Former People’s Progressive Party (PPP) minister and political scientist Dr. Henry Jeffrey has issued a scathing critique of the governing party, accusing it of fostering autocratic tendencies, weaponising political exclusion, and gaslighting the Guyanese public under the guise of democratic governance.
In his latest Future Notes column published in Village Voice News, titled “Autocracy: A Tyranny of Gaslighting,” Jeffrey uses recent remarks by President Irfaan Ali at the commissioning of the $6 billion Aubrey Barker Road project in South Georgetown as a springboard for a broader indictment of the state of governance in Guyana.
During that April 21 event, Ali openly declared his political ambition for Georgetown’s municipal government.
“I am interested in seeing a People’s Progressive Party/Civic-led city council… We want the chance to run this city because this city deserves better than what it has today,” Ali said, according to Kaieteur News
Jeffrey interpreted the statement as more than political rhetoric, arguing it exposed what he described as a long-standing strategy of withholding adequate support from Georgetown—historically governed by opposition-aligned leadership—as a means of political leverage.
“For decades the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government has been depriving the citizens of Georgetown, and Africans generally, of sufficient resources in order to force them to support it,” Jeffrey wrote, adding that the President’s statement “has taken any guess work out of our understanding of why the city is in such a decrepit condition.”
Georgetown, the capital of Guyana, has long been a political battleground. Control of the city council has traditionally rested with opposition parties, particularly the People’s National Congress Reform, making municipal governance a recurring site of tension between central government and City Hall.
Jeffrey, who served in the PPP administration under former President Cheddi Jagan and later became a vocal independent political commentator, argued that the PPP has increasingly shifted from ideological politics to political survival.
“Communism fell, Cheddi Jagan died and the PPP became transfixed on simply staying in government,” he wrote, claiming the party now lacks a coherent governing philosophy beyond retaining power.
The political scientist also challenged the PPP’s developmental record, arguing that while the government promotes infrastructure as proof of progress, some of its largest projects have produced troubling outcomes.
He pointed to the failed Skeldon Sugar Factory modernisation project—commissioned in 2009 at a cost of approximately US$200 million and plagued by operational failures—as one example. He also questioned the management of the government’s multi-billion-dollar Gas-to-Energy project, which the administration has promoted as transformational for lowering electricity costs and strengthening energy security.
But Jeffrey’s sharpest warning centred on what he sees as democratic backsliding.
Referencing the 2026 Liberal Democracy Index, he said Guyana remains in what he described as a “grey zone” between electoral democracy and electoral autocracy, arguing that the country remains “by far the most undemocratic country in the English-speaking Caribbean.”
The Liberal Democracy Index, compiled annually by the Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem), assesses countries on electoral integrity, civil liberties, judicial independence and government accountability.
Jeffrey contextualised Guyana’s situation within a wider global pattern of modern autocracy, citing international academic and policy research which argues that today’s autocrats no longer dismantle democracy outright but instead manipulate democratic institutions from within.
“Modern autocracy, one may say, is a tyranny of gaslighting,” Jeffrey wrote, borrowing from a Scientific American analysis on how elected leaders use courts, elections and information control to entrench power.
He further argued that modern autocracies thrive on dividing societies into “us versus them” blocs, weaponising legal systems, and weakening transparency and accountability—patterns he said are evident in Guyana.
Jeffrey also warned about the international dimensions of modern authoritarianism, pointing to transnational lobbying networks and financial systems that help sustain illiberal governments.
He referenced political historian Anne Applebaum’s 2024 book Autocracy, Inc., which explores how kleptocratic financial systems and coordinated propaganda networks reinforce authoritarian power globally.
Jeffrey argued that democracies like Guyana must focus not just on opposing authoritarian governments, but on confronting “autocratic behaviours” such as corruption, manipulation and suppression of dissent.
His intervention adds to growing public debate over governance, transparency and democratic inclusion in Guyana at a time of unprecedented oil wealth and expanding state power.
The PPP government has repeatedly rejected accusations of authoritarianism, maintaining that its administration remains committed to democracy, development and constitutional governance.
But Jeffrey’s essay signals deepening criticism from a former insider—one now arguing that Guyana’s greatest political threat may not be overt dictatorship, but democracy being hollowed out while still wearing democratic clothes.
