PPP GS: Opposition campaign launch lacked leadership, vision

– blames rhetoric and racism for poor campaign turnout

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has strongly criticised the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) campaign launch, describing it as a failed attempt to mislead the public with extravagant promises, outdated leadership, and recycled rhetoric.

He said the launch, held on Sunday at the Square of the Revolution, lacked substance. Also, the event saw a visible absence of support from Georgetown residents, despite efforts to mobilise a crowd from across the country.

“Only Jesus can multiply loaves, but they tried to multiply their crowd with fake sites,” he remarked during a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House in Georgetown.

According to the vice president, the low attendance reflected a deeper dissatisfaction with Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton’s leadership, noting that even coalition partner AFC had labelled him “unelectable.”

Additionally, Norton has failed to distance himself from the failed policies of the previous APNU+AFC administration, including loss of jobs, increased taxes, and the removal of the $10,000 children’s cash grants.

“People remember those five years,” he stated.

The general secretary also criticised what he described as a wave of unsustainable campaign promises, including one to give every Guyanese $1 million annually, an amount he said would exceed the country’s entire oil revenue. Apart from giving Guyanese $1 million in cash grants, APNU has promised to increase public servants’ salaries by 35 per cent.

According to Dr Jagdeo, this increase alone would result in public expenditure totalling $1.1 trillion by 2030. These “economically reckless” promises, he warned, would leave nothing for education, health, roads, or other critical sectors.

“You’re going to pay in wages alone in the public sector twice as much money as we have in the budget from the oil and gas sector….All of the money we have in the budget will go to wages,” he explained.

The vice president also condemned Norton’s remarks about youth and education, especially his dismissal of the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) programme, which has benefited over 39,000 Guyanese nationwide.

“Our young people are not beggars. They’re getting house lots, starting families, running businesses, and studying under GOAL,” Jagdeo said, noting that even an opposition MP had received a scholarship.

He argued that Norton’s disdain for the Digital School, an initiative by President Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, revealed a mindset out of step with today’s world, saying, “You can’t impose colonial thinking on a digital generation. Norton just doesn’t get it.”

The campaign launch, Jagdeo said, also featured divisive rhetoric, subtle racism, and internal contradictions, including remarks suggesting the closure of the sugar industry and support for marijuana cultivation, which he said contradicted Norton’s public stance.

In contrast, the PPP/C has a solid track record with over 60,000 new jobs created, over 100 new schools constructed, extended or rehabilitated. Young people have also received training across various sectors, and major investments in infrastructure and housing have been made.

Dr Jagdeo said the party is currently working on its manifesto and “we’re going to be generous, but smart about managing the resources. And it has to be sustainable.  We want long-term prosperity for our people, our children, and our young people,” he stressed.