IN A few days the year 2019 would have expired and 2020 would have taken birth. This is symbolised by an old man moving to his inevitable demise and at the same time welcoming a new-born baby representing the New Year. The advent of the New Year, in all Cultures, is always enveloped in traditions, myths, superstitions and even philosophic lessons. For example, the depiction of the Old Year as an old man, who though sturdy enough, is inexorably moving towards death reminds us of our mortality and how close and unexpected it is.

In Western cultures, we celebrate the Old Year as part of the New Year since Old Year”s night is subsumed and indeed, flows into the New Year. This is different from say the Hindu or Islamic New Year where there is a distinctiveness between the Old and the New. There is a strong belief that one’s home and surroundings should be kept in good order and that one should be well-attired and well-fed when the New Year arrives since this same milieu will continue for the rest of the year. It is a time of family dinners and reunions, of settling old quarrels, of church-going and dances for if the New Year finds one in a joyous mood, such will continue through the New Year. Thus at midnight, there is an eruption of joyous noises, of singing, loudly exchanging New Year greetings, discharging squibs and fire-works and raising “Auld lang syne”, that Scottish song which expresses nostalgia for the year which has just passed and a hopeful and joyous welcome for the New Year. Auld lang syne is the veritable anthem for the passing of the Old Year and the advent of the New.

New Year Resolutions are among the most important facets of that festival. Most of us believe that such Resolutions are of a personal kind but there are resolutions of a societal and country kind also. Such country resolutions tend to go on from year to year with little change and are found largely among politicians and those who make national budgets. Since there is little that is new or exiting in them, they are almost forgotten. Personal New Year Resolutions, on the other hand, are always alive and layout an optimistic course of action and achievement for the person making them and they serve as an affirmation.

Societal or Country Resolutions for Guyana for the New Year 2020 would be very different from the past since in 2020 the country would have been metamorphosed into an Oil and Gas one. Oil wealth would begin to flow and the country could realistically achieve the dreams of development it had always had from the time of Sir Walter Raleigh. The country resolution is to improve the standard of living of the population by having enough funds to inject into the development of agriculture, industry and social services.

Wages, salaries and pensions would be improved. Health services throughout the country will begin to move towards the highest levels with surgeries and medical treatments which could only have been accessioned abroad would be done locally. The Faculty of Medicine of the University would be upgraded and serious medical research would be embarked upon.
Education is another area where standards would begin to be immediately raised. All teachers would have better salaries and would be fully trained so that there would be no untrained teachers in the schools. School buildings would be modernised and properly equipped and the hardships which pupils from poorer families now experience would begin to disappear.

Throughout its history, Guyana was known to be a country with vast resources waiting to be developed. Whatever development occurred did so at a slow and painful pace leaving the country in 2019 with a sugar industry, a bauxite industry and a rice industry struggling to survive because of lack of capital injections. The other industry which has been earning is the gold industry which needs capital to be spent on infrastructural development. With the infusion of adequate capital which would have derived from the Oil and Gas industry, they would have become prosperous and a source of continuous and permanent wealth unlike Oil and Gas whose existence is finite as Trinidad is sadly experiencing.

Oil revenues would have been spent on the development of cheaper and renewable energy mainly on hydropower and solar energy. These cheaper and renewable sources have eluded Guyana for decades and made the profitable and continuous development of industry and Agriculture almost impossible. Now, this handicap would have been forever removed.

And lastly, The Venezuelan Controversy which has been such a threat to the country’s security and existence and which was used by Venezuela to prevent investment in Guyana and stymie economic development would have been put to rest. The hearings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would have brought the issue to its finality and Venezuela would inevitably have to accept the boundaries as had been decided by the 1899 Arbitration and which Venezuela herself demarcated with Britain shortly thereafter.

Guyana’s New Year Resolutions are optimistic and far more realisable than personal Resolutions. When the traditional New Year greeting of “Ring in the New Year” and “Prosperous 2020” are given, they would be more meaningful to Guyanese than they had ever been.