The Government and Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed are at odds over the state of electricity and water services in Swan, with Mohamed raising concerns about residents’ access to basic utilities and the Department of Labour rejecting the characterisation of the community as lacking those services.
The dispute emerged after Mohamed’s recent visit to Swan, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, where he highlighted complaints from residents about access to electricity and water and called attention to the need for improved basic infrastructure in the community.
The Department of Labour, in a statement issued Tuesday, September 1, however, said Mohamed’s claims were “false, misleading”, arguing that Swan already has access to both the national electricity grid and a formal water supply system.
The Government’s response focused particularly on the distinction between community-wide access to utilities and individual households experiencing problems with connections or service.
“The facts are straightforward,” the Department said.
“The community of Swan along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway has access to the national electricity grid and residents are able to access formal electricity services.”
The Government said households that had not yet transitioned to the formal grid were provided with solar panels so they could continue to have access to electricity.
That position does not necessarily eliminate the concerns raised by residents about their individual circumstances, however. The Department itself acknowledged that some households may experience difficulties with connections or service.
It said residents could face problems involving connection, payment or other circumstances that affect electricity access at a particular time.
The Government used similar reasoning in addressing the water issue.
“Swan has access to a formal water supply system.”
It added that individual households could experience difficulties with connection or service, but argued that such problems should not be represented as evidence that the community itself has no access to water.
The Department’s strongest challenge to Mohamed centered on reports that residents had described themselves as being disconnected from electricity and needing help to restore service.
“How can residents be disconnected from an electricity service that supposedly does not exist, and how can they seek restoration of a service to which the community supposedly never had access?”
That argument seeks to distinguish between the existence of infrastructure and whether every household is currently connected and receiving uninterrupted service.
Mohamed’s criticism of the electricity situation in Swan also comes against the backdrop of his broader attacks on the Government’s management of Guyana’s power supply.
During his February 6, 2026 Budget Debate presentation, Mohamed accused the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government of failing to resolve the country’s longstanding electricity problems despite years in office and significant expenditure on the sector.
“After almost 30 years in office, the PPP has failed to effectively address our electricity supply woes. Two power ships later and we are still struggling with inadequate electricity supply.”
Mohamed also pointed to the $119.4 billion allocated in the 2026 Budget for electricity supply and energy infrastructure, questioning whether the level of investment is translating into reliable electricity for Guyanese.
His wider criticism has focused on persistent power shortages and outages and the need for infrastructure capable of supporting Guyana’s rapidly expanding economy.
The Government, meanwhile, accused Mohamed of using the situation in Swan to create a broader impression that basic infrastructure has not been extended to the community.
“The Opposition Leader has manipulated and repackaged the information to create the false impression that basic infrastructure has not been extended to Swan.”
The Department also criticised sections of the media for repeating the Opposition Leader’s claims without sufficient verification, saying the evidence contradicting the narrative was already contained in the reporting.
“This episode is increasingly indicative of the approach being taken by the Leader of the Opposition and, regrettably, certain sections of the media where a claim is made, a political narrative is constructed around it and it is then repeated and amplified with little attempt at verification, even when the evidence contradicting the narrative is sitting in plain sight.”
The central issue, therefore, is not simply whether electricity and water infrastructure exists in Swan, but how many households are formally connected, whether individual residents are receiving reliable service, and what remains to be done to bring all households fully into the established systems.
The Government acknowledged that work is still ongoing.
“The Government will continue working closely with the residents of Swan to support their formal connection to electricity and water services, and much of this work is already advancing, with ongoing efforts to bring more households fully onto these established systems.”
The competing accounts leave residents’ actual experiences at the heart of the controversy. While the Government maintains that Swan has access to established electricity and water systems, Mohamed’s intervention has drawn attention to residents who say they are still experiencing difficulties obtaining or maintaining those services.
For the Opposition, those gaps are evidence of shortcomings in the Government’s delivery of basic services. For the Government, they are evidence of an ongoing connection and service-expansion process—not proof that Swan has been left without electricity or water infrastructure.
