PPP/C announces its Manifesto prelude: ‘OUR VISION: GUYANA VERSION 2.0’

[www.inewsguyana.com] – Using the computer-type of description, the PPP/C on Sunday, April 05 released excerpts of its manifesto captioned: OUR VISION: GUYANA VERSION 2.0.

The Party’s plan for the future places emphasis on jobs, income and wealth creation; fighting crime, fair governance including tackling corruption and improving the population’s wellbeing.

According to the Guyana Version 2.0 document, “The PPP/C has delivered on its commitments, not making promises it will not or cannot deliver, and not making unrealistic or irresponsible commitments.”

It further stated:‎ “The PPP/C is committed to a country where people live long productive lives, where no one is left behind, where our people live in their own homes, and where all of our people have an equal chance to live in peace, progress and prosperity…We want to ensure that our people, particularly our young people, are educated and trained to be part of a human resource power-house, and part of an entrepreneurial class owning their own small, medium and large businesses… We have restored hope, we have changed the way our people dream and we have made these dreams realisable. Let us continue to march forward together to guarantee an ever better Guyana tomorrow, a new Guyana – Guyana Version 2.0.”

 

See below the PPP/C’s – Our Vision: Guyana Version 2.0 excerpts.

1. ECONOMIC GROWTH: Jobs, Income and Wealth Creation

 

The creation of jobs, increased income and greater wealth for our people will be driven by a balanced approach to ensure buoyant and sustained growth from both traditional economic sectors such as sustainable mining, forestry, sugar, rice – and from NEWECONOMIC FRONTIERS made possible by a prudent and business-friendly macro-economic framework. Increased domestic and foreign direct investment will be facilitated in sustainable agriculture, agro-processing and agro-business, environmental and climate services, large scale mineral, oil and gas exploration and extraction, information and communications technology services, tourism and hospitality.

A number of essential policies and measures will be pursued by the PPP/C Government including:

• Implement measures to improve financial intermediation and expand opportunities for “development type” finance.
• Implement the LCDS Strategy to provide for adaptation infrastructure, the export of environmental related services, and transformation of the livelihood of hinterland communities.
• Invest in the use of ICT to improve health care and education services, and to create jobs in rural and urban areas.
• Enact legislation to liberalize the telecommunication sector and reduce the cost of voice and data services.
• Establish a National Rice Price Support System for farmers to ensure that payments are made within the legally required time frame and to assure the viability of the industry and wellbeing of our rice farmers
• Support the sugar sector with a minimum investment of G$20 billion for the continued viability of the industry. These investments will be made in the modernization of all existing factories, accelerate the mechanization of the industry, invest in refinery and distillery capacities and increase production of packaging and specialty products.
• Facilitate the development of three new large modern gold mines which, when operational, will create hundreds of new jobs, as well as new investments in oil and gas exploration and development.
• Create a special development fund for regions 2, 6 and 10 patterned, after the Amerindian Community Development Plan to encourage jobs and wealth creation activities.
• Commission the Hospitality School and support the marketing of our tourism product and infrastructure.
• Establish ICT parks and infrastructure across the country
• Improve Productivity and Competitiveness by reducing bureaucracy
• Simplify the tax system and improve access to financing.
• Review the impact of taxes and other factors on cost of living
• Periodic review of the regime business taxes to encourage greater investment by large, medium and small scale businesses.
• Enacting the Anti-Money Laundering/Counter Terrorism Legislation.
• Support the modernization of the National Insurance Scheme which will allow for improvements in the delivery of the services and viability of its investment.
• Create industrial and commercial zones within new and existing settlement areas what would serve as growth poles and provide employment opportunities

 

2. TRANSFORMATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE, a hallmark of PPP governments is also critical for the realisation of new jobs and opportunities and new economic activities. In pursuit of this, the PPP/C intends to among others:

– Complete the Amaila Falls Hydro Project to provide cheaper, more reliable, cleaner energy for Guyanese citizens and businesses.

