THE day has finally arrived. On December 20, 2019, Guyana officially joined the elite club of oil-producing nations. It is a historic moment pregnant with expectations that up till five years ago was a distant dream; that dream has now become reality. In the words of President Granger, “The ‘good life’ for everyone beckons…Let us work together to build a happy and prosperous country for the present and future generations.” The coming of oil brings with it new challenges, but the joy cannot be overstated.

It is ironic that exactly one year after one man sought to derail the will of the majority of the electorate, we are entering into new territory. In a sense, the announcement of first oil allows the country to put closure to that misadventure that occurred last year. We head into the new year with a new purpose and mission. A central part of that mission should be righting the historical wrongs that have been heaped on the backs of the working people and the working poor, thanks to policies which have not prioritised investment in people. The issue of social equality must be central to the plans for the oil economy.

First oil means that the nation can now be assured that there will be more revenues to do the things which our foreparents could only dream of. From educational uplift to adequate health care to infrastructural overhaul, those dreams can now become reality. Our president has already assured the nation of a first-class education system in which every child will be guaranteed the right to be educated. That the state would assume responsibility for this human right speaks to a commitment to utilise the oil wealth to lift the material circumstances of the broad masses of people.

Of course, there is a relationship between first oil and who governs. In that sense, oil will be on the ballot on March 2, 2020. As we have been warned, corruption accompanies oil wealth. It means then that we have to be careful not to put in office those with a track record of wanton corruption. There is a clear choice for the electorate. Either we choose a team whose name has been synonymous with institutional corruption, or one which is associated with anti-corruption.

President David Granger has made it clear that under his watch, the oil wealth would not find its way into the pockets of rich men. This is a very timely reassurance from the Head of State. It is no secret that the vultures are waiting at the gate to get their sticky hands on the oil money. They must be stopped in their tracks. There must be an unambiguous policy of redistribution of the returns downwards. Our working people have carried Guyana on their backs in the period of little. Now that we have embarked on a period of relatively plenty, it is those working people who must be at the front of the line.

This newspaper is uncompromising on that score. We note that while the prophets of doom rail about bad contracts they are silent on the issue of equitable distribution of the expected resources. There is no doubt that the private sector must be central to any developmental initiative, but that should not be translated into a monopoly of the financial benefits . We reject the neo-liberal approach to development, whereby the fortunes of those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder are peripheral.

We are not talking of empty electoral promises. On the contrary, we call on the contestants for high office to make clear where they stand on the upliftment of the poor. Trickle-down policies are not options. We have been down that road before. What is needed are clear and commonsense policies that aim at the heart of the problems. The working people must not be objects of promises, but the very subjects of the policy proposals.