–Jagdeo says; highlights that other political parties focusing on short-term promises, not long-term progress

PEOPLE’S Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo has exposed the opposition’s fixation on short-term policies and making promises based on funds the country has not yet earned.

During a press conference at Freedom House, on Thursday, he told reporters that the other political parties focus on immediate handouts, with little regard for sustainable progress.

Unlike those other parties, he highlighted that the PPP, in particular, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali has spoken on what to expect in the future from the PPP.

Jagdeo said: “We said to you one thing that we will ensure, is that the prosperity is not ephemeral. It doesn’t appear one day and it disappears the next day because we have had hundreds of countries around the world who have had that experience, particularly when they get a windfall from the natural resources sector. They squander the windfall through unsustainable policies and that is something that is important.

“No political party in Guyana speaks about short, medium and long-term policies. Every political party that now operates in Guyana speaks of only immediate short-term policy, and it’s focused mainly on distribution, handing out things that we have earned so far and we haven’t even earned as yet. So, they’re already making commitments on money that we haven’t even earned as yet. That is what you hear from APNU, we’ll give you this, we will give you that.”

Further, the General Secretary said that the PPP continues to speak of a sustained plan, its elements and how citizens can see themselves reflected in that plan.

“That’s our test. So how would our plans affect people? The farmer, the fisherman, the bauxite worker, the gold miner, the student, the young person, the public servant, the nurses, the doctors. How will it affect all of our people, elderly, the disabled? So, when we put in place policies, it’s with them in mind and that is why it’s such an important thing,” the General Secretary said.

Previously, Jagdeo said that Guyanese faced severe hardships because of the “short-sighted” economic policy pursued by the former APNU+AFC administration.

Reflecting on his brief stint as Opposition Leader, he recalled Guyanese from all walks of life visiting him and talking about the hardships that they were facing under the APNU+AFC administration.

“Nothing was happening in the economy. People were losing jobs. We lost a lot of jobs and I used to explain to them that this is a consequence of a short-sighted economic policy. Because instead of creating incentives for the industries in Guyana, what APNU did was [take] away the incentives,” Jagdeo said.

Additionally, he said that even those who had overwhelmingly supported the APNU+AFC faced many challenges within their respective sectors.

He went on to say that the PPP mapped out a plan for the development. Reflecting on Guyana’s transformation from bankruptcy to solvency and then to dynamism, Jagdeo noted that nation’s external debt today is significantly lower than what it was in the 90s.

While underscoring that the PPP/C does not “drift in the wind,” he highlighted that Guyana is being transformed daily.