APNU Members of Parliament

12/08/2026

TUNE IN TODAY, WEDNESDAY 12TH AUGUST @ 2:00 PM…

09/08/2026

𝐆𝐖𝐈 $𝟒𝟗𝟔𝐌 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐓

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐊𝐔 𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐒, 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓

I reject, without qualification, the Government's decision to spend $496 million of public money to establish a state-owned bottled water plant under Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI). This move is not only misplaced priority, it is a betrayal of GWI's core purpose, and a bad economic policy dressed up as national vision.

Earlier this year, President Dr. Irfaan Ali challenged the nation to eliminate bottled water imports within 12 months, achieving this through close collaboration with the private sector. I agree entirely with that objective. Guyana, the "Land of Many Waters," has no business importing bottled water. But let me be equally direct: this Government has taken the right goal and pursued it the wrong way, and Guyanese taxpayers will pay the price for that error.

If the policy objective is to reduce bottled water imports, then Government's job is to empower Guyanese manufacturers. Instead, the government has chosen to compete with them.

Let us understand that the main reason foreign bottled water finds its way onto our shelves is because of its profitability. It is not because Guyanese entrepreneurs lack the will to produce or compete. Our local bottled water manufacturers are not just competing with each other. They are competing against multinationals and regional giants that have spent decades building every competitive advantage imaginable, including economies of scale, efficient production systems, established distribution networks, very often with the direct support from their own governments. That is the reality of the Guyana market. It is not a leveled playing field and the answer to an uneven playing field is certainly not for the State to walk onto it as another competitor.

The appropriate response of a caring Government is to level the field for the Guyanese businesses already struggling to compete on it. Government's $496 million should be going towards: investment incentives such as duty free concessions; concessional and low cost financing, technology upgrades, quality certification, export development, and real cost relief for the manufacturers who are already here, already invested, and already Guyanese.

Instead, this Government chose to build a state-owned rival to the very industry it claims it wants to grow, rivaling the very players it said it wanted to collaborated with. That is not industrial policy. That is Government eating its own private sector.

Done properly, support for local manufacturers would deliver everything the President says he wants and more. It would build an industry that outlasts this administration, generates private investment, creates real jobs, and produces Guyanese brands strong enough to compete across CARICOM and beyond. Governments do not build globally competitive industries by competing against their own citizens' businesses. They build them by getting out of the way and creating the conditions for those businesses to win.

The Minister of Public Utilities and Aviation, Hon. Deodat Indar’s, attempt at reassuring the Guyana Manufacturers and Service Association, that the Government will not be producing bottled water to compete with local manufacturers, rings hallow as it is in direct contradiction to the Government’s actions. The reality is that the Government has chosen to enter the bottled water manufacturing business by investing G$496 million.

Or could this be yet another sinister and corrupt plot, as it is with the Marriot, where the Government uses tax payers’ money to make the capital investment; use state funds to support and subsidise operations as a state owned entity; and at the point where the venture becomes profitable, sells it off to the most favored bidder at below market value? How else do you explain this unplanned project? After all, it was not included in the 2026 budget estimates.

Then there is a second failure; one that should trouble every Guyanese. GWI's first duty is not to bottle water for retail sale. Its first duty is to deliver safe, reliable, affordable water to every household in this country. It has not met that duty. Right now, residents of South Ruimveldt North are still turning on their taps to discoloured water. They are not alone. Communities across Guyana are living with the same broken promise: poor water quality, unreliable supply, crumbling infrastructure that this Government has failed to fix.

Every dollar poured into a bottled water plant is a dollar stolen from replacing ageing pipelines, upgrading treatment plants, cutting water losses, expanding transmission lines, and strengthening water quality monitoring. This Government wants to sell Guyanese people bottled water while it cannot guarantee them clean water from their own taps. A clear indication that this Government has its priorities backwards.

