LGE is not “about simply winning and sharing out seats”- President tells Lethem residents

President and leader of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), David Granger on Friday took his Local Government Elections (LGE) campaign to the Region Nine town of Lethem.

According to a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency, the President in his address to residents at the Indigenous Peoples’ Conference Hall, Central Rupununi, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo (Region Nine) urged to elect leaders who will serve.

“Trust [your] own judgment; trust the people you know,” he said as he addressed a town where his party won the popular vote at the 2016 LGE.

“We need to be driven by an idea that this is not about simply winning and sharing out seats, it is about improving the municipality of Lethem,” the President said.

The Head of State said that while APNU did not win at the last LGE, his administration is giving citizens the right to make choices.

“Since then, we have been strengthening the local government system. In three years, we have created four towns,” he said, according to the statement, adding that he envisions that one-day Lethem will become a city.

“You have to serve if you want to lead,” President Granger said, noting that it is through local government that democracy is exercised.

The Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) which has ruled the country for 23 years before being ousted from office in 2015, captured 123, 564 votes under the PR component of the LGE in 2016. This was 24, 894 votes more than the APNU+AFC’s 98,670.

The President explained that Lethem’s development is a work in progress but pointed to improvements made to the town since the government took office in May 2015.

Meanwhile, some 50 children of Lethem and neighbouring communities received bicycles from the President through the Public Education Transport Service (PETS). 

He also commissioned a new ‘David G.’ bus and handed it over to the Regional Democratic Council.

Thus far, 28 buses and 1,354 bicycles have been handed over across the country to assist children to attend school, the Ministry of the Presidency said.