GUYANESE are anticipating immense benefits from the new oil and gas industry and the incumbent A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition has promised to deliver if re-elected at the upcoming general and regional elections.
Among some of the expected ‘direct’ benefits from the increased revenue flows are ‘conditional’ cash transfers. This promise was listed in the APNU+AFC’s manifesto which was launched at the coalition’s headquarters on Friday.

President of Guyana and Presidential Candidate of the APNU+AFC Coalition, David Granger, during his presentation at the manifesto launch, had said development will be fuelled by mostly oil revenues. According to the coalition’s manifesto, conditional cash transfers will be based on a feasibility or pilot study and will include, but not be limited to, nutritional support, housing support, public transport and a single-parent support programme.

It will also include vouchers for day-care and elder-care services, adult remedial classes and training, and increased stipends for students attending technical institutes, nursing schools, school of home economics and the Guyana School of Agriculture.

The coalition’s manifesto also stated that there will be cash transfers through the Public Education Assistance Service (PEAS) and cash transfers for the purchase of essential items. “We will put oil money in your homes and households…we will ensure that every family with a child, in school, gets a cash grant…the money will come to you,” said President Granger at one of the coalition’s recent campaign rallies in Essequibo.

The President had reminded Guyanese that the oil revenue is theirs and the coalition will ensure it reaches every citizen. ExxonMobil and its partners have so far racked up 16 commercial oil discoveries in the Stabroek Block, with the most recent being at the Uaru well located northeast of the producing Liza field discovery.

The Liza Phase One project, which has started production, will produce up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day at peak rates utilising the Liza Destiny FPSO. It is expected to generate over $7B in royalty and profit oil revenues for Guyana over the life of the project.
“We are going to use that plan and the oil revenue to transform Guyana for the benefit of all Guyanese,” said the APNU+AFC Coalition in its manifesto. President Granger had said the manifesto is not an “election promise,” but a document birthed after careful thought and consideration. In fact, the APNU+AFC manifesto builds on the coalition’s core principles, established in September 2019 and with the Cummingsburg Accord, recently reviewed and revised as the binding document of the APNU+AFC.

“That took a bit of time because we had to merge the views of the five parties in the APNU with those of the AFC…this paved the way for the Manifesto Committee to continue its work but we had the foresight to embed, in the core principles and the Cummingsburg Accord, the elements which would be contained in the manifesto. “It was a deliberate process and you’ll see today the culmination of that process. It was not something hasty; not a flash in the pan, but something that we’ve worked on for over six years by six different parties,” said the president.

He noted that the document is not a “minority manifesto” but is agreeable to the coalition parties which represent the majority of citizens who voted the APNU+AFC into office in 2015. The Head of State thanked those within the six-member team who participated in the crafting of the multi-year plan.