Dear Editor,
IT WAS pointed out that, three years after winning the 2011 Elections, the PPP/C failed to make good on its promise to create 2000 jobs in Linden, Region 10.
During the APNU+AFC coalition campaign, they also had made promises to create jobs for the unemployed, mainly the youths, who had come out in their numbers and voted at the 2015 general and regional elections in support of the APNU+AFC coalition, with the expectation that when the APNU+AFC coalition wins the elections the promises would be fulfilled, instead of failing like the former PPP/C Government.

To date, the APNU+AFC Government is still to put systems in place to fulfill its job-creation promises.
The People’s United and General Workers Union is confident that the APNU+AFC Government can create and make jobs available for every unemployed Guyanese. In so doing, the Government does not need to depend mainly on private and foreign investors to create jobs for Guyanese; it needs to start creating jobs on its own by establishing and reopening factories that were closed years ago.

For example, it needs to do the following:
(1)Re-establish the cotton industry at Kimbia and the factory at Ruimveldt, Georgetown. The operation would involve cultivating cotton in the Intermediate Savannahs at Kimbia, and processing same into cotton fabric at the textile factory that was built by the Chinese Government at Ruimveldt, Georgetown. The factory at Georgetown would need to be rebuilt as a state-of-the-art building, the operation at Kimbia would create employment for the Amerindians and other persons who live at Kimbia/along the Berbice River, and the factory at Georgetown would create employment for the residents of Georgetown, where the factory will be located and reopened.

(2) Relocate and re-establish the glass factory which was established by the PNC Government. Based on information received, the factory was closed because when the glass is being processed, it cracks due to the area the factory is located — next to the airport, whereby when the airplane takes off or touches down at the airport, the vibrations coming from that airport would crack the glass.

(3) Re-establish the clay brick factory that was established under the PNC Government; the factory can be established in Region 10 at Ituni. The residents of Ituni depend mainly on logging to make their daily living. If the factory is established there, residents would be able to move away from logging and seek employment with the factory. This would ease cutting of logs and strengthen the Guyana and Norway agreement etc.

(4) Re-establish the food canning factory that was established by the PNC Government. This factory would can food products that are produced by farmers, and create employment for Guyanese.

(5) Open a waste recycling factory to help reduce or eliminate the plastic, cans, and other materials from off the streets and drains in Guyana etc. This factory can set a price and pay for the items, and provide trucks to drive around Guyana on scheduled dates to pick up the items at specific points, homes and business places etc. The factory can also provide trucks and work along with Town Council in each region, since the councils are responsible for uplifting garbage in their community, which would include items that the factory would need for recycling purposes.

(6) Establish a plant which would recycle tyres and manufacture rubberised bitumen. Such a plant would create employment for Guyanese and help the economy, since better roads would facilitate the transporting of goods from one area to another, as well as boost agriculture. Vehicle owners could sell their used tyres to the factory to help pay for new tyres for their vehicles. (It will be remembered that the APNU+AFC Government has banned the importation of used tyres.)

(7) Establish a food plant that would dry and package fruits. The AFC promised on the campaign trail to establish such a factory in Berbice.

(8) Establish a vehicle assembling factory in Linden, which would reduce the cost for vehicles and create jobs for the unemployed; not forgetting that the AFC party in the past had promised to do same in Linden during a visit to Linden.

Editor, Trinidad & Tobago doesn’t have resources or reserved or general land space as Guyana does, but that country still has more factories than Guyana, and the value of its currency is higher than Guyana’s.

If Guyana can manage its resources properly by establishing factories that would convert our natural resources to finished products, it would decrease our imports and increase our exports, which will lead to increasing the value of our Guyana dollar.

The above is all for your information and guidance.

Yours faithfully,

MICAH WILLIAMS,
General Secretary,
The People’s United and General Workers Union