Jagdeo: Youth Must Be Trained for Digital Transition, Tech to Improve Public Services

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, says the government must train and equip young people to meet the demands of a rapidly digitising public sector.

Speaking at a press conference at Freedom House, Jagdeo said the digital transformation underway will require skilled personnel in fields like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and IT maintenance. He noted that scholarships will be made available to support training in these areas.

“We will have to hire a slew of young people to populate these entities and run this system,” Jagdeo said, urging youth to prepare for these roles.

The government is expected to deploy blockchain technology in some agencies to secure public records and address complaints of tampering. Jagdeo said the move is part of a broader effort to increase accountability and reduce corruption.

Under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government Guyana has earned the infamy of being ranked the most corrupt country in the English-speaking Caribbean. This is according to Transparency International- a record that started during the Jagdeo presidency and has worsen under the Irfaan Ali presidency.  Little, if any, system has been put in place to curb the

Jagdeo he government plans to expand surveillance infrastructure, including security cameras and streetlights in communities, which Jagdeo said is in response to public concerns about crime. Installation will begin after national highways and command centres are completed.

These initiatives fall under the government’s wider e-governance agenda. As part of this, a $34.5 million contract was awarded to Veridos Identity Solutions, a German firm, to implement a national e-ID system with fingerprint verification. The system, funded in part by a $783.4 million budget allocation, will not replace the national ID card but aims to simplify identity verification.

The digitisation push is aligned with the ICT Masterplan 2030, which targets modernization across sectors including home affairs, healthcare, and education.

Jagdeo said these efforts are intended to improve the efficiency of government services and reduce citizens’ reliance on outdated systems.