Dear Editor,
The letter by Dr Prem Misir captioned ‘Guyana is consolidating its development’ (SN 27.11.08) in which he uses wonderful statistics to show how great this government is doing for the people of Guyana, only convinces me that here is a prime example of a square peg in a round hole in the government service. Here is a spin doctor of the highest order, spinning tales of growth and development in this country when in fact he conveniently leaves out the everyday harsh and difficult times for the average Guyanese citizen. Dr Misir is a big man at our university (pro-chancellor) but look at UG and see its steady erosion under this government where the teaching staff, the students and the supporting staff all are suffering under ineptitude and poor management. UG opened its doors for classes only a week ago amid total confusion and dysfunction and Dr Misir has the nerve to take on the task of spin-doctor for this administration.
In his letter, Dr Misir talks about the foreign debt coming down from US$2B to US$700M now, without crediting this to the efforts of the late President Cheddi, and ignoring the fact that after that great man passed away, this administration increased the local debt (by printing debentures and treasury bills) from $18.8B to a whopping $69.3B, and increasing every day.
He never mentions the fact that while President Cheddi was alive as leader of Guyana, the growth rate was 7-9% and after his death in 1997, the growth rate plunged to marginal and even negative figures under the successive administrations of Mr Sam Hinds, Mrs Jagan and Mr Jagdeo.
Dr Misir does not mention the fact that this administration sold the bauxite industry for less than 10 cents in the dollar; nor does he mention that all the great numbers he gives that are expended on health, education, etc, are underlaid by funds from HIPC and other donors, not mainly his government; nor does he mention that the investment numbers he gives in his letter (for the last year) are not diversified investments but really a BOSAI one-bloc investment; nor does he recognize that this country needs at least US$450M investments yearly in order to sustain and increase growth rates and provide good-paying jobs for our people; nor does he mention that the private sector is faced with low incentives and a whopping tax base of 45% − the highest in the Caribbean − as he disingenuously states that his government is committed to private sector growth; nor does he mention the crippling effects of poor electricty supply and sub-standard water supply which frustrate investment potential and exhaust the whole population, in particular the poor and marginalized; nor does he mention the spiralling orgy of crime, unemployment and poverty which the average Guyanese has to endure in their daily lives; nor does he mention the corruption, bribery and nepotism in government services which affect Guyanese in their daily lives and which have not being addressed properly; nor does he mention the huge amount of US dollars which our kith and kin send back to help their own and which is buried in his glowing tribute to this administration.
No, Sir! Dr Misir does not even touch on these underlying negatives which I mention because he uses a classical communist approach which is to use statistics upon statistics to storm the reader’s brain into acceptance of his dogma; he is too busy being a spin doctor for this administration − as President Cheddi always said, a square peg in a round hole.
Yours faithfully,
Cheddi (Joey) Jagan (Jr)
I hope Caesar in his myopia and confused state, try to avoid the mendacious toxins and ingest good food nutritious for cognitive activity. I do not need to look around, and I guess Joey understand as I do what are the leading and lagging indicators of development.
Thanks Joey!
At least somone is paying attention and ensuring Guyanese and others outside of Guyana recieve the true facts. Those at home already suffer the reality of Jagdeo’s adminstration lies.
“Those at home already suffer the reality of Jagdeo’s adminstration lies.”
…….michael the people at home like it…..the enjoy suffering under the jagdeo’s adminstration…..how many people can afford to read the paper in guyana……
………the people will stilllllllllllllllllllll vote for the cup…….this symbol ment something and the avrage man/woman starving …….
Dr. Misery failed to realize that this newspaper is read by intellectuals, and that he is not addressing a ‘bottom house’ meeting. there are many persons like Joey, who are prepared to bat his ’spim’. I urge others to do same. the truth needs to be told
Why worry with Misir, don’t you realise this man hallucinates all the time.
Even Lance Gibbs can bat this spin by Joey Jagan that “President Cheddi was alive as leader of Guyana, the growth rate was 7-9%”
No PPP or PNC administration or leaders of the their respective parties except for President Hoyte was responsible for economic growth of 7-9%.
President Hoyte did stimulate the economy by interjecting money into the rice industry in particular towards the end of his rigged occupancy of the Presidency of Guyana.
It happened that President Cheddi Jagan was the benefit of this economic stimulus —later on during Dr. Jagan rule—as typical Jaganism economics as employed by his first disciple President Burnham came into play— the economy turned sour once again and slowly took a dive—President Janet Jagan and President Jagdeo continue with Jaganite economics which has defeated Guyana’s potential.