This proposal fails on two fronts, and either one alone should be enough to kill it. It fails as water policy, because it drags GWI away from its statutory mission of delivering safe, dependable water to every household in this country. It fails as industrial policy, because it replaces what should have been a genuine partnership with Guyanese manufacturers with a state-owned competitor that will crowd them out instead of lifting them up.

This Government has confused state ownership with economic development, and Guyanese people will pay for that confusion. Government's role is not to dominate markets where capable Guyanese businesses already exist and are ready to grow. Its role is to build the conditions that let those businesses become bigger, stronger, and internationally competitive.

The $496 million allocated to this plant must be redirected, in full, to two national priorities: first, modernising Guyana's water infrastructure so that every citizen gets clean, safe water at the tap, not just a promise; and second, backing Guyanese bottled water manufacturers with the resources they need to reach the scale and competitiveness required to end imports and take Guyanese brands into regional and international markets.
That is how you build an industry that outlasts. Governments. That is how you honour your obligation to taxpayers. And that is exactly why this project must not proceed

Saiku Andrews
Member of Parliament.

08/08/2026

DEVELOPMENT CANNOT REPLACE ACCOUNTABILITY: WHERE IS THE MODEL VILLAGE PLAN?

The Government's recent flurry of consultations, announcements and new development commitments, including the so-called Model Village Initiative, raises legitimate questions about planning, budgeting and timing. APNU supports better roads, drainage, housing, markets, water, recreation and economic opportunities in every community, as our 2025 manifesto outlined. But development cannot become a substitute for accountability, particularly while Guyana is still grappling with the MV Barima tragedy and families continue to demand answers.

The public is entitled to know where this nationwide Model Village Initiative came from. The 2026 National Budget was presented in January and approved in February, and Government only recently returned to Parliament for substantial supplementary expenditure. Yet no clearly defined national Model Village programme, with a dedicated budget, implementation framework, selection criteria and delivery schedule, was presented to the National Assembly. If these projects are being financed from existing allocations for roads, drainage, housing, local government or other sectors, then Government should publish the relevant budget lines, Government or Cabinet decisions underpinning the programme, and the corresponding implementation plans.

This lack of clarity is made more troubling by earlier programmes that now appear disconnected from the latest initiative. Tiger Bay was previously announced as Georgetown's first model neighbourhood, while Parliament also approved substantial funding for the wider Georgetown Restoration Initiative. What has become of those commitments? What has been spent, what has been completed, and how do Tiger Bay, the Georgetown Restoration Initiative and the new Model Village Initiative fit together? Guyana cannot be governed by moving from one announcement and political brand to another without a clear line from policy, to budget, to procurement, to delivery.

The timing also cannot be ignored. The MV Barima capsized on July 18, and within weeks the national conversation has been flooded with presidential outreaches and development announcements, even as serious questions remain about the vessel, its maintenance, inspections, MARAD, T&HD, the passenger manifest, replacement infrastructure, salvage and institutional responsibility. While any government must continue to govern broadly, there is a noted and, frankly, obscene haste to move the country back to business as usual before the unanswered questions surrounding this national tragedy have been properly addressed. Development activity cannot be allowed to crowd out accountability or push the grief and legitimate demands of affected families to the margins.

As a Member of Parliament, I will continue to insist on a simple standard: Plan. Pay. Perform. Show us the plan, show us where Parliament approved the money, and show us what was actually delivered. We will hold Government to its promises in Tiger Bay, Georgetown, the Model Villages and communities across Guyana, while continuing to demand full accountability for the MV Barima tragedy. Development and accountability are not competing priorities; a serious Government must be capable of both.

Sherod Duncan, M.P.

08/08/2026

𝐆𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 $𝟒𝟗𝟔 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐆𝐔𝐘𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐒𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐒.

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐆𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐇 𝐌𝐀𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐀𝐔𝐋, 𝐌.𝐏.

