According to Leader of the Opposition Bharrat Jagdeo his party will be unveiling its manifesto in phases.
“We have already been putting out some of our policies. Our manifesto will have several versions. You have already seen us putting out some posters, some of the policies we plan to institute immediately. We’re going to do a more popular version of the manifesto and then a detailed technical version of the manifesto will be launched as we get closer to the elections,” Jagdeo told a press conference last week.
He explained that the “detailed technical version” will give a lot more explanations to people as to the party’s policy making and vision.
“We can’t do that through the posters but at least people understand what we are going to do,” he stressed.
The General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) also took time to differentiate between two policy positions that the party has expressed those of No new taxes and a reversal of the “200 new measures” it claims that the current administration has instituted.
He explained that through an increase in fees and institution of new tariffs there are 200 new measures which will be reversed if his party returns to power.
He identified measures such as Value Added Taxes (VAT) on building materials such as sand, stone and cement, VAT on Electricity, VAT on Export and VAT on farming, mining and forestry equipment as some which will be reversed and stressed that no new measure will be instituted.
Additionally the party has committed to providing 20,000 online scholarships for tertiary students in addition to those scholarships currently being offered at the University of Guyana through the Department of Public Service.
He further stressed that the party will within five years offer free university education to citizens and stated that Presidential candidate Irfaan Ali will soon roll out measures to stimulate the private offering of education and a plan for people with outstanding fees at the University of Guyana.
“We ran the numbers and believe this can be done. Our plan is to provide a world class education for all using resources from oil and gas sector,” Jagdeo said.
