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President echoes need to confront corruption
…as measures to help manage natural resources are amplified
“Corruption must be confronted in every area,” said President Donald Ramotar yesterday as he delivered the feature discourse at the opening of a two-day sustainable management seminar at the Guyana International Conference Centre.
The Head of State dubbed the event a “timely get-together” adding that while confronting corruption in every area it is particularly important in areas where returns could be very high.
President Donald Ramotar makes his remarks
He was at the time referring to activities that fall within the purview of the Natural Resources Sector.
The President said, “We have to organise a management system that will be strong enough to fight against all kinds of corruption in the society and particularly in this area (mining sector).”
He referred to the nature of the extractive activities as “very, very tempting to bribe people to turn a (blind) eye to damage the economy…It is very tempting to make some more money by doing other things in that area.”
The Head of State warned that the management system must have some level of transparency that will discourage negative activities as far as possible. “I know that some people don’t like transparency because sometimes it is being used in a more slanderous way but it is important for us to continuously use it as a tool to fight against any corruption…”
The President touted a move which could see Guyana working with other countries with similar natural resources with a view of formulating a standardised tax regime for the sale of such resources.
This strategic move, the President said, could be undertaken through the Foreign Affairs Ministry since according to him rumour has it that “a lot of our gold is smuggled out to where there is a lower royalty rate…I am not suggesting that we lower our loyalty rate because I strongly believe that we should try to maximise what we get to invest in our people generally and to make our country better.”
He alluded to the fact that the natural resources, and mining sector in particular play a major role in the economy adding that the revenue that is secured from that sector has been growing in importance as well as in size.
The President said that it is important that “we maximise the benefits that exist in this area and at the same time minimise the negatives that can also happen as we have seen in many other parts of the world.”
Needful diversification
However, he noted that Guyana is fortunate to be developing its natural resources at a time when “our body of knowledge in the world is grown to some extent that would allow us to learn from those experiences and to take the best and the positives…”
Referring to natural resources as “wasting assets” since they do not grow like rice and sugar, the President warned that it is very important to plug some of the revenue garnered from such activities into areas that would be important to sustain a good standard of living for all Guyanese.
He vocalised his desire to see the introduction of the proposed Hydro project which would allow for persons to benefit from cheap energy adding that “resources that we acquire from the mining sector should go into developing our real economy.”
He also spoke of the need to bolster the manufacturing and processing sectors since these areas could help sustain the economy. He further alluded to the importance of improving the education sector.
“We generally see countries where you have a high level of education. Those have a very high standard of living. This is another area (to which) we can divert some of these resources that we accrue from the mining industry in order to build our human capital.”
Although there is currently not much that can be plugged into research for education at the moment, the President said that Guyana has a lot of raw materials including pristine forests to facilitate such undertakings.
He said that extractive activities must be undertaken in a cautious and ecologically friendly way.
“We have other things that we can take a lead in the world and the resources that we accrue can go towards developing our education system; broadening it so that it can continue to benefit long after they (natural resources) would have been exhausted,” said President Ramotar.
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