Ramsammy: APNU+AFC ‘devoid’ of ideas to develop Guyana
HARSH reviews of the alliance of A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC)’s Manifesto have led to the 46-page document being labelled an incomplete version that was leaked.
That’s according to People’s Progressive Party / Civic (PPP/C)’s Dr. Leslie Ramsammy. “These parties have recognised that they need to do something dramatic to attract more supporters to the fold, having failed to mobilise support outside of their traditional support base,” he charged.
However, he told the Guyana Chronicle that the document is a “desperate effort” to gain support.
PROMISES
The APNU+AFC plan has as its central themes: Healing and Reconciliation; Governance; Constitutional Reform; Public Safety and Security; Women and Gender Equality; Youth Policy; Education; Health and Nutrition; Housing Policy; Sports and Recreation; Cultural Policy; Natural Resources and the Environment; Agriculture; Hinterland Development; Tourism; Information & Communication Technology; Income Distribution; and Foreign Relations.
PPP/C member and Agriculture Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
The highlights of the promises made are: the reduction of several forms of taxation, including Value Added Tax (VAT); an eventual increase of the personal income tax threshold to $100,000; a 10 per cent increase to all public servants as a means to entice labour unions back into collective bargaining arrangement; and a seven per cent rate of annual economic growth.
The alliance is also proposing that all new public servants will be trained and must pass an examination of competence before being retained; constitutional reform that outlines new measures under which persons are elected to the executive and how power is shared; and a dedicated policy for Region 10, with Linden touted as a “secondary administrative” centre of Guyana.
After review, Dr. Ramsammy said, “One overarching comment is that APNU+AFC has totally confirmed our assertion that they are devoid of any idea of how to develop Guyana. Their manifesto is general references and when they make specific proposals, more than 80 per cent of the time they replicate the PPP/C’s programmes, taken from various sector and sub-sector strategies, the NDS (National Development Strategy), the LCDS (Low-Carbon Development Strategy, the PRSP (Guyana Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper), the Agriculture Strategy, the Education and Health Strategies, GuySuCo (Guyana Sugar Corporation) Business Plan, Land Use Policy, etc.”
According to him, the Manifesto is premised on four approaches: Wild and irresponsible promises that APNU+AFC knows they cannot keep, promises that they will not be able to implement or that they will be unwilling to implement; Reproduction of many of the PPP/C’s programmes, some already being implemented and some which we are about to begin; Proposals which they themselves have criticsed and which they have voted against in the 10th Parliament; and Proposals which are starkly different from what the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has proposed.
These four approaches, he maintains, is seen in “so-called” plans for every sector, from the economy to constitutional reforms.
CLEAR PLAGIARISM
In every area, Dr. Ramsammy stressed, the ruling PPP/C has and continues to lead the way.
“An example right away of how much they have plagiarised the PPP/C’s programmes can be seen with an almost brazen reproduction of the Land Use Policy for Regions 6 and 10. Everything they propose for Regions 6 and 10 have been part of the programme we have been implementing under our land use plans for these Regions,” he said.
The PPP/C member highlighted that most of the proposals made by APNU+AFC also demonstrate insincerity.
He said, “Many of their proposals, in fact, demonstrate insincerity. Passing the AML/CFT Bill could have been done in the 10th Parliament. The same could be said for hydroelectricity and telecommunication.
“In all these instances, they blocked the passage of important legislation to facilitate these developments. They had a chance to demonstrate that they can stand up for the people, that they can support anything that is in the welfare of the people. Instead, they now tell us that they will only do these things if they are in Government.”
According to him, APNU+AFC own actions cause Guyanese to question whether they can be trusted.
SAME OLD PNC
All considered, he noted too that the Alliance’s manifesto is a “stark manifestation of the People’s National Congress (PNC).
“The manifesto may appear in the name of APNU+AFC. They may have shed the name, but the manifesto of APNU+AFC is a stark manifestation of the PNC. Its character and its tone are vintage PNC,” the PPP/C member posited.
On this note, he referred to APNU+AFC’s plans for the economy, in particular.
Dr. Ramsammy said, “The manifesto from the outset is a fiscal deficit development programme – proposing to reduce income and increasing spending. It is a development programme modeled after the same old PNC development model of creating unsustainable debts, similar to the Guyana of the 1980s.
“We will recall Guyana was one of the most indebted countries in the world by 1992, with a debt that amounted to almost 900% of our GDP and a debt servicing that consumed the total of our earnings.”
He further described the APNU+AFC manifesto as being “enamored” with this model.
“APNU+AFC is not apologetic in taking Guyana back to those dark days when because of the large deficits left by the overwhelming debt servicing investment in the infrastructure and the social welfare needs of the people were neglected. Health investment for example was reduced to less than $US7 per capita, after having reached $US16 by 1964. Clearly, under their plan, the social sector will again descend to the deplorable depths of horror that Guyana experienced in the 1980s,” Dr. Ramsammy said.
The PPP/C member added, “We will recall that the PNC started out in 1964 that their economic plan was to have the economy driven by the Private Sector. By 1968, they had moved to a coop driven economic model and then by 1975 a plan to have the commanding heights of the economy under the State. Their proposal today that the economy will be driven by the private sector, the state and by cooperatives seem like a throwback to those dark days when the private sector was decimated and many farmers locked out through the use of politically driven coops.
“This manifesto is a recipe to take Guyana back into massive debts. The consequences will be that infrastructure to provide necessary services and to support a robust economy will be neglected and education, health, housing, water, recreation and sports, support for vulnerable populations etc. will all suffer.”
Referring to a parallel plan, the PPP/C vision for Guyana – Guyana 2.0 – Dr. Ramsammy was emphatic that the specifics of where Guyana will be by 2020 and how these moves will be finances are detailed, unlike the proposals of APNU+AFC, a plan devoid of any idea of how to develop Guyana.
‘One overarching comment is that APNU+AFC has totally confirmed our assertion that they are devoid of any idea of how to develop Guyana. Their manifesto is general references and when they make specific proposals, more than 80 per cent of the time they replicate the PPP/C’s programmes’ – Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
By Vanessa Narine
