A GINA Feature
THE United Nations (UN) designated 2011 the International Year for Peoples of African Descent (IYPAD) and the Guyana Government acceded to the global call for countries to initiate a series of activities to mark the auspicious occasion, when it launched a robust programme of cultural activities. History was recorded in Guyana when Donald Ramotar became Guyana’s seventh executive President following elections that brought a new dispensation to the legislature.
The country, amidst challenges, recorded 5.9 % growth according to the half-yearly economic report and transformation in the education, health, housing and water sectors was evident.
The housing target was surpassed and Guyana advanced its method of packaging sugar, with the commissioning of the Enmore packaging plant.
The government’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) programme entered the distribution phase and some of the largest investments in the history of Guyana’s mining sector were initiated.    
A record national budget of $161.4B was also passed.

ELECTIONS & THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Mr. Donald Ramotar made history, winning the presidency in the 2011 General and Regional elections, becoming the first executive President under a new government in which the Head of State serves for a minimum of two terms.
The results of the election were unveiled by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) two- and-a-half days after Guyanese went to the polls on November 28. October 27 was nomination day when the parties presented their lists of candidates.
The ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) captured 48.6 % of the votes and secured 32 seats in the National Assembly but with 26 seats going to the opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), and seven to the Alliance For Change (AFC). The opposition now holds the legislative majority.
The process was, however, not all smooth sailing. Anxiety and impatience over the announcing of the results caused rumours to be spewed via text messages and the social network, Facebook, almost creating panic and fear and prompting political party leaders to join hands in the call for calm and public restraint.
APNU challenged the results, calling for verification of the Statements of Polls (SOP) and took to the streets in protest for their voices to be heard. It was touted as one of the most highly contested elections in Guyana’s history that saw the ruling PPP/C coming up against APNU, the new coalition party, and the AFC.
In October,  politicians ventured off on the campaign trail, with rallies and public meetings across the country making big promises and criticising their opponents with words that many said ‘lacked decorum’.

GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
Forty-eight hours after ascending to the highest office in the land, the new President swore in his 20-member cabinet with a few new faces –  Minister of Labour Dr. Nanda Gopaul; Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall; Minister of Local Government Ganga Persaud; Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Ali Baksh; and Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Juan Edghill.
Former Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud was appointed to head the newly formed Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment.
The new president also delivered on his open-door policy, meeting the opposition parties for dialogue. At one of the meetings, consensus was reached for deferral of the parliament in December and for consultation between the Finance Minister and counterparts in the opposition parties for the crafting of the 2012 national budget.

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
Guyana, for the past seven years,has recorded an elevated growth trajectory with exports increasing by 30 percent, double-digit growth in the mining sector, the largest rice crop in history and the highest sugar production since 2004.
Earlier in the year, Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh presented the country’s largest national budget of $161.4B, surpassing that of the previous year.
The mid-year report for 2011 was presented to the National Assembly showing a 5.9 percent growth rate in the economy that was described as an ‘enviable’ figure anywhere in the world.
The Government credited such achievements to low fiscal deficit and debt, strong external reserves, stability in the exchange rate and low interest rates and containment of inflation to single digits.

HOME OWNERSHIP
In the last 12 years, over 75,000 house lots were distributed and the Central Housing and Planning Authority over the past three years embarked on the second low-income settlement programme with the commercial and banking sector fully on board.
The first allotment of land for the new Eccles housing scheme was executed in June and aspiring home owners rushed for the lifetime opportunity, when the Ministry of Housing and Water staged a ‘One Stop Shop Exercise’ at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
The housing ministry also surpassed its 6,500 house lot target for the year and aspiring homeowners were encouraged to build without hesitation.
Work continued on the East Bank of Demerara’s urban network plan with government investing in 15,000 house lots and private developers mulling concessions for fast-food outlets, malls and call centres, among other business ventures.
Diamond, the fastest growing community on the East Bank of Demerara, already boasts a Secondary School, a Regional Hospital, a GuyOil Service Station, and three commercial banks.

ACCESS TO WATER
$15B was invested for the construction of water treatment facilities in various parts of the country, which has resulted in 80,000 people gaining access to safe water.
In July, a US$12.3M agreement was sealed between Guyana and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) for the modernisation and expansion of potable water supply in Linden.

ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSFORMATION
Work continued on infrastructural development, namely roads and bridges with routine management and extension of sections of the East Bank of Demerara four-lane road from Providence to Diamond. Budgeted at US$17.5M,  the project also catered for widening bridges and culverts.
In March, the feasibility study and design for a four-lane road from New Amsterdam to Moleson Creek was completed after commencing in July 2010, while US$1.45M was spent on the construction and rehabilitation of the Black Bush Polder road in Region 6.
The latter works include rehabilitation of the entire 34.5 kilometer (Km) stretch of roadway with an asphaltic concrete surface, rehabilitation of two timber bridges and construction of five concrete bridges.
Under the road improvement rehabilitation programme,  works were completed on the East and West Canje roads, at a cost of $100M. Scope of works included rehabilitation of 11 km roadway, construction of seven kilometers of roadway, 30 culverts and eight bridges.
The programme also caters for scheduled rehabilitation of access roads to Timehri and Sheriff Street to Mandela Avenue.
Some $29M was spent from the capital budget for the rehabilitation and construction of roads in Regions 4 and 10 and over $2B for the rehabilitation and construction of roads in Regions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
The rehabilitation and construction of the 13-mile stretch of fair- weather road to St Cuthbert’s Mission was completed in April 2011, after works  commenced in December the previous year, at a cost of $23.9M.
Additionally, contracts with an aggregate valued at $800M were signed for hinterland roads in Linden, Kwakwani, Lethem and Aishalton, among others.

SPORTS INFRASTRUCTURE
Government’s agenda of building modern sports facilities was witnessed during the year when the National Aquatic Centre was commissioned at Liliendaal, building optimism about Guyanese swimmers competing at the international level.
The facility joins the list of modern sports infrastructure government has been investing in, given the room now available to focus on existential issues.
The commissioning of a new squash court, and refurbished lawn tennis courts joined the list of modern facilities.
The cricket fraternity had its challenges during the year causing Government to intervene following a recommendation by the acting Chief Justice.
Officials of the Guyana Cricket Board in the three counties were summoned to meetings with former President Bharrat Jagdeo prior to the recent establishment of an Interim Management Committee (IMC) headed by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd.
The menu of measures include the drafting of a new constitution, development and implementation of a cricket development programme at the national and regional levels, reconciliation of the factions of the Demerara Board into one Demerara Board, an appraisal on the status of all financial transactions by an independent auditor and other issues that the IMC may deem pertinent to the development of cricket.
Meanwhile, Guyana’s ‘Golden Jaguars’ football team advanced to the third round of the FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifiers, beating the highly touted Trinidad and Tobago’s ‘Soca Warriors’ 2-1 on the evening of November 13, 2011.

MAJOR INVESTMENT IN HEALTH
With plans already moving ahead to construct the first ever specialist hospital at Liliendaal, the high cost incurred for Guyanese to travel overseas for complicated medical attention will be a thing of the past. The Indian Government has indicated that the ‘soft loan’ to fund the new Specialty Hospital has been approved.
It was considered another milestone in the step towards the modernisation of the health sector when the 300-bed in-patient facility of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation was commissioned in November.
The long-awaited wing has special departments for female and male patients, a surgical ward, and a floor for physiotherapy. There are also 18 isolated rooms for patients with communicable diseases, a quiet room for grieving relatives and another for prayers.
The Government continued its agenda of decentralising health services when it commissioned the multi-million-dollar health centre at Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo.
Over the past three years, the coverage and the quality of primary health care has been expanded with the construction of several new institutions funded directly from the budget. 
These include the four diagnostic and treatment centres at Leonora, Suddie, Diamond and Mahaicony, the Ophthalmology Hospital in Port Mourant, and the Modern Linden Hospital among others.
Additionally, there is a large number of students currently pursuing studies in medicine, along with the training of nurses and medex, all with the prevailing objective of improving the accessibility and quality of primary health care to Guyanese citizens.

