We often make jokes about our mythical Region 11, whether it be Queen’s, New York, or as we say for everywhere Guyanese find themselves overseas, “Foreign”. Joking apart, Guyana is in fact more than the 83,000 square miles of our official land mass. And by extension, we are more than the roughly 750,000 people, who inhabit our country.

Our diaspora, perhaps equal to or more than our actual population, is very real, with recognizable and dynamic communities in such metropolitan centres as London, New York, Toronto and Miami, to name just the most prominent. And Guyanese and the children of Guyanese immigrants have achieved widespread recognition as hardworking, upstanding citizens, with a track record of achievement in almost every area of endeavour.

The basic building block for a country’s social and economic development is its people. But at home the severe lack of qualified and skilled human capital is seriously handicapping our efforts to achieve economic growth, social stability, political maturity and the consolidation of our nationhood.

In a letter on Tuesday dealing with the issue of the parliamentary bills, the unnamed letter writer suggested in passing that there should be “a website that allows people overseas and the government to match skills and needs