A searing indictment of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government’s housing record emerged this week after opposition parliamentarians uncovered what they describe as glaring failures in housing delivery in Lethem, Region Nine—failures unfolding after decades of PPP dominance in Guyana’s political life.
Between January 17 and 20, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Members of Parliament Sherod Duncan and Juretha Fernandes, carried out oversight visits to several government-backed housing developments in Lethem, including Tract CHPA (Poke Bridge), Poke Bridge Extension, and the New Culvert City and New Culvert City Extension. What they encountered, Duncan said, exposed the yawning gap between official promises and the lived reality of citizens still struggling for the most basic marker of dignity: a secure home.
Despite years of announcements, ribbon-cuttings and billions of dollars approved for housing and infrastructure, official figures show that out of approximately 650 house lots allocated at Tract CHPA, only 81 Certificates of Title have been issued—just 12 per cent. Under the Lethem Housing Support Programme, the government pledged homes for 600 families, yet only 78 houses have reportedly been handed over, roughly 13 per cent of the target.
“These outcomes are being recorded after five years in government and at the outset of the PPP administration’s second term,” Duncan noted, underscoring that the shortfalls persist despite massive public spending under successive PPP-led administrations.
On the ground, the picture was deeply uneven. Duncan reported that some houses publicly described as “handed over” appeared unoccupied, while others showed signs of life, with electricity and water connected. Even then, residents did not indicate they had received legal land titles—leaving families living in uncertainty, without secure tenure. In several areas, drainage systems, access roads and basic infrastructure remained incomplete, raising concerns that occupation is being encouraged before developments are properly finished or legally regularised.
The situation at New Culvert City Extension was even more stark. Duncan described a landscape of “leveled land, open drainage trenches, and isolated culvert structures,” with no completed homes and no visible electricity or potable water infrastructure. Yet the area has been referenced publicly as part of the government’s housing rollout, pointing, he said, to a troubling pattern where allocations and announcements race ahead of basic services.
“These findings align closely with the 2024 Auditor-General’s Report,” Duncan said, pointing to documented weaknesses in planning, under-execution of housing programmes and the lack of outcome-based reporting—particularly in hinterland regions like Region Nine. While Parliament can confirm that billions have been spent, the audit, and now these field visits, raise a painful question: where are the habitable homes, serviced communities and legally secure ownership promised to Guyanese?
The revelations strike a nerve in a country where the PPP has governed for most of Guyana’s post-independence history, yet thousands of citizens—especially in hinterland and rural communities—still cannot own a decent home or acquire a properly serviced house lot. For many, the dream of home ownership remains trapped in bureaucracy, broken promises and unfinished developments.
Duncan said the findings will shape APNU’s interrogation of Budget 2026, with a sharp focus on outcomes rather than optics. “Housing performance must be measured not by allocations or announcements, but by completed homes, functioning infrastructure, and the timely issuance of land titles to beneficiaries,” he said.
Guyana boasts of rapid economic growth and oil wealth, yet the scenes from Lethem stand as a brutal reminder that prosperity on paper has failed to translate into dignity on the ground. Since first oil in 2019, the country has earned more than US$8 billion, but the majority of the population is not demonstrably better off. After decades of PPP rule, thousands of Guyanese—particularly in hinterland and rural communities—remain without secure land titles, decent housing, or basic infrastructure. The findings from Region Nine expose a government long on rhetoric and short on delivery, where billions are spent but homes remain unfinished and families remain in limbo. For many Guyanese, the promise of development has become a recurring mirage, while the most basic right—a safe and legally secure place to live—continues to be denied.
