The PNC-led APNU on Sunday, July 6th, became the first political party to officially launch its Elections 2025 campaign. The PPP will be formally launching its Elections 2025 campaign on July 13th. Whether others will formally launch their election campaigns or not is uncertain. Many will simply ignore an official launching of their campaign. But with Nomination Day scheduled for July 14, it is unlikely that many of the political parties will formally launch their campaigns before Nomination Day.
I have seen most of the PNC’s election campaign formal launching, except those in the 1950s and early 1960s. The Aubrey Norton-led PNC’s 2025 launching is now on record as the smallest crowd size for a PNC election campaign launching. Veteran PNC former leaders have concurred that this 2025 launching is the sorriest of all PNC election launching events. But the pathetic nature of the 2025 campaign launching is not simply because the PNC under Aubrey Norton failed to mobilise the characteristic PNC launching crowd; it is also because of factors such as the failure to energise the small crowd, failure to introduce any new exciting candidates, and failure of the speakers to both meaningfully criticise the PPP government and introduce any new exciting policies or programmes.
The introduction of Juretha Fernandes as the PNC Prime Minister candidate failed to excite the crowd. In fact, Juretha herself disappointed the crowd. Those present immediately recognised that Juretha is no match for the PPP’s prime ministerial candidate, Mark Phillips. Strangely, it was Juretha who spoke about most of the policies the PNC/APNU intends to promise the electorate during the Elections 2025 campaign. If the supporters who turned out to the Elections 2025 campaign launching were looking for Norton to draw strong divergences between the PPP and the PNC, they must have left disappointed.
The policies outlined at the launching proved that the PNC remains clueless. More importantly, when your party spent five years in government (2015-2020) breaking every single one of the many promises made during the Elections 2015 campaign, why would any sensible person praise that administration and not apologise for the betrayal of the people? When you have spent the last five years ( Employment (2020-2025) critic, criticising the PPP government for certain policies, why would you now introduce those same policies as if they are new? This is, firstly, bona fide evidence of how clueless you are. Second, it shows how dishonest you are.
The PNC promised a bigger Because We Care cash grant for schoolchildren. They criticised the very popular school cash grant during the Elections 2015 campaign, terminated it in 2015 and castigated the PPP for reintroducing it in 2020. Suddenly, for Elections 2025, they promised to make it bigger if elected. This, in fact, is endorsing a very popular PPP initiative. The PPP already has implemented this programme and has assured the Guyanese people of maintaining the record of increasing the size of the cash grant annually between 2025 and 2030. Who would the people trust to ensure that the Because We Care cash grant programme is preserved and improved? Would they trust those (the PNC) that have consistently attacked it and terminated it the first time they had an opportunity or those (PPP) who initiated it and have consistently increased it (from $10,000 to $55,000 per child)?
They promised at the launch last Sunday that the old age pension would be immediately increased to $100,000 per month. In 2014, the old-age pension was $15,000 per month. The PNC in 2015 promised to double it in the first 100 days in government. They failed to keep their promise. After five years in government, the increase was a paltry 36%, a total betrayal of our senior citizens. The PPP had promised in 2020 to double the old age pension in the 2020-2025 term. They kept their promise. Now, the PNC is promising to immediately increase the old-age pension to $100,000 per month. Why would any sane citizen trust the PNC who betrayed both our children and our senior citizens between 2015 and 2020?
At the launching, the PNC promised to increase the income tax threshold to $400,000 per month. The threshold today is $130,000 per month, having been doubled since 2020, when it was $65,000. The PPP had promised to double it, and they did. In contrast, the PNC had promised in 2015 to increase the income tax threshold to $150,000 in their first 100 days. After five years they had increased it only from $50,000 to $65,000 per month, another failed promise, another betrayal of our workers. Who would, therefore, trust them?
They promised no new taxes. They think people have forgotten that their whole history in government (1964-1992, 2015-2020) has had one common trait – they always increase taxes. One of their consistent policies has always been to tax more and spend more. During the 2015-2020 term, they increased more than 300 taxes, taking away almost $100B annually from the pockets of Guyanese families while neglecting to improve infrastructure, schools, hospitals, etc. Who exactly do they think believes them that they would not increase taxes?
They promised that they would give each Guyanese $1,000,000 annually. The same people who took away the cash grant from children and the water and electricity subsidies from the elderly, who introduced VAT on water, electricity and education, now promise to give Guyanese $1,000,000 annually, at a cost of more than $800B annually, a sum bigger than all the revenues Guyana could raise.
They are so clueless that they promised at their launch to close sugar and replace sugar with hemp and marijuana. Just one week before, Norton had promised that GUYSUCO would become a construction company. For good measure, the people who promised a 20% pay increase for public servants and betrayed them during 2015 and 2020 now promise them a 35% annual salary increase. Just exactly who would vote for a party that are so confused, clueless and always breaking their promises?
