Guyana has resources to banish poverty forever –President Granger

May 26, 2016 News

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President David Granger has called on all Guyanese to begin the mission now to expand Guyana’s economy,

to ensure equality, to improve education, to protect the environment and to provide employment for all.

His call was contained in his Independence Day message to the National Assembly. The Guyanese leader is confident that this can be achieved since Guyana is not a resource poor country and Guyanese ought not to be a poor and dispossessed people.
“Our country is endowed with bountiful resources – both human and natural – to banish poverty forever. We have always been known to possess the values of self-sacrifice and solidarity,” President Granger stated.
He reiterated that Guyana is committed to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which obligate the country to end poverty in all its forms.
The Head of State stated that Guyana has pledged to eradicate extreme poverty and to halve all other forms of poverty by 2030.
According to the President, in order to achieve these goals, Guyana must realign its economy to generate the wealth that would allow for poverty reduction. “We must improve and sustain higher economic growth in order to raise our entire population out of the depths of extreme poverty.”
And this will be aided by the enrichment of the economy with the discovery of petroleum. “We look forward to preparing our people and the economy for the exploitation of this rich resource. We shall create a sovereign wealth fund to ensure that all generations benefit from the gains that are expected to flow from this discovery.”
According to the president, the national economy must be reshaped to reduce dependence on the “six sisters – bauxite, fish, gold, rice, sugar, and timber.”
The president said that Guyana’s economic policy over the next four years will be determined by the transition to greater value-added production.
Touching on the occasion that is being celebrated today, the golden jubilee of independence, President Granger said that Guyanese are paying tribute to the generations of men and women who were part of this historic and heroic struggle for self-determination.
He said that Guyanese are now enjoying freedom today because of their consciousness, courage and commitment to the cause of freedom.
“We pay homage to all those who were part of this process. We recall the martyrs of the Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo revolts during the dark era of enslavement. We recall the martyrs of the protests at Leonora, Devonshire Castle, Rose Hall, Ruimveldt and Enmore, during and after the era of indentureship.
“We recall the labours of Hubert Critchlow, Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, Peter D’Aguiar and Stephen Campbell, which eventuated in national Independence.
“Guyanese, today, honour our Heads of State – David Rose, the first Guyanese Governor General, his successor Edward Luckhoo and Arthur Chung, our first President – for their civility and for the stability, which their office imparted to our young state,” Granger declared.
He said that the Guyanese people’s ardent aspiration and arduous struggle for political Independence moulded their national identity.
Independence, he added, infused the qualities of audacity and tenacity in Guyanese and it fortified their determination to be masters of their own destiny. It created new institutions on which to erect the pillars of the new nation.
“Independence created the need for new institutions to preserve our achievements, to promote the development of our nation and to protect our peoples’ rights. We created our own Court of Appeal as our highest court. We refashioned our public and police services to ensure a better quality of life and human safety. We established the Guyana Defence Force to stand guard over our country’s territory.
“We improved access to education, electricity, health care, housing and potable water. We established massive agricultural, drainage and irrigation schemes, and industrial estates to put our people to work.
“We created institutions to provide social protection such as the National Insurance Scheme. We created banking institutions to promote savings and provide credit for our people.”
Granger said that Guyana, in a relatively short period of time after Independence, improved its economy to provide a higher standard of living for its people.
“Successive administrations, throughout the past five decades, have continued to add to our national assets and extend our public infrastructure,” the President said.
He stated that Guyana has made progress in ensuring greater opportunities for its people, who will continue to demolish class and geographic inequalities, especially between the hinterland and the coastland, and between the urban and rural communities.
Guyana’s hinterland possesses its richest natural resources but despite this endowment, it remains underdeveloped and plagued by poor infrastructure and environmental hazards.
And President Granger is committed to ensuring that the disparities in development and in households between the hinterland and the coastland will be reduced if the nation is to become a more equal nation.
“We will continue to work towards the development of an inclusive and integrated plan to close the gap between hinterland and coastland. The plan will involve improved internal communication – aerodromes, bridges, causeways, highways, stellings and telecommunications + and public services such as education, health, human safety and social security.
“We will also create stronger regions administered by ‘capital towns’ in order to develop hinterland and rural communities more rapidly. Three new capital towns + at Bartica, Mabaruma and Lethem + have already been created. A fourth will follow at Mahdia. Every region, in the end, will be administered and directed by a ‘capital town.’
“Guyana, therefore, will promote respect for equality before the law and equal protection of the law. This includes the guaranteed rights of citizens, equality for women and the participation of citizens in the decision-making of the State, in accordance with the Constitution.
We will achieve these through the institution of an inclusive system of governance and the holding of regular, free and fair elections.”
The President insisted that education is the gateway to greater opportunities, adding that it is the means to a more equal society. It is a pathway towards improved well-being and it offers an escape from poverty.

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