Create those jobs

Jul 04, 2015 Editorial, Features / Columnists

There are many things that have suddenly become problems in the society. Many of these can only be considered tests for a new administration battling with the remnants of the past administration in certain areas of the public service.
For example, the new government is trying its utmost to avoid the label of witch-hunters which could then become racists. The racist label would be affixed by people from the previous administration who so far happen to be objecting to every dismissal that has occurred since the new government took office.
The government said that it has been trying to rid the public service of the obvious political types who made no bones about doing political work while they were public servants. Some of those who were sent packing were people who were merely employed through political fealty. They were the proverbial square pegs in round holes.
These things have so preoccupied the attention of the current administration that things that should be attracting attention appear to be slipping beneath the radar. The government should be concentrating on the economy and on the things that make the economy work. Indeed, it is pursuing the rice markets, and it is trying to resuscitate the sugar industry.
However, there are numerous other aspects of the economy that demand attention. Forestry was at the centre of numerous controversies with allegations of corruption to accommodate the Chinese firm, Bai Shan Lin. It is a great employer and a foreign exchange earner. There is scope here for expanded employment.
But even more would be the pursuit of hydroelectric development. If the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project should get the go ahead from the Inter-American Development Bank that could pave the way for many young people who are among the people to put pressure on any government.
The talk about resuscitating the national service would indeed take some of the idle young off the streets but the bottom line would have to be the creation of jobs that would fuel the economy. We have some stalled road projects which should have been completed already. The government must get these going. A lot of money has been spent already on the infrastructure and no one would want to leave such projects unfinished.
Road projects apart there are the proposed projects that could see coastal Guyana being linked to the South American mainland. The road linking coastal Guyana to Brazil has been talked about for more than sixty years. It would seem that it is about to become a reality soon. And if the government is serious about moving the economy forward then these projects must be absolute priorities.
The population is small, so small that prior to 1992 just when Omai Gold Mines and Barama Company Limited were coming on stream the then Minister of Economic Development, Dr Kenneth King, promised that there would not be enough people for the jobs that would be unveiled.
This time around the situation is not much different. There are numerous concessions in the gold fields, each striving to begin production in a hurry. Each is offering employment opportunities. What the government may wish to do is to develop the employment bureau. There must be a return to a facility that can channel applications to agencies and entities that need people.
A few months before he demitted office, former President Donald Ramotar talked about increasing the Guyana Police Force by some 1,500 people. We are not aware of the state of the extended recruitment drive but certainly, this would take a large number of young people off the streets.
Yet for all this there are those who are testing the government. The spike in criminal activity is due to the fact that the criminals want to see how far they can go. A seemingly revitalized police force is nabbing the criminals. Just yesterday the police arrested a gunman within minutes of him committing a crime. Others have been caught in Berbice and along Lower East Coast Demerara.
At least the promise to tackle crime and win seems to be holding. Create those jobs.

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