APNU, AFC grasping for relevance with recycled promises – Jagdeo

Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo has asserted that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Coalition remains fractured and continues to grapple with political relevance in Guyana’s current national landscape. Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Jagdeo highlighted that since the end of APNU/AFC’s tenure in Government from 2015 to 2020, the coalition has splintered into multiple political factions, with Aubrey Norton leading the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), Nigel Hughes leading AFC, Amanda Walton leading Forward Guyana Movement (FGM), and Simona Brooms leading the Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity (ALP). He asserted that the splint not only signals internal division and a lack of coherent leadership but also highlights how many of the members are struggling to remain relevant in national politics.

“So, we’ve had since APNU-AFC of the last Government that we, from 2015 to 2020, splintered into four political parties, one headed by Simona Brooms, Amanda Walton, Nigel Hughes and Norton. Some of them have been struggling to even get it to have relevance.”
“We have already demonstrated that no person who has carefully thought out the issue, no Guyanese of any race or religion or gender, who’s carefully examined their slate, would ever want to risk their future by voting for them. They have no capability to plan, nor do they have any capability to handle the complex task of governing the country,” he said.
Jagdeo added that the opposition’s slogan-driven messaging and recycled narratives put the country at risk, especially in light of the complex challenges ahead. These include managing economic diversification, preparing for new industries, improving healthcare and education, and avoiding the so-called “Dutch disease” associated with oil-rich economies. He asserted that the opposition has no experience or capacity to address such challenges effectively.
Further, he criticized them for returning to outdated political messaging, including promises like launching a commission of inquiry into extrajudicial killings – something Jagdeo noted they failed to deliver on during their last term in office. He recalled former President David Granger’s own words from that time, admitting that such an inquiry was unfeasible due to a lack of evidence and witnesses. Jagdeo believes these recycled promises are simply distractions aimed at concealing their poor track record. “The last time, when they were in office, they spent all their time running us down rather than fixing the country and delivering on their promises… Nonsense again, it’s the sloganeering. ‘We will reduce the age that you can apply for a plot of land by 18, but we do nothing to prepare the plots of land. Leave that to the PPP to hand out’, and then complain that we’re not doing it fast enough” VP expressed.
Meanwhile, on the issue of poverty, Jagdeo slammed the opposition for quoting outdated data from a 2018 World Bank report to claim that 47 per cent of Guyanese live in poverty. He said they fail to acknowledge that their own policies during their time in office – such as job cuts, removal of water subsidies for pensioners and closure of sugar estates – pushed thousands of people deeper into poverty. He specifically mentioned the 7000 sugar workers who lost their jobs and were unable to support their families. Jagdeo stated that the current Government is actively reversing those trends, getting people back to work and lifting families out of poverty. “They didn’t do any housing. They took away jobs. 35,000 people lost their jobs. They removed the water subsidy from the pensioner, etc. And what about those 35,000 people who lost their jobs? What do you think? They will become richer when they lose their jobs or poor. The sugar workers, 7000 of them, couldn’t even feed their families,” he added.