The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) says it is confident that Guyana’s future is secure under President Donald Ramotar’s leadership, adding that he has made a number of wide-ranging achievements during his first year in office.
“The accomplishments of President Ramotar and his team have been many and wide ranging and are even more significant when contrasted with the challenging political atmosphere created by the opposition alliance of the AFC and APNU,” the group said in a press release. Ramotar was sworn in on December 3, 2011.
According to the party, the hallmark of Ramotar’s presidency has been his determination to advance economic growth and development for all citizens. “Key to this has been the acceleration of projects which are the pillars for the next stage of Guyana’s advancement, such as the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International airport and the Amaila Falls Hydro project.”
The president’s vision for Guyana’s future and his efforts to ensure that the nation is ready to reap the maximum benefits from new and emerging sectors, particularly in the oil and gas industries along with traditional ones such as mining, resulted in the creation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment. The party said over the past 12 months, Ramotar has also reached out to every group with concerns with the aim of addressing them.
At the political level, “he has [signalled] his interest in building consensus to advance the nation’s business and established a tri-partite committee of political leaders. Ramotar has also pledged his commitment and indicated his continued willingness to engage these leaders despite the challenges, including the recent impasse in the National Assembly.
The PPP further noted that during Ramotar’s tenure the private sector has been further strengthened and the business community and other organisations are playing a more visible role in articulating their positions on national issues and in advancing their agendas to improve the business climate. The private sector has also benefited from a reduction in the corporate tax and the president has said that one of his key areas of focus is increasing the tax threshold for public sector workers, particularly minimum wage workers; increasing benefits to pensioners and ensuring that sugar workers and other categories of public servants are given increases.
Internationally, the party says Ramotar has worked tirelessly to articulate at the level of the United Nations, Guyana’s needs, this was most recently noted in his participation at the UNASUR Summit in Peru where he called for more emphasis on equality for all our people.
