OUR most precious assets are not the natural and mineral resources available to us but our people, more specifically our young people. This is why investing in people is so important since people are not only the main instruments of production, but more importantly the reason for all productive activities. In other words, people are both the instruments of production and the end itself.
Experience has shown that countries that invest in their peoples are countries that do well both in terms of economic growth and human development. Singapore is a good example of this well established fact.
I recall one PPP Member of Parliament during the days of the PNC administration in arguing the case for more money for the education sector, famously remarked that if education is too costly then one should try ignorance. Those were days when the education sector was starved of resources, both human and financial. The situation was so bad that something as elementary as chalk was being rationed in schools. Teachers, instead of being in school and teaching young formative minds were forced to end up in long lines to obtain essential food items which were either banned or in short supply.
Interestingly, the entities that were responsible for the distribution of scarce food items were named “Knowledge Sharing Institutes” or KSI in short. As to how that entity got its name remains a puzzle, but it goes to show the disrespect that the administration had for the people of this country to have associated scare and banned food items with that of knowledge- sharing. These knowledge-sharing entities were synonymous with long, never-ending lines which the Guyanese people were subjected to during those difficult years.
This is somewhat of a digression, but I thought it a useful reminder of the hardships faced by the Guyanese working people right across the political and ethnic spectrum in order to survive.
The people’s health and well-being must be a top priority for any caring government. As the saying goes, one cannot be educated and poor at the same time. Knowledge is power, more so in this age of information and communication technology. Our ability to process information is critical to our survival and any individual or society that fails to adapt to this technological environment runs the risk of being marginalised and pushed into the backwater of human development.
Yet there are millions of children across the globe that have never had the opportunity to see what a computer looks like and are therefore pushed on the periphery of human achievement. This is not limited to children in the rural communities but in cities as well which is rapidly becoming home to the majority of the world’s children. According to a UNICEF Report, by 2050 roughly 70 of the world’s population will live in cities with most of the growth taking place in low and middle-income countries. This is due mainly to migration from country to town in search of jobs and opportunities which are lacking in rural settings.
Yet for billions of people the urban experience is one of poverty and exclusion which is made even worse by factors such as discrimination on the grounds of illegality, gender, race, ethnicity and so on.
In addition, cities often expand beyond the capacity of the authorities to provide the infrastructure and services needed to ensure people’s health and well-being. A significant proportion of urban population growth is happening, according to the UNICEF Report, in the most unplanned and deprived areas. These factors combine to push essential services beyond the reach of children and families living in poor urban neighbourhoods.
Guyana has made significant strides in terms of addressing the issue of urban overcrowding with the setting up of housing schemes in close proximity to the city and through the regularisation of squatting areas, in particular Sophia, which prior to the coming to office of the PPP/C was a highly depressed and neglected area.
This has resulted in less pressure for homes in the city and an overall reduction in the demand for rented apartments.