A need to move forward

Aug 13, 2014 Editorial

It is that time of year when another group of students would enjoy the results of their academic achievements. This is the time when many children would come to the end of more than a decade of private lessons and no play time other than the games on the smartphones these days.
Many of these children would go on to the University of Guyana because despite their academic qualifications they would have a hard time breaking into the labour market unless they opt to become teachers, join the Guyana Police Force or the officer corps of the Guyana Defence Force. Those who access the public service would do so at the lower end of the school.
There may be openings in the private sector by way of the commercial banks and the few businesses that need clerks, but for the greater part, many would be beating the streets in search of jobs. This will be the case, despite reports of continuous economic growth.
Generally, countries that are enjoying economic growth also enjoy expanded job markets. The expanded job markets fuel the need for even more people to ensure that the growth continues. In some countries where the growth of information technology is extensive, computers have replaced human power to a large extent.
However, the people have been retrained and keep using their skills in other areas, often to the point that they develop a new area of production. In Guyana, this is not the case, because the productive sector is weak. Guyana is largely import-oriented.
At one time we trained people for life in the agriculture sector and to this day we keep saying that people still see agriculture as labour intensive, and as being about working extensively in mud. This need not be the case in this day and age when machinery is there for every aspect of agricultural production.
For example, farmers still find that they waste a large proportion of their produce. For one, storage is poor and there is no canning to speak of. It is sickening to see the amount of vegetables that are dumped at the end of the day at the municipal markets. For this reason alone, the farmers are loathe to expand their production.
Interestingly, there is a lot of money in the private sector, but the focus here is to produce facilities for shopping purposes. And even here most of the goods are foreign produced, so the very local private sector turns out to be an extension of the production efforts of the foreign producer.
It would be interesting to see some local entrepreneurs shift to producers of local products. We still import a large portion of canned goods from neighbouring Trinidad and Barbados, even as we have the capability to can our own products.
There was a time when Guyana experimented with canning, but the high cost of electricity placed a damper on those efforts. The push by the government for hydroelectricity was not a bad thing. There would be cheap power and Guyana’s productive sector would simply take off.
The heady days when Guyana produced refrigerators and radios seem to have disappeared. It was not that the goods were substandard, but the bulk of the components had to be imported. Rising prices and a population incapable of using all that was produced limited production.
The time is ripe for Guyana to return to its production capability. Indeed, some support is needed from the government. We are spending tons of money on hotels, because we remain with our eyes fixed on the foreigner.
The government may very well opt to approach some in the private sector, with a promise of financial support for the development of an industry that could use the material that is being dumped for want of proper storage and because of a small absorptive capacity.
Other countries, once in a similar situation like Guyana, made the move to develop the productive sector. Singapore is making cars, some of which run on the streets of Guyana. There is nothing to stop Guyana developing a productive sector and employing the skills that are now not being put to use.

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