Has Jagdeo ever heard of the law of unintended consequences?

Jan 01, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Kaieteur News – The law of unintended consequences relates to outcomes which were neither predicted no intended but which occurred nonetheless. In some cases, the consequences are positive but it others it can be negative.

Sometimes, actions and policies which are intended and generally accepted as being good, can have negative and unintended consequences. And this is why it always advisable that before implementing any initiative, governments should carefully consider the possible adverse and unintended implications of its actions.

When David Granger was the President of Guyana, he introduced an initiative to provide transportation for schoolchildren. This initiative was welcomed because it was aimed at assisting students who may have had difficulties either accessing or affording transportation to school.

For parents, it meant having to spend less on their children’s transportation. There was considerable savings by parents especially those whose children lived a fair distance from their schools. As such, the initiative apart from getting children to school also had the benefit of allowing parents to save sums which they otherwise would have had to spend on their children’s transportation.

But the free school transportation did have some unintended consequences. Particularly in rural areas where the volume of passenger traffic is low, hire care drivers depend on student passengers to boost their daily incomes.  In some areas, the free transportation provided by the Granger administration crowded out the private transport sector – an unintended consequence.

Fortunately, the initiative did not benefit a substantial numbers of students in any area and therefore its impact was not that severe on private transport operators. But had it expanded, as was expected had the APNU+AFC been reelected to office, it would have eaten into the private transport market held by private minibuses and hire cars.

But the experience there forewarned about the dangers of unintended consequences. It established the need for all government initiatives to have detailed assessments of both intended and possible unintended consequences.

At present, there is an initiative being implemented by the PPPC administration and which hardly anyone would oppose. It is being led by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and it is aimed at providing part-time jobs to more than 10,000 Guyanese in Guyana’s ten Administrative Regions. Guyanese, particularly, unskilled unemployed persons, have welcomed the initiative since it puts money in their pockets.

But to what extent was this initiative properly conceived? Did it arise out of any proper study of the labour market, one which would have identified areas of greatest need and largest gaps? Or was this initiative aimed at popularity building and vote-catching? Was it a and brainwave initiative that was ill-conceived?

There is no White Paper of Green Paper or any paper at all available about the aims and objectives of this initiative. The details appear to be one man’s head. The part-time job initiative appears to be a welfare scheme conceived in the mind of someone.

It is also suspected that the part-time jobs programme is a damage-control measure aimed at boosting the popularity ratings of the Vice President following the fallout of over the controversy which erupted over the Vice News feature. Why else would the initiative be spearheaded by Jagdeo rather than by the Ministry of Labour?

The initiative has however had some unintended consequences. Even before it was launched, business persons in the private sector, including in the construction and commercial sectors, were complaining about a shortage of employment, even though both anecdotal evidence and official statistics pointed to relatively high levels of unemployment in the economy.

Jagdeo’s initiative, by doling out part-time jobs, has aggravated this problem. In almost every sector, including finding domestics and babysitters, there is a problem. Storeowners are advertising for workers and have difficulties finding persons. What is the reason?

The part-time jobs which are being created by the government are crowding out private sector development. Even though the jobs are part-time, they are considered as easy work. Some persons prefer to take the part time job and use the other hours to do as they please.

This means that businesspersons and even private citizens looking for employees are finding great difficulties. They are being told by many that they prefer to work the part- time jobs because it provides them with a decent income and with much more time for themselves and families.

The government’s part-time jobs initiative has had unintended consequences. It has aggravated the difficulties of the private sector in finding employees. There is a contradiction whereby, on one hand, the initiative appears aimed at curbing or reducing unemployment but on the other hand the private sector is now scurrying in a desperate bid to find workers. And ironically, contractors who have been awarded government contracts are finding difficulties securing workers to complete the works on time and within budget.

(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.)

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