Dear Editor,
My visit to Albouystown, an inner city community in Georgetown, last Monday, revealed to me the hopelessness of its residents. Most householders have no jobs. There is poor housing, narrow roads and poor sanitation. It was clear to me that this community, just a mile from the Office of the President, and less than a mile from the corporate and commercial Georgetown and Government Ministries, was a forgotten part of Guyana.
The hopelessness there and the plight of former and even current workers around the Sugar and Bauxite communities and those in rural Guyana tell the sad story that ordinary Guyanese do not have a stake in their own country.
Our failure at managing our rich natural wealth after nationalization of the commanding heights of our economy in the seventies and then the partial privatization in the nineties did not give Guyanese any significant stake in our own economy.
Bauxite was leased to Russian-owned Rusal, GT&T to American-controlled ATN, our major Gold and other resources to foreign-owned companies, now Oil and Gas resources to big Foreign Oil Companies. The major value from our resources are created overseas and the billions are made and retained by societies overseas. In the divestment of these resources no attempt was ever made to retain any form of local ownership to ensure that Guyanese have a stake in our own Country.
The consequence is that we continue to be employees, being paid little, with no participation in profits, and when the finite resources run out or become marginal we have nothing to show, not even the little employment. On top of that our Government takes a disproportionate amount from us through an extortionately high level of taxation. Then even worse they squander, waste and misappropriate those taxes via a big, corrupt bureaucracy.
Our constitution in its current form and the racially divisive politics of the PPP and PNC are the biggest impediments to our progress. It give rise to large, wasteful and incompetent Governments that rob us of our earnings. Racial division and voting along ethnic lines supports corruption in public office and undermines democracy. It makes politi-cians behave as “Lords of the Land” neglectful of the needs of the masses.
This is vividly shown by their record in Government.
– Plight of Bauxite workers at Kwakwani –
left destitute by neglectful governments
who give the rights to our Bauxite to
foreign companies instead of the residents
there
– Lands at Wales being distributed by APNU
to foreign companies instead of the poor,
displaced sugar workers
– The entire riverfront at Wales/Patentia
given to an oil major rather than leased to a
company whereby sugar workers hold the
shares but then rented to provide the
people of that community with
employment and a stream of income.
– The same experience with lands of the
closed Diamond Sugar Estate, not one acre
given to displaced sugar workers, but to
political elites of the PPP.
– GT&T shares sold by the PPP to a Chinese
Company instead of the employees of that
Company.
We must create structures and systems that give everyone, businessmen and women, but also the average person, nurses, teachers, police, public servants, a stake in our economy. We must not be only employees, we must be owners. While we encourage and invite foreign investors who bring capital and technology, we must create and foster a culture of entrepreneurship at every level. Poverty has no place in a resource rich country like ours if managed well politically. We must eliminate poverty from every corner of our country.
Policymakers must lead with the right policies to create a fertile ground to spur this quest for ownership. The transformation this would bring to our economy is limitless.
To achieve the transformation this new thinking brings, Guyana needs new leadership. It requires rallying all Guyanese around this new vision, mobilizing the resources, building confidence in leadership in an inclusive, transparent and accountable Government. The racially divisive politics of the PPP and APNU have failed and therefore has no place in this new Guyana
Their record in Government tells a tale of failed promises, incompetence and mismanagement. Extortionately high levels of taxes to finance a large, expensive, inefficient bureaucracy have resulted in more than 30 percent of our people in poverty, unemployment of 30 percent, youth unemployment of 40 percent, massive migration, escalating crime, daily blackouts, poor medical care.
Had we insisted on accountability in Government by voting differently:
– We could have had a bridge across the
Demerara River and a bridge across the
Corentyne River.
– A network of highways and roads to the
Airport and Lethem and across our
country.
– State-of-the-art hospitals in Georgetown
and across Guyana.
– 5 G Telecommunications infrastructure.
– A state-of-the-art smart grid delivering
reliable, low cost electricity powering our
homes and industry
– Large scale agricultural and industrial
developments in our city and coastlands
Just look at the contrast with the Governments of our two neighbours, Trinidad and Suriname. The Trinidadian Prime Minister insisted on a royalty of 12.5% on its Gas resources. Suriname secured 6.5% plus taxes of 36% plus selling the oil blocks with a large selling bonus, a method similar to ours, Change Guyana’s plan. The difference in leader-ship is glaring, and that’s why the people in those countries enjoy a higher standard of living.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Badal
Presidential candidate
Change Guyana
