By Nicole Telford- “I am convinced that the PPP can’t sell pholourie properly, y”all can’t sell pholourie and eggball and make sense, yuh could thief but yuh can’t do anything that make sense.” So said Apostle Nigel London, in a Facebook live. Visibly upset and livid with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government, the apostle went on to state “you are corrupt from the inside out, all of you in the PPP, I bet if you give them a hundred pholourie to sell they would thief out 85, as a matter of fact they are all criminals.”
London, in a blistering critique of Government and particularly the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports’ heads of department and minister, chided them for what he deemed as a lack of foresight on planning Inter-Schools Games in Linden, which commenced yesterday. Singled out for his wrath were Kashif Mohamed (Greg Charles) and Yannick Charles (his son), and Sports Minister Charles Ramson Jr., who he said are lacking in vision or foresight.
The apostle explained, via his live show, that parents and teachers of participating schools were told not to accompany the children to the venue, the Linden Synthetic Track.
Dr. Ashni Singh, minister with responsibility for finance, told the National Assembly the track was completed, but London noted the venue is incomplete, with major works still ongoing, as he showed his live audience equipment moving around and incomplete stands at the track.
Prosecuting his viewpoint London took a swipe at government officials who he said are disrespectful in thinking parents, particularly him, will not be allowed to watch the sports from the ground, as he went to question “who are you?
In lamenting the failure of government to make it comfortable to watch sports in Linden, the apostle made known “y’all should have had facilities that are proper before you destroyed the Sports Club (Mckenzie Sports Club Ground) …but you made a wreck of [the] sports club and now we can’t come here to watch sports.”
Even as London lambasted the government he stressed the need for awareness and togetherness in the mining town. “Lindeners had better open their eyes and respond to these people in kind, they are disrespectful to y’all, sports is a big thing here…no money cannot be charged for entrance fees for the purchase of uniforms and to feed the athletes to go to Nationals.”
Discriminating again Linden/Region 10
Touching on the disparity in treatment, the apostle recounted a story of a government officials talking about Nationals being hosted often in the region, noting the region was winning too often, and incompletion of the track he, London, feels, could be seen as a nail in the coffin for sports in a region that has a strong record of success.
Drawing comparisons with other areas that have sports facilities, including accommodation for spectators, London is of the opinion the disparity in treatment is because the government “eyes pass” the people of Linden. According to him, in oil rich Guyana the government could have done more to ensure the sporting event was held in an atmosphere conducive to both participants and spectators.
Mr. Deron Adams, Regional Chairman, Region 10 Regional Democratic Council (RDC) had explained to Village Voice News that in the yearly budgetary allocation for the development of recreational facilities, the RDC was told by the PPP government to peg the grounds at $5 million. However, “all of the playgrounds that the region had submitted, whether it was in the communities of Silver Town, Kara Kara, Spieghtland, Christiansburg and Retrieve, were all removed from the RDC’s budget by the PPP/C, between 2021 and 2023 while the McKenzie Sports club ground and the Synthetic Track at Wismar was incomplete.
