Visions and Solutions for Guyana

Apr 25, 2019 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
The Democratic National Congress was happy to be invited to discussions on the topic ‘Poverty and Its Alleviation’ on the April 10th edition of Plain Talk, now available on YouTube. Here, the subject was explored in relation to Guyana, and the DNC took the opportunity to share some of our ideas on the causes and solutions for addressing poverty at home. We also shared our perspective on an appropriate system for managing Guyana’s economy.
For all of its complexities, the subject of economics has four primary goals: 1) Economic Growth, 2) Full employment of labour and other resources, 3) Low, stable inflation and 4) Favourable balance of payments position.
These translate into a society where the economy is operating at or close to full capacity, every employable person has a job which provides an income to adequately support his family, everyone has access to proper educational and health services, government operates on sound governance principles which eliminates corruption and the ills of mismanagement, and the economy enjoys buoyant economic growth in an environment of low inflation, accompanied by growing international reserves and a stable currency.
As Guyana continues to agonize over solutions to our political and economic problems, we offer our ideas for delivering on the above objectives, with particular emphasis on increasing incomes, promoting job creation and creating a viable economy.
It should be noted that our proposals also address our pressing social problems of crime and domestic abuse, which occasionally arises from financial stress in homes. Additionally, it is our opinion that the present structure of our constitution is contributing to much of our economic problems (discussed in more detail in our brochure available on our Facebook page), and thus shares priority with the objectives of our proposed economic program.
The following summarizes our philosophy on our people, the private sector and taxation:
Our People – Our citizens are our nation’s single most important transformative asset. With this in mind, one of the primary objectives of the policy framework of the DNC is the nurturing our nation’s talent, investing in our people so that they can achieve their maximum potential in their endeavours. We have shaped our policies on incomes, taxation, education and health to deliver on this philosophy.
The Private Sector – As the engine of growth, the private sector will be consulted on matters which affect them with respect to investment, jobs creation and increasing their competitiveness globally.
Taxation – Prudent fiscal policy will be central to maintaining economic stability. Our policy on taxation will be guided by our desire to minimize the incidence of tax on our citizens.
The vision of the Democratic National Congress for Guyana is captured in our theme, Bringing Guyana Into The 21st Century. We are committed, and will work towards developing Guyana so that Guyanese can enjoy the level of welfare and standard of living achieved in developed economies. This will be realized by marshalling our resources and investing in our human and productive capital to generate national and personal incomes which will fund transformations in our physical infrastructure and allow Guyanese to live comfortable lives where they can afford not only basic necessities, but also enjoy the welfare that derives from acquiring the things that appeal to them.
Investment will be targeted in four broad areas: our citizens, government services, our communities and the productive sectors.
Investment in Our Citizens – We consider our people our most important and transformative asset. To this extent, raising the incomes of our workers is an investment in our citizens within the context of our current economic climate.
In this regard, we are committed to releasing the potential of our citizens by investing directly in their capacities. Incomes and unemployment issues have been placed at the centre of our economic policy framework.
Workers have over the decades struggled under the burden of depressed incomes, which has severely restricted their ability to enjoy basic welfare needs in many instances. Government under the DNC will work closely with workers’ unions to develop a plan for addressing workers’ income issues by aligning these with what our negotiations can agree on as a ‘living wage’.
That is, the incomes of all public sector workers will be adjusted by an amount which will raise the wages and salaries of the lowest paid public servants up to the level where we can agree they can live comfortably. We will also work closely with the private sector to address bottlenecks to investment and job creation as a means of addressing our pressing national unemployment situation.
Government Services – Much of the corruption in government services results from the depressed incomes of public servants. We intend to address this directly by paying increased wages and salaries to our public servants. Further, a national governance framework is integral to eliminating corruption, minimizing waste of taxpayers’ dollars and maximizing growth and welfare possibilities.
In this regard, more weight will be given to the independence of the Public Procurement Commission. All government ministries and agencies will be tasked with drafting governance guidelines for their respective organizations with external assistance where necessary. These will be integrated into the operations of the respective organizations. All staff will be provided with training to ensure that regulations on governance are adhered to.
Our Communities – Realizing our vision of bringing Guyana into the 21st century necessarily involves investing in our communities. We will work with regional and municipal administrative bodies to ensure that they embrace the sound governance practices established for central government. They will be consulted regarding their respective budgets and the responsiveness of these in delivering on environmental standards for cleanliness and other physical and social infrastructure necessary for increasing the standard of living in their communities.
Our Productive Sectors: Unleashing Guyana’s Potential – Investment in our productive sectors is crucial for realizing our vision for Guyana. In this respect, we encourage all Guyanese to examine their available productive assets and consider what resources they need to generate wealth. The DNC will hold consultations with all productive sectors, from agriculture to manufacturing, mining and IT, to ensure that every sector has the necessary support to increase production and wherever possible, facilitate access to export markets.
Yours Faithfully,
Craig Sylvester
Democratic National Congress

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