Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has questioned the reason for the Alliance For Change’s (AFC) call for a bipartisan multi-year development plan.
Jagdeo, who is also the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), said the AFC “has nothing to bring to the table” and is therefore looking to cover its inefficiencies.
Leader of the AFC Nigel Hughes recently issued a call to the President to convene a meeting with all political parties and stakeholders from across the country, to come up with a 10-15-year development plan. He noted that it is the “responsible way forward” to develop the plan to address at least five areas –the economy, education, foreign affairs, health, and poverty reduction.
Jagdeo said while his party is not entirely opposed to the idea, the AFC needs to make its proposals known. “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,” he emphasised.
After being in existence for 15 years, the AFC Jagdeo said, ought to have a plan in place for key sectors of the economy. “[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 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 pointed out 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 elections term.
“We’re the only political party that has a laid out plan that goes beyond election cycles,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President pointed out that in 2024 alone, his government has invested $129B in the health sector, $135B in education and increased wages and salaries by $90B.
“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’,” Jagdeo posited.
