–Dr. Jagdeo says in response to critics; will continue to paint a true picture of the development ongoing across Guyana

THE government’s ambitious stewardship of Guyana will not be dulled by critics, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has said.
While shutting down rumours is nothing new for the PPP, Dr. Jagdeo, during a recent news conference, took a firm stand and said that the ruling party will not be bullied into focusing on the personal agendas of critics.

While pointing out that there were attempts to shun President Dr. Irfaan Ali’s recent press conference with personal agendas, Dr. Jagdeo said, “So, no matter what President Ali does at his press conference, we will always get mischaracterised by these individuals.”
While emphasising that the PPP/C government works for the people of Guyana, Dr. Jagdeo said, “We will not be steered into saying what they want us to; keeping their focus on ignoring all the positive things happening in this country. We have a duty to tell the people about our stewardship of the economy and the country. And our stewardship is sophisticated; it’s not a one-issue stewardship, and we are proud of our record in this regard.”

Dr. Jagdeo, who is also the country’s Vice- President, responded to criticisms of President Ali’s response to the repetitive question of plans to increase disposable income.
“The next thing they said was that the President dodged plans on increasing the spending power of citizens; I’m sure the President is getting tired of these questions that we keep answering over and over again. We are human beings, too. Sometimes we get frustrated when the same question comes up a million times, and we give the answer as though we’re brain-dead; as though we are senile,” he stated.

The question that was posited to the President was already answered with statistics by the PPP General Secretary just a mere week before.
Dr. Jagdeo then asked, “How many times have we not spoken about increasing disposable income in this country?”
He then stated, “Just the week before I left for Canada, I shared with media houses this document, and asked that they publish it. They did not publish it. I pointed out how the disposable income in the public sector grew between 2014 and 2019, and then from 2019 to 2024.”

Looking at the nominal value, he had previously highlighted that the public sector wage had increased by $83 billion more under the PPP/C administration.
“Increase in 2014 to 2019 was $43 billion. So, when they started in 2014, by 2019 the wage bill for these three areas had gone up by $43 billion. From 2020 to 2024, the increase has been $83 billion, more than 100 per cent of what APNU gave for the five years,” Dr Jagdeo said.

Government initiatives, including the $25,000 cash grant for each household, reduced interest rates, extension of loan payment moratoriums, creation of over 65,000 jobs, restoration of Joint Services bonuses, and annual increases in the income tax threshold, have significantly benefitted the working class.
These measures alleviate burdens on households, allowing for more disposable income.
Other initiatives implemented by the government included scholarships for citizens under the GOAL scholarship programme.
These efforts have incurred significant costs for the government. Notably, within the housing sector, over 30,000 house lots were allocated, with a majority distributed to public servants.