GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC -The ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government intends to collaborate with the incoming Donald Trump administration to counter false narratives circulated by the Opposition in Guyana.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking at his weekly news conference, told reporters that while he had congratulated Trump following his victory in Tuesday’s presidential elections, the ruling party is eager to work with the Trump administration to counter longstanding claims spread by the Opposition.
Jagdeo said that the main Opposition, the Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC), as well as those aligned to the coalition, had repeatedly presented misleading information to United States officials, including claims that the PPP is corrupt, racially-biased, and poorly manages Guyana’s oil revenues.
“For the past several years, they have been meeting US government officials and telling a bunch of lies to them<’ said Jagdeo, also the general secretary of the PPP.
“Almost every mission that comes to Guyana from the United States of America, they have a standard mantra – the PPP is racist, the PPP is corrupt, the PPP is incompetent, the PPP squanders oil money, and the PPP doesn’t like the United States of America, and we’re in bed with the Chinese.
“This is the standard narrative. For every mission that comes to Guyana, I can predict what they will say to them. And, of course, the facts are very different, and we have also been meeting with those officials to set the record straight,” he said.
Jagdeo noted the transparency in the PPP’s governance as evidence of its commitment to fairness, referencing, for example, the publicly accessible data on the National Procurement and Tender Board Administration (NPTAB) website.
“People, particularly international organizations and bilateral partners, want to see that the system is fair to their investors, too. Right now, a fair system can only operate successfully if it is transparent and people have information.
“One example is if you look on the NPTAB (National Procurement and Tender Board Administration) website, if you look at the five years under APNU+AFC, you will not see one bit of information, as is required by law – the Procurement Act of Guyana…so you can know who got the contract, the price of the contract and the procurement method used.
“That was absent for the entire period of APNU. From September 2021 to now, every contract procured through NPTAB is on that website…these are the sorts of things we use when the Opposition goes with their shrill voices there and lying through their teeth. We have to use real evidence to show the improvements in the system,” Jagdeo told reporters.
He said the ruling party has maintained a strong working relationship with the previous Trump administration and expects this rapport to continue when Trump resumes office in January 2025.
“We are looking forward to continuing to debunk all the lies with the new Administration in the US,” Jagdeo added.
Trump’s return to the White House comes after securing a landslide victory in the 2024 election, amassing the popular vote and more than the 270 Electoral College votes needed for a win.
Trump, 78, will be inaugurated on January 20, 2025, officially commencing his second term.
Meanwhile, Jagdeo said the government is not opposed to enhanced biometrics at polling stations but that they must not be used to disenfranchise voters.
“We’ve been at this for a long time. We’re not going to fall into any trouble. We want clean voting (and) we want as many observers in the country as possible,” he told reporters.
He said that the goal of biometrics is not to exclude voters but to enhance transparency and credibility in the electoral process. This starkly contrasts opposition parties who are misusing the biometrics narrative to push for disruption or loopholes to secure victory.
However, if the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has to reach a consensus on improving the electoral process, the government will provide the necessary financial resources.
“Financially, there will be no constraint to free and fair elections or clean elections. Financially, there will be no constraints,” the general secretary underscored, pointing out that GECOM has to make this decision,” Jagdeo added.
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