Dear Editor,
As we head into the 2025 General and Regional Elections several contesting political parties have released their manifesto with varying promises to the electorate. However, in the realm of political decision making, a serious party’s election manifesto is more than just a policy document, it is a declaration of a party’s intent in government, a covenant between the government and its people. Guyana is ranked as the world’s fasting growing economy, primarily due to its prolific oil discoveries. Therefore, the need for a coherent, sustainable, and inclusive developmental blueprint has never been greater. Amid the competing political parties and their agendas, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic is the only one that has presented a manifesto that by far distinguishes itself through its pragmatism, economic foresight, and social inclusivity.
The 65 page document that was presented by the PPP/C offers the most economically viable and politically responsible roadmap for Guyana’s continued development. It outlines a diversified economic framework, robust infrastructural investments, strategic use of oil revenues and governance reforms. On the other hand, the opposition parties have presented manifestos lacking economic foresight, incoherent and filled with populist alternatives.
The PPP/C’s manifesto exhibits a deep understanding of the risks associated with the “resource curse.” While acknowledging the transformative power of Guyana’s oil wealth, the party’s strategic thinking emphasises the need for multipronged approaches across sectors like agriculture, manufacturing, services, and mining. The approach mitigates the vulnerabilities of oil price fluctuation and global market instability.
The document also speaks about a vast industrialization agenda. In this agenda the PPP/C has included the development of industrial estates in Region 3 and Region 6 with facilities for petrochemicals, LPG, fertilizer production, etc. These projects form part of the vision of an integrated economic ecosystem aimed at self-sufficiency and the capacity for regional exports.
One of the key cornerstones of PPP/C’s strategic approach to economic growth and stability is sustainable agriculture. Looking at their policies for the past 5 years and their projections for the next 5 years it is clear that their intention is to transform Guyana into the often mentioned ‘Caribbean’s breadbasket’. By bringing over 100,000 acres of land into cultivation, new agro-processing hubs, construction of more farm-to-market roads and improved drainage and irrigation systems, it is clear that the PPP/C’s plan is an actionable one and not just a rhetorical flourish. The goal is to increase food production, reducing import dependence and creating thousands of jobs.
The mining sector too will undergo significant transformation and modernization under the PPP/C. By proposing responsible and safe gold mining expansion, resuscitation of the bauxite industry, new geological surveys, and incentives for small and medium scale miners, will not only unlock Guyana’s untapped mineral wealth but promote a sustainable structural transformation of the sector unlike the theoretical pipe dreams of other parties.
In the manifesto, the PPP/C has placed education at the heart of its developmental agenda. Reaffirming free tertiary education at the University of Guyana, expansion of the GOAL scholarship programme, subsidizing the cost of up to 8 CSEC and CAPE subjects and the over 100 new schools equipped with modern amenities, smart labs, ICT tools, and well-trained teachers, beckons a bright future for Guyanese. Teachers’ salary reform, introduction of a coding curricula, and AI driven learning, all form part of enhancing the sector’s viability. These are evidently not cosmetic changes, these changes are strategically designed to bridge the digital gap and equip young Guyanese for the emerging and growing economy.
As it relates to health, the PPP/C envisions a worldclass health care system catering for its growing population and demands. Pledging to deliver 12 state of the art and modern regional hospitals (some already operational), new health centres, telemedicine hubs, AI diagnostics, modernize national ambulance system, and electronic health record all underscore a careful shift towards precision healthcare. Long term investments and planning for sustainable healthcare delivery like these are clearly absent from all the opposing party’s manifestos. The PPP/C’s approach in contrast, improves both life expectancy and human productivity significantly.
On the note of social welfare and cost of living, the PPP/C, evident in the past 5 years and in their plans for the next 5 years is aligning the country for poverty alleviation and social equity. Reintroduction of the Because We Care cash grant to school students and pledging to raise it to $100,000; doubling old age pension from $20,500 to $41,000 and pledging to raise this to $60,000 monthly with a yearly transportation grant to be introduce along with the continuation of the water and electricity subsidy; increasing of the Public Assistance for vulnerable households to $40,000 monthly; yearly (possibly multi year) cash transfers to all citizens, all of these initiatives shows that the PPP/C is the only party focusing on strategic economic inclusions for all. It is important to note too that all the measures after careful economic evaluation will be supported by NO NEW TAXES, a stance that is politically sound and fiscally responsible. Additionally, there will be reduction in income and corporate taxes, increasing wages and salaries for public servants and other measures to ensure more money remains with the population.
Why the PPP/C’s plan and not the alternatives? The opposition parties including the AFC, WIN, FGM, ALP and the APNU especially have all proposed an economic model centred on mass cash transfers, free utilities, and increased government employment. However, while these are attractive on paper, such a model is not economically viable without a strong revenue base. These parties too have not provided any detailed outline on how they will manage the growing oil and non-oil economy. It is clear that these parties are just after the wealth and not the interest of moving our country upwards along democratic and economic sustainable lines.
These political parties are trafficking hollow promises to Guyanese, crafted without feasibility, fiscal grounding, or long-term vision. This does not demonstrate leadership but pure opportunism. When manifestos become little more than populist bait and detached from economic reality or institutional capacity, they cease to serve the people and only serve a single intent, which is to seize power by deception.
These parties and their leaders have a history of peddling unsustainable giveaways, offering simplistic solutions to complex national issues and rely solely on emotions over evidence. These are not policies, but mere political bribes disguised as care and compassion. Their intent is not about national development, but personal enrichment, control of state resources and institutions, and the manipulation of public trust.
History has shown that governments formed on the backs of empty promises quicky disintegrate. Look at the 2015-2019 period under the then APNU+AFC coalition government. There was vast mismanagement of funds, stalled national progress and blatant corruption, nepotism and authoritarianism were evident. Their tenure was marked not by nation building, but by scandals, deficits, and a legacy of lost opportunities.
In a functioning democracy, leadership must be measured not by how loudly it promises but how credibly it delivers. A party without a coherent plan relying only on theatrical pledges and fiscal recklessness reveals its true motive. That motive is power at any cost, wealth not for the many, but for a few.
Guyana currently stands on the cusp of a historic transformation. In order for us to achieve this, the country must be guided by policy coherence, economic discipline, and inclusive governance and not by populism and short-term gratification.
Therefore, after a look at the different manifestos, it is the PPP/C’s manifesto that rises above the challenge and its rivals. It presents a resilient strategy rooted in diversification, infrastructure, education, healthcare, and transparency. It offers both the compass and the map for national development as it has done over the years. This is crafted by experience, sharpened by consultation, and driven by a moral imperative to uplift every Guyanese citizen.
In the upcoming elections where the stakes are generational, the PPP/C emerges not just as the only political choice and most sensible option available but as an economical necessity for the future of Guyana.
Where others promise, the PPP/C plans. Where others gesture, the PPP/C invests. Where others polarize, the PPP/C unifies around an inclusive vision of prosperity, progress and peace where no one is left behind.