Statement by Minister of Social Protection Hon. Amna Ally

I am in receipt of credible information from multiple sources in Annai, Region 9 that PPP activists in the area told several residents that I will host a meeting at the Annai Benab, today at 11am and encouraged the residents to attend to engage with me. Instead, lo and behold, PPP presidential candidate Irfan Ally turned up and residents felt betrayed and duped. Many of them left and returned to their homes without listening to the PPP officials.

I wish to advise the good people of Annai, the wider Rupununi and Guyanese at large that at no time did I or my staff schedule a meeting in Annai today.

I held meetings at Parishara and Hiowa on Saturday and Sunday respectively and I was joined by other ministerial colleagues during a historic, massive outreach in the Rupununi over the weekend. Other ministers held meetings in other 26 other villages. As scheduled Ministers Winston Felix held a meeting in Annai and Minister Ronald Bulkan also visited the area.

I wish to thank the people of the Rupununi for their overwhelming turnout and look forward to engaging with them again very soon.

I wish to publicly condemn the PPP and their presidential candidate Mr. Irfaan for duping the people. That they sought to use my good name, instead of their presidential candidate’s name, is proof positive of how desperate and weak the PPP has become and that they have lost the support of our indigenous peoples who came out in their thousands over the past three days to demonstrate their support for the Coalition Government.

This deceitful action by the PPP represents a new low in Guyana’s political culture and I unreservedly condemn it in the strongest possible terms. The PPP has become so weak and unpopular that they have admitted that they can no longer use their own name to attract people to their events and are now using the name of the Coalition Government and our leaders to mislead people into attending their events. This is reprehensible and appalling.