‘We want every Guyanese to earn more, own homes, have access to world-class services’ – VP

General Secretary Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has provided some insights into the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) manifesto which will be released ahead of the 2025 polls.

During his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo explained that the campaign for this year’s elections will be “all about which political party has the credibility to deliver on what they promised based on past experience”.

He compared the manifestos of the PPP and its political rivals over the years, highlighting that his party has a track record of delivering on its promises.

He pointed to the PPP’s manifesto for the 2020 elections, noting that the party has delivered on almost all of its promises including free University education, and restoration of the children’s cash grant which increased to $50,000 per child.

Some other promises delivered include the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, restoration of the joint services’ one-month bonus, and the reversal of the burdensome tax measures that were imposed under the former APNU+AFC administration.

Meanwhile, Jagdeo, who is also the country’s vice president, remarked that under the Irfaan Ali-led administration, public sector wages have grown significantly over the years.

In its new manifesto, Jagdeo noted that the party will not be making wild promises, like the others planning on contesting the elections.

And, he said the electorate can ‘rest assured’ that the PPP government will work in fulfilling it.

“We want every Guyanese to own a home…not to live in rented properties like they wanna give you rental support…that every Guyanese can have a first world healthcare for free, that is what we’ve been working at and we’re putting in place the infrastructure to make that happen,” he said, referring to the many hospitals under construction and the overall investments in the healthcare sector.

The vice president noted too that the PPP wants to deliver high-quality education that is accessible to every citizen, and that it is similarly, making the necessary investments towards achieving this.

He noted that the party also wants to continue expanding the economy into areas outside of oil and gas “because if oil prices tank, we’ll be in big trouble”. Through strategic investments and decisions, the country has already recorded tremendous growth in its non-oil sectors under the PPP administration.

Jagdeo added, “we wanna have a first-world type of security for people in their homes. That is why we’re investigating so much in technology, these predictive software, facial recognition camera so that the crime-fighting capabilities will improve.”

According to the vice president, the PPP wants to see a better banking system and they want Guyanese to have better access to financing.

He committed the PPP administration to working on creating future investment opportunities for every Guyanese that would yield bigger returns than the banking sector.

Last month, Jagdeo explained that the government may in the future consider creating more avenues with guaranteed opportunities for citizens to invest.

On Thursday, he emphasised that the PPP government wants every Guyanese to earn more and to have more time for leisure.

“Those are the things we want to focus on in the new term,” Jagdeo said.

Achieving these goals are underpinned in a lot of the initiatives the government has been embarked on, the vice president noted, referring to the administration’s reorientation of the tax system to support families and children.

This includes measures in Budget 2025. The government introduced the tax-deductible measure for adults with children. Under this measure, a parent can benefit from $10,000 per month per child as a deductible on taxes due. The government also removed tax from the first $50,000 earned as overtime pay and a tax break for persons who work second jobs.

Additionally, the government increased the income tax threshold to $130,000 and introduced a $100,000 cash grant for newborn babies as well as a universal healthcare voucher of $10,000.

Jagdeo assured that with the PPP in government, young people have a better future to look forward to, as the party’s leaders are committed to building a better Guyana.

“There is a thinking, a philosophy behind everything we do. Our policies support the vision, we want people to keep more money…we support families, we support education and health…,” Jagdeo expressed.

“If you (are) a young person (who) wants to progress in life just look at our vision. We’re working for all of Guyana. This country can’t be run for one group of people. This country is too connected, our history is a rich one and we’re better and stronger because of our…ethnic makeup of this country,” he emphasised.

In fact, he noted that many Guyanese in the diaspora are witnessing this vision unfold and are returning home – a trend Jagdeo welcomes.

“We’re gonna have more malls, we need people to shop in these malls, we have higher disposable income now, we need people to work, I can see a future when we can’t find people to work…with the unfolding of so many opportunities, it’s better to have our own people come back and work here,” he said.