while ignoring its problems.

David said on the 1st September, the citizens of Bartica must vote to take back their community and the country from the governing PPP.

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