Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton and Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill this afternoon clashed in the Committee of Supply over road works in Linden, Region 10.
Norton has been vocal since 2021, after his rise to the Leadership role of the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), about the alleged selectiveness of the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) in conducting roadworks in opposition strongholds.
According to him, the Guyana Government is only fast-tracking developmental works in government strongholds, resulting in a dearth of infrastructural development in opposition-controlled communities.
Edghill today announced that some 1,053 community roads are under active work across all 10 Administrative Regions with more than 940 contractors employed. He added that “history was being created” since the cumulative number of community roads done in five years under the APNU+AFC is less than half of what the PPP/C government is doing in the year 2022.
But Norton was not convinced. He then divided 1,053 by 10 and concluded that an average of 100 roads were being constructed in each region. Norton then asked the Minister to name 25 roads in Region 10, hinting that the Minister’s figures were false.
Edghill, in response, said that the government is conducting roadworks in regions and communities regardless of political affiliation. He added that qualified residents in those communities have also been employed to conduct the work themselves, thereby boosting their respective communities’ economies.
He added that Norton’s “math” was unrealistic, given the variation in size and population density of regions. He noted that the Opposition Leader was seeking to mislead the population with his “average” of 100 roads per region.
“Because of the expanse of some regions, and how people live, some regions will have more roads [and] longer roads, because of how people live. So, we should not divide 1,053 by 10. That is a simplistic way of misleading people,” he said.
Edghill went on to list more than 25 roads currently under construction in Region 10.
