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Guyana needs invasive surgery to survive

Feb 04, 2015 Letters

Dear Editor,
In this election year, Guyana’s economy is like a very sick patient heading to the hospital. If not attended to immediately, the illness could be terminal. The country faces permanent decline in its main revenue earner because of a steep decline in the price of gold, the collapse of the sugar industry and a lower production of fruits, vegetables and poultry rearing.
Some were due largely to floods, some of which were man-made by the reckless PPP regime that has neglected the concerns of the farmers for over a decade.
With just over three months to go before elections on May 11, it would be political suicide for the minority PPP Government to undertake any serious action to restructure the economy. And the PPP attempt to reduce expenditure is an attempt to make the party appear responsible in this election year so that it can be re-elected.
But nothing less than invasive surgery is required to rejuvenate the sick economy and that can only be achieved with a new five-year mandate for the opposition. The AFC with the full support of APNU must be complimented for bringing the no-confidence motion against the dictatorial and uncivil PPP minority government. It was the responsible thing to do.
But the people including supporters of the PPP could not understand the Government’s response to prorogue Parliament and rule by decree, which in essence is dictatorship. It could be the result of uncertainty and fear by the PPP cabal in the face of an unexpected challenge by an AFC/APNU coalition.
In terms of pure political strategy, the combined opposition has been thinking very clearly. The best option was to force the PPP regime to call the elections sooner rather than later because the longer the PPP remains in office under these conditions, the worse it will be for the opposition. With revenue dropping due to a reduction in exports and an increase in imports, the Finance Minister will continue to take money from the foreign reserves as he has done during the past three years to make up for the shortfall in revenue.
Should the combined opposition win the election on May 11, they will not only end up with a sick economy, a bankrupt country, but also a Guyana that is in coma and in urgent need for invasive surgery to survive.
On this issue, the combined opposition has a head-start with ther attempt to form an AFC/APNU coalition. But the two parties cannot stop there. They must present their own ideas and plans for preventing the economy from further collapse, how to curb crime, reduce corruption and create jobs if they want to win the undecided vote. They have an excellent chance to claim the high ground, but must move with expedition to form the coalition and be relentless in their attacks on the PPP.
The main issue is foreign exchange reserves which the Finance Minister admitted has been reduced for the past three years to compensate for losses in exports. With reduced gold prices and lower production in sugar, poultry, fruits and vegetables, what other sources of foreign earnings will country have?
What does Guyana have to sell on the global market besides rice, sugar and gold? Aluminum would have provided a lifeline but like sugar and gold, its production has reduced under the PPP regime. The PPP regime has ruined those sectors. During the last 15 years of the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime, Guyana imports far more than it exports which often requires more foreign exchange than it earns.
Dr. Asquith Rose, Chandra Deolall, Dr. Merle Spenser-Marks

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