Dear Editor,
Thanks to SN for publishing what I would call a blockbuster letter from Ms. Lisa Budhu on April 4th. This letter – so poignant – literally blew me away. It speaks to lack of opportunities to earn a livelihood; social breakdowns – teenage pregnancy, drugs. Lisa, so smart, so hardworking tried her hand on raising poultry, only to have all her savings and labour lost due to floods. A young woman of indomitable spirit, so
creative, she now works on crafting a novel. I’ll bet her theme will be the ‘desperation of life in rural villages”.
I am reminded of President Ali’s call to Chancellor Beckles. “Come up with an `aggressive plan’”, he urged Mr. Beckles, “to train 20,000 Guyanese in 5-years”. Train them in what? Advanced College degrees – BA in bunkum, MA in moonshine. No sir, with all due respect, you got it all wrong. That’s not how development is done. If you need a model, go to Singapore.
Imagine a factory floor in China or Singapore: 1,000 young people with bent backs installing circuits on motherboards, hard drives, or iPhones; or 1000 workers on sewing machines sewing clothes for export. These skills need 6 months (maybe 9 months) specialized training. Not advanced degrees from Beckles’ University. Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) advises: Such skills-training are best done in collaboration involving host Governments (Govt. Technical Institutes) and the Company making products for export. President Ali should read LKY’s “The Singapore Story”. That book is chock-full of ideas on economic planning and development, problem solving and good governance. James Mattis, former US Defense Secretary in a reproach to President Trump once said, “If you don’t read books, from where do you get your ideas”?
Hemchand Bhadrasian trained as an apprentice (welding, electrician, auto mechanic, machinist) at a technical training school in Port Mourant, Berbice; now works for the Board. of Education in NYC (installing and repairing heating and cooling systems). He poses this question to President Ali: “If you are going to spend X millions of dollars on having Beckles’ University train 20,000, why not spend half of $X millions on all the folks who drop out of High School or who never made it to high school? Train them in skills taught at GTI – installing windmills, solar panels, repair of electronic equipment, electrical technicians, and several other trade skills.
Give 5,000 Lisas seed money to start small businesses. Give them training on setting up and operating businesses to produce a product for export. Let the Ministry of Industry find markets for their products. All Guyanese Ambassadors’ duties must be redefined to include attracting foreign companies and investments to Guyana as well as marketing Guyana’s produce and products abroad.
Open back Burnham’s Small Industries Corporation. Let qualified entrepreneurs like Lisa Budhu apply for govt-backed loans to start a business. Guyana is now an oil rich country which means it has revenues to spend to create a class of entrepreneurs. Businesses create both wealth and employment for the nation.
Don’t let the oil money sit in a bank in New York earning interest. That’s such a degradation and waste. Send a team of your most promising graduates to Singapore to study their methods of building a modern economy, study their systems of law and good governance. These will be the folks who will help you with brain power to create a competent and efficient government.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Persaud
