Mohamed blasts PPP over continued GPL failures

Sep 13, 2026 News

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…cites mismanagement of billions 

(Kaieteur News) – The Office of the Leader of the Opposition on Saturday has condemned the government’s management of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) company amid daily countrywide blackouts.

Addressing the persistent grid instability that continues to trigger daily nationwide blackouts, opposition representatives declared that the frequent system disturbances have become an unbearable reality for citizens and businesses alike. The critique emphasised the contrast between the nation’s skyrocketing wealth and its failing public utility.

“Guyana is no longer the poor country it once was,” Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed said. He pointed to the massive revenue flowing from the nation’s oil sector and the record $1.558 trillion national budget for 2026. “Year after year, under this PPP government, billions upon billions of taxpayers’ dollars have been allocated to the energy sector and still, the lights cut off. What exactly have taxpayers received for all of this expenditure?”

Mohamed further detailed the extensive toll the power crisis is taking on everyday life and the domestic economy. Small businesses, including salons, printing shops, vendors, seamstresses, and manufacturers, face severe operational stoppages, while supermarkets and restaurants suffer heavy losses from spoiled perishable goods. Surges and constant outages are destroying household appliances, with reports linking electrical fluctuations to devastating residential fires. According to the Opposition, GPL routinely rejects customer compensation claims for damaged equipment.

Critical infrastructure remains equally vulnerable. Unstable power poses serious risks to hospitals and medical staff conducting emergency procedures, jeopardising refrigerated life-saving medications and impacting vulnerable groups, including infants and the elderly. Furthermore, recurring blackouts at entry points like the Cheddi Jagan International Airport create a poor impression for arriving tourists, returning Guyanese, and potential foreign investors.

The video statement heavily criticised the administration’s emergency measures, including the rental of multiple power ships, the procurement of temporary generators, and high-priced foreign consultancies, such as hiring Dominican Republic consultants at $650,000 monthly. Particular scrutiny was placed on the delayed Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project. Originally slated to deliver 300 megawatts of power to cut consumer electricity bills in half, the project remains severely behind schedule. The Opposition noted that current efforts to scramble a single turbine for 57 megawatts by December will fall far short of national demand, allegedly prompting the government to secure yet another costly power ship lease.

Questions were also raised regarding the leadership of GPL’s management under Kesh Nandilal, alongside accusations of government inaction despite prior promises by President Irfaan Ali that “heads will roll” at the utility company. Contrasting the public’s daily struggle with government priorities, the Opposition pointed out that while citizens are asked to conserve energy amid load shedding, state-backed agricultural ventures and elite facilities maintain uninterrupted power and climate-control systems. With GPL burdened by tens of billions in debt and reliant on outdated transmission infrastructure, the Opposition warned that systemic corruption and poor planning continue to stifle energy reform, urging citizens to demand total accountability.

Reinforcing these criticisms, Former Minister of Public Works David Patterson last week also criticised  the government for the current state of the utility, calling the nation’s power woes nothing short of inexcusable. Patterson asserted that the excuses offered for the country’s electricity woes have been endless, noting that blame has been placed at various times on excavator operators, erratic donkey-cart drivers, climate change, the war in Ukraine, increased use of air-conditioning units, animals of various sorts, and the previous administration. At no point, he argued, has the PPP acknowledged that the state of the electricity sector is a direct consequence of its own incompetence, non-strategic management, and questionable procurement practices.

In a letter expressing his frustration, the former minister stated that the government has proven itself to be completely clueless and wholly incompetent in managing the country’s energy framework. He observed that while it has been more than six years since the PPP returned to office, the power sector and its service to Guyanese have deteriorated at the fastest rate seen in two decades. He added that claims of inadequate maintenance and lack of investment prior to 2020 were largely unsubstantiated, and that the familiar chorus of shifting blame has done nothing to improve performance.

Unlike previous administrations, Patterson emphasised that the PPP has enjoyed unconstrained access to financing, spending hundreds of billions of dollars with virtually nothing to show for it. Agreements have been signed with over a dozen countries, and generating sets have been sourced from the United States, China, Finland, and Honduras under highly opaque circumstances, alongside multi-billion-dollar fuel contracts from Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, and the Middle East. Furthermore, the government has leased two Turkish power ships at a cost exceeding G$75 million per day, yet daily outages persist.

Addressing major infrastructure, Patterson targeted the Wales Gas-to-Energy Project, describing it as an ill-fated venture that highlights the administration’s lack of skills and unwillingness to recruit merit-based expertise. He revealed that while the PPP projected a peak demand of 480MW by 2026 to justify the project, actual peak demand in 2026 stands at just 256MW, roughly half of their projection, and the grid still fails to meet it. Originally promised for mid-2024 with a 50 percent rate reduction, the project faces over two years of delays and cost overruns exceeding US$500 million, with less than 20 percent of its intended capacity expected by late 2026. Despite these setbacks, Patterson warned that the government is recklessly pushing forward with a second Gas-to-Energy venture without releasing justifying studies, ensuring Guyana’s energy crisis will persist indefinitely while national revenues remain six times higher than in the past.

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• blackouts, GPHell, GPL, PPP, system disturbances

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