Donor support – A critical factor in Guyana’s development

Jun 08, 2013 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
Within recent years, Guyana has been the beneficiary of significant donor support in terms of financial and technical assistance. As the country seeks to carve its own, independent path to development, the support of the donor community has become all the more significant.
Following the restoration of democracy in October 1992, developmental assistance to the country began to flow both at the bilateral and at the multilateral levels. In addition to such assistance, the country benefitted from significant debt write-offs under the HIPC and the Enhanced HIPC arrangements. The cumulative effect of those developments was the infusion of resources for development and a reduction of the debt burden along more sustainable lines. It should be recalled that the debt burden under the former PNC regime had reached unsustainable limits which during the latter part of the Hoyte administration was consuming over 90% of government revenues.
It is important to recall also that immediately after the October 1992 election, the PPP/C administration invited the Global Development Initiative to assist in formulating a comprehensive vision and development strategy to gain the support of the international donor community. The process actually began in December 1992 with the late President Cheddi Jagan’s participation in the initiative’s first Development Cooperation Framework. The conference explored how to enhance international trade, aid, agriculture and other initiatives for development for newly emerging democracies such as Guyana.
Following the forum, the government of Guyana and the donor community initiated a major donor conference specifically for Guyana, during which the government presented a policy framework that resulted in an additional US$320M to aid the country’s development.
Around the mid-1990s, the country vigorously embarked on a comprehensive strategy for social and economic development. That strategy was coordinated by the Ministry of Finance with significant donor input which culminated in the formulation of the first draft of the National Development Strategy. The draft benefitted from the views of over 250 participants from a wide cross-section of the Guyanese community including government, business, academia, trade unions and NGOs, which was further reviewed at a second Development Forum in 1996.
As could be seen from the above, the entire process was participatory and iterative, drawing from the experiences and expertise not only of Guyanese, but from the international community as well. Guyana’s fledgling democracy however received a setback in 1997 when the opposition parties rejected the results of the elections and began a series of destabilization attempts, despite the fact that the election results were declared free and fair by the Carter Centre and all observer groups including the local Electoral Assistance Bureau.
In the interest of peace and stability, the PPP gave up two years of its elected mandate. National elections took place in March 2001, monitored by the Carter Centre, and were again convincingly won by the PPP. The development momentum began to be further consolidated and the National Development Strategy re-submitted to Parliament after a short hiatus.
It was not all smooth sailing for the PPP/C administration which continued to be frustrated and harassed by the opposition PNC. A dialogue process between then President, Bharrat Jagdeo, and opposition leader Robert Corbin, broke down, with the opposition boycotting sittings of the National Assembly for a considerable period.
Despite all of the roadblocks imposed by the opposition parties, the development trajectory of the economy continued to move forward. New elections in 2006 saw the re-election of the PPP/C to office in what could be regarded as the most peaceful elections ever held in the country since the 1960s.
In spite of our internal problems at the political level, the goodwill shown towards the country by the international and donor community continued unabated. This donor support has been a major contributory factor to the significant strides made in the various facets of our economic and social life, particularly in critical areas of education, health, housing, water and the environment.
Despite a less than sympathetic political opposition, the country’s advance along the development continuum continues apace. This obstructionist tendency was given new impetus after the November 2011 elections which gave the combined opposition a one-seat majority in Parliament, a situation which the opposition parties in Parliament have been exploiting to the maximum. Regrettably, such misguided and irresponsible actions could send wrong signals to the international donor community, whose contributions to the development of this country remain laudable and invaluable.
Hydar Ally

 

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