Foundations for an economic take-off are firmly laid

Jun 01, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Guyana’s economy can be described as tri-sectoral. We have an economy that is buttressed by three sectors – the public sector, the private sector and to a smaller extent, the co-operative sector. There was a time when the public sector was the dominant sector. This resulted mainly from the nationalization programme of the Burnham regime which saw roughly 80% of the economy under state control, including the key industries of sugar and bauxite. Several commercial entities including banks, insurance, shipping and telecommunication services were owned and controlled by the state.
Most, if not all of these nationalized entities were performing at sub-optimal levels, due mainly to bureaucratic mismanagement and the politics of patrimony practiced by the PNC regime. Appointments to managerial positions were made not on the basis of qualifications or competence, but on the basis of party loyalty. The concept of ‘party paramountcy’ was very much in evidence in the appointment of all key public officials, including that of judges and magistrates.
That state of affairs continued well into the 1980s. It was not until the death of Forbes Burnham in August 1985 that some changes in terms of economic liberalism took place. Expectations ran high that Hoyte, who took over as Executive President from Burnham, would have matched economic liberalism with democratic reforms, but all hopes were dashed when during the same year he took over, elections were held which were massively rigged in favour of the PNC, despite an assurance given by Hoyte that the elections processes would be “above board.”
In fact, the elections of 1985 saw the PNC returned to power with an even bigger majority, despite seething discontent by the population as a whole.
By the latter part of the 1980s, both the objective and subjective conditions for democratic renewal were becoming more assertive. At the international level, the world socialist system had virtually collapsed, which effectively brought an end to the Cold War. The fear of communism was not as intense as during the 1960s and the 1970s, and the United States and the western powers began to play greater attention to issues of democracy and human rights, especially in countries which they considered to be of geo-political and strategic interest.
It was no secret that both the United States and Britain favoured a PNC/UF government in the 1964 elections and turned a blind eye to rigged elections in subsequent elections, because of a perception that the PNC was the “lesser of the evils”, basically from an ideological perspective.
That perception however changed, as mentioned before, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the latter part of the 1980s and the destruction of the Berlin Wall, which symbolically and physically served as a divide between the East and the West.
At the national level, the struggle for free and fair elections was picking up momentum with the formation of the GUARD movement which brought together a number of political parties, trade unions and other civic organizations under one umbrella with one common objective, namely to  bring an end to rigged elections and restore democratic rule.
Pressure also mounted from external agencies and donor support groups, more particularly from the United States of America which, through the Carter Centre, applied pressure on the Hoyte administration to agree to democratic reforms. Among the reforms were a new voters’ list, an independent and balanced elections commission, and the counting of the votes at the place of poll. Hoyte, after much arm-twisting from the Carter Centre, reluctantly agreed to the reforms. Elections, due constitutionally in 1990, were postponed to October 1992, in order to facilitate the reforms.
As expected, the new and transparent electoral process saw the election to office of the PPP/C administration, and Dr. Cheddi Jagan became Executive President of Guyana. Among the several measures taken by his government was to blaze a new development path based on a profound analysis of the current situation.  The way forward for the new administration was the creation of a national democratic state based on social and economic justice, a state that represented the interests of all classes, groups and social strata. The private sector was considered as the leading engine of growth with the state providing a facilitating role, in addition to ensuring that there were adequate provisions in law to protect workers from exploitation by employers.
Regrettably, the years between the granting of independence and the restoration of democracy in 1992 could be described as “lost years”. Missed were the opportunities to build a strong economic, social and political foundation to ensure steady and continued all-round development of the country.
Today, we are once again a proud and democratic nation, well on the road to sustained development and economic and social progress. The foundations for economic take-off are firmly laid, thanks to visionary leadership from the PPP/C administration.
Hydar Ally

 

 

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