KEEPING SUGAR ALIVE
Sugar industries around the Caribbean  suffered a heavy blow from the European Union (EU) imposed 36 % price cut resulting in Barbados, St. Kitts and neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago exiting sugar.
Guyana, instead of joining the bandwaggon, especially in light of the fact that it lost $9B in revenue per annum from the EU price cut, embarked on a modernisation plan for the industry, making the largest investment with the commissioning of the  $185M Skeldon Sugar factory three years ago. And in 2011, the government commissioned a US$12.5M packaging plant at Enmore, East Coast Demerara.
The latter, ‘Project Gold’ as it is referred to, advances Guyana’s method of packaging sugar for the international market by increasing sugar output towards 40,000 tonnes and ultimately 80,000 tonnes in subsequent years.
The modernisation plan for the sugar industry catered for viable operations of estates along the East Coast of Demerara to correspond with the US$12.5M packaging plant at Enmore and, in the process, special arrangements were put in place for labour to be shifted from one estate to the next.
Workers of the Diamond, East Bank Demerara estate, however, sought intervention at the level of the government and the union as they opposed the decision not to pay them severance  when their services were ended with the estate’s operations in 2010.
The Government injected $300M to GuySuCo for the payout and, in June, the workers received their cheques with long-serving employees receiving up to $2M.

SUPPORTING FARMERS
In the latter part of 2011,  Region 5 farmers were given titles to lease lands ‘rent free’, for 99-years, and were encouraged to adopt modern approaches to the sector and to value Guyana’s abundance of land and freshwater. Farmers in the lower Pomeroon were also given land on higher ground.
Government’s Grow More Food campaign entered its second phase in August last year with a focus on climate change awareness. Seeds, other planting materials and breeding animals were distributed to farmers to encourage them to continue planting and growing.

UNPRECEDENTED INVESTOR INTEREST
Investors’ interest in Guyana grew at unprecedented levels, owing to the stable economic environment.
On November 20 last year, the sod was turned for the Guyana Marriott hotel, a world-class facility, to be located in Georgetown,  that will boast all the requisite amenities.  Additionally, investors out of the twin-island republic of Trinidad and Tobago will be putting in US$20M to bring MovieTowne to Guyana with the hope of revitalising the once vibrant movie theatre environment on the local shores.
Located at Turkeyen, MovieTowne Guyana will be a chain of eight state-of-the-art multiplex cinemas coupled with 30 local, regional and international stores, a bank area for dining and a parking space for over 700 vehicles.

MINING
Some of the largest investments in the history of mining were initiated during the year with reputable North American companies signing mineral agreements with the Guyana government.
An historic agreement with Guyana Goldfields was inked for the development of the Aurora mines in Region 7 and another with First Bauxite Corporation for bauxite mining in Bonasika along the Essequibo River.

CARICOM RETREAT
CARICOM leaders met in Guyana for a two-day retreat in May and agreed on a number of important issues for the Region, chief among which was job creation and improving the lives of people in the community.
Emphasis was placed on the need to focus on building a greater sense of community and shared values as a Caribbean people and society. 

OLPF
Guyanese families began receiving their free Haier netbooks in November when the distribution phase of Government’s One Laptop Per Family (OLPF) Programme officially commenced.
Recipients of the laptops are obligated to ensure that all the members of their families are trained in the use of the computer and are also required to give 30 hours of their time to assist in training others.
By the end of the year, thousands were already in receipt of the device.
The first batch of 27,000 laptops arrived in October after the Chinese company, Haier, won the contract as the supplier.
The public’s response to the programme – the brainchild of former President Bharrat Jagdeo- was overwhelming and staff, including community liaison officers, were recruited to man over 200 learning hubs set-up across the country to make the task of learning to use the laptop computers much easier.
A school-based pilot project was initiated in July whereby students were given the green light to take the laptops from the respective training hubs into their homes.
The 2011 national budget allocated $1.8B for a One Laptop Per Family project with the aim of equipping 90,000 families with the computers, giving priority to the poor and vulnerable.