Unfortunate for president Hoyte that he reverted back to the typical old style PPP/PNC politics while in opposition and never recovered.
The glimpse of 7-9% was never seen again—and that type of Janganite economic has continue unabated.
Master Rupert, your’e playing with percentages, … What was mr. Hoyte recovering from?….. If you owned a bicycle and you bought another one, you now have 2, right?… your worth has increased by 100%… .. now if you owned a Toyota 4×4.. and you went out and bought 10 bicycles, what % has your worth increased by?…. get the analogy?…. . so. … to rise fron the rock bottom, we were at during Hoytes time, bears no comparison…. 20% growth, would’ nt even be worth a mention, …. for example during Hoyte My cousins salary was $2,000, ten years after, it was 50 times that, ..donn’t want to tell you mine… might make you jealous…. so keep those comparisons for your friends who think like you, over drinks…. Mind you, i really believed Mr. hoyte was a sincere individual who wanted to correct the wrongs he Inherited… but then he was part of the group of mismanagers for years.. before….
Mr. Joey Jagan wanted to run for Guyana Presidency. I met Joey a couple of times here in New York. The man Needs should stick to pulling teeth. He cannot run for a baby sitting job. This world will come to an end before Joey ever become President. Let him live in America.
Prem Mizir and Bisram seems to be colleagues and close admirers of Hans Christian Anderson. They are adept at telling “tall tales” which unfortunately some adults like my friend lambada believes.
The PPP has skilfully increase domestic borrowing and kept the foreign borrowing down. In my books, this situation has resulted in the hight cost of capital and stagnation of domestic enterprise (other than the drug funded ones). The impacts are different, the expansion of domestic debt while allowing for stability in some macroeconomic benchmarks impact significantly in a negative way on the productive sector. The overall debt stock increases the same way only slower due to exchange rate differentials. The IMF says this type of financing keeps inflation down. My foot…it is basic money laundering since the economy would not be able to accure such levels of domestic savings even with remittances being such a huge number in our GDP.
dear sir, you seem to be someone who done a bit of your homework, unfortunately , you also seem to have decided before hand what the results would be….. For some of us it doesn’t matter what approach the present Anministration takes the action would always be doomed….. for my education though, could you perhaps list a few enterprises, that were productive or successful during the previous Admin……… Perhaps I am getting info from the wrong sources, but my last check … indicated …. that sugar prod. doubled post 1992.. Rice trippled. … bauxite which hovered near extinction, 10yrs. is making an agonised comeback,. …….Gold and diamond production Peaked over the years … the Municipalmarkets overflow with produce.. and the foreign reserves are up, and foreign debt down…. which other country in the region…. …. beside oil rich Trinidad,… compares?… this mummbo Jumbo of.. skewed stats that seem to be the drift…. is sure an insult to thinking guyanese… Be , informed also that this blogger, though resident overseas, spends upwards of 3 months EVERY… year in guy…. the visual evidence of material progress is overwhelming….. can’nt say the same for ethical andmoral progress .. but the blame for that is subjective…..
While there is clear and consistent evidence that the Guyanese economy has detoriated, a number of factors have contributed to this decline. Yet Dr. Jagan (Joey) seems to think that his father (deceased) is still walking on water, and finds it acceptable to demonize the current leaders of the PPP and hence the Government. Dr. Jagan, today Guyana is fastly moving toward a service-knowledge-information-technology-based economy. Indeed during the past 20 years the Guyanese economy has been transforming from the kitchen garden, small farms, sugar and rice producing economy in which the majority of workers produce primarily for local consumption, with marginal exportation. It was therefore necessary that in light of this developing economy that “HIPC and other donors” give us a helping hand. Of course there is hiccups in the Government’s strive to provide the poor with a decent standard of living, but understand, that as the complexity of work increases ( to meet the the transforming economy) there has been concomitant increase in technical, professional and managerial education and consequently “some” jobs. These initiatives all cost the Government big bucks. Some of these jobs would not provide outputs that you would call growth or major job creation, which you refer to in Dr. Misirs stats as ” spinning the tale growth and development” , but Joey “one step for the individuals one giant leap for Guyanese”. I suspect that you now conduct business in Guyana. If this is so, my deductive reasoning would support the theory that there is sufficient incentive and a climate that made it irresistable for you to be a part of the growing business community. The stats mentioned in support of your arguement are not meaningless, but it does not take into account the central difference between the world in your dad’s government (the world was round) and the world now (the world is flat).. ISNM
DEAR ULRIC , thanks for thoughtfull , and rational comments, an ingredient that seems so scarce…. in this form of communication, …gives me hope thatthe ‘blooging community is slowly coming of age… …peace…..