Your Eyewitness is pecking away at this piece just before the formal launch of the PPP’s Manifesto on Monday. So why he didn’t wait for that to be completed before writing?? Well for the simple reason that they’d put out a “2025–2030 manifesto brief” over a month ago and their leaders and activists had been circulating and discussing it with folks across our fair land ever since!!
Now, you may say this is an anticlimactic way of doing something the other parties have made such a big fuss and hullabaloo about. But there’s a method to the PPP’s seeming madness. They’ve been soliciting constant feedback on their Manifesto initiatives – so Monday’s announcement would’ve seen some tweaks to reflect that input!! As your Eyewitness has been emphasising, the PPP’s five years of rubber hitting the road with their previous Manifesto already know broadly what’s gonna work and what’s not gonna work going ahead!! Last month, the PPP’s GS had said “the PPP/C’s next term will be guided by realism and results”.
So, without going into specific numbers and such like – which anyways ain’t available right now!! – your Eyewitness gonna talk about the central premises of the PPP’s Manifesto in relation to what our country needs – and comparing them with the Opposition’s. Central to the PPP/C’s plan – it was announced – is JOB CREATION. “They pledged to continue supporting the productive sectors — including agriculture, mining, and forestry — through targeted initiatives such as establishing a Development Bank to finance SMEs, opening up 100,000 acres of arable land for cultivation, constructing and upgrading farm-to-market roads, expanding drainage and irrigation systems, and continuing direct support to farmers through planting material, breeding stock, and fertiliser.”
Whew!! This central pillar of the PPP’s plans can be contrasted not only to the pie-in-the-sky promises of the Opposition, but their fundamentally and irrevocably flawed view that just because we’re getting oil revenues we should be doling out – for instance – one million dollars annually to every Guyanese out here!! Handout economics!! So what’s that gonna do to the work ethic – compared to say the Koreans and Singaporeans – that will actually develop Guyana sustainably??
Using World Bank outdated 2019 figures, the Opposition’s been screaming that 48 per cent of Guyanese are living in poverty. Now that’s the figure the PNC left the PPP in 2020!! Can anyone argue with that Private Sector leader who pointed out there’s a job – with its wages! – available to anyone who wants to work?? And it’s not that the PPP ain’t sympathetic to pockets of geographical and demographic lagging poverty. They’ve announced a slew of ameliorative initiatives to address these – such as to children and pensioners.
But ultimately, it’s remunerative jobs and eventual pensions that’ll deliver dignified lives!!
…peace in Europe
Now it’s not that your Eyewitness harbours lingering pockets of affection for our erstwhile European rulers – but he feels we should spare a thought about what went down yesterday at the Trump-Zelenskyy II meeting!! If for nothing else than we Guyanese do like our roti, bread and dumplings –and they’ll become cheaper if Ukraine’s wheat were to re-enter global markets disrupted by Russia’s invasion!!
Well, to head off a Trump-Zelenskyy I repetition, leaders of NATO, the European Commission, France, Germany and Finland insisted they be there!! Trump, however, refused a joint meeting with them and met Zelenskyy alone – and saw them afterwards over dinner!! This reflects a fundamental shift in the relationship between the US and Europe which has prevailed since the end of WWII in 1945.
Following the meeting between Trump and Russia’s Putin, it looks like their bromance is back on stream – with the US aligning with Putin’s demand of “agreement before ceasefire”, rather than Zelenskyy and Europe’s rival demand of “ceasefire before agreement”.
Oi vey!!
… the Colombian connection
While cosying up to Colombia and discussing security cooperation, let’s consider their president’s reaction to the US increasing their military presence in the Southern Caribbean. He reiterated support for Maduro – “sons of the same mother”!!
