THE PPP/C released a prelude to its manifesto and I must say I am excited and very hopeful for the future with this Government. If there is a true example of a Government listening to its people, it is this manifesto. The Opposition wants to create the false image that we are not fit to run this country, but by reviewing the language alone in the manifesto, you will see it reflects Guyana in the truest sense for both the present and the future. I will take the opportunity to capture a few points from the prelude and show what it means for young people from my perspective:- We understand that by simplifying and reviewing the tax system for purpose of reducing the cost of living and making it easier for businesses to prosper, we are making a direct positive impact to a young demographic that needs this infrastructure to achieve success. It also shows that by specifically highlighting the need to foster small scale business through a better tax structure, we are in effect helping to start build our future medium and large businesses. And who will be the leaders of these businesses? We, the young people.
– By creating industrial and commercial zones within new and existing settlement areas what would serve as growth poles and provide employment opportunities; again we see here that our (Guyana’s) manifesto is aiming in a direction that has proven successful for the “tiger economies” of Asia and more so in India and China, where these economic zones have multiplied the wealth factor for these countries and raised countless out of poverty into the middle class. The interest of RUSAL, Repsol, ExxonMobile and others are solid proof that multinational corporations have confidence in this Government.
– Pursuing the development of the Deep Water Harbour with the aim of making Guyana a marine hub for South America is nothing short of a visionary stroke of genius that only a competent Government like the PPP/C can bring into reality. The list of benefits for this is too long to mention, but what young people should know is that this initiative would guarantee lower prices for goods, attract trade partners we have never seen before in Guyana, and we will become more competitive, even more than our Caribbean partners, because we are strategically placed on the South American continent and the bridge is already built connecting Guyana to Brazil.
– We continue our single parent training programme in areas such as dress making, cosmetology, catering, ICT among other things, because the Government targets the development of young women and men with real life skills that will provide an affordable income and lay the foundation to further improve their livelihoods. This also ties into providing secondary school drop-outs a second chance by imparting skills that will assist national development and aligned to skills demanded by the labour market.
– We understand that cultural development is a national priority objective by improving existing culture legislation and highlighting the nation’s cultural resources. Culture is our image of who we are and what makes us unique from the rest of the world. This will almost be singlehandedly led by youths, which means the pride of this country is being entrusted to us. Only a party of the future will empower the youths to lead the growth of our culture.
Brothers and sisters, the Opposition has proven to be blind and leaderless. This is shown in their “CURRENT” behaviour of not acknowledging the development of Guyana over the past 23 years. It is only a visionless group of people who would say they cannot see development in this country. A true and fair Opposition of Guyana would be smart enough to first acknowledge our growth and then dig very deep to find a way of proving to the people of Guyana that they can do better. And we all know that they cannot, that is why they are not even trying. Instead they are resorting to false propaganda, race card, gutter politics and character assassination, a clear sign of the travesty they will bring to Guyana if they are elected.
MOVING FORWARD WITH PPP/C!!
MALCOLM WATKINS