PRESIDENT Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia as reported by Reuters in SN of November 26, 2013 has warned that “youth unemployment is a major threat to peace and security in Liberia which, unless addressed, could see the return of conflict to the West African country following a decade of peace.”  However, before President Sirleaf’s reminder, APNU’s Mr. David Granger had previously warned,   as reported in the KN of August 31, 2013 that Guyana’s “Youth unemployment is a time bomb that needs to be diffused.”  Shouldn’t a hint from both Baneba and Quasheba be a good lesson for Guyana’s socialist caliphate cadres to take notice?

Mr. Granger, an old timer who knows a thing or two about strategy should be commended and taken more seriously if he is cooperative.  The Brigadier has publicly pointed out to his opponents where their defences are weak, making them politically vulnerable. Youth unemployment cuts across politics, race, religion and gender and addressing it more aggressively is to everyone’s benefit.  Youths are more than half the entire population with unemployment about 21 percent.

Considering Mr. Granger champions free lands for former soldiers, and providing they are agriculturally productive, any such land grants should be made in Essequibo, possibly near Jonestown as a settlement, i.e., kibbutz.  Our cotton-picking National Service graduates, imbued with productive zeal in agriculture were adequately equipped, we are told. The Jonestown tourist potential can be lucrative especially with plans to reopen the nearby Matthews Ridge manganese mines.  Veterans’ patriotic loyalty to Guyana in such a strategic location after land grants in Essequibo would be a tremendous, assured asset in territorial defence. Since Guyana’s military has traditionally always voted for the PNC,  no fears can be harboured  of losing political support.

In any event, Guyanese politicians should be reminded of the  Zambian Bemba proverb  that ‘leading a race does not mean that you will win it’. Constant attacks on the Chinese and Indians should be discouraged especially since we need their investments for job creation. The Tanzam Railway  linking Tanzania and Zambia’s, began in 1970,  was completed in 1975, two years ahead of schedule, financed and constructed by the Chinese costing some US$500M making it the largest single foreign-aid project undertaken by China at the time. The possibilities for our Asiatic friends help in an Essequibo kibbutz settlement are enormous.
In fact, Agriculture Minister Dr Leslie Ramsammy’s noble efforts to attract Trinidadian agricultural investments at Canje similar to that done for Barbadians in the Rupununi are most commendable. APNU should have no problems with such a venture which creates long-term jobs that earn foreign exchange.  Riots and marches only cause more backlash; Linden’s riots severely affected the youths employed in the phone call industry. Scaring off investors and jobs only help to increase poverty.

Any PPP/C government’s pro-active efforts at a veterans’ kibbutz settlement in Essequibo will safeguard Guyana’s borders, take care of veterans by conditional land grants and seriously dent youth unemployment. It’s a win-win for all in Guyana.   All the motives are honourable with APNU’s support assured in Parliament if they mean what they say.
On a visit to Brussels to highlight the challenges facing fragile states, President Sirleaf had said more needed to be done to help young Liberians affected by 14 years of on-off civil war that ended in 2003. According to the United Nations, young people account for about 65 per cent of Liberia’s population of 4.1 million, and youth unemployment is estimated as high as 85 per cent. “Peace and security in Liberia is still an issue because of the young unemployed, and until we can address that, there’s always hanging over us the chance that there may be a resumption of conflict,” she said during an interview with Reuters.

The SN report pointed out that Sirleaf’s warning underscores the risk that Africa’s long heralded “demographic dividend” could become a liability, unless governments can create more jobs for their growing populations”.

In the early 1970s the PNC sought to resettle Asian Hmong refugees in Essequibo as a defence against Venezuelan incursion.  The CIA-funded Hmong guerrillas were allied in the American military quest against Vietnam. They became pariahs after Vietnam won the war.   Mr. Forbes Burnham had a rethink about their loyalty to Guyana so close to the Venezuelan border. The PNC nevertheless settled former GDF and policemen, reportedly on Mr. Granger’s recommendation, at Melanie Damishana on seized rice lands in front of the PPP stronghold at Enterprise.  That military settlement was politically crafted to control and strangle their fellow Guyanese viewed as a greater threat.   A kibbutz settlement of veterans in Essequibo offers considerably more for our country in the long term.

SULTAN MOHAMED