With nearly $800M spent on publishing government advertisements in daily newspapers for 2024 alone, Vice President and General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, has announced that amendments are coming to ensure a fairer distribution of state ads, particularly targeting online media outfits to get better value for money.
Dr Jagdeo made the disclosure on Thursday during his weekly press conference at Freedom House.
“The current way of doing this is you put ads in newspapers, mainly so, in 2024 alone, the cost to the treasury of putting out those ads in the newspapers was nearly $800 million, that went to the newspapers,” he said.
Jagdeo said the traditional approach of placing ads in print does not offer the best return and in some instances, lack the reach.
Jagdeo disclosed that government has started working on a procurement website that will advertise all government tenders and ensure wider access. However, he noted that this does not eliminate government utilizing media outlets to publish state ads.
He explained, “If we have a procurement site now, once it goes up there, people can go to that site and for the duration of the period when the tender is valid for that advertisement it shall be on the site.”
The vice president noted that the platform will eliminate the need for citizens to purchase newspapers to search for procurement opportunities. Instead, he noted that persons, even those in the hinterland will be able to view procurement opportunities from their phones.
“We will amend the law to ensure that that happens, and we will also be using online media outfits to carry more of the ads because they reach more people. So, we are not going to cut out ads totally, but we can cut down the cost or give online media outlets that get no share of this ad, although they reach more viewers often than the newspapers themselves,” he said.
Vice President Jagdeo also outlined that the shift will ensure a more democratic and cost-efficient system for distributing state advertisements. “That would be the most efficient use of the government advertising budget. So, you watch out for them going and complain. They’ve already been complaining globally, how the government not giving us enough money, as though they you know, the people of this country have a duty to fund their newspapers,” Jagdeo said.
He added that the move aligns with President Dr Irfaan Ali’s commitment to make the procurement system fairer and more accessible to every Guyanese.
“Anybody from their own phone in their own home, they don’t have to hunt down newspapers to look for ads any longer. That will be a very efficient system. So, look out for that. We’re already working on it,” Jagdeo said.
