Dear Editor,
For the next thirty years in Guyana, it is expected that a more complex economy and society will be created. However, although there will be unprecedented opportunities, it is important for all of us to understand that, at any given time, no country has ever had sufficient physical and human resources to meet the unlimited needs and wants of its population. Also, every successful country recognises that there are annual limits to how much and how fast its public sector and its economy can efficiently and effectively absorb the investment of public funds. Aware of these economic principles, the present PPP/C government has proposed balanced pro-poor and pro-business “implementable policies” to meet the basic needs of “every single Guyanese”. However, as the famous Scottish poet, Robert Burns, observed, “The best laid plans of mice and men can go wrong”. Therefore, there is no automatic guarantee that the PPP/C’s policies will be successfully implemented. International best practices in complex economies and societies confirm that successful implementation of good governance policies has to be based on the transformation of public sector systems and institutions. This means that Guyana’s central, regional, and local governments, have to urgently begin making fundamental changes in the governance systems of public institutions, in collaboration with civil society, especially the trade unions that represent public sector employees.
The most challenging question for the PPP/C government is how will it establish a new relationship of mutual respect with the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU)? Both government and the GPSU are equally responsible for moving beyond the 2020 General and Regional Elections. Without a transformed public sector, the Guyanese nation will not be able to successfully overcome major threats such as climate change (rising sea and river levels, floods, droughts and the loss of mangroves); oil dependency (‘Dutch Disease’) with all its negative political, financial, economic and social consequences; future health pandemics; environmental degradation of land and marine resources; unbalanced growth in urban areas; and the continuing ‘brain drain’ of professionals, skilled workers, farmers, and university students. The PPP/C government needs more efficient and effective public institutions to achieve its “implementable” economic and social policies such as: (a) building a diversified economy with equal economic opportunities in all ethnic communities and regions; (b) improving the electricity and water utilities; (c) enforcing local content policies in the new oil and gas sector; (d) supporting the private sector to increase exports; (e) distributing all public goods and services equally and fairly, regardless of ethnicity, region, class, gender, age and disability; (f) stopping violence against women and children; (g) reducing the high death rates in rural areas of infants and women giving birth; and (h) ending suicides and the stunted growth of children in the hinterland regions.
Reforms in the public sector are not new. Over the last thirty-five years, the Ministry of Finance, the Guyana Revenue Authority, and the Office of the Auditor-General were modernised. Notable improvements were made in strategic planning, and in the financial management of government revenues, expenditures and public infrastructural projects. Tendering for public goods and services was enhanced. Bipartisan parliamentary oversight of government revenues and expenditures was strengthened. Today, there are many female and male professional public servants who go ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ to provide high quality service. They are incorruptible, humble, fair, balanced, inclusive and helpful. Here are a few examples: public officials in the Ministry of Housing and the Central Housing and Planning Authority have reduced the processing times for the allocation of house lots and for construction permits and, they are working with communities and private businesses to construct homes for low-income earners and young professionals. At the Office of the General Registrar, there are new certified copies of Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates. During the recent massive floods, Ministers and officials from Ministries, Agencies, the Joint Services, Regional Democratic Councils and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils visited communities to provide immediate relief and ongoing support.
However, in many institutions, there continues to be systemic weaknesses and gaps in accountability, transparency, accessibility and inclusiveness such as: corruption and conflicts of interest; non-enforcement of the findings of the Office of the Auditor General and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee; complicated rules, regulations and procedures; and the growing gap in status and benefits between ‘contracted’ staff and employees on the ‘establishment’. In terms of infrastructural projects, the public sector has successfully facilitated and overseen the construction of schools, hospitals, highways, technical institutes, new electricity plants at Kingston and Vreed-en-Hoop , and the new Hope drainage canal. On the other hand, there are some notable examples of poor planning and wasteful spending on “transformational projects” that did not produce ‘value for money’ such as: the $4.3 billion laptop distribution project; the $4 billion non-existent fibre-optic cable from northern Brazil to the Atlantic Coast; the $48 billion Skeldon Factory; the $31 billion expanded Cheddi Jagan International Airport; the $3 billion road to Amaila Falls; and the $1 billion D’Urban Park Stadium. Furthermore, there have been many occasions when communities every year suffer flood damage because drainage and irrigation facilities, roads and bridges are poorly constructed. Central officials, engineers, contractors and local authorities failed to respect a community’s knowledge of the seasonal flows and drainage patterns of rivers and swamps. They also ignored the experiences of local residents in preserving mangroves and natural storage areas for heavy rainfall.
Now, the new PPP/C government has proposed a huge list of national, regional and local projects. They include the construction of the new $25 billion Demerara Bridge, the $246 billion gas-to-shore project, the $31 billion Linden to Mabura Road, the dredging of the Demerara River channel, the Corentyne Bridge, the Wismar Bridge, the Kurupukari Bridge, new ferry stellings, solar farms, hydro-electric plants, and agricultural and manufacturing Corridors of Development with business incubators and agro-processing facilities. International experience shows that across all countries, at least fourteen per cent (14%) of infrastructural projects fail, according to the Project Management Institute (PMI) of the USA. For Guyana’s projects to successfully achieve ‘value for money’, the PMI has outlined some best practices such as: (1) there has to be continuous two-way communication and consultation with all stakeholders especially the general public and communities, throughout the phases of a project; and (2) the exact order, timelines and ranking of projects have to be publicly reviewed so that public sector institutions would not be overwhelmed and so that every year the public sector and the economy could efficiently and effectively absorb the public investments.
Sincerely,
Geoff Da Silva
