Dear Editor,
It is absolutely dreadful for Guyana that our graduates migrate to other lands to serve and earn a living. Statistics show that about 80% (every 8 of 10) of our university graduates leave for another country. Guyanese immigrants are all over the world, but are most abundant in North America and the Caribbean.
I am a graduate who recently migrated and would like to share my experiences as to why I moved out of Guyana.
1. Corruption: I have seen it all in the 10 years that I have worked in Guyana with four prominent institutions. The reason why there were so many job changes in ten years is that I thought that each institution was better. But having moved from one to the next I realized that corruption has become a Guyanese institutional culture. And it starts from the administrators and government officials right at the top. There is one instance where a certain minister had his brother driving the ministry’s vehicle. But the field workers had no transport to take us to see the poor man and give advice.
Sometimes I feel guilty and ashamed. I could not have done anything or said anything. How could I stay and see injustice done and say nothing? I was afraid.
2. Lack of a plan: Power has enveloped the people in charge. They take no advice and are self-righteous. I have never seen people so arrogant. If the PNC administration was bad, this one is worse. They do not have a vision or a plan to take Guyana forward, although every one of them thinks he/she knows best how to run Guyana.
3. No respect for the learned: I honestly do not think that this administration wants learned people around them. My experience is that if your grandfather’s father did not join the PPP you have no right to be in any position in Guyana. So I left. Those academics who stick it out there, my hats off to you. I envy you too. I wish I had the courage to stand up and fight.
4. Hard to put food on the table: The salary the paid there in Guyana is barely enough to put food on the table. I do not know how the poor man makes out. If it were not for relatives overseas who send clothes, money and food, Guyanese would have been enduring greater hardship.
5. Unfair system: One time we had an informal meeting with a certain minister. The graduates asked him about ‘duty free.’ He went on with this long explanation about the IMF and IDB, etc. The people who need the duty free cannot get them. The government wants to collect more taxes. Instead of doing so from the businesses they slap the poor consumers with VAT. Those are some of the reasons why I left.
I am here in a foreign land. My heart weeps for Guyana. Maybe some day I will return. But fighting instincts have not gripped me as yet.
Yours faithfully,
Nishard Williams
