Dear Editor,
AS an imperative, Guyanese must establish an impactful poverty eradication assistance programme as a social service benefit from oil & gas revenues. The national dialogue has been dominated by discussions about direct cash transfers to the citizens of Guyana from revenues generated from Guyana’s nascent, but soon-to-be-booming oil and gas sector.
The direct cash transfer proposal emanated from economist Dr. Clive Thomas. Dr. David Hinds has been a chief proponent. The APNU+AFC government has dissuaded this plan. The government said it intends to invest such oil-and-gas revenues in, among other programmes, the reintroduction of free education from nursery to university. Free education is a constitutionally guaranteed right which the PPP government unlawfully took away from Guyanese. I endorse and laud the government’s plan to fund free education from oil-and-gas profits. Free education, by itself, however, will not alleviate poverty. A broad social protection policy framework would be essential.

The APNU+AFC coalition, if it does not subscribe to direct cash transfers, must quickly adumbrate a social service programme that directly transfers wealth accrued from oil and gas to vulnerable citizens, to propel them from poverty to prosperity. We cannot adopt or continue old designs that merely ameliorate the impact of poverty, but which do not eliminate impoverishment. Those are futile. The nation must endeavour to eliminate poverty; poverty eradication and social transformation can only be attained with bold, progressive policies that reverse factors that sustain poverty.

Move On Guyana, Inc. (MOGI) has advanced the best poverty eradication programme proposal. The MOGI programme includes the following components:
(i) Establish a national income threshold for all Guyanese, age 18 to pensionable age.
(ii) Enact a conditional, proportionate income subsidy from a fund similar to, or part of, the sovereign wealth fund from oil royalties and revenues to compensate every eligible citizen earning below the income threshold. The conditional cash payment will bring the participant’s income up to the threshold.

(iii) Beneficiaries must be gainfully employed throughout enrollment.
(iv) Programme participation will be for a specified time period.
(v) Eligibility is conditioned on continuing education and pursuit of better employment opportunities with higher income.
(vi) Participants whose income increases to or above the threshold will become ineligible and migrate from the programme.

This is neither welfare nor a handout. Participants will be required to meet programme conditionalities. These beneficiaries must be employed to participate; must undergo continuous training and education; and must seek better employment after gaining better qualifications. Once new employment generates income at or above the threshold, they leave the programme.

This is a progressive policy that will motivate unemployed citizens to seek employment, as well as inspire low-income citizens to become better qualified, and to pursue better employment to earn more. This is teaching citizens “how to fish”; this is how we lift people from poverty into the middle-class. With meticulous, skilled conceptualisation and commensurable comprehensive legislative framework, this policy can be a landmark accomplishment that empowers productive citizenry and prosperity in our nation.
Guyana’s poverty level is too high for a country with such remarkable wealth generation potential from tapping unexploited natural resources. Revenues from oil and gas must, therefore, be used to engender the modernity and prosperity we Guyanese have for so long desired. Now is the time for those whom the people elected to govern our nation to rapidly build a modern Guyana. A long-term plan to modernise our infrastructure, accelerate human development, and bring about social transformation will inspire support from the people.

We must build state-of-the-art healthcare facilities countrywide, and a modern, efficient education system that produces brilliant young mines to lead the future. We must build new communities and adequate, modern housing; a world-class, pure-water supply system that reaches every household in Guyana; construct a modern, industrialised electricity grid to power every home and industry, and, ultimately, establish a social safety net that helps to lift citizens from poverty into the middle-class. This audacious agenda must be complemented by a robust, expanded private sector that creates good, paying jobs and generates economic growth.

We must build a modern Guyana now; modern development must be the priority occupation of all. So, too, must be the agenda for national harmony. Modern development cannot be achieved without national cohesiveness. The APNU+AFC has led our nation well. I do not agree with all of its decisions, or with every member, but, in principle, I support President Granger and his government. Our nation now looks forward to the ‘Coalition’ adumbrating “Vision 25”; a 25-year vision of the modern Guyana it seeks to build.

Regards,
Rickford Burke