By Frederick Halley

MINISTER of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman has scoffed at allegations that the administration is paying special attention to employing ex-military personnel.Addressing a Stakeholder Engagement Session, themed “Guyana Rising from Potential to Prosperity,” held at Westmount Event Centre, Toronto, Canada last Saturday, minister Trotman emphatically denied the assumption from a member of the audience.

In a terse reply, Trotman said “it’s not true at all.” The minister pointed out that many people are being hired on a daily basis, some of them happened to have served in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF). They are citizens and are entitled to work if they have the qualifications and that should not exclude them.”

Trotman said, if it is that others who are better qualified were bypassed, then there’s an issue, “but what I think what we are seeing is a large body of well-trained persons that was lying idle, people who wanted to give back.”

Trotman alluded to the fact that perceptions do suggest that there is a preference for military or ex-military people, but he said that this is not so, “and bear in mind that we are a nation of less than a million people, so if you inject four persons from the military, it looks as though it’s four hundred, but it’s just four.”

Responding to several complaints about the lack of action on previous issues facing members of the diaspora, minister Trotman disclosed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently formulated a “Diaspora Strategy,” which has been circulated within the last two weeks. The strategy, which will be up for further discussion at the heads of mission conference, is to be held in Guyana in early April. He also promised to bring up some of the matters with the minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge.

Concerning bottlenecks experienced by some members of the diaspora, including overseas-based alumnus, when exporting items to their homelands mostly as gifts, minister Trotman disclosed that the Ministry of Business, in conjunction with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) have a preferential list for all importers. He said that it is a list that they are now putting together of credible business places and importers so they can get immediate clearance of their goods but certainly the alumni associations will qualify.

Trotman further disclosed that the alumni associations shouldn’t be caught in that clogging up kind of situation and that he is going to recommend that they be included as frequent importers.

Touching briefly on the crime situation, Trotman admitted that some of the crimes that are being committed he never imagined were possible, “the ease at which lives are being taken, husbands plotting to kill wives, wives plotting to kill husbands and the emergence of high incidence of gang-related crimesm, which have crept into our region.”

Trotman said it is the view of Caricom that several of these crimes emanate from North America into the Caribbean and Guyana has not been excluded. In light of this, Trotman disclosed that Caricom Heads of Government expressed grave concern at the level of crime in the Community and resolved to increase their efforts to curb the scourge, including greater focus on the social determinants of crime, especially among the youth.

“We have our own unique issue of suicide, which is unprecedented and it is a national crisis that has to be addressed.”

Guyana’s High Commissioner to Canada, Mrs. Clarissa Riehl, who was also present at the session, believed Guyana was on the verge of realising its great potential with the oil find and a better life is in the making for all Guyanese. According to Riehl, “this jump start of our economy is coming at a very timely manner and Guyana will seriously begin to move again.”