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-VP Jagdeo Key points
-Said that if APNU+AFC continues to govern, Guyana will be in trouble
Attempts by the former APNU+AFC government to defend its failed track record were quashed by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo who on Thursday stressed that the opposition’s economic ideas would push the country backwards, no matter how many resources it had.
After a long campaign of commitment, citizens gave the ANU/PNCR and the Alliance for Change (AFC) a chance to govern in 2015, despite the party’s previous mismanagement.
Dr. Jagdeo reminded during a People’s Progressive Party (PPP) press conference at Freedom House last Thursday that the country’s economy was in trouble from 2015 to 2020, mirroring the economic situation during the PNC/R administration in the 1990s.
According to reports, during this bad tenure, Guyana and traditional high-yield industries faced a rapid decline, and the government imposed more than 200 taxes on these industries. However, a no-confidence motion filed by the People’s Progressive Party/Communist Party on December 21, 2018 led to the fall of the APNU+AFC government.
Nevertheless, the opposition, especially the PNC/PR, constantly used the lack of oil resources as an excuse to justify its economic sabotage during its time in power.
The Vice President said in this regard that regardless of whether there are oil resources or not, the opposition’s economic ideas will return the country to the state it was in the 1990s, with heavy debt.
Describing the nature of the PNC/RP, Dr Jagdeo said: “This is a party with no record of achievement and we have proven that in the past. After 28 years in power, we went from being the Singapore of the Caribbean in the 1960s to being the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, on par with Haiti. You can look back at history and you will understand.” He stressed that his comments were supported by external sources that reported on the “economic devastation” caused by the PNC/RP’s governance.
He then stressed that civil servants were being forced to resign because their salaries were too low.
“So, the People’s National Congress has not achieved very good results after 28 years in power. People of every race and ethnicity in our country have suffered, every social class has suffered, young and old, women and men have suffered. They have all seen the loss of welfare, they cannot see a bright future for themselves in this country.”
However, despite trying to inculcate the promise of transformation of the new political force among citizens, Dr Jagdeo said the last coalition government in power from 2015-2020 saw large numbers of people lose their jobs, suffer heavy tax burdens and remove incentives meant to improve the lives of citizens.
“We lost a lot of jobs. We spent a lot of money during that period because taxes went up dramatically, over $100 billion more in taxes, almost doubling our state taxes. We started taking away welfare and child benefits, we took away pensioners’ benefits, we took away their joint service bonus, we stopped building farm-to-market roads, and we taxed all production sectors.
“We are going back to the path they were on, and I have no doubt that if they continue in power, with or without oil, we will be back to being a country like we were in the 90s. Massive debt, massive debt, one of the most heavily indebted countries in the world, with very little to show for it. We have already started to go down that path again,” Dr Jagdeo said.
PPP delivers on its promise
Although the previous government pledged to provide a “good life” for all Guyanese, many of the promises they made in their 2015 manifesto have been left behind.
However, as Dr. Jagdeo stressed, this is not the position of the Pakistan People’s Party/Nepal Communist Party, as the ruling party has a detailed record of growth and development policies, backed by prudent management.
Speaking about how the current government has not only put money back into the pockets of the Guyanese people but has also revitalized the economy, the PPP General Secretary said: “We are proud of it. If you look at our manifesto, if you look at our promises to the people of this country, you will see that in the first three years, we have delivered 90 per cent of our promises.
“We have exceeded those commitments. For example, we promised 20,000 online scholarships and we have 28,000 now. And that’s just through the GOAL program, not including the GROW and WIN and BIT programs, where we have actually 50,000 people who have received scholarships or tuition funded by the Government of Guyana.”
Building for today and tomorrow
President Irfaan Ali previously stated that since taking office in 2020, the People’s Progressive Party/Communist Party government has made great efforts to seek the well-being of all Guyanese, creating more jobs and promoting the prosperity of all industries.
All was not smooth sailing for Guyana under the previous Coalition Government and as a result, the PPP/CP inherited a “broken” economy, according to Dr. Ali, with major sectors experiencing significant declines.
He said between 2015 and 2019, the sugar industry output fell by about $21 billion, while the bauxite and forestry sectors lost output equivalent to $31 billion and $9 billion, respectively.
In addition, he stressed that these industries had suffered a decline in export revenues, with losses estimated at more than US$283 million, and thousands of workers had lost their jobs directly or indirectly.
However, since the PPP/CP came to power, these industries have revived and Guyana is doing much better than before, with many families having escaped poverty.
In addition, the bauxite industry, which was hit hard during the previous APNU+AFC government, has turned around. According to Dr. Ali, the PPP/C government has restored more than 1,000 jobs in the industry and the number is expected to increase rapidly before the end of this year.
The president said consumption had fallen due to the high tax burden imposed by the previous government.
In the PPP/CP’s first budget of 2020, the president boasted that they had reversed the punitive taxes introduced by the previous administration and that by fulfilling this manifesto promise, taxpayers had saved tens of billions of dollars in taxes.
In addition to increasing wages and salaries, the government has introduced initiatives to benefit citizens, especially in the public sector. In addition, the government has restored the upper limit of mortgage interest deduction to $30 million. This measure has cost the government more than $2.4 billion by the end of 2023.
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