“You’re going to see a changed Guyana” – Jagdeo on development trajectory for next 5 years

…says, “When you vote for PPP/C, you’re voting for a trustworthy party”

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has assured Guyanese that they can look forward to a “changed Guyana” as his party continues to deliver on its promises in a second term in office, emphasising the PPP/C’s track record of keeping its commitments makes it the only viable choice for the upcoming September 1 General and Regional Elections (GRE).
Speaking at a public meeting on Tuesday at Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, Jagdeo, who is also Guyana’s Vice President (VP), revealed a number of additional measures, including the transportation grant that will be given for each child. He noted that voters can trust the PPP/C’s promise given the party’s track record of keeping their word on past promises.
“When you vote for PPP/C in this election, you are voting for a party that has demonstrated that it is trustworthy, and trust is the biggest thing that a political party can claim. That’s your currency. If nobody trusts you to do what you say you can, they will never support you,” he declared to an enthusiastic crowd.
Jagdeo pointed to his Government’s achievements over the last five years while sharing several of the party’s ambitious plans to continue transforming communities across the country over the next five years should the party be re-elected to another term.
“Everything we promised in 2020 we work to deliver, and in 2030 when we come to campaign, we want to say we delivered all the things that I’m speaking about here tonight. You are going to see a changed Guyana,” Jagdeo said.
Agenda for national development
He also outlined a broad agenda for national development that includes expanding small business support, building more infrastructure, improving public spaces, and lowering taxes. He noted that the Government has already mobilised around 5000 local contractors to construct concrete roads in various communities and pledged to double that number to 10,000 in the next term.
“In Linden alone, 700 people have already secured contracts totalling $11 billion,” he said. “On the east coast in Berbice, in the Amerindian communities, everywhere people are benefiting from contracts.”
Further outlining the PPP/C’s vision, VP Jagdeo said the party intends to construct concrete drains, install lights in playgrounds and streets, set up security cameras, and improve garbage collection across all communities.
He also stressed that housing improvements and support for low-income families will be a priority, alongside better-paying jobs and sustained assistance for key sectors, including rice farming, sugar, mining, and fishing industries. He contrasted this with what he described as failures by the previous A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU/AFC) during that party’s time in Government from 2015 to 2020.
“We wouldn’t do what APNU did to the rice farmers and the sugar workers and the gold miners when they put a tonne of taxes on them and caused them to lose jobs,” he stated. “You can’t trust APNU. They betrayed you, including their own supporters, in 2015.”
In support of working-class Guyanese, he pointed to significant tax reforms introduced under the PPP/C, including the doubling of the income tax threshold from $65,000 in 2020 to $130,000 now, tax cuts that see persons with overtime and second jobs now benefiting from $50,000 each in tax-free income monthly, and the $10,000 tax credit per child.
Looking ahead, he pledged the establishment of a development bank to offer zero-interest loans for small businesses, as well as more accessible land for farming and further tax reductions, including on vehicles and outboard motors for riverine residents.
“We are working to ensure every Guyanese, young and old, finds a home in the PPP/C. We are for all our people,” Jagdeo said.

Create wealth before distributing it
Meanwhile, on Monday, while speaking on the “Starting Point” podcast, Jagdeo said that wealth must first be created before it can be fairly distributed, warning that oil alone is not a sustainable foundation for Guyana’s long-term future.
He highlighted that the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has always been careful and deliberate about economic policies – unlike the Peoples National Congress-led A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
“From the beginning, when we resumed office in 1992, we had to focus first on re-establishing a sustainable macroeconomic environment,” Jagdeo explained, noting that “when you’re using 153 percent of revenue to service debt, or your debt is nine times the size of the economy as it was back then, there is no sustainability.”
Jagdeo, who served as Minister of Finance from 1995 to 1999 and then as President from 1999 to 2011, emphasised that even before oil and gas, the PPP/C demonstrated its ability to carefully manage the economy.
“We managed, even before oil and gas, to restore our country to viability and solvency. We were using less than 10 per cent of revenue to service debt in 2015, when we lost power. And also, the debt had come down from nine times the size of the economy to 45 per cent of GDP, which is one of the lowest figures in the world. And at the same time, we started tackling the essential things of rebuilding, although we’re tackling the macroeconomy – schools, roads, hospitals, sea defences, you know, making sure higher wages were paid to the public service. So, it’s a package.” He outlined.
According to Jagdeo, the Government has to plan for an economy that is not only reliant on oil and gas revenue, and the PPP/C is the only party that has demonstrated its ability to do this.
“No other party talks about this. They’re only talking about oil revenue,” he posited.