Opposition lies about part-time jobs, other gov’t initiatives dispelled by Dr. Jagdeo

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday made it clear that the governmment takes planning and the implementation of its master plan for development seriously.

Dr. Jagdeo, who was responding to criticisms of key government initiatives by the Opposition Leader, noted that the government will not allow, “People like Mr. Norton to pigeonhole us as though we are just a government running around giving handouts to people,” The Vice President said that as it relates to the part-time jobs initiative, he dispelled claims that the part-time workers are benefitting more financially than the public servants.

“That is not true when you look at the magnitude of what Public servants get, that the part-time employees do not get, for example, paid leave, vacation allowance etc,” he explained, The VP pointed out that the part-time jobs initiative, which he has launched across the country is currently benefitting some 9,000 persons, many of whom have praised the programme.

Dr. Jagdeo said that it aims to supplement household income of families and cushion the impact of the rising cost of living.

The Vice President disclosed that Government, when it assumed office in August 2020, inherited significant job loss. Dr. Jagdeo pointed out that over 70,000 jobs were lost under the APNU+AFC prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the country was shut down.

This, the VP said was exacerbated by inimical economic policies, which included heavy taxation, which this government has reversed, bringing ease to citizens.

“First of all, addressing the pandemic in the last 18 months or so, in office,that was the primary task of the government and you have seen us approach this with a zeal that is unbelievable and even throughout the pandemic when many countries were shut down, and public officials who refused to go out, we saw the President, ministers, many public officials putting themselves at personal risks still going to their communities. Contrast that with the lockdown… maybe about a four months period that we had under APNU and look at the result of our management of the COVID pandemic compared to countries that are better resourced than Guyana,” Dr. Jagdeo said.

He continued, “We’ve come out of the pandemic with our economy intact and growing and not just the oil and gas economy but the non-oil and gas economy,still growing.”

The former president noted that this is inspite of the global situation, where many countries are going through recession, some on the verge of recession and others have totally shut down. “We managed to get 80 percent of our adult population vaccinated. We have a functional COVID hospital with over 150 beds now and an ICU section that can accommodate fairly large numbers of people. We can do 5,000 tests per day upwards from 40 tests per day when we got into office. In 18 months we have been hard at work doing just that,” the VP highlighted.

He added, “So the Opposition would like you to believe that somehow this government has not been doing anything, in fact they left an entire mess.” Dr. Jagdeo referenced a number of the projects the administration is working on, as it seeks to improve the livelihood of all citizens, modernise the national infrastructure and strengthen the economy.

The VP noted that among them the US$190M Linden to Mabura Hill Road, for which the contract has been signed with Brazilian company, Construtora Queiroz Galvao S. A; construction of the maternal and children’s hospital, for which the contract was signed with an Austrian company; the Ogle to Eccles bypass Road; the New Demerara River Crossing and the paving of the Soesdyke/Linden Highway.