PPP Governments in the 50s and after 1992 developed Guyana

Dec 19, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor;
No other budget over the last few decades has created a greater public reaction than the 2017 National Budget. Almost every major interest group has criticized it in some form or fashion. For me, it has helped to confirm a hypothesis with which I have been toying in my mind for a while. It is this:
1. whenever the PPP is in Government there is economic progress and freedom in this country; and,
2. whenever the PNC is in Government there is economic decline and authoritarianism.
When the PPP left office in 1964, after being in office for just under a decade, the colony of British Guiana boasted the most buoyant and diversified economy of all Her Majesty’s colonies in the Caribbean. In short, we were already moving into large scale agro-processing and industrialization.
Then the PNC took the reins of Government. They destroyed most, if not all, the productive sectors. They borrowed so much that at one point, we were repaying debts at a rate of more than 94% of our GDP.
The Report done by a team of economists led by Sir Allister Mc Intyre, in 1989, concluded that Guyana was the poorest country in the western hemisphere—poorer than Haiti.
That was the state of the economy and the country which we inherited when the PPP assumed Government in 1992. From 1992-2015, we rebuilt the infrastructure of this country. We restored the productive sectors. We established sound macroeconomic essentials.
We restored judicial independence. We enacted nearly 200 amendments to the Burnham’s 1980 Constitution, in order to reduce the powers of the President, strengthen the Parliament, increase oversight of the Executive, solidify judicial independence and amplify the rights and freedoms of our people.
We rebuilt the social sectors, particularly, health and education. We implemented a housing program that was the envy of the Caribbean. We brought modernity to this land. We moved the economy from bankruptcy to an upper/middle income economy.
We facilitated the growth of a vibrant private sector. We practiced a free economy and welcomed foreign investments. For the twelve consecutive years, immediately preceding 2015, our economy grew at a rate of over 4% per annum- the highest in the Caribbean.
During all of this – we kept the dollar stable, we annually increased wages, salaries and pensions, we progressively reduced interest rates and kept inflation in single digits. We enjoyed one of the best debt/GDP ratio in the Caribbean, if not the world.
We withstood the shocks of the greatest recession to have hit the world economy in living memory and even experienced growth, while our Caribbean counterparts and trading partners faltered badly as a consequence.
In two short years, the equation has changed drastically. From all indications authoritarianism is on the rise again. Attacks upon and interference with independent constitutional agencies whose mandate it is to keep the Executive in check, are numerous.
The Chairman of the Public Service Commission was invited to the Office of the President and offered a remuneration package to resign. When he refused, he is being hounded out of office. The Attorney General and the Judicial Service Commission are at loggerheads. The matter is now in Court. The Director of Public Prosecutions, is consistently being sidelined and Cabinet is hiring prosecutors to prosecute charges against political opponents.
The Auditor General is the victim of blistering public verbal assaults because he criticizes the Minister of Finance’s use of the Contingency Fund.
The President is refusing to appoint judges in accordance with the advice of the Judicial Service Commission, as mandated by the Constitution. An attempt has been made by the Government to compulsorily acquire private properties in the heart of Georgetown.
An Order that commenced this process was published in the Official Gazette. Private properties owned by Transport and Certificates of Title are being repossessed by Central Housing and Planning Authority, forcing these property owners to seek legal redress. Fifty-year-old leases to rice farmers have been capriciously revoked by the President.
The Government has signaled an intention to pass laws permitting the Guyana Revenue Authority to seize monies from persons’ bank accounts if they owe taxes and to prevent them from leaving the country, as well.
Monies are being spent on non-earning projects in a manner that is totally unsustainable, for example, Durban Park Stadium and inauguration events.
Billions of dollars have been written off as taxes for those who favor the Administration. There has been an obstinate refusal to help the important productive sectors of rice and sugar. With the exception of large scale gold mining and due to appreciable neglect, almost every productive sector is underperforming. There have been no new investments of worth.
The cumulative effect of all of this has resulted in a decline in the growth rate over the last two years by 50%. No new jobs are being created to compensate for the inevitable shortfall of revenue.
Moreover, the government has imposed on the backs of the people over 200 new tax measure in less than two years. Foreign currency has dried up as people progressively lose spending power and begin to hoard or fly their money out of the country.
In conclusion, the 2017 National Budget has presented me with the occasion to establish my hypothesis that: “whenever the PNC is in Government there is economic decline and authoritarianism.” From all indications, the descent has begun and I will be proven right beyond a shadow of doubt.
Mohabir Anil Nandlall

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