– Complete the expansion of the CheddiJagan International Airport.

– Commence work on building a new Bridge across the Demerara River

– Commence the paving of the Linden/Lethem/Brazil Road Corridor

– Complete the four-lane highways along the East Bank and East Coast Road Corridors

– Commence the construction of the Georgetown bypass road from Mocha to Ogle.

– Pursue the development of the Deep Water Harbour with the aim of making Guyana a marine hub for South America.

– Build additional hydro-electric capacity and export of energy to neighbouring countries

 

3. ENHANCING THE WELL-BEING OF OUR PEOPLE

The PPP/C is committed to building a country in which no one feels disenfranchised from development and the equality and welfare of each citizen is recognised and respected. Our vision is to ensure every citizen enjoys a Good Life.

Importantly, we will intensify the involvement of young people in the process of nation building. We will reinforce solidarity amongst all our peoples with particular concern for the vulnerable, including children, women, indigenous people, single parents, the elderly and persons who are differently-abled.

The PPP/C will sustain investment in education and health and continue the housing and water initiatives to enhance the availability of housing and improved water to all Guyanese.

The PPP/C in pursuit of its vision will:

• Spend over $1 billion to complete the implementation of Community Development Plans in 187 Amerindian Villages, and work with villages to provide Land Titles for all Amerindian villages who requested this to be done.  
• Establish the Family Court and provide more resources to address Sexual and Domestic Violence.
• Expand the Single Parent Assistance Programme and allocate more resources for the Child Care Protection Agency in all 10 Administrative Regions.
• Develop three (3) New Regional Sports Facilities; Berbice, Essequibo and Linden.
• Provide targeted training using technical institutes and secondary schools so as to meet the skills needs of specific Regions and communities.
• Train 3,000 young persons annually for the next five (5) years

Continue our single parent training programme in areas such as dress making, cosmetology, catering, ICT among other things.

• Work dedicatedly and actively in eliminating Child Labour from our society.
• Provide secondary school drop-outs a second chance by imparting skills that will assist national development and aligned to skills demanded by the labour market.
• Implement cultural development as a national priority objective by improving existing culture legislation and highlighting the nation’s cultural resources;
• Support the preservation of existing cultural institutions including libraries, museums, galleries, archives, theatres and publishing houses;
• Ensure Universal Access across all levels of education;
• Increase the number of Trained teachers, nationally and in all Regions:
• Implement an enhanced Early Childhood Education Program:
• Provide more to meet Special Education Needs of our children;
• Enacting a modern Education Legislation;
• Reorganize and increase the capacity of the National Accreditation Council;
• Incorporate and integrate ICT in the classroom and various educational and training settings;
• Establish world class standards at the University of Guyana;
• Provide more opportunities for Training and Scholarships locally and internationally;
• Enhance opportunities in Technical Vocational Education;
• Establish Centers of Excellence For Health
• Construct a Specialty Hospital for advanced health care services and expand services such as Neurosurgery, Renal Health (including dialysis and kidney transplant), Electroconvulsive Therapy (ETC), and Diabetic Retinopathy Services;
• Improve the system for procurement and distribution of drugs and medical supplies;
• Expand training opportunities for all levels of the medical profession including post-graduate training ;
• Construct a new 100-bed ward at the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital and a new Port Kaituma Hospital;
• Expand doctor-provided home-based care to all Regions in Guyana;
• Introduce Patient and Family Counseling, particularly grief counseling, in all hospitals;
• Construct new polyclinics with x-rays, laboratories, dental and eye services across the country;
• Establish an Ambulance Authority, with trained Paramedics;
• Upgrade several Regional Hospitals;
• Create a special Women’s Health Program and a Care of the Elderly Program;
• Establish Skeldon, Lethem and Mabaruma Hospitals as Border Hospitals with border countries;
• Implement the National Housing Policy that promotes Sustainable Housing Development;
• Create new settlement areas while accelerating the granting of Certificates of Title to Land to address excess demand for housing and create wealth for beneficiaries;
• Outfit new and existing schemes outside of the urban centres with modern social infrastructure to hasten the achievement of national priorities such as the SDGs.
• Implement community development plans in existing communities that would contribute to environmental sustainability;
• Facilitate the construction of 1,000 Turn Key homes for persons of low affordability and persons with special needs to improve access to housing;
• Expand the Young Professional Schemes to encourage skilled Guyanese to remain and invest at home;
• Accelerate the development of the Re-migrant scheme to attract the ‘Brain Bank’ in the diaspora;
• Upgrade roads, water distribution and drainage and electricity networks in all existing housing areas;
• Complete the regularization of all squatter settlements and upgrade the infrastructure in those settlements;
• Strategically continue to improve the water services of each region
• Increase treated water coverage from 50% to 75% within the next 5 years through the completion and construction of new state of the art and environmentally friendly Water Treatment Plants (WTPs)

