Presidential Candidate of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Irfaan Ali believes that the 50,000 jobs being promised to the Guyanese population, should his party return to office, is in fact a modest figure.
Ali hosted a press conference on Thursday in the place of Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, who at the time was travelling to New York, where he is expected to engage members of the Guyanese Diaspora.
The PPP Presidential Candidate pointed out that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government have failed to deliver most of its manifesto promises to the Guyanese people in the more than four years they have been in office.
According to Ali, Guyanese have to hold the government accountable for this failure, which he believes has resulted in the hardship for many, especially the elderly.
Nevertheless, Ali posited that unlike the Coalition Administration, his party will not falter in its efforts to ensure that what is being promised to the populace is achieved.
Among the host of promises the PPP has mentioned that will be in its manifesto is the creation of 50,000 new jobs and according to the party’s Presidential Candidate, even this figure is too conservative.
“There were some (criticism) raised on the 50,000 job creation but let me say, this is a very, very conservative figure,” Ali stated.
He went on to outline some of the key sectors in which an Irfaan Ali-led PPP administration will provide an array of jobs for Guyanese. These include the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) with the establishment of call centres and provision of critical services in sectors such as education, health, financial and security.
Additionally, he mentioned eco-tourism, agriculture, mining, environmental services, forestry, and housing as key sectors that can also churn out many employment opportunities if the right investments are made.
Furthermore, Ali noted that the impending oil and gas sector too can be a great source of job creation within the areas of training, shore-based facilities, gas and energy development, enlightened local content and machine and engineering.
“So if you reorient the budgetary spending that is there now, you will be able to create all those jobs we’ve lost as a result of wasteful spending and misprioritised spending,” he added.
The PPP presidential candidate further stressed that “So this 50,000 is very conservative; then with the reopening of sugar; and the linkages sugar had in other segment of the economy, you’re talking about 11,000 thousand jobs easily… so I know when we examined this at the committee level and when we are costing it, 50,000 is a very, very conservative estimate. It’s the bare minimum and I’m sure that we can achieve beyond this.” (Vanhu Manickchand)