CALENDAR EVENTS
The Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce continued to host its calendar of events to promote Guyana’s fledgling tourism industry. These took the form of the Bartica and Orealla Regattas,the Rupununi rodeo and the Pakaraima mountain safari in April.
The Rockstone Fish Festival in the tranquil community of Rockstone, Region 10, was also one of the highlights.
The second International Building Expo opened at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence in July, attracting thousands who witnessed over 100 companies showcasing their products and services in the building sector.
Guyana’s renowned trade fair and exposition, GuyExpo, also made the highlights when more than  200 local arts and craft producers, as well as a delegation of 70 from neighbouring Suriname and 45 through the Brazilian Micro and Small Business Development Organisation, participated.
The first ever women’s exposition under the name Feminition, premiered at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence in May last. Organised through the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security and private sector agencies, the three-day event provided women with another platform for empowerment.
Mashramani, the celebration after hard work was successfully hosted on February 23 as Guyana celebrated its 41st Republic Anniversary.  The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, through its Mash Secretariat, led the nation in the organisation of a series of events designed to culminate with the usual float parade around the city.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS TRAINING
The Government delivered on its promise to diversify the delivery of technical education when it commissioned a new $427.5M technical institute at Leonora, West Coast Demerara.  Outfitted with an ICT laboratory with 60 computers, and other laboratories, the technical institute has the capacity to house 250 full-time students and 200 part-time students for training in areas such as mechanical and electrical engineering, welding, carpentry and masonry.
A spanking new $293.5M Secondary School was also commissioned in the same community.
Skills training under the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and National Training Programme for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE) continued through the year allowing more youths and single parents to be trained in mechanics, electrical repairs, welding, masonry, catering, patient care , record keeping, cosmetology, garment construction and information technology.
The programme aims to ensure that the general population, particularly youths, are given the opportunity to acquire a skill that will make them more marketable. It commenced in 2005 with a budget of $11M and has grown over the years to a budget of $145M in 2011.
Under the Community Action Component (CAC) of the Citizens Security Programme, out-of-school youths are targeted and equipped for the workforce while at the same time forging greater community cohesion.
Since its re-launch in February 2010, this programme has seen hundreds of youths benefiting from skills and vocational training that have already been implemented in communities such as Sophia, Annandale/Lusignan, Port Mourant, Rosehall, Kilcoy/Chesney/Fyrish, Overwinning/Edinburgh, and Agricola/McDoom.  By the end of 2011, over 1400 youths would have benefited from the programme.
Additionally, hundreds of youths completed training under the youth entrepreneurial skills training at the Kuru Kuru Training Centre and at Sophia.

ELECTRICITY UPGRADE
The Demerara grid was supplemented with 15.6 megawatts of power after the newly expanded US$50M Kingston Power Plant became operational on September 27 after it was commissioned by then President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The Guyana Power and Light spent in excess of US$7.1M  to extend its grid to accommodate unserved areas such as new housing communities in Linden, Timehri, East Berbice, Bartica, East and West Coast Demerara and West Bank Demerara.
The sod was turned for the construction of seven 69/13.8KV substations and for improvements in transmission lines.
The second phase of the Hinterland Electrification Programme began with 1,000 photovoltaic systems distributed out of a total of 11,000.

CBSI
The threats arising from the increase in crime and violence throughout the region were addressed when partnering States in CARICOM and the United States met in Guyana for the Second Meeting of the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI) Commission.
Since its launch in May 2010, the initiative’s stakeholders have been working to enhance information-sharing among law-enforcement agencies, capacity-building, crime prevention and maritime security cooperation.

RESPONDING TO FLOODS
Nature took its toll in parts of Guyana during 2011.  Heavy rainfall over a two-week period in the early part of June inundated the majority of villages in Region 9, affecting residents and their livelihoods and prompting government to coordinate a national relief effort.
Symptoms of La Nina phenomenon saturated parts of Guyana in the early part of the year with precipitation of over three to five inches. An emergency response committee was summoned while monitoring was done in Regions 2, 3,4, 5, 6, 7, and 10.

ROLL-ON/ROLL-OFF FERRIES
Guyana’s river transportation received an enormous boost when the two new roll-on/roll-off ferry vessels arrived in Guyana after a 50-day passage by sea from China. The contract for the design and construction of the vessels was inked the previous year.