‘AFC has no developmental plan, intellectually bankrupt’ – Dr Jagdeo

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has lambasted the Alliance for Change (AFC) for intellectual bankruptcy by looking to cover its inefficiencies by calling for a bipartisan multi-year development plan.

Nigel Hughes, the leader of the AFC, recently called for President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali to arrange a meeting with all political parties and stakeholders to establish a 10-15-year development plan to address short-term political thinking.

In response to this, Dr Jagdeo while engaging media representatives asserted that this is simply a cover-up and an obvious attempt to conceal the fact that they lack a development plan and are intellectually incapable of creating one.

He stated that although the PPP does not oppose the idea, the AFC needs to present its national development plan for discussion. He said that after being in existence for 15 years, the party should have a plan.

“They have nothing to offer. Let them talk about what [the AFC] has to offer in detail…It is all to cover their bankruptcy… this is when a political party has nothing to offer,” Dr Jagdeo stressed.

Unlike the AFC, the ruling party is guided by a comprehensive development strategy that incorporates infrastructural improvements, climate adaptation, energy security, information and communications technology (ICT), and food security.

These plans have been outlined in several strategies including the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the National Competitiveness Strategy, the National Development Strategy, and the expanded Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.

He also dismissed Hughe’s claim that all the current major projects are solely for election purposes, emphasising that the PPP is the only party with a comprehensive development strategy.

“You’re accusing us of short-termism? We are the only party that has laid out plans that go beyond the election cycles, that look to the long-term,” he underscored.

Dr Jagdeo emphasised Hughes’ lack of intellectual competence by pointing out the party’s inconsistent stance on the distribution of oil and gas revenues.

Hughes is now advocating for the resources to be shared among Guyanese but it was the coalition government that firmly stated in 2017 that there would be no payouts from the oil and gas resources.

The general secretary pointed out that his government is instead investing the resources to realise significant benefits to the Guyanese in the long term, including improvements in the health, education and transport sectors.

The government is spending $129.8 billion to modernise and expand the healthcare system, $135.2 billion to improve education for the nation’s future generations and $90 billion for wages and salaries of public servants in 2024.