 

4. FAIR GOVERNANCE

We remain committed to inclusive and participatory governance. The PPP/C will continue the fight against corruption, and for strong standards of transparency and accountability. We are committed to holding as early as possible Local Government Elections to address all issues of local democracy, and expand the collaboration between local government bodies and community development groups.

• We will ensure the procurement of goods, services and execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective manner by establishing the Public Procurement Commission.
• Support and strengthen the Human Rights Commission, Police Complaints Authority, Office of the Ombudsman and the Integrity Commission. Improve the functioning of Parliament and the Judiciary
• Facilitate the holding of Local Government Elections before June 2016
• Continue the fight against corruption at all levels of Government and society by instituting mechanisms for greater transparency and accountability :
• Establish a Special Investigation of Corruption body with powers to investigate corruption and prosecute crimes of corruption
• Appoint the Public Procurement Commission with the requisite Parliamentary support whilst retaining Cabinet’s oversight of “ no objection”
• Establish confidential complaints mechanisms to encourage people to report incidences of corruption
• Establish codes of conduct for public officials at all levels.
• Strengthen laws and regulations with regard to bribery of public officers and officials

 

5.FIGHTING CRIME AND PROTECTING OUR PEOPLE

The PPP/C is committed to strengthening the joint forces and criminal justice system. The safety and security of our people is a priority. These initiatives will include:

 

• Introduce a problem-oriented and intelligence-led approach to solving crime;
• Increase numbers of police ranks in communities;
• More rapid response time to crimes to a maximum of 30 minutes;
• Make the emergency 911 service more effective;
• More covert patrols, more aggressive traffic law enforcement;
• More interactive sessions with schools to reduce violence and crimes;
• Establish drugs and weapons free zones such as near schools;
• Re-opening of cold-case files to solve unsolved crimes;
• Establish a targeted policing programme;
• Expand the number of youth clubs;
• Establish noise nuisance abatement programmes;
• Continue to build new Court Houses;
• Enhance the human resource base of the justice system by the appointment of more Judges, magistrates and other personnel;
• Reduce the backlog matters before the courts, with more frequent sittings of the Magistrate’s Court in hinterland communities;
• Continue the modernization of the Supreme Court Registry and the Deeds and Land Registries.

 

6. GUYANA IN A MODERN WORLD

Guyana will continue to provide leadership in international relations at the regional and global level. We will continue to embrace and promote a foreign policy that is based on the preservation of Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

We will continue to engage with traditional partners and build new alliances to protect and improve the welfare and interest of all the Guyanese people. We will sustain our global leadership on climate action and promote Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy as a working model of green growth while maintaining global leadership on climate action towards reaching a fair and effective climate agreement in Paris, December 2015.

Further we will preserve and expand relations without traditional economic partners while forging strong relations with BRIC countries and other emerging economies.

We will continue to pursue a developing-country friendly approach in our Foreign Trade Policy and as a guide in our negotiations, e.g. Canada-CARICOM Trade and Development Agreement, WTO and CARICOM-EU.

The opposition APNU-AFC is yet to release its manifesto or plans although various leaders have been alluding to specific promises.