The Government of Guyana must explain why it believes that spending $496.3 million of taxpayers’ money to establish a state - owned bottled - water plant is a greater priority than addressing the serious deficiencies in Guyana’s water - treatment and distribution infrastructure.

President Irfaan Ali has defended the Government’s push for 100% locally produced bottled water, arguing that Guyana is a water rich country and should not be importing bottled water. Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha and Minister Deodat Indar have also been among the Government’s defenders of this policy.

But the Government’s argument does not withstand scrutiny when the numbers are examined.

Guyana already has a vibrant local bottled-water industry.

Blue Springs and Clear Water are estimated to produce approximately 150,000 to 170,000 cases per month, while Banks DIH and DDL account for approximately another 50,000 cases per month.

That means local producers are already supplying approximately 200,000 cases of bottled water every month.

Against this, the estimated imports are only approximately 6,000 cases per month, with the higher estimate being around 10,000 cases per month.

At 6,000 imported cases, imports represent approximately 2.9% of total monthly supply.

Even at 10,000 imported cases, imports represent only approximately 4.8%.

In other words, more than 95% of the market is already being supplied by local producers, based on these figures.

So I ask the Government directly, where is the crisis that requires the State to spend $496.3 million to enter this market?

The Government’s stated objective appears to be eliminating the small quantity of bottled water being imported. But if that is genuinely the objective, there are far more sensible, targeted and less costly ways to achieve it.

Give local manufacturers a tax break, provide incentives for expansion, reduce the cost of imported machinery and production inputs, help existing local producers increase their capacity, strengthen quality-control and certification standards, and, if necessary, Government can consider targeted and transparent fiscal measures to encourage consumers and businesses to choose locally produced water.

That approach would strengthen Guyanese businesses, Guyanese workers and Guyanese investment without forcing taxpayers to finance a Government-owned competitor.

Instead, President Ali and Ministers Indar and Zulfikar are defending a policy in which the State is taking hundreds of millions of dollars and entering a market that is already overwhelmingly supplied by local private sector producers.

That is not how Government should support local business.

Government should be creating the conditions for local businesses to grow, expand and employ more Guyanese, not using taxpayers’ money to compete against them.

There is an even bigger issue here. Government priorities.

Guyana continues to have communities struggling with inadequate water distribution, unreliable supply and deficiencies in the infrastructure required to provide households with safe and consistent potable water.

Government has itself acknowledged the need for massive investment in water treatment infrastructure, including programmes involving multiple treatment plants.

So why, at this moment, is the priority to spend another $496.3 million on bottling water?

If the Government has $496 million available to invest in the water sector, then let us put that money where Guyanese need it most. Treatment plants, pipelines, distribution networks, storage capacity, reliable water supply, Infrastructure that ensures that every household can turn on its tap and receive safe and consistent potable water.

We must not confuse bottling water with solving Guyana’s water problems. A bottle of water sitting on a supermarket shelf does not solve the problem of a family turning on its pipe and getting no water.

President Ali and Ministers Indar and Mustapha must explain why becoming a competitor to Guyana’s existing bottled - water manufacturers is a better investment than strengthening the infrastructure that delivers water to Guyanese households.

This is a classic case of misplaced priorities.

-END-

07/08/2026

07/08/2026

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓
𝐀𝐏𝐍𝐔 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐍𝐒 𝐆𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓'𝐒 𝐈𝐋𝐋-𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐆𝐖𝐈 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐁𝐔𝐓𝐎𝐑

A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) strongly condemns the People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government's ill-conceived decision to transform Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) into a bottled water distributor. This is yet another announcement from a government that has completely lost sight of its priorities. GWI was established to provide Guyanese with safe, reliable, affordable, and potable water through an efficient public utility. Yet across Guyana, thousands of citizens continue to endure low water pressure, frequent service interruptions, aging infrastructure and discoloured water. This is due to PPP/C incompetence and a lack of vision. When the PPP/C came to power, Guyana was producing its own alum to purify water. The PPP/C got rid of the production of alum and it now pays its families, friends, and favourites to import a product that we can produce. The move to bottled water is a signal that the government is abandoning its responsibility to provide potable water as a basic right for all Guyanese.

