Guyanese in the Bahamas are keeping their fingers crossed

Jun 04, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

One of the Caribbean countries that has been very kind to Guyanese who are seeking greener pastures has been the Bahamas. It is estimated that there are about four thousand Guyanese living in the Bahamas.
Guyanese do not require a visa to go to the Bahamas. But the Bahamas, according to the CSME website, is not listed as one of the countries which has subscribed to the free movement of persons within the Caribbean Community.
Guyanese, however, seemed to have had no problems for some time now in obtaining work in the Bahamas. The number of Guyanese living and working in that country has swelled.
These Guyanese are getting a little worried by the new policy which has been adopted by the recently elected government of the Bahamas. The new government has made it clear that Bahamians come first when it comes to jobs and that only if no locals are available for that job will a work permit be issued.
It is not clear how this will affect Guyanese who are presently working in the Bahamas. But it should be in the interest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clarify this issue, because if those Guyanese who are working in that country are at risk of not being able to have their work permits renewed or if they are going to be denied jobs there, then many of them will have no choice but to return here.
And many of them, accustomed to the higher standard of living in the Bahamas, are not going to want to come back here to work for the relatively low wages that are on offer in Guyana, if a job can be found.
It is not yet the time for panic. But Guyana must be prepared for any eventuality, including the possibility of mass remigration of large numbers of Guyanese from that country, which is facing a severe economic crisis because of the collapse of a major Chinese investment in the hospitality sector.
Guyanese are good workers overseas. It is only in Guyana that some of them like to make ‘styles’ with their work. But when they are overseas, they turn up to work on time, work very hard, work extra hours, save their money and take good care of their families.
If Guyanese are forced to return home from the Bahamas, then it will add to the difficulties of the present government, because there are no jobs for those persons when they come here. Where are the returnees to get jobs?
It is already estimated that with the closure of the sugar estates planned by the government, a total of 10 billion dollars annually will be taken out of the economy. Foreign exchange earnings will dip, as production will be cut to around 150,000 tonnes of sugar. Yet the government is groaning to spend the monies needed to keep the sugar industry afloat, even though the sum involved will be less than what it will cost the economy in the short term if the government has to downsize the sugar corporation.
The difficulties with sugar do not make the resettlement of overseas Guyanese any easier. With further stagflation within rural Guyana expected, there will be no place for a large influx of Guyanese from the Bahamas.
The situation with Guyanese in that country has not been made any easier with the arrest and conviction recently of a woman from Guyana who brought a prohibited substance, stashed in her hair weaving, into the Bahamas. She will spend the next two and a half years as a guest of the State of the Bahamas.
Guyanese in the Bahamas must have been embarrassed by the incident. It throws a negative spotlight on them and at the wrong time, just after an election which brought a new government to office. No one knows what surprises the new government will have in store. But the Bahamas is too far away from Guyana for that country to want to do us a favour by varying its immigration policy.
Guyanese in the Bahamas are hoping that the new policy only applies to extra-regional nationals. They are hopeful that the quality of their work and their reputation as hard workers will ensure that the new policy will not be extended to them.

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Guyanese in the Bahamas are keeping their fingers crossed

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