50 years: What have we achieved?

Mar 27, 2016 News

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The Story within the Story…
 
By Leonard Gildarie
They say the more you live the more you see. It is a lesson that I try not to forget and I keep telling my

kids that you can learn something new every day, even if it is a simple thing like a new word.
I have lots of folks who check in on me regularly, some to say hello, some to complain and some to offer tips. I also have a few dear friends who are scathingly critical and whom I hold dear to me. I listen and I learn. Most of them are in their fifties and sixties. My relatives accuse me of not wanting to act my age. That I should hang around people nearer to my range.
I love those people because of what they impart. They have weathered what Guyana had to offer and stayed and worked, and have done well.
Those born in the late 1980s and 1990s would have very little idea of the little that Guyana had to make do with. The restriction or as some people would say, banning of food items, saw things like apples, which I am not really fond of, becoming hot commodities for suitcase smugglers.
As a teen, I was told that the restrictions on some of these basic food items were to encourage local production. History will prove that many great leaders had big ideas. It was the implementation that was the killer.
To the credit of the then PNC Government, in the late 1980s, it was the then President, Desmond Hoyte, who after being thrust into power when Forbes Burnham died suddenly in August 1985, who reversed the decision and allowed Guyana to once more be able to import flour and sardines and split peas, among other things.
By the early 1990s, although Hoyte was liked, Guyana was tired and just wanted a change.
The 1992 general elections, in which the PPP/C swept to power, was just that opportunity. Guyana was riding high on a tide of good wishes for consecutive administrations. But somehow, those emotions slipped through the fingers and Guyana saw in 2011 and 2015, and then again in March 2016, a shift proving that the voters in this country can no longer be expected to go the traditional route of voting.
Of course, some voters will never shift support, but the young ones will be the deciding factors.
Last year, Guyana decided that it had had enough of the PPP/C who was in for over two decades. For those who would accuse the consecutive administrations of doing nothing, they would have to be blind or like an ostrich with its head buried in the sand.
Guyana indeed made several significant strides, like debt write-offs, the Berbice Bridge, the dropping of mortgage interest rates, and concessions for investors.
Yes, we were supposed to do well. But we failed to put systems in place to protect the gains that would have been made.
The PPP/C, and I have many a dear friend in there, somehow lost its way in the mid-2000s and onwards. There was a lax attitude to smuggling by the authorities. This, and lack of capacity, unwillingness and maybe even a combination of both, led to a selected section of the taxpaying public feeling the squeeze. The rest of the non-compliant persons and businesses were smiling all the way to the banks.
Imagine where Guyana would have been had we made a better effort to collect what was due to us. The cynic in the crowd will tell you, yes, it is more money for corruption, but I say let us fix one problem at a time.
We could have been doing so much more with what we would have been collecting.
Why we allowed our country to remain stationary is criminal.
Today, we are preparing for massive countrywide celebrations for May 26th – it is the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary celebrations. Several hotels have already been booked out.
What is interesting to me is what it cost the David Granger-led administration to clean the city. I would love to see who did what and what was paid. Why was it not done before?
Today, we are preparing to harvest the benefits of a huge amount of oil discovered last year in our waters. If it is handled right, our people may be in for the ride of their lives. Better health care, roads, facilities, security and maybe a pension that can be considered livable. It will call for honest politicians – who have the people’s welfare in their hearts – to manage those revenues.
We cannot do it alone. As a people, we have to come together as one.
As we approach the anniversary celebrations, we will have to reflect on what exactly we have achieved since slavery was abolished, and Britain handed power to us. Have we done enough to reach across the divide?
I am looking at the political landscape and yearn for more of our young people to speak out. We can no longer talk about shared governance if the Opposition refused to take up their seats on the state boards. We cannot talk about transparency in procurement if we continue to hand out contracts to our friends and family.
We are a country on the verge of takeoff. Despite the high cost of power, we have managed to make do with the little we possess, and have recorded positive growth while our neighbours are struggling.
It is not too late. The ball in the court of the Executive and the Opposition.
I count at least five lawyers who are ministers for the coalition Government.
Our President is a historian who can speak for hours on border issues.
The Opposition does have knowledgeable folks, some of them with financial backgrounds. A few have already crossed the floor and joined ranks, on both sides – it is how democracy works.
A golden opportunity, without the rhetoric, is presenting itself to us in May.
Let us take lessons from neighbouring Venezuela and Trinidad which have in varying ways squandered the opportunities from their oil riches.
I would love to see us leave a legacy. I would love to retire and look back and say yes, we worked hard, we fought a good fight and our children are enjoying it.

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