MANY people, friends and other individuals who have come to know me through my letters to the press, occasionally encourage me to continue writing, enquiring about that next letter. I usually laugh, more often than not replying jokingly that I’d achieved my goal of giving our country a new and better Government.

Indeed, it was with much relief and jubilation that the coalition’s supporters learnt of their party’s victory at the recent elections and witnessed the swearing-in of our new President, Brigadier (Rtd) David Granger, and his new Government. I myself could not help but reflect on the appropriateness of the choices by the President for the various ministers to their various portfolios.

Listening to the delivery of his first budget speech to Parliament, I could hardly suppress my appreciation for the effort many of us put in to secure the change in Government on May 11, as the Honourable Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, delivered a soundly crafted budget, complete with commitments to address corruption while creating the environment for much-needed investment and job-creation.

The budget covered the host of welfare issues from salary increases and pensions to access to potable water across the country and the delivery of improved physical infrastructure, health and educational services.

A major issue in the past has been the elimination of salary increases by unscrupulous retailers and businesses, who use the occasion to give themselves a profit boost by also increasing their prices. These defaulting businesses are urged to desist from this practice this year going forward, and instead seek to achieve sustainable profit growth by attracting and retaining business through greater customer service, improved sourcing and stock management. The minister, in announcing the additional items to be zero-rated, further urged in his budget speech that retailers ensure that the benefits of these newly zero-rated items be passed on to consumers by appropriately lowering the prices on these items.

The minister also touched on the burning issues of government transparency and financial accountability, and improvement in the delivery of government services to new and existing local and foreign investors by the removal of “red tape” and the streamlining of licensing processes. Improvements in our respective communities was featured with the restated commitment to local government elections later this year, with emphasis on rebuilding local government and decentralising of authority and responsibility for management and administration of local government bodies throughout the country. This particular issue is one of which we should all take note as this move creates opportunities for localised administrative talent to ensure that our capital city, towns and villages are managed to maintain the upkeep of the local environment and deliver the appropriate level of infrastructural services to citizens.

The delivery of green, cost-competitive energy was also a hallmark of the 2015 Budget. The high cost of electricity has historically been one of the biggest constraints to growth and job-creation in manufacturing and industry locally. The commitment was made to explore avenues for hydroelectric sources.

Wind energy is one particular area which has been referred to and should be fully examined and exploited with appropriate feasibility studies, because it is one which continues to benefit from improvements in cost efficiencies with advances in technology, very likely with long-term maintenance support from manufacturers, not to mention that it will probably require much less time to complete compared to that of hydroelectric projects which are typically accompanied by cost over-runs. Another advantage of wind energy is that it can be introduced without the large financial commitment associated with hydroelectric projects, with expansion to supply over time as needed to match demand.

Wind energy will also drastically reduce our import costs for oil to power GPL’s turbines and generators. This will have a strong, positive impact on our balance-of-payments position and exchange-rate stability while freeing up foreign currency resources.

A great benefit of investing in wind energy is reliable and potentially lower energy costs sooner, which obviously makes Guyana an immediately more attractive destination for foreign direct investment, thus reducing the waiting time for those much needed higher-paying jobs. All of this naturally translates into increased output, with potential diversification of our economic base and increased export receipts, along with increased government revenues from a larger, more productive tax base. This latter outcome obviously serves as a basis for delivering welfare relief for public servants through increased salaries.

One of the lessons easily learnt from the past Administration is that its loss centred on its failure to address corruption and deliver the necessary governance framework to secure the confidence of large international businesses interested in establishing large, and in some cases, strategic operations in Guyana.

It is probably common knowledge that corporate governance has become such a big issue globally that many developed countries which are the domicile states of widely known global companies have established laws which address corruption and bribery of government officials, even beyond their borders. One of the things we should probably also realise is that many of these large multinationals which we are keen to attract to our shores are silently waiting for our Government to address governance and corruption issues.

Therefore, the large investments of these global corporations which are critical for massive job-creation, wage growth and increased welfare for Guyanese will very likely only be realised with the institutionalisation of strict internationally accepted governance and anti-corruption mechanisms geared to protect businesses and consumers from the high cost of graft, which was so much a feature of the previous Administration.
On this particular issue, the minister was clear about his Government’s commitment to improvements in the tendering process, stronger government accounting and auditing processes and creating a corruption-free environment for businesses.

Guyanese can therefore look forward to the rapid economic transformation, investment and job-creation necessary to push our country up in the rankings of countries to invest, visit and live with the strengthening of Government’s administrative and financial systems, the implementation of anti-corruption and governance regulations and guidelines along with the introduction of cheaper and reliable supplies of electricity.

I wish to once again compliment and thank our Honourable Minister of Finance for a well-crafted budget.
CRAIG SYLVESTER