Guyana not a rich country yet but Govt. will help those in need - Jagdeo says

Guyana not a rich country yet but Govt. will help those in need – Jagdeo says

Jan 13, 2024 News

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – With Guyana currently producing some 560,000 barrels of oil per day and ExxonMobil raking billions of dollars yearly in profits, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said that the “the country is not rich yet” to totally alleviate poverty.

Notwithstanding, the Vice President assured that his government is willing to help those in need, especially parents who cannot afford to send their children to school.

Jagdeo was at the time responding to a question posed by Kaieteur News at his weekly party press conference, on his 2024 plan to address poverty in the country.

Kaieteur News asked the Vice President what he would say to persons who can cannot afford to pay a bus fare to send their children to school and highlighted that just last Monday, a parent who lost his son to an alleged school bullying incident revealed while pleading for justice on Kaieteur Radio that when the boy was alive, he would have to walk approximately one mile from his home to get to school.

The child also assisted his parent with selling icicles to make ends meet and have some pocket money to do his assignments.

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

In response, Jagdeo said that there are still pockets of poverty in Guyana.

“We never claimed that we have ended poverty,” Jagdeo told reporters while adding “and we are not a rich country as yet if you look at our financial programme…”

The Vice President said that although Guyana continues to be a poor country, his government deserves some credit for significantly reducing the number of persons living below the poverty line. Jagdeo was quick to point to media reports that state “Guyana is oil rich and still poor” but one must take into consideration that the country is still in its infancy stage of oil production.

Jagdeo argued that his government’s long-time goal to eradicate poverty is to provide more jobs and end unemployment.

“So when I dealt with this matter, I explained that if we work hard, we will get wealthier and we would be able to end unemployment in Guyana totally,” the Vice President opined.

On the issue of children having to walk school, Jagdeo admitted that this problem does not only exist on the coastland but also in the hinterland areas. He recalled that during one of his campaign trips to Matthews Ridge, North West District, Region One, he saw children walking along a hot, dusty road to school.

He agreed that his government has to do everything it can to alleviate this but pointed out that it is also the parents’ responsibility to make sacrifices to send their children to school and not leave all of it on the government.

The Vice President noted that his government is willing to help those individuals in need.

“If there is any specific person that needs help, we would help them… they could go in and seek help for their children, we have a programme like that,” Jagdeo said.

Guyana is on track to becoming a major player in the global oil and gas but with a bad ExxonMobil contract condemned by Jagdeo himself, the country will not receive maximum benefits from its oil wealth. Despite knowing that the country is at a disadvantage, Jagdeo and his government have refused to renegotiate the oil contract and to include ring-fencing provisions that allow the country to earn more revenues.

Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, ExxonMobil, Guyana, Oil and Gas, poverty, Vice President

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