Declaring that he is not a politician and only identifies as a businessman, Robert Badal says his future in politics will depend on what confronts the group of young politicians he leads under the Change Guyana political party.
Badal, the owner of the Pegasus Hotel, had started and led the Change Guyana Party into the March 02 2020 elections but just two months after the People’s Progressive Party took up the reigns of government, Badal now says he is comfortable to announce that he is taking a back seat in politics.
“Once I see things are going in the way it should and our country is moving forward and our people are happy and they earn more as we move forward…I’m happy and that’s why I said I might not have a role in politics because I am not a politician.
“I am a businessman and prefer to stay where I am… my only challenge was a failure on leadership,” he told the News Room from his office on Thursday.
Badal explained that his short stint in politics as a Presidential Candidate was geared towards challenging what he said was a failure of leadership by successive governments.
That failure, he opined, has caused the country to remain poor while others move swiftly forward, something Badal, a former supporter of the previous APNU+AFC coalition, said he had to do something about it.
“Once I see improvement in the standard of living of Guyanese, once I see that our people just don’t graduate and leave our shores, that they find hope of a future right here, once we have our economic and social policies that’s support career development and building of a family and life and that Guyana takes its rightful place among progressive countries, so long as I see inclusive governance, I think there is no role for me in politics once I see that because that’s is the reason I got into it anyway.”
The businessman said there is some cause for optimism since swearing in of President Irfaan Ali.
He singled out the pace at which the budget was presented, describing it as “admirable.”
Badal, who has already engaged the President and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, said he is impressed with the swiftness by which the telecommunication sector was liberalized, work towards the new Demerara River crossing and the government’s housing development.
“These were the things we talked about and we are hopeful that the very policies that Change Guyana and myself talked about that it would be included in the government’s development agenda. I want to compliment the government on what it has done, and the urgency, because it gives the private sector a lot more optimism,” he added.
But while Badal may be impressed now, he said he stands ready to challenge any government that does not work in the interest of the Guyanese people.
“There is still a role for Change Guyana,” he asserted.
Badal’s Change Guyana party secured 1,953 votes countrywide and a single seat on the Region 4 Regional Democratic Council.
He said it is still early days to decide now whether the party will participate in local government elections or even the next general elections
“The next election is a long way and a lot can happen, it’s difficult to say that now,” he explained, while pointing out that he has been in contact with the members of Change Guyana who all want the party to continue it work.
“When we know what is in front of us then that will provide a guide for how we react,” he added.
He said his party’s membership is happy to continue its work.
