Government’s ad hoc arrangements will not push development

Jun 23, 2013 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

By Dominic Gaskin
AFC Treasurer and National Executive Committee Member

For a political party obsessed with control, the PPP/C Government exerts very little control over how this country develops. By focusing most of its efforts on maintaining power, it has lost sight of its responsibility to govern and, as a result, has deprived the people of Guyana of the full range of benefits normally associated with proper governance.
The fact that we in Guyana have never been exposed to good governance in any form or fashion, has led to the mistaken belief on the part of the PPP/C that we are incapable of recognizing their shortcomings in this regard.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) has been, and remains, in the forefront of the battle to bring about improved governance in Guyana, with a clear understanding that the needs of our society are better served by strong systems and independent institutions, than by the discretionary interventions of the government of the day.
There are signs of an evolving public awareness that our government does indeed have an obligation to improve people’s lives by providing proper services; and that flawed systems and faulty institutions are allowing them to neglect this obligation in favour of less noble pursuits. This government risks even further decline in its electoral support if it continues to believe that the people’s desire for a better life is still capped by 1992 levels of expectations.   The world has progressed since then and continues to progress at a rate that is alarming, when one considers how reluctant the PPP/C has been to get with the programme.
The long-term developmental needs of this country cannot be met by the various ad hoc arrangements that have mushroomed into the voids created by the inadequate provision of government services. Critical areas such as education, transportation, energy and national security must be strategically situated inside of a bigger national programme that leads to a transformed economy and a shedding of our Third World status.   This administration has no such programme.
Our economy will not develop to a point where GDP growth is accompanied by improved living standards, unless guided by sound policies that are properly implemented. Government’s largely laissez-faire approach against a thick regulatory backdrop is as confusing as it is subjective, and does little to encourage a society that plays by the rules.
How can we ever hope to compete on the international scene when we are rehearsing domestically with the wrong script? This is no rhetorical question. The international scene is not something that sits out there waiting to be accessed whenever we get our act together. It is coming at us at a rapid pace in the form of imported goods, services and even labour, that is rendering us redundant in our own backyards.
The clock is ticking, and by directing its best efforts at waging a war of propaganda against the political opposition, this government is wasting precious time and robbing yet another generation of a chance to contribute to the building of our nation.After more than twenty years in office its excuses lack validity, and its old arguments now face a younger electorate, less likely to be convinced by them.   This is the generation that the PPP/C has failed and now wants to fool.
Education is undoubtedly a key pillar when it comes to national development, and its mandatory stages should, ideally, lay the foundation upon which a workforce can be trained to provide the skills required by private sector investors as well as the public service.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Guyana has an almost ninety-two percent literacy rate. This particular publication also includes the definition of the word literacy used in arriving at literacy rates for each country in its index, and whereas for the vast majority of countries in the world this is defined as age 15 and over who can read and write, in the case of Guyana this is diluted to age 15 and over who has ever attended school. This points to either a lack of relevant data or Government’s reluctance to share this data, in the hope that no one will notice the problem. Neither option is reassuring.
Today, there is little evidence to suggest that government plays more than a regulatory role in carrying out its responsibility to deliver education in Guyana, and even in this capacity it is found wanting.   It has conveniently allowed a growing number of private educational institutions to pick up the slack, while turning a blind eye to the extra lessons racket that has long existed in the public school system. There is an obvious incentive for teachers who give extra lessons to provide incomplete tuition during school time, and a well regulated system would guard against this happening. Ours does not.
The AFC believes that all Guyanese children must have equal access to a proper education, regardless of their circumstances. The recently released National Grade Six Assessment results show a clear regional disparity, with not a single child from Regions 1, 5, 7, 8 and 9 scoring among the top one hundred. This glaring inequality worsens at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level, with these same regions now unable to produce a single student among the top one hundred and seventy-five.   But the biggest betrayal of the public’s trust in our education system occurs not at the top of the charts, but in the failure by this government to ensure that the vast majority of our children, having spent thirteen years of their lives in the public school system, are adequately prepared for the CSEC.
As the name implies, this is what certifies that they are now equipped with an education. With less than thirty and forty percent of them able to attain pass grades in Mathematics and English respectively, what are we unleashing into the workforce to help our businesses compete with those in other countries?   And what future can these young adults look forward to, here or anywhere, without the backing of a solid educational base and a certificate to prove it?
Keeping a country under-developed, whether deliberately, or by incompetence or neglect, is not something that a government can do with impunity forever. Modern societies have expectations beyond the crude necessities with which the PPP/C Government feels the people of this country should be content.   Many of these expectations have evolved and are now the benchmarks of development, easily recognizable where they exist and painfully obvious where they do not.
The PPP/C Government is not educating our children, and seems to be hoping that as a by-product of this deficiency, they will grow into adults who cannot tell the difference between a functioning government and a dysfunctional kleptocracy.