V-PAC listened to Ms. Simona Broomes announce Saturday the formation of her new political party and the principles upon which it is based with a mixture of bewilderment and concern. Bewilderment that a former MP of Guyana would so blatantly plagiarize V-PAC’s ideas for the future of Guyana as if they were her own. Concern that a candidate for the nation’s highest office lacks the honor and integrity to acknowledge V-PAC as the source of the “new” ideas she now champions.

Why does this matter?

Guyanese will soon choose who they want administering our new oil wealth on their behalf. V-PAC and VNG were formed to introduce and implement fresh ideas designed to benefit everyone regardless of race, creed or social position.  Our Manifesto for the People is our forum for the introduction and discussion of our ideas. We are pleased to see our new ideas changing the political discussion in Guyana, but Guyanese should not be misled as to the source of those ideas.

The Manifesto for the People was first circulated in mid-December 2024. Prior to the introduction of the Manifesto and the ideas it contains, no person or party had ever offered as its principal objective the creation of a Guyana that offered equal opportunity for all Guyanese and also offered detailed specific plans and actions intended to achieve that objective. This observation includes Ms. Broomes. Her current call for reform comes only after the publication of the Manifesto for the People. And for this reason, it rings hollow.

This matters because the need for new ideas does not stop with the current version of the Manifesto. Until the publication of the Manifesto, neither Ms. Broomes, nor any political party had the inspiration for the ideas that are now circulating in the nation’s political discourse. Having not been able to come up with V-PAC’s ideas on their own, what makes anyone think they would be able to come up with their own new ideas to deal with new problems as they are bound to arise?

This matters because a question will soon be put to every Guyanese voter. Do you want to elect a party whose only new idea is to copy the new ideas of others, or do you prefer a party that creates new ideas for the future, puts those ideas in writing and invites everyone to contribute. Who better to implement social and economy changing ideas than the group that created them in the first place?

It would be the height of hubris for V-PAC and VNG to suggest that only they can be the source of new ideas for leading Guyana into the future. We know better, which is why our very Manifesto invites criticism, input and suggestions. Nevertheless, V-PAC and VNG can state that the current calls for education and judicial reform, tax reform, the generation of wealth through discounted land sales and the call for laws addressing racism are but a few of the ideas that were not up for discussion until V-PAC published the Manifesto for the People, 7 weeks ago.

As new ideas are created, V-PAC will publish them, and also give credit to the source of those ideas. V-PAC acknowledges Ms. Broomes’ tireless advocacy for women’s rights and social security, and states it is always eager to discuss ideas for advancing women’s rights that V-PAC may have overlooked.

However, neither V-PAC, nor VNG can abide the calculated decision to adopt VIGILENT ideas without also acknowledging VIGILENT as the source. A democratic government can only be as good as the people who govern. For this reason, we challenge Ms. Broom and her Assembly for Liberty and Prosperity Party (“ALP”) to reach for the high standards a democratic form of government demands. V-PAC welcomes them into our fold of new ideas. We call upon Ms. Broomes and the ALP to acknowledge VIGILENT as the originator of them.

 V-PAC and the VNG party were formed because Dorwain Bess and V-PAC’s founding coalition could no longer stand by and watch as our newfound oil wealth was administered by the same stagnant group of people and political parties conducting their affairs in the same stagnant ways and recirculating the same ideas that went out of date 20 years ago or more. A new economy requires a fresh approach, not the endless cycle of the party out of power criticizing the party in power without also offering real solutions to real problems. At some point, the betterment of Guyana as a whole needs to be the focus of any party in power.

For this reason, V-PAC’s and VNG’s founders brainstormed new ideas for the country, for the economy and for our society and memorialized these ideas in its Manifesto for the People. V-PAC began circulating the Manifesto for all to read and criticize around mid-December 2024 and made the Manifesto available on the website v-pacguyana.com on January 18, 2025.  The initial circulation of the Manifesto included providing an advance copy of the Manifesto to a close professional compatriot of Ms. Broom with an invitation for comment.

V-PAC’s new ideas entered the political conversation of Guyana a mere seven (7) weeks ago. Prior to the publication of the Manifesto, no party offered as its principal objective the creation of a Guyana that offered equal opportunity to all Guyanese, and no party offered anything close to V-PAC’s specific ideas such as:

• Reforming the taxes and duties placed on the importation of automobiles to a simple 20% to 25% Excise Tax on the market value of the cars, which would reduce corruption, encourage the payment of taxes and the increased importation of cars.
• An economic proposal to help individual Guyanese build wealth through land ownership by offering infrastructure supported platted lots at a discount of 60% against market value. (The PPP/C copied this idea last week with a few minor changes.)
• Closing loopholes on fuel import taxes to fund salary increases for Civil Servants.
• A statement as to: “Judicial Reforms: Implement judicial reforms to ensure timely and fair adjudication of cases, particularly those involving corruption and human rights abuses.”

The list goes on:

• Legislation to empower private citizens to challenge racism and bias in the public, business and governmental sectors.
• Reforming income tax rules so that workers are not required to work two jobs in order to not be taxed on the minimum amount of money needed to survive.

It is easy to criticize. Solutions are difficult to come by. Criticism without proposed solutions is nothing but words. V-PAC and the VNG were formed to offer more than words.