Presidential candidate of the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic Donald Ramotar has acknowledged the importance of youth involvement in national development and has committed to their inclusion under his presidency. He made this pledge at the opening ceremony of PPP youth forum on August 11 at the Guyana International Conference Centre before thousands of young Guyanese from across the nation.
“You are the main stakeholders in what is taking place in our country because you will inherit our country and you will inherit the world and it is important therefore that we continue to involve our young people to put them at the centre of all our policies so that we can build a better and brighter Guyana,” Ramotar said in a well received presentation. He added that young people has always been at the core of the PPP/C, pointing to young Cheddi and Janet Jagan and Ashton Chase who were all in their 20s when they started in politics.
Ramotar committed too, that the information garnered from young participants will be used to guide the government in the coming five years.
Meanwhile, he spoke on the importance of education and the government’s acknowledgement of investing in its people in this regard.
He mentioned that already the country has been able to achieve universal access to primary education and has made progress at the secondary level.
Participants during the opening session of PPP youth forum
“Certainly before the next five years, once the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic returns, I can promise that there will be universal access to secondary education in Guyana,” Ramotar said in his first presentation which focused on the intentions of a Ramotar-led administration.
Additionally, he noted that there is indeed more work to be done at the tertiary level of education in Guyana, pointing to the steady establishment of technical institutes across the country.
“We have to also concentrate on improving the University of Guyana so that it can create the skills and the professional persons that we need for the development of our society. All these issues are important in building human capital and human capacity in our country,” the PPP presidential candidate expressed.
This, he stated, was important considering the important role a country’s people play in its development.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you can trust us! Our party has worked very, very hard and we have always worked hard to ensure that our words and our deeds are not very far away. Cheddi Jagan put a high premium to that,” Ramotar underscored, while assuring participants that his promises will be met. “Any unbiased observer that take any of our manifestos from 1992 to now and they will see that we do not make promises lightly that we work hard to accomplish what we commit to do,” he added.
In fact, Ramotar further stated that the PPP/C government in most instances has archived about 100 per cent of its promises listed in its manifestos. “This is proof that when we give our word we give it seriously.” He has asked the youths to join with the PPP/C as it continues to work to improve the quality of life here and towards making Guyana a leading country in the Caribbean once again.
Fight against racism
Meanwhile, President Bharrat Jagdeo in his address pleaded with participants to become agents of change on the issue of racism and aggressively assault this crippling subject. This, he said is one of the principles on which the PPP/C was founded.
“I ask you all here as young people to join us in the fight, every single day we must aggressively fight against those who try to divide our people… because this country makes progress when all of its people do well,” the president pleaded.
He believes that young people have a unique capacity to take on this fight.
“Young people and young party members you have to promise that every day, everywhere you go whether it’s in the taxi where people make snide remarks about peoples race or religion, or in your workplace or in your home we say that’s wrong, people should be judged that way this is one country,” the head of state added.
The other most “cardinal” principle, Jagdeo explained is ensuring that Guyana moves forward through economic and social development with all citizens benefiting.
He has urged participants to make full use of the opportunity afforded through the forum since the outcome will become a policy that will be implemented by the new PPP/C government.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud in welcoming the participants acknowledged the worldwide anger among youths and noted the special conditions in Guyana considering the “pro-youth” policies that the PPP/C government has implemented.
After the opening the opening ceremony, the thousands were split into three groups focusing on youth opportunities chaired by Dr Ashni Singh; transformation chaired by Minster Irfaan Ali and social issues chaired by Reverend Kwame Gilbert.
Guyana Times International sat briefly in the break-out session on youth opportunities where there were meaningful interactions on the introduction of sex education schools, the expansion of government’s skills training programme and encouraging more youth involvement in agriculture.
Thousands of young people from all across the country participated in the activity, many of whom could not be accommodated in the dome at the conference centre and had to be accommodated in other rooms at the facility where projectors were erected. Even the ground floor of the facility was filled to capacity.
