Where Jagdeo failed, Ali will also fail

Dec 21, 2022 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Kaieteur News – If Irfaan Ali’s Presidency is to be impactful, he will have to delink it from the failed agenda of former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Two major areas where Jagdeo failed were food security and investments from the Middle East.

Jagdeo was Caricom’s lead on food security. The furthest he got was identifying 10 major constraints to food security. He also failed with attracting large-scale investments in agriculture from the Caribbean Community. The Santa Fe Mega Farm which could have been used as a model for similar initiatives catered more to the Brazilian market and was eventually divested to a Brazilian firm.

Jagdeo’s Middle Eastern diplomacy was an absolute disaster. Jagdeo had eyed up the sovereign wealth funds of oil rich Middle Eastern states as a source of investment to prop up the faltering Guyanese economy. He failed to attract any major interest from the Middle East.

Historically the Middle East has not shown much interest in investing in Guyana. Even when there was an ideological affinity between Libya and Burnham, investments did not flow on any major scale.

The United Arab Emirates historically have not shown any keen interest in economic relations with Guyana. But the oil boom in Guyana would have changed that but not in the way Ali or Jagdeo envisages. Both are looking for a two-way relationship between the UAE and Guyana but so far the flow has been mainly one way.

Addressing a recent event, President Irfaan Ali is reported to have said that last year’s trade between the two countries was around US$300M. But he could not provide details of this trade.

His numbers do not appear to be credible. Guyana would have had to be selling oil and gold to the UAE for such numbers to recorded and there is no evidence of this happening. Other independent sources have tagged the trade at around US$6M last year, a far cry from Ali’s US$300M.

All indications are that the trade is predominantly one way. The UAE sold Guyana vaccines in 2021 at a price which, at the time, was double the market price. But Guyana was desperate for vaccines and would have had to pay what was demanded.

Now we are reading that the UAE is about to make more money from Guyana. They are to train 150,000 Guyanese students in coding.

This is shocking revelation on a number of counts. For one, Guyana’s student population is so small that it cannot over the next years identify 150,000 students for training in coding. And even if this amount of student could be found for the programme, the coding would have to be at a rudimentary level.

But why does Guyana need to be inviting the UAE to train locals in coding? Guyana ought to have the expertise to do this. Coding is not high science and there is no reason why the University of Guyana could not have been asked to develop such a programme using local trainers. No doubt the UAE has to be paid handsomely for providing this training.

The UAE was supposed to have signed a tax treaty with Guyana. This no doubt was intended to ensure that UAE companies doing business with Guyana do not pay double taxation.

The UAE is also supposed to be helping Guyana with governance, statistics and leadership capacity – all of which are low hanging fruit and for which the UAE is likely to be paid by the Government of Guyana.

A UAE company has sealed a deal to provide the country with biaxial voided slabs, a special type of cement product. This too is business for UAE companies, as is the arrangement to help Guyana with cyber security.

In the meantime, Guyana is still waiting for the big investments from the UAE. Jagdeo recently went to the UAE looking for investments. He came back empty-handed. But Qatar has already obtained an interest in Guyana Kanaku oil block.

A UAE company involved in tourism is said to be looking at opportunities. But no announcement has been made of any investment as yet. Nor has anything also been heard about plans for the UAE to invest in a deep water port in Guyana – long a pipe dream of Jagdeo. Abu Dhabi Ports was said to be examining proposals.

President Ali wants the UAE to help make Guyana into a logistic hub for the region. That is not going to happen. The UAE has sunk money into a logistics hub in the Dominican Republic and is clearly not looking in Guyana’s direction when it comes to that sort of investments.

President Irfaan Ali therefore needs to reassess his Middle Eastern outreach. At present, the funds are flowing in one direction: out of Guyana and not inwards.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)