“How can you vote for a coalition that is on life support?” – Bharrat

…warns persons to guard against APNU/AFC’s empty election promises

In light of recent comments from Alliance For Change (AFC) leader Nigel Hughes that their potential partnership with A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is on “life support”, Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat, on Day-two of the 2025 Budget debates, has noted that based on this admission alone, Guyanese should not vote for such a political grouping.

Cognisant that this is an election year, Minister Bharrat on Monday – during the budget debates – came out swinging at the opposition over its track record in office and its recent coalition difficulties. These difficulties include the recent admission by Hughes that talks with APNU on possibly reuniting to contest the 2025 General and Regional Elections were on life support.
“It was this very tone and promises made by the APNU/AFC in 2015. And what did the people of Guyana get? Nothing… It is easy to make fake promises like they did in 2015, but from 2015 to 2020, we went backward instead of moving forward. Again in 2025, they will come with those fake promises of $400,000 (tax) threshold and $80,000 pension. But these are the same people who took away the cash grant from the students and added VAT (Value Added Tax) on light and water, education and health services in this country.”
“I too would like to compare based on our track record, so that Guyanese people can be the judge and ascertain for themselves whether the PPP/C is good for this country or whether we’re going back to the fake promises from APNU/AFC. Fake promises from a group of people whose relationship is on life support. How will you vote for a coalition that is on life support?” Bharrat said.
Bharrat came equipped with the former APNU/AFC Government’s 100-day plan from before it entered office in 2015 and went to great lengths to demonstrate how the former Government failed to keep its promises.
For instance, Bharrat recalled that the former coalition Government had promised to immediately implement a phased reduction of VAT and removal of VAT from food and other essential products. The 100-day plan had also made reference to setting up conferences catering specifically to the rice and sugar sector, neither of which, according to Bharrat, were ever held.
“What did you do? VAT on light. VAT on water. VAT on education. VAT on health services. VAT on data. You almost put VAT on dead people too. And we move on. Waiving of duties on fuel, tools, small scale mining equipment. What did they do? VAT on machinery for mining and agriculture, VAT on machinery for logging,” the Minister said.
“Establishment of a national cane workers and cane farmers conference. Conference, not an association. A conference. Imagine that in a 100-day plan, by this serious Government. And you want Guyanese people to vote for you and you’re promising them a conference? Man, we could do that in a day. You needed a hundred days and still couldn’t do it. Establishment of a rice millers and rice farmers conference. Conference again. These conferences were to use the tax payer’s money to fatten the APNU/AFC.”
In the 100-day plan, the former APNU/AFC Government had also promised the liberalisation of the telecommunications and information communication technology sector, but it was the PPP/C Government that realised this in October 2020.
The “life support” reference comes from last week, when AFC leader Hughes had admitted that his party’s accord with APNU was on life support, as the smaller party remains wary of past mistakes and the fact that a suitable mechanism must be employed to choose between him and his APNU counterpart, Aubrey Norton, to decide who will be the presidential candidate.
Reports had emerged that the People’s National Congress (PNC) led APNU and AFC had reached an accord for further discussions towards coalescing. This is despite the fact that all evidence pointed to PNC insisting on its leader being the Presidential candidate.
During a press conference, Hughes admitted that there was indeed an agreement and that the content of this accord includes an agreement for the two parties to hold talks on the deciding whether to contest the upcoming General and Regional elections as a coalition or independently… a decision they have agreed will be made by March 31.