(Editorial reprinted from yesterday’s Jamaica Observer)
We are intensely supportive of the concept of and necessity for Caribbean integration. But it does not stop us from facing bald reality.
Mr John Keynes, it was, who pointed to an eternal truth, that every statesman (a euphemism for politician) was unwittingly the “slave of some defunct economist”. This is particularly the case when the politician has an intellectual inferiority complex but yearns for acceptance by being a recognised disciple of known intellectuals whose ideas they repeat, even when they are of little or no relevance to the current policy dilemma.
In the Caribbean, President Bharrat Jagdeo of Guyana comes to mind. In this regard, he is maintaining a Guyanese tradition. Cheddi Jagan was an apostle of the Stalinist perversion of Marxism, which passed as the Soviet model. President Forbes Burnham, the Caribbean’s Robert Mugabe, was an unrepentant dictator practising a brand of fascism called Co-operative Socialism.
President Jagdeo, trained in the Soviet Union, believes in the developmental state, which plays the leading role in economic development. Like his predecessors, he does not believe in markets and regards private enterprise as a form of theft.
The extreme poverty of Guyana, a vast land blessed with abundant resources of every kind, is testimony to bad economic policy. Not content to preside over the steady impoverishment of his people (those who have not yet migrated) he now proposes the implosion of the few remaining economic activities.
Following the academic delusions of two prominent Guyanese, neither of whom have any practical experience in trade negotiations, he raised the issue of delaying the signing of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) at the recent Caricom summit in Antigua & Barbuda. None of the concerns he raised were found to be technically valid or politically feasible.
In embarrassing defeat, he protested that he must consult with the private sector and civil society. No explanation was offered as to why he had postponed these consultations since December of last year when the negotiations were completed. He now faces public humiliation by Guyana’s exporters of sugar, rum, rice and seafood whose survival and enhanced prospects depend on the EPA.
Among the many redundant proposals was the notion that CARIFORUM should postpone signing and wait to join with the African countries who, we note, do not have the same interests because most are least developed countries and already had duty-free quota-free access to the European market via the Everything But Arms Initiative.
We need the EPA to get that access. In any case, the possibility for joint ACP negotiations, preferential treatment in perpetuity for special commodities and the right to non-reciprocity were given up by our negotiators when they succumbed to the terms handed down by the EU in the Cotonou Agreement.
If Mr Jagdeo wants Guyana to opt out of the EPA to chase the mirage of a goods-only agreement, then the rest of CARIFORUM should go ahead without Guyana and sign the existing EPA.
The consequences would be dire for its exports to the EU and Caricom. Guyana would lose eligibility to the development assistance linked to the implementation of the EPA. It would slow down the already comatose Caribbean Single Market and Economy, which is likely to be rescheduled until the “Twelfth of Never”.
What other alternative does the Government has? Mr. President you, in an interview with the Antiguan Press, said that that before any signing is done by the Guyana Government you want to expose the unfairness of the EU Deal we the Guyanese people are really getting into. I guess you going to sign it anyway.
It’s rather ironic that the President is quite ready to expose and inform the Guyanese public about this deal while on other equally important and even more important matters they are so tight-lipped – tell me about Freedom of Information.
So instead of trying to show the Guyanese people how robust you supposedly are by opposing the EU Deal, it’s already a done deal and you gonna sign it anyway, so spare us the act. It’s not like government has any other plan or alternative; there approach to things is usually ad-hoc and reactive.
When are we going to see we getting no place with this government.
Sometimes these things just have to be said!!!
It was sad that Mr. Jagdeo was left alone in the wilderness to object to the signing of the EPA, which has issues.
However I must point out that this editorial was accurate in its evaluation of Mr. Jagdeo.
“President Jagdeo, trained in the Soviet Union, believes in the developmental state, which plays the leading role in economic development.” This explains why Jagdeo and his government has not attracted a single major investment during his repeated failed tenures and those of his predecessors. This country has been stagnant and regressive since around 1995/96 when the residual effects of Hoyte’s policies started to fade.
” Like his predecessors, he does not believe in markets and regards private enterprise as a form of theft.”
This is most accurate and is reflected in the way Mr.Jagdeo treats the local private sector- cussing out Messrs Gerry Gouveia and Yesu Persaud-just to name two instances.
“The extreme poverty of Guyana, a vast land blessed with abundant resources of every kind, is testimony to bad economic policy.”
