A forum for Guyanese to share their views on the present state of our beloved country.

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Visions of a leader blinded

Recently our beloved former first son, Joey Jagan, made some observations while traveling through Guyana. While his observations are enlightening, they are late. Sorry Joey, these things were with us a long time ago.

The problem of lack of development has been with us for some time

Monday, May 9th 2005


I write this letter in support of the observations of our former first son, Cheddi (Joey) Jagan Jr. in his letter captioned "People throughout the country are fed up with the lack of development" (3.3.05). However, his observations are a bit late since these problems were inherent in Guyana not after President Jagdeo took over but even in the days of his father and mother, former celebrated leaders of our country. Although I agree with him fully, it puzzles me as to why he would choose this moment to voice his positions if not for his own political leverage.

Developing countries like Guyana are in unique positions. We are able to tailor our development projects by looking at the lessons learnt by those countries that are light years ahead of us. History offers us the opportunity to adopt practices that worked and abandon those that didn't. Using Latin America as a close example, we observe the destruction privatization has bestowed on those countries. While we need more efficient industries our country must not be sold out for little.

Taking an example from the United States, where after World War II then President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his capacity as leader and commander-in-chief, decided to put Americans back to work. It was June 29, 1956, when President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act, and interstate highways began to meet the challenge of the growing number of automobiles on the nation's highways and provided for the millions of men and women out of work the vital employment that they needed. Coupled with this, the government embarked on building massive civil projects which acted as the catalyst for America's development.

Guyana is in a position today where thousands of trained Guyanese are out of work, the economy is in dire need of stimulation, we are highly indebted and the recent floods were just a reminder of the nature of the catastrophe to come unless we move out of the 'Low Coastal Plain.'
Using mass construction as an example for fostering development will provide not only jobs for the many unemployed Guyanese but also would stimulate the economy. The collection of taxes, which is the government's most significant income source to provide the social services they need for citizens, is of utmost importance. With more people working you are in a better position to collect taxes not only from employed individuals but also from those companies that would be their employers.

We need to stop our political rhetoric, pool our intellectual resources study past practices from the developed world and formulate a plan that best suits the Guyanese context and put that plan into practice. Sergio Varas-Olea, Representative of the IDB in Guyana pointed out that we need more growth in the economy. This growth cannot occur by us talking about it, we need concerted efforts, strategic plans and action.

It is often easier for someone from the outside looking in to offer suggestions on how we can move forward, more often than not those persons are far divorced from the political, social and most importantly, the cultural aspects of the country. We as Guyanese know ourselves; we are a hard-working people like all other people of this world that want only the best for ourselves and family. We know our problems, we know there are solutions, what we need is the will of the government to initiate the development the country needs to get out of its stagnated development phase. It is easy to say that Guyanese are wanted around the world but I am sure if the opportunities encountered upon moving to those countries were to be available at home the discussion of skilled migration and the current brain-drain occurring in Guyana need not be.
Please let's stop talking development and start witnessing development. The government could encourage it by first making the environment safe to accommodate development and Guyana would be a better place for those living there and for those of us that are eager to move back.

Christopher Watson

1 Comments:

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