…says 95% of the manifesto promises, 60,000 new jobs delivered
As the People’s Progressive Party/Civic’s 32nd Congress gets underway, the Party is the strongest it has ever been in the year 2024 due to the influx of diverse members and the changing narrative. This is according to President Dr Irfaan Ali.
During the opening ceremony of the congress, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC), which featured a massive crowd numbering in the thousands, President Ali was one of the keynote speakers. He recalled the mission that was set at the last PPP Congress, to ensure the Party could rebuild and strengthen its support base.
“The only national party is the PPP. And if you have any doubt about this, look across the room at the membership of the PPP. And be proud that this is a representation of Guyana. Every inch of Guyana is represented here.
“The vision is clear. The mission was clear. And the mission was to rebuild. To modernise. To carry our message to every home. To disallow those with racist and divisive agendas, to build our narrative,” the President explained.
According to President Ali, this was a weakness that the Party identified the last time it held congress in 2016. And it set about rectifying this so that by the time the 2020 General and Regional Elections came around, the nation overwhelmingly voted in favour of them.
“We allowed others to define who we are. We allowed others to define the narrative about who we are. From the day we took back control of that narrative by naturally showing to the people of this country what the PPP stands for, the population rallied behind the PPP. And that is what allowed us to grow this party.”
According to the President, as a result of these deliberate efforts by the Party to counter these messages and to attract new membership, the result is that on the eve of the 2025 General and Regional Elections, the Party is at the strongest it’s ever been.
“This party, that we are part of, has never been on such solid footing in the history of our party. I repeat this. This is the strongest the PPP has ever been. And this is something we must celebrate. Young Guyanese, the future of this country, are embracing us.
“They’re embracing us because they see in us the hope. A party that can fulfil their aspirations. A party that stood the test of time and did not remove from its founding principles: to always be on the side of the people,” President Ali said.
Sugar workers
President Ali meanwhile recounted harrowing tales from the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) era, including when he sat down for a meeting with them as a representative of the PPP. Despite his efforts to intercede on behalf of the sugar workers, APNU/AFC still insisted on closing the estates.
“More than 50,000 families sent to the breadline. In just more than three years, your party, this PPP/C government, has brought back 60,000 new jobs to the people of this country. We have reopened the sugar estates.
“We have brought back more than 7000 sugar workers. We’ve increased bauxite workers. And by the end of this year, we’ll double the number of bauxite workers in the industry,” President Ali said.
The PPP’s 32nd Congress is being held under the theme: “Strengthen the Party, Defend Guyana, Unite All Our People for Progress and Prosperity.”
The Congress is the highest decision-making forum of the Party, and this year’s biennial congress is set to be the largest in the Party’s history, with over 3000 persons from across the country registered.
The last Congress was held in 2016 when the PPP was in Opposition. This year’s Congress is being hosted ahead of the 2025 General and Regional Elections, where the ruling PPP will be seeking a return to office. (G3)
