Giving a preview of its plans should it win the May 11 elections, the PPP/C says it will continue to fight corruption and has pledged to establish the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and hold local government elections before June 2016 – promises it has made before but failed to fulfill.
“We remain committed to inclusive and participatory governance. The PPP/C will continue the fight against corruption, and for strong standards of transparency and accountability. We are committed to holding as early as possible Local Government Elections to address all issues of local democracy, and expand the collaboration between local government bodies and community development groups,” the party said in excerpts of its manifesto published as an ad in the Sunday Stabroek yesterday.
The ad, entitled ‘Our Vision: Guyana Version 2.0’ stressed that the PPP/C is the only political party that has a record of moving Guyana on a path of development.
“We will ensure the procurement of goods, services and execution of works are conducted in a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective manner by establishing the Public Procurement Commission,” the party said even as it said that it will facilitate the holding of Local Government Elections before June 2016.
In it manifesto for the 2011 general elections, the party had also pledged to fight corruption and said it would hold local government elections and establish the PPC, but it has not lived up to its promises.
According to the PPP/C, it will continue the fight against corruption at all levels of government and society by instituting mechanisms for greater transparency and accountability, establish a Special Investigation of Corruption body with powers to investigate corruption and prosecute crimes of corruption, and appoint the PPC with the requisite Parliamentary support whilst retaining Cabinet’s oversight of “no objection.”
Confidential
The party said that it will also establish confidential complaints mechanisms to encourage people to report incidences of corruption, strengthen laws and regulations with regard to bribery of public officers and officials and establish codes of conduct for public officials at all levels. High level government officials including ministers have been involved in a number of scandals over the years in successive PPP/C administrations but little has been done to rein this in.
The PPP/C also pledged to support and strengthen the Human Rights Commission, the Police Complaints Authority, the Office of the Ombudsman and the Integrity Commission and improve the functioning of Parliament and the Judiciary.
Meantime, the ruling party also pledged to establish a National Rice Price Support System for farmers to ensure that payments are made within the legally required time frame and to assure the viability of the industry and well-being of rice farmers.
It said that the party will also support the sugar sector with a minimum investment of $20 billion for the continued viability of the industry. “These investments will be made in the modernization of all existing factories, accelerate the mechanization of the industry, invest in refinery and distillery capacities and increase production of packaging and specialty products,” the party said.
According to the PPP/C, it would create a special development fund for regions 2, 6 and 10 patterned after the Amerindian Community Development Plan to encourage jobs and wealth creation activities. Further, the party pledged to facilitate the development of three new large modern gold mines which, when operational, will create hundreds of new jobs, as well as new investments in oil and gas exploration and development. The three large gold mines appear to be a reference to mining projects long in the making, two of which are already set to begin production this year.
The party promised too to simplify the tax system and improve access to financing and review the impact of taxes and other factors on cost of living. It said that there will be a periodic review of the regime of business taxes to encourage greater investment by large, medium and small scale businesses and pledged to improve productivity and competitiveness by reducing bureaucracy.
Growth poles
According to the manifesto excerpts, the PPP/C will also create industrial and commercial zones within new and existing settlement areas what would serve as growth poles and provide employment opportunities and support the modernization of the National Insurance Scheme which will allow for improvements in the delivery of the services and viability of its investment.
Further, the party said that it will enact the Anti-Money Laundering/ Coun-tering of Terrorism Leg-islation, implement measures to improve financial intermediation and expand opportunities for “development type” finance, implement the Low Carbon Development Strategy, invest in Information Communica-tions Tech-nology and enact legislation to liberalize the telecommunication sector and reduce the cost of voice and data services.
The ad also said that the PPP/C will expand the Single Parent Assistance Programme and allocate more resources for the Child Care and Protection Agency in all 10 Administrative Regions.
It also pledged to work “dedicatedly and actively” in eliminating child labour from the society while also promising to train 3000 young persons annually for the next five years. The party promised to develop three new Regional Sports Facilities in Berbice, Essequibo and Linden.
As it relates to health, the PPP/C says that it will establish Centres of Excellence for Health and construct a Specialty Hospital for advanced health care services and expand services such as Neurosurgery, Renal Health – including dialysis and kidney transplant -, Electroconvulsive Therapy (ETC), and Diabetic Retinopathy Services.
It also pledged to improve the system for procurement and distribution of drugs and medical supplies. The administration has faced severe criticism for its drug procurement practices.
Ward
The party also says that it will construct a new 100-bed ward at the East Bank Demerara Regional Hospital and a new Port Kaituma Hospital and also upgrade several Regional Hospitals.
It also pledged to establish Skeldon, Lethem and Mabaruma Hospitals as border hospitals with border countries and said that it would construct new polyclinics with x-rays, laboratories, dental and eye services across the country. Further, the PPP/C says that it will establish an Ambulance Authority, with trained Paramedics and will create a special Women’s Health Programme and a Care of the Elderly Programme.
According to the manifesto excerpts, the PPP/C would also accelerate the development of the Re-migrant scheme to attract the ‘Brain Bank’ in the diaspora and also increase treated water coverage from 50% to 75% within the next 5 years through the completion and construction of new state of the art and environmentally friendly Water Treat-ment Plants (WTPs).
It also pledged several other actions in the social, education, health, cultural and housing areas including to facilitate the construction of 1000 Turn Key homes for persons of low affordability and persons with special needs to improve access to housing.
In terms of infrastructure, the PPP/C said that it will complete the Amaila Falls Hydropower, complete the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, commence work on building a new bridge across the Demerara River, commence the paving of the Linden/Lethem/Brazil Road corridor, complete the four-lane highways along the East Bank and East Coast road corridors and commence the construction of the Georgetown bypass road from Mocha to Ogle.
It also pledged to pursue the development of the Deep Water Harbour with the aim of making Guyana a marine hub for South America and build additional hydro-electric capacity and export of energy to neighbouring countries.
In terms of fighting crime, the manifesto reiterated the plan outlined recently by President Donald Ramotar including “more rapid response time to crimes to a maximum of 30 minutes” and to make the emergency 911 service more effective.
