A program …for One Guyana

Pressie hit the ground running literally the minute (after) he was sworn into office by the good Chancellor when he outlined plans for his next term – during the customary address!! And why not? As your Eyewitness has been saying, isn’t he the PPP’s candidate? And doesn’t the PPP package their plans with pledges in that booklet called a “Manifesto”? Which they take so seriously you’d think they “crossed their hearts and hope to die”!! So today, Dear Readers, your Eyewitness will be giving you the scoop from the (winning) horse’s mouth – more than usual!!
After all the heated words thrown at him and his party from the opposition and their camp followers, Pressie went BEYOND Dr Jagan’s old promise of “no victimization; no recrimination”: Said he to the gathered multitude of special invitees; ordinary folks who showed up; diplomats and foreign observers: “To those who did not support me, know this: I am your president, too. Your hopes and worries belong at the centre of our work, and the respect due to you will not depend on how you voted…”
And then he waxed poetic: “The colours of Phagwah, the lights of Diwali and Christmas, the crescent of Eid, the drums of Emancipation, the joy of Mashramani, and the circles of Indigenous Heritage Month are not separate calendars. There is a single heartbeat of One Guyana. We will not let yesterday’s hurts script tomorrow’s hopes. We will face our history truthfully and heal it practically by how we embrace and support each other now”!! How about that?
So how will be ensure One Guyana will become reality?? He announced: “I will operationalise the One Guyana Commission with particular emphasis on public input structure, cultural development and national integration.” And more specifically, responding to criticisms from the Opposition before and after the campaign, he announced: “Our procurement system will be modernised and strengthened with a shared system to promote wider participation and ensure accountability and transparency.”
But what made your Eyewitness KNOW Pressie meant what he said, was he didn’t mamaguy his listeners as the Opposition’s Sanction Man’s WIN and Norton’s rump PNC had done – promising manna falling from heaven!! Nope!! We the people gonna have to do our part and EARN our manna!! That’s is the only way we’d be able to live in dignity – instead of depending on handouts!! “We’re building a diversified economy that will generate jobs, raise income and secure prosperity, as part of our commitment to economic diversification, to strengthen the traditional pillars of our economy, mining, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, ensuring that these sectors continue to provide jobs, wealth and stability for our people.”
And who’s gonna create those jobs? “The private sector”!!!

…from EU’s Observers
First, we gotta make a distinction between the EU reps at Pressie’s swearing-in from the EU Electoral Observer Mission (EUEOM) that was sent out from the Brussels Bureaucratic eggheads and not their Diplomatic Corps. They claimed that the “undue advantage of incumbency distorted the level playing field during the election campaign.” It wasn’t surprising Norton latched on to this “uneven playing field” claim to claim that our election wasn’t “free and fair”!! The question your Eyewitness has for the EUEOM is – could they point to a single EU government that’ll call their opening of completed projects “undue incumbency advantage”?? What are governments supposed to do?? Put projects under a tarpaulin until elections are over??
But ironically, that’s exactly what VP Jagdeo did when he contradicted Minister of Public Work Juan Edgehill who’d promised the PPP’s largest infrastructural project – the new Demerara Harbour Bridge – wouldn’t need to be tested after competition!! Which would’ve allowed folks to cross on election day!!
Jagdeo nixed that!! No incumbency advantage!!

…for law
The thing about governments using “incumbency advantage” by opening up projects is they gotta COMPLETE the projects. Which ain’t so easy. Basil Williams had promised a Guyana Law School for the PNC government by 2020!!
It’s the PPP that got approval in 2025!!