Broadcaster Bobby Vieira, 67, has launched what he calls a political movement to rebrand and manage the capital city and will contest Local Government elections on March 13, 2023.
Vieira, who lived overseas for many years but returned to Guyana recently and set up the radio station 104.1 FM, sat in front of a virtual screen on Zoom to announce the launch of the movement – Independent Citizens for Progress. The symbol of the movement features the Stabroek Market with a sun hovering over it along dark clouds. Mr Vieira said the dark clouds represent the chaos and law breaking that characterises the city.
In the coming weeks and months, he said the movement will unveil its plans for re-branding Guyana to recapture its image as the Garden City of the Caribbean.
But he did list priority areas he said will be detailed later. These include identifying an economic zone, better measures for garbage collection and traffic management, installing public sanitary facilities, improving street lighting and putting in place stricter means of revenue collection.
Mr Vieira did not announce the names of any other person who forms part of the movement and said the list of candidates will be revealed at the time of nominations on December 12, 2022.
“Guyana is at the forefront on the world stage,” Mr Vieira noted, pointing to the attention the country has been getting because of its vast oil resources. Any capital, he recognise is prominent in a country and will further become a sore point if it remains a “dirty” city.
Mr Vieira recognise that the country’s two main political parties have largely held the management of the city over the past decades. He said he and the others in his movement are “tired of being tired” of the state of the city and they believe citizens will welcome new stewardship.
