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Govt. completes draft migration policy to address labour issues
President Ali speaking at the event.
Kaieteur News – The Attorney General’s office has successfully completed a draft for a migration policy, which will address labour issues in Guyana.
This is according to President Irfaan Ali. He made the announcement last Wednesday at the Ramada Princess Hotel Providence, during the stakeholders’ consultation for his party’s manifesto for the upcoming September 1 general and regional elections.
Ali said the government is exploring options to address the labour issues, revealing that administration is in the final stage of reviewing documentation regarding migration as well as the labour laws being used in other countries.
This is so that they can “come up with our own migration policy and strategy to support the development. The attorney general office, they have already drafted the framework for that legislation.”
The president reminded that with the pace of development Guyana has been experiencing and will see over the next five years if the PPP is re-elected, human resources will be needed. He said government’s aim is therefore to maximise what it has.
In April this year, international economist Terrence Yhip issued calls for Guyana to focus on developing a comprehensive immigration policy, as part of its strategy to attract the needed skills in the diaspora.
Kaieteur News had reported that in a recently released research piece examining Guyana’s labour shortage, Yhip underscored the need for Guyana’s policymakers to explore ways to attract foreign investors as well as skills from diaspora groups.
The economist, who is Guyanese by birth, said the government must develop a long-term growth and development plan-a prerequisite for managing imbalances between the demand for and the supply of occupational skills. “A revamped immigration policy should be an integral part of the development plan. Guyana needs to subsume the diaspora’s initiative under a ministry of manpower and immigration. The diaspora can contribute to the narrowing of Guyana’s skills deficit, but the emphasis ought to be the ‘seine’ of immigration that will ‘catch’ talent in large numbers with a range of skills and know-how,” he explained.
He suggested that policymakers should start from a long-term plan of at least 10 years. He suggested too, that they could identify recent imbalances and make a long-range demand-supply forecast serving as a planning tool. He emphasised, “With this structured approach, rather than an ad hoc, reactive diaspora policy, policymakers would have a better line of sight — like the greater visibility afforded by an elevated driving position in an SUV — of labour market developments to adopt corrective measures.”
According to Yhip, the labor ministry will have a staff of highly technical and professional people, doing the labour market analysis and forecasting, providing vital inputs into manpower and immigration policy, such as training, how many immigrants to let into the country, and what types of specific skills are in demand.
“Through this structured approach, Guyana would be better equipped to provide social services, housing, health care, and so on. The ministry would have the advantages of solid expertise, accountability and transparency for the recruitment and hiring process.” “This ministry would need to work in concert with critical ministries like health, education, transportation, and home affairs to provide high-quality services and conditions to attract and retain foreign talent,” he added.
Yhip emphasised that with the right bureaucratic and governance structures, Guyana should be able to tap the Guyanese diaspora for knowledge transfer and investment.
“There must be coordinated efforts by all critical ministries to ensure high levels of services for Guyana to be seen as an attractive place to live and work. The diaspora can promote direct investment and create businesses, but the continuing racial division amongst Guyanese of African and Indian descent breeds political patronage, corruption, and encourages capital flight. These are not the conditions for economic transformation,” the economist suggested.
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