When I began my last series of Sunday columns (September 2, 2012) on the topic ‘Revisiting the political economy of the Guyana sugar industry’, which I concluded last weekend (December 23), I did not anticipate it would take as many as 17 weekly columns for a reappraisal of the industry with recommendations for its reform. More to the point, my original intention was to follow the reappraisal with an examination of the mining sector, with emphasis on small-scale gold and diamond mining. This is because of the leading role this sector now plays in Guyana’s earnings of foreign exchange, as well as in generating livelihoods, income and wealth for important swathes of the population.
However, this year also marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Third World Debt Crisis (TWDC). And, because of the little known role of Guyana in this event I did not want 2012 to pass without some public acknowledgement in Guyana
