Now it’s the Canadians, what about Guyanese?

Nov 28, 2022 Editorial, Features / Columnists

Kaieteur News – The Canadians are making their presence felt in Guyana. They have been almost invisible on the Guyana investment radar, but not anymore. A sizable Trade Mission is looking to do business here and, as the world knows, there is no better place than Guyana for foreigners to invest their millions, and all but guaranteed the sweetest return for their efforts.

Everybody is talking about Guyana, and everybody is coming to Guyana. A British delegation came and left with a rich cooperation pact that covers such high-profile segments of Guyana’s economy as oil and gas, renewable energy, technology, and infrastructure needs, among other areas (KN November 27). Similarly, a big business delegation from Louisiana and other areas in the United States turned up here to check out the many sectors and their related opportunities in Guyana where there is money to be made. There is sure to be more visits, and many positives for the Americans looking to get a piece of the rich Guyana action.

For many of the American, British, and Canadian delegations testing the waters here (with more to follow in their footsteps), they will reap handsome profits from doing business in Guyana. Nobody coming here is going to walk away a loser. It is a given that they will win big for their shareholders. Our concern at this publication is about Guyana itself. What about us Guyanese, the people who are the forgotten owners of this wealth that this country possesses? Many are making plans to come here, and join the growing army of foreigners, to get their pint of milk, and pound of flesh, from the Guyana cow. But again, we ask the same question: what about us the Guyanese people? What is in all this coming and going, all this talking and signing, for the ordinary Guyanese man, woman, and child?

For sure, as foreign companies arrive and establish themselves, there will be some jobs for Guyanese. Low level, low paying jobs to make up some numbers. Small sets of Guyanese lucky enough to be hired will earn a few dollars, and this will keep them contented, and distracted from the bigger picture of where they ought to be, and what is rightfully due to them. Meanwhile, the foreigners will continue to make a killing from our wealth, and fetch away untold riches, as regular citizens are only too glad to be carrying home a paycheque. The government will be happy to speak of a dozen or a hundred jobs generated, and of some taxes collected. The foreign companies get to make commercials about sponsoring some softball event, buying a few books for a school library, or paying for the cleanup of some community recreational centre. All in all, it is a nice movie.

But is it really, when the core is drilled down into, so as to obtain a full understanding of what is going on with this wealth that is our national patrimony? Surely, this can’t be all that there is to the great wealth that Guyana has, and for which the rest of the world is flocking to our shores. The truth of the matter is that for every GY$100,000 paycheque that a Guyanese worker employed by a foreign entity receives, it is highly likely that that same company is making a million dollars, and in American dollars. The reality is that for every dollar that is invested here by foreign companies, be they American, British, Canadian, or Chinese, they walk away with double-digit multiples for their confidence in Guyana. We would argue that no company is coming to Guyana to make a return on capital of 5% or 10%.

They can get what they would consider pittance profits almost anywhere else. For proof look at how John Hess of Hess Corporation has boasted about Guyana. Also recall the billions from Guyana that Hess and ExxonMobil have in their hands to payout as dividends and announce share buybacks. What do we have in our hands for the buying of basics? This is our wealth and our country, and yet we are like spectators, if not beggars. Something is terribly wrong with this kind of environment, with this reality for the richest people on earth.

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