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Guyana will not return to being a colony

Jul 11, 2008 Editorial

Whatever personality complexes the Jamaica Observer may feel our President possesses, they were certainly not at work in terms of the position adopted by Guyana in respect to the Economic Partnership Agreement negotiated between CARIFORUM and the European Union.

In an ugly editorial this week, the Jamaican Observer made a number of unfounded, irrelevant and irreverent charges against our President.

That editorial, we believe, was more concerned with buttressing support for the EPA rather than engaging in an objective analysis of the merits of our President’s arguments, which we insist have not been technically or otherwise invalidated.

It was a sad day for the Caribbean to witness a regional newspaper descend to the depths to which that particular editorial fell.

Amongst the charges leveled against our Head of State was that he embraces a development state and does not believe in markets.

Nothing could be more ridiculous, unless of course if the person that scripted that editorial was living perpetually in virtual space, devoid of any understanding of the economic policies of the Jagdeo administration. Guyana has a more open market than any regional government.

And certainly it was an insult, one that Guyanese should vehemently protest, to suggest that our President is a slave to local economists.

The President hardly bothers with these voices when it comes to local matters, much less to pay heed to what they say when it comes to regional and international issues.

Long before anyone had the gumption to speak out against the betrayal of the Region in those negotiations, President Jagdeo had publicly indicated that this was not the best deal for the Caribbean.

When many others were willing to accept the failed negotiations, President Jagdeo stood up and indicated that he was far from pleased with what emerged from those negotiations.

While all the other leaders of the Region have been diplomatic in their comments about the EPA, the President of Guyana has been forthright and candid, bold enough to admit publicly that he felt that the negotiations were highly flawed and indicating that Guyana would not sign until it has fulfilled certain obligations.

We congratulate our President for his boldness in speaking out against an agreement that is a disgrace to the Region. If the Jamaican Observer feels that it is in that country’s interest to sign to EPA, it is free to so lobby its government.

In fact, as it has done, it is equally free for that newspaper to urge regional heads to accede to another betrayal by the Europeans. Guyana will live with its self-respect and will only sign after there have been consultations with key local stakeholders.

We do not agree that the Region had no choice during these negotiations. We believe that these negotiations were conducted in a manner that left much to be desired. We believe that better could and should have been done by our negotiators.

Instead of taking umbrage at the comments of our President, we feel that the Jamaican Observer should have called for a forensic audit of the entire negotiating process so as to appreciate where things went wrong and determine whether there were other possible options open to the region during the course of these negotiations.

We in Guyana should never accept that a bad deal is better than no deal. We are emerging at a new juncture in the history of the region, one where the region needs to assert that it will not be pawns in global trade negotiations, one where we do not have to simply roll over and accept what the more powerful blocs of the world dictate.

If the countries of the Region adopt the position that we should simply accept the crumbs that are thrown to us by our former masters, we shall have receded once again to the status of colonies. A return to the status of serfdom is not desirable ever.

It may be something that may excite the editorial tastes of the Jamaican Observer, but it certainly will not go down well with our Caribbean people.

We congratulate the Guyanese President for having the courage to denounce an agreement which insults our intelligence.

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