80% of 1992 manifesto delivered – Jagdeo

Former President of Guyana Dr. Bharat Jagdeo has said that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) administration has fulfilled 80% of its promises made in the 1992 manifesto. Dr. Jagdeo made the comment as the ruling party on Wednesday celebrated 20 consecutive years in Government at the Guyana International Conference Centre.

Mr. Jagdeo said that while the administration has been guided by the various manifestos, there have been many achievements outside of those. Commenting on Dr. Jagan’s dream for Guyana he said, “I think overall, we have been faithful to many of his ideals, particularly education.”
He noted that current access to education and health care, along with the development of the housing sector are very important for poor people, ‘because poor people can educate their children if they have proper health care and a proper house. They can make a big difference, they can change their status,’ he said.
The former president said he was at peace with the administration in the hands of President Donald Ramotar. He noted that it was a continuum, “I am sure that the new president would do extremely well in picking up all the dreams that the PPP had, and we still have and taking them forward.”
“I see the country continuing to grow, I know it’s going to grow rapidly because we have fixed the fundamentals in the economy, and that took us a while. Once the fundamentals are fixed, it’s a good base for growth. Today, we see Guyana for the last six or seven years growing continuously when the world sees recession,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
He expects that there will be many more transformative projects which are going to come on stream, adding that there will be rapid growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This he posited will result in the expansion of the country’s revenue base which would allow much more to be done in terms of the social sectors.
“I can only see us going upwards. I hope the politics doesn’t become a humbug and stymie us. Because for quite a while in the late 90s early 2000s politics and negative politics sapped the energy of the county and I hope we don’t return to that,” he said
Having led Guyana forward through the transformation process, there are parts of the journey Dr. Jagdeo wished were different. “It is only after 2006 that the country really settled. The period between 1999 and 2005 still had the residual protests and things associated with non-acceptance of elections results. I wish that we had a longer period for development,” he said.
Notwithstanding, “I think that most of the things I’ll do the same. The tasks were fundamental and clear, and those were to keep the economy growing because the economy is the base for every other development in the country,” he declared.
“The economy’s performance would determine whether the administration could finance expansion of education, health care, housing, or anything else.” he added.