Linden’s electricity subsidy will not be removed – Jagdeo

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has reassured residents of Linden, Region Ten that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government has no plans to remove the electricity subsidy.

The Vice President on Saturday responded to comments made by the Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) Aubrey Norton who recently claimed that these plans were afoot.

During a meeting with workers of the Linden Utility Services Co-op Society Limited on Friday, Norton claimed that the PPP/C government will attempt to install an Interim Management Committee (IMC) which will remove the subsidy.

But Jagdeo in a statement on Facebook rejected this claim.

“Reeling from his rejection by the people of Linden as evidenced by the poor turnout at his meeting, Aubrey Norton has embarked on his familiar acts of deception and desperation.

“The most recent of such is his peddling of the lie that the PPP/C Government plans to remove the electricity subsidy from Region Ten. This is totally untrue as the government has no such plans.

“Guyanese should therefore not fall prey to Norton’s attempt to mislead and cause panic,” the Vice President noted.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Brigadier (ret’d) Mark Phillips revealed on his Facebook page that the IMC was actually established to deal with mismanagement at the Linden Utility Services Co-op Society Limited (LUCSL)

“This action followed a determination by the Chief Co-operative Development Officer (CCDO) that LUCSL is being mismanaged,” the Prime Minister stated on his Facebook page.

He posited that the Co-operative Society Act, Chapter 88:01, empowers the CCDO to take over any Cooperative or Friendly Societies, or Credit Union, that in the opinion of the CCDO is mismanaged or not transparent.

“As such, an Interim Management Committee comprising of seven Lindeners of good standing was appointed by the CCDO to manage the society,” the Prime Minister revealed.

The seven Lindeners are Renee Mac Donald, Chairwoman; Winston Caesar, Hilton Lyle, Wanda Richmond, Courtney Handy, Leon Greaves and Latoya Walks.

And according to the Prime Minister, “at no time were they told that there will be any increase of electricity rates for Linden.”