DAVID Granger’s Guyana’s Decade of Development: overcoming crime, disease, ignorance and poverty is a work of thoughtful foresight. David Granger lays out a visionary plan for his country’s development for 2020-2029 – one that bridges the gap between short-term necessity and long-term strategy.

The President of Guyana launched his ‘Decade of Development’ on 1st January, 2020 – the start of the second decade of the new century. It was also his country’s election year but the ‘Decade’ was not a political ploy intended to woo the electorate with a basket of promises. It represented David Granger’s intention to ensure that human development remained at the forefront of national development.

David Granger enunciated his human development agenda at the start of his presidency. He said during his address at his inauguration celebration on 26th May, 2015:
We must now look to the future. We must turn our efforts and energy not towards destroying one another, but towards defeating the real enemies of our people – crime, disease, ignorance and poverty – the four horsemen of the Guyanese Apocalypse.

David Granger pursued his human development agenda steadfastly. He promulgated enlightened policies aimed at enhancing human safety, expanding public education, improving public health and eliminating extreme poverty during his first term as President.
Crime, disease, ignorance and poverty may appear to be inescapable, but they are not ineradicable. Given the myriad social and economic problems which he inherited on being elected President, he would not have been expected to eradicate them within his first five years in office. He acted decisively to reverse the ills he found while, at the same time, pursuing a people-centred agenda by successfully piloting four transformative processes during his first term.

David Granger set his country on the path of a green trajectory of development aimed at the realisation of a ‘green state.’ He steered his country towards becoming a ‘digital state.’ He strengthened the foundation for an ‘education nation’ and he is erecting the pillars for building a ‘petroleum state.’ These four processes portend bright prospects. The President recognises, however, that human development could be detoured easily while pursuing these goals.

David Granger’s clear intention – as presented in Guyana’s Decade of Development. Overcoming crime, disease, ignorance and poverty – is to ensure that every citizen could share in the benefits of these four transformative processes during the next 10 years and beyond. The book explains how he intends to deliver tangible benefits to the Guyanese people, thereby improving the quality of their lives and well-being. He cares for common folk and his ‘Decade of Development’ is a blueprint to ensure that the poor will not be left behind in the expected wealth-creation which the four transformative processes will engender.

The book – ‘The Decade of Development’ – consists of five addresses which President Granger delivered to different audiences and could hardly have been seen as an electioneering expedient. Its promulgation predated the elections campaign and was conceptualised with the country’s prospects of economic and social transformation in mind. There was, evidently, a great deal of forethought in the formulation of the concept of a Decade of Development, a key element being its alignment with the country’s national development objectives with its international obligations.

The President, as early as his first year in office in 2015, proclaimed Guyana “a green state” as the country signed the Paris Agreement on 12th December, 2015. The ‘Decade’ is consistent with the Green State Development Strategy – the country’s blueprint for embracing a “green” economy. It adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The ‘Decade’ is people-centred. The President, earlier in 2019, addressed residents of a new housing scheme at Perseverance Village, East Bank Demerara, promising that one of the objectives during the ‘Decade’ would be to ensure that there would be “…a roof over every head.” The President’s 10-point programme anticipates that, by the end of 2029, Guyana would be a country of “happy people, happy families, happy households and happy communities.”

The ‘Decade’ is business-friendly. The President, addressing the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, later in 2019, pointed out that the ‘Decade’ would expand business opportunities.

The President’s concept of a ‘Decade’ has been pilloried by his opponents who accused him of sloganeering. They point to the absence of a plan defining the concept, but Guyana’s Decade of Development: overcoming crime, disease, ignorance and poverty, is a plan that refutes these criticisms.

The book demonstrates that the ‘Decade,’ far from being hollow political rhetoric, is a solid plan, replete with policies and objectives, for the next 10 years.
The President’s plan for the ‘Decade’ answers a fundamental question of political economy by addressing the means by which wealth-generation can be transformed into human development. Inequality in wealth-distribution has been one of the notorious problems plaguing countries enjoying unexpected economic expansion.

This book has set out priorities and policies to ensure that greater equality would accompany economic growth.
The book – Guyana’s Decade of Development: overcoming crime, disease, ignorance and poverty – should be of interest to the wider academic community. This book serves as a guide for ensuring that people remain at the centre of economic and social transformation. It is highly recommended.