Canada drops Guyana from its aid list. May close its Embassy

Feb 26, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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In what must bring a sense of déjà vu to those who lived under the Burnham regime and saw the withdrawal of Western aid, the Canadian Government says it has dropped Guyana and Nicaragua from this part of the world from its aid list. It also took off eight countries in Africa.
In what has to be a rejection of the Government of Guyana, the Canadians say they will increase aid to the English-speaking Caribbean minus Guyana and up its assistance to Haiti. To add salt in the wound, Ottawa has now replaced Guyana and Nicaragua from this region with two countries that are far wealthier than Guyana – Colombia and Peru.
Guyana ranks with Haiti and Guatemala as the three poorest countries in this part of the world. Bolivia is above all three. If the Canadians were interested in alleviating poverty around the world then it could not have excluded Guyana and bring in Colombia. Guyana needs far more cash than Colombia.
Something is not right. It couldn’t be based on GDP and GNP. Any World Bank statistical outlay would reveal that Guyana is only above Haiti in the Caricom family as having the lowest GNP. The question is why?
The answer is quiet diplomacy. The Canadians have not made it public. They will not make it public. But four factors are at work. The first one is the human rights record. Canadian diplomats believe that democracy has not been achieved in Guyana despite the immense resource help of the ABC (America, Britain, Canada) countries. A leading diplomat at the High Commission in Kingston told one of Guyana’s most senior journalists that Canada is fed up with Guyana’s politics. The ethnic factor is the crucial nuance that has figured in the decision. Canadian diplomats have analysed Guyana as a country where power is perennially used to decrease and increase the role of the race to which the ruling party belongs.
In addition, Canadian observers have been uncomfortable with the authoritarian drift that they saw gaining momentum after the 2006 elections. When Western governments evaluate politics in Guyana, they always juxtapose it against what obtains in the rest of the Caribbean. Governments keep changing hands in the Caribbean but not Guyana. While democracy deepens in the rest of the Caricom region, Guyana slides back.
The rejection of the Freedom of Information Act (FIA) makes Guyana a focus of attention of countries like Canada. I am absolutely sure that this truculent attitude to the FIA by the Guyana Government must have contributed to the perception that Canada should not aid such a country.
The second reason has to do with ideology. There is a feeling in the ABC countries (America, Britain and Canada) that President Jagdeo is beginning to sound anti-West and may be ready to continue Guyana’s long flirtation with an anti-West, leftist ideology. One doesn’t have to look far to see traces of this. President Jagdeo has attacked the US on a number of occasions.
In an address to the Guyana Defence Force, President Jagdeo referred to corruption in the spending of money on the Iraqi war. On another occasion, he hinted at Guantanamo.
Recently, he directed some not so diplomatic remarks in relation to a case of cocaine being transported to Canada which brings us to the third situation. Canada, like the US, feels that Guyana does not arrest big drug traffickers. They always get caught when they leave these shores. There is the feeling that drugs and politics have an ongoing relationship in Georgetown.
Fourthly, the Canadian may close the Embassy as part of cost-cutting measures in the current global melt-down. Guyana seems to be looking towards China, India and non-traditional areas for trade and investment and there may not be sufficient trade between the two countries to warrant a continuation of aid to Guyana and the retention of the High Commission on Young Street. This should be depressing news for PPP supporters because as soon as they vote for the PPP, they leave for Young Street to apply for their Canadian visa.
So does the PPP know how the Canadian feel? It is possible that Canadian sentiments may have been relayed to certain key PPP players though not necessarily the President or Dr. Luncheon. One thing that must be borne in mind is that the Canadian take their cue from the Americans. So watch out for some similar movement from the Americans. With sugar in trouble, bauxite heading for the grave, remittances in decline plus the global crisis in full swing, the Canadian announcement will no doubt shock New Garden Street. Trouble is definitely ahead. Can Guyana see a Velvet Revolution?

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