General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), and Guyana’s Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Saturday said the party is steadily attracting more supporters, particularly groups of Guyanese who have not traditionally supported it.
Jagdeo, while addressing the opening ceremony of the PPP’s 32nd Congress, highlighted that the party now deliberately engages people to demonstrate that it isn’t a group for only Indo-Guyanese, or just one group of people.
“Throughout the party’s history, we fought for racial unity.
“… We will fight for racial unity because we believe in it. The reason they don’t want us to fight this, the reason they don’t want us to keep this way, is because they don’t want us to grow this party,” the General Secretary said.
Dr. Jagdeo said the party was created by Dr. Cheddi Jagan as a pro-poor, pro-working class body that would help unite people. And today, he believes many people embrace the party because of what it has been doing.
In fact, he highlighted that about one-thirds of the approximately 3,000 delegates at this weekend’s congress are Indigenous Guyanese. Further, Jagdeo said more mixed-race and Afro-Guyanese are openly supporting the party.
So he said, “Cheddi Jagan if he was standing here, he would’ve been the proudest person here as I am.”
He later added, “Cheddi Jagan always wanted this because he knew this part would be invincible if this part reflected the whole gamut of this country… and it is happening today.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali who spoke just before Jagdeo. The Guyanese Head of State rejected allegations of discrimination levelled against the PPP, noting that regional budgetary allocations alone show that the party is investing heavily everywhere.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo also believes the party has demonstrated that it is serious about supporting young people. Evidencing this, he said, is the fact that both he and President Ali served the government from a very young age.
“… we’ve always given young people not just lip service, we’ve trained them, we’ve included them, and when necessary, elevated them to the highest office,” he said.
Following the opening ceremony, Jagdeo is expected to present his report to the congress. There are also 93 people vying for a spot on the party’s Central Executive Committee, the highest-decision making body.
