Greenidge, truth, and double standards

THERE was a well-articulated letter in the press last week by Wesley Kirton calling for a Ministry of Economic Planning and suggesting that Carl Greenidge heads same. Recommendations of such nature cannot be overlooked at a time when all interest groups, including government, have accepted that the country’s economic performance has slowed to the point where it requires appropriate initiatives to jump start and sustain. Hear me out here, advancing a step further than what Kirton has proposed.

When Guyana was experiencing its economic downturn in the 1980s, some of which had to do with foreign and domestic politics and escalating global oil prices, an austerity programme was developed which was headed by then Minister of Finance Greenidge, under the presidency of Desmond Hoyte.

In 1989 when the plan– theEconomic Recovery Programme (ERP)– was unveiled, it was challenged by the trade unions and other forces. For the trade union community the concern primarily had to do with its potential impact on active employment and the quality of life for workers/citizens.  Notwithstanding the positions taken by labour and other stakeholders, Greenidge stayed the course. And whereas the trade union can still argue the adverse economic consequences visited on the lives of workers, such as unemployment and erosion of real wages, it would be remiss not to acknowledge that this programme kicked start the economy and put the country on a course where economic growth was recorded over continuous periods.

When Cheddi Jagan was elected to office in 1992, he was advised by his Minister of Finance Asgar Ally to continue the ERP, though it should be said the PPP had campaigned on scrapping it. The growth from the ERP was on a continuous trajectory into the late 1990s. When we read letters in the press from persons like Donald Ramotar and Norman Whittaker boasting that the PPP delivered economic growth and that it was the best time for Guyana and Guyanese, they are failing to give credit where credit is due.  The legitimate growth in this economy during the PPP’s tenure was due to the infrastructure put in place by Hoyte/Greenidge and retained by Jagan/Ally.

Every programme has a life cycle based on the dynamics in the society. The PPP in the absence of new legitimate concepts and ideas held on to Hoyte/Greenidge’s ERP and the failure in creating a new programme to replace the one whose life cycle had come to an end, the country began experiencing what we have been told is negative growth. This basically means that the country’s economy was not growing. In fact, Guyana was experiencing another economic downturn.
This however was not as a result of international pressure and other factors, but that of absence of vision and where any agitation in society became the bogeyman to justify economic incompetence or make the people feel that they have to be still and silent, even in the midst of political overreach, corruption, violating of laws, transgressing of citizens’ rights, etc.

What we experienced under Bharrat Jagdeo’s leadership, both as Minister of Finance and President, was the absence of a legitimate developmental programme, where officialdom facilitated the rise and expansion of the narco-trade to fill the vacuum and mask the absence of vision and an ERP that had already served its purpose.
What was happening in the economy was that government was announcing big projects, major institutions such as bauxite were privatised as sugar was being sustained through bad investments such as the Skeldon Factory, tens of billions thrown into the sector not with the intent to revitalise and sustain, but as a means to channel taxpayers’ money to friends and cronies, with another example too being the billions of dollars thrown behind Fip Motilall to build a road to the hydro project.

Sugar and bauxite have been two major economic pillars in this society that attracted labour to each sector primarily from the two major races, Indians and Africans. Under the PPP these industries were no longer driven by similar policies and programmes that the ERP had put in place, leading to racial discrimination in the economy, the exacerbating of mistrust and conflict among the masses.  Undergirding this situation of illicit activities had ensnared the system of government which created a false sense of growth and well-being.

Professor Clive Thomas did extensive writings on the criminalised state, narco-economy and their attendant evils under the Jagdeo government. The narco-economy according to him was assessed to be between 40-60 percent of the economy and in the case of the criminalised state Transparency International ranked Guyana as the most corrupt English-speaking country in the Caribbean.  This is Jagdeo’s legacy on the economy.

Government carries the responsibility to put structures and systems in place to create the enabling environment for productive economic endeavours of the citizens, and at all times being mindful of its leading role to weld the nation’s diversity groups and provide equal opportunities for all. The Jagdeo administration failed in this regard and where this government has rightly led in moving to excise the underground economy, it cannot ignore that a legitimate programme becomes necessary to replace the dirty money being taken out.

People have to survive and their needs for self-actualisation met. Where Jagdeo in recognising such pursued the path of having some fulfil their needs through illicit activities, this government must recognise that it has to come up with a programme to fulfil the said needs of all through legitimate activities.
Here is where Greendige, arguably the only person in active politics today with a record tried, tested, and proven to the country’s benefit is deserving a closer look, whether in the capacity of similar responsibility he can once again take this country on a legitimate course towards development.

Last week former workers of Wales Estate hosted a press conference to bring to the nation’s attention the deprivation they are facing since the estate’s closure. As the nation pursues social cohesion, it was expected that the Government would have taken all precautions in addressing this closure by bringing the stakeholders to the table with a view of finding common ground.
The explanation that some stakeholders will not cooperate does not exonerate government from putting the mechanism in place and inviting them to the table. What the society is currently experiencing is a replay of Jagdeo’s policy and programme in treating with the bauxite industry by excluding stakeholders.

Employees in the bauxite industry are primarily Africans. When Jagdeo, an Indian leader, deliberately pursued the politics of exclusion, the opposition PNC- representative unions and other stakeholders of the bauxite community were offended and rightly so, since the decisions on the industry carried seismic consequences for the well-being of those affected.
Sugar has a primarily Indian-dominated workforce. A government that is being led by a person who is seen as an African has to be mindful where exclusion continues to take place in decision-making on the industry. It cannot absolve itself from being held to the same standard society rightly held Jagdeo to in his mishandling of the bauxite industry and the mistreatment meted out to the stakeholders.

To learn, via the media, that after the closure of the estate that a social amelioration programme has now been developed to address the fall-outs of the actions taken is tantamount to putting the cart before the horse.  In 1989 when Greenidge outlined the ERP, inherent in the programme was the establishment of measures to cushion economic dislocation, which included training and education to equip persons to enter a new economy, employment and economic opportunities.

Notably absent in national planning where there exists a programme to remove narco and other illegal money from the system, there is no programme to replace that money society has grown accustomed to being circulated and around which people could have planned their lives.
Let us not forget that man’s need for survival and self-actualisation drives the principal reason for his existence, and where these are not met by legitimate means will be pursued illegitimately.  It is the function of government to ensure measures are put in place to realise the former and punish the latter. At the same time, government cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for creating the enabling environment for legitimacy to function and must take responsibility for failing to do so that would allow for illegitimacy to survive.  This government must not repeat the pitfalls of Jagdeo.

In saying all of the above it is not lost on me in a society as big as ours where the politics of smallness is pandered to, the facts spoken here about Greendige can lead to jealously and the potential of him being ostracised. It is my hope however that in every environment where truth is essential for growth and development such can be respected, positives emulated, adverse conduct shunned, double standards avoided and there be realised the use of appropriate and available resources to get the job done, in order that society and all could benefit. It remains my fervent hope the nation gravitates to this path.

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