THE Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Nigel Hughes has revealed how “intellectually bankrupt” the party is, since the politician has failed to present a development strategy, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said.
Dr Jagdeo, during a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, responded to an editorial by the Stabroek News, which accused the government of “political short-termism”; this is a topic which was later picked up by Hughes.
The editorial was based on the Inter-American Development Bank’s (IDB’s) Chief Economist Eric Parrado addressing what he called “political short-termism” in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), where he claimed that policymaking and planning are not consistent between different administrations.

The PPP General Secretary, who also serves as Guyana’s Vice-President, said that the economist did not take into account the context in which the countries operate.
Dr Jagdeo said that the reasons some of these countries lost welfare was owing to external decisions and not because of bad policies.
He said: “…It’s because of that global environment that is unsympathetic to the developing world.”
Further, the PPP General Secretary said the attempt to “even” the playing field by the developed world resulted in the development tools of smaller countries being “distorted.”

AFC HAS NO PLAN
Hughes, in a post on his Facebook page, said that his party, during its National Conference on June 29, 2024, called for 10- to 15-year plans, agreed on by all political parties, all major civil society actors, as well as local and international economists in the areas of the economy, education, health, foreign affairs and poverty reduction.

He also said that a State Planning Commission is needed. However, Dr Jagdeo highlighted that what Hughes is calling for is already in place, as the PPP/C has produced several development plans, such as the National Development Strategy (NDS).
In response to the “abstract” planning by the AFC leader, he said: “Right now, the AFC has no national plans. They have no ideas about crafting one.”
While the PPP has not shot down the ideas, Dr Jagdeo said that the AFC needs to voice its plans.

He said: “You should talk about your plan first. If you’re coming to the table, you either say ‘I’m adopting the PPP plan or I believe the PPP has a plan and let’s improve it…but don’t come pretending that you bring any great intellectual bearing to the issue.”
Just to give examples of how the government already has development plans, the Vice-President touched on a few sectors and how they are being transformed through long-term investments.
Guyana’s health sector, within recent years, has reached new heights, and the PPP/C government is shaping the future of healthcare.

With 12 new hospitals being built nationwide along with the rehabilitation of others, 3,000 new staff to be trained, the PPP General Secretary highlighted how there are plans in the pipeline to redefine primary and tertiary care.
With the AFC existing for some 15 years, according to him, the party should have plans for critical sectors of the economy.

However, the Vice-President did not stop there. He highlighted the government’s plans for the infrastructural sector which has seen significant progress.
For instance, since assuming office in 2020, the PPP government has awarded several contracts for the building and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and other major throughway structures.
Additionally, the energy sector is playing a major role in Guyana’s development landscape with initiatives such as the gas-to-energy project, and the government pursing hydropower, in order to possess a broad energy mix.
Together with CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited and Hess Guyana Exploration, its co-venture partners on the Stabroek Block, ExxonMobil Guyana is working with the Government of Guyana to advance the gas-to-energy project.
The gas-to-energy project will see a 200km 12-inch diameter pipeline channelling natural gas from the Liza Phase One and Liza Phase Two FPSOs to a power plant NGL facility that will be built at Wales, West Bank Demerara (WBD).

That pipeline will be landing on the West Coast of Demerara (WCD) shore and continue approximately 25 kilometres to the NGL and power-plant facilities.
It has an estimated total cost of US$1.8 billion and is cost recoverable. The gas-to-energy project is expected to be up and running by the first half of 2025 and has a 25-year lifespan.