My New Year Feelings

PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo is standing tall at this stage of his Presidency.
As I talk to various people in the Guyana Diaspora in New York, it is clear that people who are in the ‘box’ express satisfaction with conditions of life in Guyana. And how do they feel about their new homeland? These New York Diasporans point to the international credit crunch and the international financial meltdown, expressing serious concerns with the disruptions in their lives and the difficult adjustments they had to endure. They point to the high unemployment rate that suddenly encroached on their lives. They point to the sudden downturn in house prices that are very slowly recovering. They point to the considerable number of foreclosures our Diasporan community is experiencing. They point to the increased inflation rate that hit their pockets hard when it comes to foodstuffs, rent, and clothing. They point to the scaling up of racial profiling in their communities and its effects on businesses. These are only some of the internal and external shocks New York Diasporans are facing.

Quote: What is rather disturbing in the Guyana society is that there are some people, some columnists, some politicians who live off politics, and there are other naysayers, who seem to pray every day for Guyana not to do well. Well, their prayers seem to be going nowhere. Looking back over the few years since I returned to Guyana, I really see developmental gains; and I also see developmental problems that are not insurmountable’

These Diasporans, at least those in the ‘box’, feel that, given where this country was in 1992 and what former President Dr. Cheddi Jagan found, to where President Jagdeo took it, and to where it is now, and to where we are going, it is hard not to believe that Guyana is experiencing developmental gains.

And I am not attempting to inflate the Diasporans’ conclusions, intimating that everything is hunky dory; but there have been developmental gains. Let me bring a few to your attention.

General secondary school enrolment was about 34% prior to 1992; today, that enrolment percentage is somewhere around 72. CXC passes were abysmal prior to 1992; CXC passes amounted to 49.5% in 1990, whereas these passes reached 83.3% in 2009.

We see health improvements in several areas, such as an average of 94% child immunization; infant mortality rate at 19 per 1,000 live births; the presence of 353 health institutions nationally; skilled personnel in attendance at 93% births; 4 doctors per 10,000 population; with 929 staff nurses and 723 nursing assistants, with 614 trained midwives, 353 health institutions nationally, etc.

What about housing? Between 1993 and 2008, the Ministry of Housing allocated over 80,000 house lots; to date, almost 14,000 lots within squatting areas in Regions Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam) through Ten (Upper Demerara/Berbice) received the seal of approval; there is a strategic plan to issue about 7,000 land titles per year; and between 1992 and 2008, the Ministry of Housing released 42,433 transports for all regions, reaching all ethnic groups. Amendments to the New Building Society Act and the Income Tax Act, 2000, provided easier access to finance by house lot owners; and the amendments allowed the usage of the Minister of Housing ‘Letter of Assurance’ in lieu of a land title for mortgage processing.

Quote: I would like to believe that Guyanese, especially in the homeland, would express great delight at Jagdeo’s international carbon development strategy; no part of the developing world has come up with such an articulate and innovative plan; keep in mind that no plan is without its limitations, but those limitations do not take away from the merit of this proposal. Jagdeo did enhance the lights on the international stage with his initiative on climate change’

And let’s not forget the intactness of Guyana’s macroeconomic fundamentals could become one of Jagdeo’s sustainable legacies.

And, indeed, where there are unresolved issues amid these developmental gains, let there be corrective action. If the mechanisms are not there, or are defective, let’s create or rehabilitate them to resolve the issues through the particular sector Ministry; and these mechanisms should demonstrate the outcomes from governmental interventions, and also there should be periodic evaluations of the effectiveness of governmental interventions. But in the end, we should not be wary to shout out the developmental progress, even if you are stuck in the middle of stalemated resolutions to problems; because the latter could be a work in progress.

The people in Guyana had their share of external shocks. Remember the rising global food and fuel prices, and of course, the international financial meltdown. Surprisingly for the naysayers, Guyana rose to the task of effectively responding to the tasks at hand then.

What is rather disturbing in the Guyana society is that there are some people, some columnists, some politicians who live off politics, and there are other naysayers, who seem to pray every day for Guyana not to do well. Well, their prayers seem to be going nowhere. Looking back over the few years since I returned to Guyana, I really see developmental gains; and I also see developmental problems that are not insurmountable.

I would like to believe that Guyanese, especially in the homeland, would express great delight at Jagdeo’s international carbon development strategy; no part of the developing world has come up with such an articulate and innovative plan; keep in mind that no plan is without its limitations, but those limitations do not take away from the merit of this proposal. Jagdeo did enhance the lights on the international stage with his initiative on climate change.

In fact, people here in New York, those in the ‘box’, do express great pride at a middle-income country presenting a clim
ate change initiative on the international stage. Copenhagen is a work in progress; the seeds are now in place. And whatever the naysayers say about the Guyana-Norway MOU, funds will come Guyana’s way. And President Jagdeo’s leveraging Guyana into future international climate change fora is a historic feat that for many years people will talk about. The whole climate change confab as was Copenhagen, is a work in progress. It would be unwise, at this stage, to heap scorn and premature conclusions on confabs to come.

And as Guyana approaches its next national election, the naysayers will become robust and unnecessarily aggressive at creating havoc for their selfish motives; desperation at not too encouraging outcomes for the next election is beginning to stare these thwarters in the face; and such desperation hatches its own psychological behaviours that, invariably, are not within the parameters of civility.

As the usual suspects continue to peddle their personal hate of the Jagdeo Administration, perhaps, they need to engage in some introspection; they may fast notice that they represent no role modeling aspects for the society. And Diasporans, too, talk about these people as thwarters. And maybe, the Diasporans are correct.

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