There is a lot at stake for us

Jan 13, 2019 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

Our Government has been working to stabilize our economy. We have been able to restore peace and public order, and incrementally, we have been able to re-shape Guyana’s international image. It had to be done. Before 2015, Guyana was known as a working drug transshipment point with a highly corrupt Government that was willing to sell the nation’s mineral wealth and abundance of land for a pittance, never mind what the land was being used for – illegal airstrips, and gold mining on Amerindian-owned lands.
Many foreign investors refused, or were not allowed by their own governments, to do business with Guyana, because it is illegal to invest in corrupt countries that are involved in the narcotics racket.
But this Coalition Government changed all that. We are cleaning up our investment and governance systems, a job that is nowhere near finished. Once the Courts allows us, we will keep on cleaning and modernizing until this nation is able to stand tall among the oil-producing countries in the world.
We believe that the people of Guyana should stay on top of the issues and get a good understanding of what Government has done to begin to better their lives. They have to decide whether they want growth to continue, or be fooled by people who are using them to get their hands on oil revenue. We hope that our citizens could see the benefits that will come to them through the mechanisms that this government has already put in place.
We hope that Opposition forces will not succeed in convincing poor, ordinary people that the Guyana economy is failing, and that they are facing doom and gloom if APNU stays in office. In reality, there is so much development in progress, and so much more for citizens and communities to look forward to, with Guyana on its way to becoming a mature country.
With respect to the various differences in opinion on oil, a political commentator described the situation happening here today as “the degradation of division into a hard, unyielding cultural norm”. In his piece on unity and disunity, he quoted from a December article found on the Bloomberg news site headlined ‘Venezuela unites for once around Guyana territorial dispute’. That article stated, “The socialist government of Venezuela and its political opponents at home who have been starkly divided over the past two decades have suddenly united around a common theme: the century-old dispute with Guyana. The neighbouring countries are clashing over offshore oil development in the disputed area as Exxon Mobil Corp ramps up activity and after the Venezuelan Navy interrupted the path of a vessel for seismic surveying on Dec. 22”.
The local political commentator opined that “Guyanese are so disfigured mentally, racially, and politically that for most, disunity is a form of unity, is a paradigm for unity. This is the height of the local intellect, hence the ongoing squabbling. Unsurprisingly, the disputations take precedence over simple commonsense…”
He went on, “My greater distaste is reserved for those who bicker about percentages. Surely, we cannot be this blind, this irrational! Surely, there can be only misplaced pride in the petty monetary arguments, while others (Venezuelans) ‘unify’ to separate from stock and barrel. We continue to insist on being ferociously occupied with counting the small change while others plot to take away the bank!” A wake-up call if ever there was one.
Several Government Ministers were equally vocal, condemning the disturbing racial slurs suffusing social media about who could and can’t run a government. Minister Hughes pleaded, “Guyana, we are bigger than that … racial intolerance will only lead to destruction”.

As Guyanese we have to stand up and refuse to walk down the path being laid out by the destroyers. We have too much to offer ourselves, our children and their children, the Caribbean and the rest of the world.
Did you miss the plea made recently by certain member states of CARICOM? They have said that Guyana’s future success is the Caribbean region’s future, and they are pleading with every one of us Guyanese to get it right. There is a lot at stake for us and for them.

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