Days after a visit to the mining town of Linden, businessman and Presidential Candidate of Change Guyana Robert Badal has decried the economic state of the region.
Badal during a press conference at his Kingston seaside hotel on Thursday said he was “deeply disturbed” with the level of underdevelopment “or no development at all” throughout Region 10.
He said for years nothing significant was done by the two major political parties to improve the lives of people of Linden, a town with major economic prospects.
“Linden and region 10 is a case of broken promises, and it is the same tale all across rural Guyana. The tale of the role of race in the politics of Guyana,” he added.
Change Guyana outlined its own development agenda for the region but in the process secured a public endorsement from young Lindener, Ryan Dey.
Dey who holds a Degree in Forestry and is a national rugby player was also critical in his endorsement of how past and current Governments have treated with the forestry sector and youth in sport.
“As a Lindener, as a sportsman, as a youth, I feel like both the two parties have failed me. Looking at Linden I can’t help but ask what has happened to a beautiful town. Both parties are one of the same, corruption and backward movement,” he protested.
Change Guyana plans to address this frustration among Lindeners and outlined its plan for doing so.
Prime Ministerial Candidate Nigel Hinds said among the party’s plans for Linden and the wider region 10 area is to establish a university campus, an aluminium plant, wood processing factory and furniture factory there.
Hinds said the party will see that there are incentives for foreign and local investors and a concentrated effort will be made to keep graduates in region 10 by bolstering economic activity.
He said there will major infrastructural development with the Linden to Lethem highway becoming a reality.
“This is not another broken promise… we want to change region 10 from being an economically depressed community… the previous promises for development were plenty but lacked implementation,” he added.
Hind too called out politicians from the two major parties for consistently failing to keep promises.
“Linden remains like a blossom that never becomes a flower.”
