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RICH AND BLESSED COUNTRY
Guyana is rich with an abundance of natural resources, arable land, mineral deposits, natural ports, the recent discovery of oil, a young and educated population and a skilled labour force. It is also blessed with near perfect weather conditions, ample waterways, pristine forests and the potential for a robust ecotourism industry.
Despite these advantages, Guyana continues to face enormous economic and social challenges. The economy is struggling at a growth rate of about four percent. Production, demand and the price of rice, sugar, timber and bauxite have fallen; the national debt is high, and unemployment and poverty have risen.
A country that is so rich and so blessed should not be struggling. It should have been prosperous, but it seems that what Murphy’s Law says that “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong” has happened to Guyana.
For the past decade, Guyana’s slowly growing economy, coupled with excessive borrowing, reckless spending, huge cost to service the national debt and massive corruption constrained the last administration’s ability to invest in infrastructure, education, health care, social services and security.
During this period, little effort was made to diversify the economy and to unleash the potential of the people. Guyana has the resources to be the economic growth engine and bread basket of the Caribbean but partisan politics has prevented it.
Corruption and crime remain and the economy continues to sputter. For change to take place, the government has to hire the best and brightness at home and in the diaspora. Hiring retirees will not bring about the changes needed to take Guyana into the 21st century. There is no reason why Guyana cannot achieve sustainable economic and human growth.
Since taking office, the government has made security and the reduction of corruption and crime, its highest priority. Indeed, the foundation of a nation’s economic growth lies in its security and fiscal policies.They along with good governance will open the door to greater domestic and foreign investment ventures. They will also lead to increase trade, reduce imports and the foreign debt and reform the country’s institutions to become more business friendly. Unfortunately, the government does not have the personnel to make these changes and it continues to look into the past rather than in the future.
Furthermore, the government has not fully embraced the strategic importance of diversifying the economy and it has no strategy to increase the production of rice, sugar and bauxite. It does not have a solid economic plan or a modernized bureaucracy to allow business to flourish.
Although it has made foreign investment its top priority, neither the Ministry of Business nor GO-Invest has succeeded in doing so. There are more speeches and empty promises about the development of the country than action. Guyana has several sectors that are ripe for foreign investment, but the government has failed to convince foreign investors to invest in the country. Instead, the government has blamed the media with its daily headlines of crime for making Guyana unsafe, insecure, and an unprofitable destination for foreign investment.
Efforts to wipe out corruption, reduce crime and create jobs, especially for youths have been very slow. It seems that the government has been bogged down with creating Commissions of Inquiry and Tribunals.
Its promise to be accountable and transparent has been placed on the back burner. However, the government alone cannot solve all the problems facing the country. It needs help. It must engage the private sector and tap into the expertise of the people, both locally and in the diaspora. Everyone must sacrifice to put Guyana back on sound economic footing but the Ministries of Agriculture and Business must be revamped and the bureaucracy must be restructured to make them more people and business friendly.If not, only divine intervention could save this rich and blessed country.
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Sir. Ronald Sanders
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“Guyana is rich with an abundance of natural resources ….”
This may be so but we have a very poor mentality, resulting in us being one of the poorest countries in our hemisphere.
Here we are citing Murphy’s law for our misdoings. This is in itself a manifestation of our mental shortcomings.
To say thay we have “… a young and educated population and a skilled labour force…” is a confession that one does not know Guyana.
While we recognize the full worth of your observations in the editorial, which many would agree with, for its easily seen, it lacks a vital part of any critical journalistic contribution: your solutions. Or is that the hard part that we wait on others to do for us?
As I say, editor, its a mentality thing!