AS Guyana inches closer to another pivotal General and Regional Elections, it is clear that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) intends to make this contest about performance, not political theatre.
At a time when many are weary of hollow slogans and staged rallies, the PPP/C’s General Secretary and Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, has drawn a stark line between optics and outcomes, and rightly so.
Speaking at Freedom House ahead of the party’s official campaign launch, Dr. Jagdeo made one point unmistakably clear: the PPP/C will not be distracted by the temptation of grand shows or empty symbolism. “We’re not dealing with optics politics,” he declared. Instead, the focus is, and must be, on the tangible progress made since taking office in 2020.
The evidence is not conjured from slogans but etched in the daily realities of thousands of Guyanese families.
Over 60,000 new jobs have been created since 2020, reversing the painful job losses of the previous administration. Public servants have seen their wages rise, old-age pensions have doubled and more than 40,000 families now hold the keys to house lots that were once out of reach.
Students and young professionals have benefitted enormously too, nearly 30,000 Guyanese have been awarded fully funded GOAL scholarships, while the dream of free university education has become a reality for many at the University of Guyana.
Perhaps most telling is that these milestones were achieved not with fanfare, but with relentless, often uncelebrated work.
Even now, as the campaign season heats up, Dr Jagdeo insists that the PPP/C’s work will not pause for pomp. There is too much still to do: a transformative healthcare plan that includes 12 new hospitals, an infrastructural push to modernise roads and bridges and a renewed commitment to the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) 2030.
These are not distant promises; they are projects that have already begun to shape the national landscape.
Contrast this with the spectacle that Dr. Jagdeo described at the APNU’s campaign launch, a rally short on substance and long on what he bluntly called “fake sites” and “economically reckless” promises. Promising every Guyanese $1 million annually, or a 35 per cent pay raise for public servants without a credible plan to pay for it, is not vision; it is political gambling with Guyana’s hard-won stability.
The Vice President’s frank dismissal, that such promises would swallow up the entire national budget, leaving nothing for education, healthcare, or roads, should give every voter pause.
Dr. Jagdeo also highlighted the danger of backward thinking in a rapidly modernising country. Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s criticism of the GOAL scholarships and the Ali administration’s Digital School plan reveals an opposition stuck in the past while Guyana’s youth look to the future.
A generation embracing online learning, digital business, and new economic frontiers will not be served by leaders who appear out of touch with the demands of a digital age.
The contrast between the two approaches is stark. One camp trades in empty gestures and impractical giveaways, the other continues to build, brick by brick, job by job, opportunity by opportunity, a Guyana that works for all Guyanese, regardless of where they live or which party they support.
It is perhaps telling that even traditional strongholds such as South Georgetown are turning toward the PPP/C’s message of unity and development.
As Dr Jagdeo noted, community groups once hesitant to show support now do so without prompting, a signal that people are paying less attention to flags and rallies, and more to the lived impact of a government that has not paused since the first day it took office.
In the weeks ahead, Guyana will hear more promises from every side, that is the nature of elections. But Guyanese must ask themselves a simple question: who is offering real, measurable progress and who is selling a performance?
The PPP/C’s record and its refusal to be distracted by “optics politics,” is a standard that every party should be held to.