GUYANA’s late President, Hugh Desmond Hoyte, who was responsible for implementation of the highly praised Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), has been hailed as the architect of Guyana’s economic development from 1988 to 1992.

Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence, in delivering a lecture on “Development and Social Impact, 1988 – 1992”, credited Hoyte for standing committed to sustainable economic growth to enhance the lives of all Guyanese, even in the midst of national and global economic upheavals.

The seventh commemorative lecture on the life and works of Hoyte, Guyana’s second Executive President, was hosted by the Hugh Desmond Hoyte (HDH) Committee at the Pegasus Hotel on Monday evening.

Minister Lawrence, who was the main speaker at the event, said Hoyte, in 1985, assumed the presidency amidst intense national and global social and economic upheavals, even as Guyana experienced a collapse of infrastructural and social services and public utilities. However, with commitment to a market-oriented economy, he created a revived social and economic climate, taking the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in favourable comparison with other CARICOM countries.

“Guyana was reeling from the impact of the global oil crisis, and (was) constrained by a crippling external debt burden. Internally, there was an acute shortage of foreign exchange; restrictions on the importation of some food and other items; a collapse of infrastructure, social services and public utilities,” Lawrence explained.

But, she said, “Through his stewardship, we made it through the rain.” She added that Hoyte’s ERP was responsible for massive debt write-offs and the rebuilding of many communities throughout Guyana’s administrative regions.

Despite having “challenges on all fronts” and at all levels, at a time when public morale was at a low end as economic decline manifested, Hoyte demonstrated strength and character, being a “stickler for order”, the rule of law, professionalism and integrity, she explained.

“Mr Hoyte resolutely accepted the responsibilities and challenges of governance; and given the urgency attached to reactivating the productive sectors and rebuilding the country’s infrastructure, he committed to a market-oriented development strategy and deliberately crafted a new development thrust – the Economic Recovery Program (ERP).

“The ERP, a comprehensive matrix of policies and measures designed to restore the sustainable economic development of the country, propelled Guyana to several years of continuous growth, unmatched by any of the policies of the successor Administration, who were the political beneficiaries of the success of the ERP”, Lawrence pointed out.

Lawrence declared that Hoyte’s development initiative was praised by both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. She quoted the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as saying the ERP “was radical in its objectives, comprehensive in its scope, and courageous in its implementation”.

Lawrence also said the World Bank described the program as a movement to economic liberalization which enabled the realization of benefits.

“Up to 1997, Guyana’s economy grew at an average rate of 7.1 percent, and fiscal and external deficits were reduced. State-owned enterprises were privatized, import substitution policies were abolished, and the Government increased spending for poverty reduction,” the World Bank had said.

SOCIAL SAFETY NETS
SIMAP, Public Service Investment Programme (PSIP), and the Secondary School Reform Programme (SSRP) were listed as a few of his “social safety nets” (initiatives) to cushion the effects of social spending and for the countrywide reduction of poverty, Minister Lawrence stated.

She also pointed out that Hoyte was described by the late President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham as a man who “possessed the finer qualities of life: intellectual honesty, true statesmanship, and effervescent leadership”.

Sir Shridath Ramphal has also observed that “…Guyana, for all its present problems, is a better place because Desmond Hoyte was there to bridge the Presidencies of Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan; and in doing so, to establish those markers of national democracy and personal integrity that are the monuments already erected by his life of service to Guyana.”

Lawrence added that “Hoyte was a judicious leader, an unsung hero whose courage, shrewdness, astute political insight and profound concern for the people inspired him to chart a programme which was intended to unite the Guyanese people while achieving national economic and social development.”

The lecture, held in honour of the 87th birth anniversary of the late President (March 9), was graced with the presence of President David Granger, former Brigadier Joseph Singh, and other dignitaries and executive members of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R), besides school children and members of the public.

According to the HDH Committee, lectures were previously delivered by Dr. Tyrone Ferguson, late Head of the Presidential Secretariat; Sir John Mitchell, former Prime Minister of St. Vincent & the Grenadines; Mr. Carl Greenidge, former Minister of Finance; Mr. Stanley Ming, one of the founders of the Reform component of the Party and a reputable businessman; Major General (ret’d) Joseph Singh; and Mrs. Supriya Singh-Bodden, CCH.

“Hugh Desmond Hoyte, SC, was the second Executive President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, and is widely credited for restoring growth in the economy by implementing an Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) whose essential elements are still manifest in the existing economic policies,” the HDH Committee said in a statement earlier.