Fixing the deficiencies in GWI should be the Government's singular priority. Instead, it is diverting GWI's attention and resources into a commercial venture that falls outside its core mandate. This is another scheme to facilitate PPP/C corruption and cronyism.

Every dollar invested in a bottled water export enterprise is a dollar that should first be invested in modernising water infrastructure, replacing deteriorating transmission mains, expanding treatment capacity, reducing non-revenue water, improving customer service and ensuring that every Guyanese household enjoys dependable access to clean drinking water. Who then is this Government working for?

This proposal also demonstrates a troubling misunderstanding of the proper role of the State. Rather than strengthening essential public services and creating an environment where private businesses can flourish, the PPP/C increasingly looks to position the Government as a direct participant in commercial activity. This move will also increase the cost of living for Guyanese who expect quality water at a cheaper cost from GWI.

Bottled water production is already a private-sector industry. Instead of competing with Guyanese manufacturers, distributors and exporters, the Government should be creating conditions that enable them to grow. A responsible administration reduces the cost of doing business, improves infrastructure, expands access to reliable utilities, and encourages private investment. It does not use State-owned enterprises to enter markets already served by local businesses.

Manufacturers across Guyana continue to struggle with unreliable electricity, high operating costs, logistical challenges, and rising production expenses. Those are the obstacles the Government should be addressing if it genuinely wants Guyanese businesses to compete successfully in regional and international markets. Instead, they are defending their decision to unfairly compete with local manufacturers, considering concerns expressed by the Guyana Manufacturers and Services Association. What an uncaring government!

The decision to convert GWI into a commercial exporter also raises legitimate concerns about competence. The PPP/C's record in managing major State enterprises offers little confidence that it has the capacity to successfully operate yet another commercial venture.

Guyanese need only consider the history of GUYSUCO. Under PPP/C administrations. The corporation underwent repeated restructuring, received billions of dollars in taxpayer support, and received help from substantial capital investment; yet sugar production continues to decline, and the industry continues to fail.

The infamous Skeldon Sugar Modernisation Project stands as perhaps the clearest example of inadequate capacity within the PPP/C government. Promoted as a transformational investment, it instead became one of Guyana's most costly public sector failures, plagued by technical defects, operational challenges, escalating costs, and production levels that consistently fell below expectations. All results of incompetence, poor management, and poor governance.

Beyond sugar, successive PPP/C governments have announced ambitious initiatives in diversified agriculture, drainage and irrigation, aquaculture, and agro-processing. While many were advertised as transformative, implementation has too often been characterised by delays, cost overruns, inconsistent ex*****on, disappointing long-term outcomes, and a burden to the Guyanese people. Rather than learning from these experiences, the Government now proposes expanding GWI into an entirely new commercial enterprise.

More fundamentally, this proposal reflects a broader governing philosophy that APNU finds deeply concerning. Instead of acting as an impartial facilitator of economic development, the PPP/C is increasingly expanding the State’s commercial control of industries that should be privately owned. The consequence is an ever-expanding Government that competes with its own citizens instead of empowering them.

Such decisions inevitably invite questions about motive as well as policy. Every new State-owned commercial enterprise creates opportunities for political appointments, procurement contracts, preferred suppliers, and the allocation of public resources. Guyanese are entitled to ask whether these ventures are driven by sound economic policy or by political interests.

The PPP/C increasingly appears to believe that if an industry exists, it should take part in and control it; if a commercial opportunity emerges, it should control that opportunity; and if a profitable venture develops, it should claim a share of it. That is not the role of a modern government. The state control approach is sending the wrong signal to the youth in Guyana regarding opportunities!