For years now Guyanese in the diaspora, home and some players in the private sector have recommended the opening up of the economy-the road to Lethem, opening up of the interior, new land development, new infrastructure, reform of the Police Force and all other state systems, fixing of the judiciary, liberalising the strangle hold on the radio monopoly,etc,etc,etc., just to name a few proposals put forward by citizens. Instead, Jagdeo and his Govt are content with one radio station (Trinidad has too numerous to mention), an inefficient judiciary, a burdensome tax system that ensures that the wealthy gets wealthier and the poor (the masses) regresses and also a tax system that allows the state to generate more taxes and give tax breaks to cronies of the state and the wealthy.
“In embarrassing defeat, he protested that he must consult with the private sector and civil society.”
It took Jagdeo two massacres to get a half baked so called civil society consultation with selected citizens underway. Ask him now what the status of those consultations is and you would get a contemptuous no response. There is no consultation with the private sector or civil society period in this country.
But you see, these are the issues that the opposition should pick up on and challenge the govt.
I do not know the entire EPA, but at a minimum I expect that the interests of Guyanese will be represented. And clearly they are not.
Let’s see how the Guyanese vote in 2011!!!
They will still vote PPP because the cup is more important to them than a plate of food.
Great editoral by the Jamacian Observer and nice job of reprinting this editoral Stabroek News. For me, this part is on the money and I concur 100% when it says- “when the politician has an intellectual inferiority complex but yearns for acceptance by being a recognised disciple of known intellectuals whose ideas they repeat”- . Wow.. I love it but as the saying goes, who the cap fits draw the string.
Guyana is experiencing the Brain Drain Syndrome in Gov’t from top to bottom… Ouch!… nuff said already, but now everybody around the Caribbean knows it too. Just imagine at one time, and not so long ago, Guyanese scholarship was the cream of the intellectual community in the Caribbean. I mean they used to look to us for leadership on everything but now they are saying forget about Guyana and I find myself in total agreement.
And we wonder why Guyanese are treated with such contempt. Intellectual inferiority complex, ouch!!! That’s a hard one for the egotist, it more like intellectual deficiency which is a syndrome which can be treated our time with maturity.
One quick note to the editorial writer who is obviously Jamaican, that he comes across just like his homophobic dance hall Dj countrymen, full of false pride and lack an understanding of the circumstances of others. Manley also in his urge for a “caribbeanness” bastardised what the “yardies” proudly called “democratic socialism”. How much better off are the people of Jamaica (who have not as yet migrated) that their deprived guyanese counterpart. Those who live in glass houses must not throw stones.
That said, our leaders of Guyana and the caricom, past and present are a let down (maybe with one or two exceptions, not more).
I do agree that Jagdeo’s humiliation constitutes the core of this editorial, but what say ye, O insightful Guyanese, to the descriptions given to Jagan and Burnham?
As far as I am concerned the PPP and PNC and all traditions associated therewith should be discarded.
As a people, we have suffered from the most incompetent leadership which bled this country into impoverishment and squalor.
You’re so right, we need some new parties with new ideas.
Congrats Jamaica sign tne EPA without Jagdeo
Thank you for this reprint. It shows 100% the results of our actions and inaction in Guyana.
Regarding the EPA, President Jagdeo had ample time since he knew that the preceding arrangements were coming to an end, he knew that negotiations were taking place, and he knew the final EPA was placed on the table a long time ago. This whole situation sounds like the consultations they do with the national budget – too little, too late.
To close, let me quote from the CRNM Website:
There are four phases to the schedule of EPA negotiations that will guide interchange between CARIFORUM and the EC, namely: I) Initial Phase: Establishing the Priorities of EPA Negotiations (April 2004 to September 2004) – the objective of this phase is to establish an understanding of the fundamental concerns and interests of EPA negotiations for both CARIFORUM and the EC; ii) Second Phase: Convergence on strategic approach to CARIFORUM regional integration (September 2004 to September 2005) – the aim of EPA negotiations during this phase will be to establish a common understanding on the priorities for support of Caribbean regional integration, and the targets to be attained by the time of the commencement of implementation on January 1, 2008 and beyond; iii) Third Phase: Structuring and consolidating of EPA negotiations (September 2005 to December 2006) – the objective of this phase of negotiations is to consolidate the discussions and channel the points of common understanding into elements of a draft EPA; and, iv) Final Phase: Finalisation (January 2007 to December 2007) – negotiations during this final phase should concentrate on consolidating the results of the negotiations and completing the EPA negotiations by the end of 2007.
Now that is embarrassing. Let us see Mr. Jagdeo lash out at the Jamaica Observer. Mr. Jagdeo takes advantage of the local media, this pill must be hard to swallow.
The writer describes Mr. Jagdeo’s opinion of the private sector so precise.