VP Jagdeo challenges AFC to come forward with its national development plan

– accused Party of using PPP/C as a cover for own ineptitude

In response to calls by Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Nigel Hughes for the political parties to come up with a national bipartisan development plan, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has urged the AFC to come forward with its own plan.
The call by Hughes comes at a time when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration has several such plans out in the open.
During his weekly press briefing, Jagdeo who also serves as the General Secretary of the PPP/C, made it clear that his party has no interest in being used as cover for the AFC’s inability to come up with a development plan of its own.
Jagdeo was of the view that after being in existence for 15 years and in government for five, the AFC ought to have a plan in place for key sectors of the economy. But while the PPP/C has published several of its own plans, the AFC is yet to do so.
“You should talk about your plan first. If you’re coming to the table, you either say ‘I’m adopting the PPP plan or I believe the PPP has a plan and let’s improve it…but don’t come pretending that you bring any great intellectual bearing to the issue.”
“(Hughes) wants someone to do the work for him because he’s incapable, his party is incapable. Not that they didn’t have opportunities too, but they are intellectually incapable,” the Vice President said.
Jagdeo assured that the PPP/C has a national development plan of its own. This plan, according to the Vice President, is concrete and covers several sectors. Jagdeo reminded that the PPP has released its plan on several occasions inclusive of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (2000), the National Competitiveness Strategy (2006), and the two Low Carbon Development Strategies (LCDS).
He further pointed out that the ongoing works to improve the health, energy, transportation and other sectors show evidence of the plans which exist for those sectors. Further, he stated that the plans of his party go beyond election term.
“We’re the only political party that has a laid-out plan that goes beyond election cycles. He (Hughes) wants a cover for the intellectual bankruptcy of that party…they have nothing to offer…let them talk about what he has to offer in detail…not ‘oh we have to draft a plan together,” the VP added.
Last week Hughes, who was recently elected to the leadership of the AFC, had called on President Dr. Irfaan Ali and the PPP/C to convene a meeting of various political parties and technical experts to come up with a multi-year development plan in at least five areas –the economy, education, foreign affairs, health, and poverty reduction.
“I think that’s the responsible way forward. And I wanna repeat, the Alliance For Change has called to the President, to convene such a meeting of all the parties and all the appropriate technical skills, so we can have this 10- to 15-year plan in education, economy, foreign affairs, poverty, and health,” Hughes had said.
“Everything else we can compete at in the national elections. But let us sign off on a long-term plan in those five areas. And I hope the President listens to this. And consults with, doesn’t have to consult with us, but with other persons. And we can arrive at a plan everyone signs off on,” the Attorney-at-Law had added.
While Hughes made that pitch for President Ali to convene meetings that would include national stakeholders and Opposition parties to come up with a national development plan, such a consultative approach is nothing new to successive PPP/C Governments. Under the Presidency of Dr. Cheddi Jagan (1992-1997), the National Development Strategy (1996) was introduced.
Meanwhile, under the presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo (1999-2011), three such strategies – the Poverty Reduction Strategy (2000), the National Competitiveness Strategy (2006), and the Low Carbon Development Strategy (2009) were developed. Under the current President, an updated Low Carbon Development Strategy that would cover the years 2022-2030 was also achieved.