Editor’s note: As part of the newspaper’s contribution in the run-up to the November 28 general election, the presidential candidates of the political groupings represented in Parliament have been invited by Guyana Publications Inc to submit weekly columns which will be carried in the Sunday Stabroek. The series began two weeks ago and will end on November 27. The column below was received from the Alliance For Change.
By Dr Tarron Khemraj
Introduction
The PPP’s Manifesto claims it can deliver 25, 000 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) jobs over the next five years. The manifesto presents its ICT plan over three inadequate pages. No specific policies were given. The most specific the manifesto gets is the One Laptop Per Family (OLPF), “actively promoting Guyana as a destination for investments in ICT,” and the laying of fibre optic cables. The AFC certainly agrees that ICT is crucial for economic growth over the long term.
We will go as far and say ICT is more important than gold and oil. It is for this reason that ICT is a crucial aspect of the AFC’s Action Plan (our manifesto). However,