Dear Editor,
On May 27th, US Vice President Joseph Biden, visited Trinidad and Tobago for bilateral talks with several Caricom leaders, including Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar. On June 1st, one day before Mr Biden departed the region, China’s President Xi Jinping touched down in Trinidad where he was scheduled for talks with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in what is being billed as the first stop in a visit to several Latin American and Caricom countries. While it is passing interesting to note the fact that Guyana was the first Caricom country to have established relations with China over forty years ago, the Chinese President will not be visiting Guyana. Of greater interest, however, is the sheer timing of the visit by the Chinese President and that of the US Vice President. It gives the appearance of a battle between the world’s number one and number two economies seeking to expand influence in the region, but with China having money to burn, it has been making multi-billion-dollar investments, from loans to grants to construction of infrastructure over the years in several Latin American and Caricom countries.
While he is scheduled for direct talks with leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname, what stands out about the Chinese President, who took office in March, is that he has developed a no-nonsense approach to pervasive corruption in his country, which was something Guyanese were hoping for from President Ramotar.
Like President Ramotar, his election to the presidency was publicly choreographed by the communist ruling party, but in his first speech as President, Mr Xi reportedly used plain language in his comments about corruption, stressing that officials need “iron-hard resolve to tackle the problem,” while emphasising the need for action rather than words.
His Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, also spoke of the growing inequality gap and public anger at corruption, promising to reform the central government, cut “extravagance” and shake-up “vested interests.” According to CNN, he added that “spending on the government payroll, overseas trips and new offices would be cut while funding for social services would increase,” because “a clean government should start with oneself.”
We have not heard half as many promises from President Ramotar, but we heard from him that he intends to continue the Jagdeo policies, which were a reflection of the PPP’s policies.
Editor, we want all the help we can get to fix our economy, not for the chosen few, but for the many who have been left out of the loop of socioeconomic development, whether the help comes directly from the US treasury or from remittances by US-based Guyanese.
We also welcome any help from China, but when it comes to deals with China, we want transparency, accountability and a sense of fairness. After all, the Chinese have long been part of the once trumpeted ‘six races’ in Guyana, while China cannot say the same of Guyanese in that country.
In closing, let me say that, with almost eighteen months in office, Guyanese can only hope that President Ramotar learned enough quickly and will start showing some sort of leadership instead of giving the appearance he is following.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
