The Berbice Development Summit that forgot where Berbice is

Nov 14, 2025 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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(Kaieteur News) – You must hand it to the organisers of the Berbice Development Summit — they’ve managed to achieve what few governments have ever dared: to hold a regional summit that somehow forgot where the region is. It’s like holding Broadway play in Queens and still calling it “Manhattan Nights.”

The Berbice Development Summit, of all things, was held in Georgetown — yes, the capital of Guyana. Georgetown, for those still squinting at their GPS, is not Berbice. It is, in fact, miles away — so many miles, in fact, that one suspects the organizers may have mistaken the name “Berbice” for a metaphor rather than a place inhabited by actual human beings.

And the insult doesn’t stop there. No, that was merely the hors d’oeuvres. The main course, served cold, naturally ,was that the opening day audience reportedly included more people from outside Berbice than from that region. It’s as if someone threw a birthday party for Berbice, and then filled the guest list with strangers from Essequibo, Demerara, and possibly even Mars.

Just look at the images of the event that appeared in Facebook. One can almost picture the scene: rows of non-Berbicians, nodding solemnly as PowerPoint slides whizzed by, while a lonely Berbician in the back timidly raised his hand to ask, “Excuse me, are we at the right meeting?” To which someone probably replied, “Shh, this is about your future. Don’t interrupt.”

From all accounts, the whole exercise smacks of that delightful political art form known as fait accompli. Or as it translates in the local dialect, “We done decide fuh yuh already.” Berbicians, rather than being invited to design their own development, seem to be receiving a pre-packaged plan from on high, one that was likely drafted in an air-conditioned boardroom somewhere in Texas.

If this is what the government means by inclusion, then the dictionary will need revising. Because apparently, inclusion now means inviting you to your own surprise party after the cake has already been eaten. Let’s call things by their right names. This isn’t development. This is imposition with refreshments. Development, true development, is supposed to rise from the ground up. It is shaped by the people who live, work, and dream in a place. But what’s happening here is development inverted.

Now, one suspects that this sudden enthusiasm for Berbice has less to do with altruistic regional empowerment and more to do with a certain… gas-to-shore project. Yes, that mysterious second facility that has been hovering in rumor and press release like a ghostly apparition of “progress.”

The government seems eager to press ahead with this plan. But there’s a small hitch: they don’t have enough demand for the energy they’ll produce. The solution? Simple. Create the demand. Build the vision. Draft the “development plan” that conveniently requires lots of gas. And voilà, the people of Berbice, whether they asked for it or not, suddenly find themselves living in the pilot project for somebody else’s dream. One can almost imagine the pitch: “Don’t worry about what you need, dear Berbicians. We’ve decided what you should want.”

But here’s the thing about Berbicians. They’re thoughtful and more than capable of articulating what works for their communities. If development is to be meaningful, it must start with them, not with a folder of slides shipped across the Berbice River by courier.

At the very least there should have been a White Paper circulated before the summit. Something that laid out the government’s proposals, the assumptions, the costs, the trade-offs. Something the people could read, discuss, challenge, and refine before being summoned to a conference room miles away to be told what’s “best” for them.

The whole spectacle has a faintly comic air. Except this time, the joke’s on the people of Berbice. Imagine a summit about your home, your livelihood, your future and it’s held somewhere else, planned by people who probably couldn’t tell you how many bridges there are in Berbice.

It’s like being told someone is renovating your house while you’re still living in it, and by the way, they’re knocking down the kitchen. Berbicians deserve better. They deserve to shape their own destiny, not to have it handed to them in a glossy binder with the words “Draft for Consultation” printed in twelve-point font. They deserve the dignity of participation, not the condescension of being “consulted” after the decisions have already been made. So yes, Berbicians should protest. Peacefully, politely, but firmly.

They should demand to be heard as the authors of their own future. Because the real development of Berbice will not come from summits in Georgetown. It will come from Berbicians themselves, when they’re finally allowed to sit at the head of their own table.

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

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• Berbice, Development, Peeping Tom, Summit

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