Government never prepared for the Marriott

Feb 13, 2013 Letters

Dear Editor,
Economics is said to be the new religion of the age. While belief in God is beset by doubts, economics has filled the breach offering opportunities to plan outcomes well in advance while God’s plan will always be shrouded in mystery and unpredictability. I am saddened that a project as vast and as labour intensive as construction of the US$60 million Marriott hotel has not resulted in multiple jobs for Guyanese.
Were it not for KN’s trenchant reportage we may never have known. The purpose of economic planning is to set a country on a desired trajectory that is predictable, safe and economically sound. The latter means that, not only must it make money for the investors, but it should benefit ordinary Guyanese citizens, the backbone and key resource of any economy.
Chinese investment in Guyana is obviously welcome but it did not arrive suddenly from space like a meteor nor did it arrive by stealth like a thief in the night. Those gentlemen who plan our economy whether politicians or political economists or finance persons ought to have known the moment courtship of Chinese investment began, that steps must be taken to enable Guyanese employment in Chinese-led projects.
Guyanese learn quickly and are willing to absorb education. Ages ago, Chinese language instructors could have been brought to Guyana to teach construction Chinese to dozens of teachers who in turn could have instructed others.
Georgetown has at least one highly qualified and able sinologist who should have been consulted to advise on the actual Chinese working language that should be learnt. On the other hand, a caring government could have insisted that a given percentage of Chinese guest workers be able to speak English.
This should have been written in to the governing contract. The proposition is that major capital projects must benefit the ordinary people in the developing country. This is particularly so in Guyana’s case where the ordinary people make up the army of taxpayers financing the project.
Major capital projects must benefit the people in ways that are real and can result in improved standards of living in the shortest time possible. It is held universally by the world’s capitalist economies, advisers of finance ministers and any professional economist who wants to be taken seriously by his peers.
Thus any act of policy that serves government and the investors but does not serve to lift unemployment and growth in the near term, and risks increasing labour unrest is regarded as self-defeating.
It also means that signals will get muddled and if an investor sees that a host government does not respect and consider its most important resource there will be a lowering not only in the investor’s willingness to use that resource where and when it can but also in the level of respect it shows to that human resource.
For our political leaders to invite major foreign investors without a clear policy for maximizing local employment is curious. If this absurd story were from Alice in Wonderland we would laugh; but because this story is the result of group-think by grown men in suits we suspend our disbelief.
F. Hamley Case

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Government never prepared for the Marriott

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