LET me start on a light, personal note. I paid for my daughter to attend UG. It was an enormous financial burden so I wouldn’t mind if there is a reimbursement scheme in the making.
But I believe that developing countries, if they can afford it, should offer free education at the tertiary level and many other free services like day-care for the children of the security forces and medical personnel who work in public health.

I was always a believer in, and I cannot see me changing at my age, of socialist economics being part of the economy of post-colonial countries. The announcement yesterday by President Ali of free UG education from January 2025 is a huge indication of how Guyana will use oil money. I believe the best is yet to come. But unfortunately as Kit Nascimento said to me; some of us will be too old to enjoy Guyana’s oil wealth.

There are unpatriotic Guyanese out there who need to apologise to the Guyanese people after they would have heard and read about the financial and economic package that President Ali announced yesterday to the nation. I will return to the package below but first let’s offer some quotes from the unpatriotic sections of this country.

Here are the words of a letter published in the Stabroek News on December 13, 2022. “We cannot support government’s policy to produce oil and gas when every ton of greenhouse gas pollution helps to destroy our original ancestral home and cause loss of life in African countries. We cannot support this government’s policy to produce oil and gas when every ton of greenhouse gas pollution will help to destroy the earth and the ocean. We cannot support government’s policy to produce oil and gas when it is financially and economically unsustainable. We call for a national moratorium on all petroleum operations in Guyana – offshore and onshore.”

This letter had 42 signatures consisting of educated people who should know better. I want to offer you a crucial quote from the letter which shows the kind of people this nation has produced. I quote again: “Guyana can obtain far greater wealth as a carbon sink. Guyana’s forests remove 154 million tons of carbon dioxide each year. Fossil fuel economies desperately need this service. In light of our unique historic contribution to mitigating climate change, we demand payment at the rate of US$80 per ton. We reserve the right to increase our price in the future. US$80 per ton would give Guyana US$12.4 billion every year.”

Two important things to note here and when you do so, anger must take over. One- Guyana; forests must continue to remove carbon dioxide to help the world. Two –we must come out of oil production and demand from rich countries payment for our carbon sink. What word do you use to describe such people? Which rich country or group of wealthy nations is going to finance Guyana’s alternative to the income we get from oil? It will never happen so we must collect revenues from our oil asset and do what the President has done.
There will be $200,000 for every household. Electricity cost will be reduced by 50 per cent. Parents can now claim tax reduction. Some $10 billion has been given to the NIS so citizens who did not meet the threshold can still have an NIS pension. Fee abolition at UG from January 2025. A healthcare cash voucher of $10,000 for each child that should cover over half a million children. Minimum wage of 100,000 for public servants. Obviously there is more to come.

This package would have been impossible if we had come out of oil production and depended on the New Imperialism (see my column of October 8 for that subject) to finance Guyana’s development. What the President announced yesterday will inject over 70 billion Guyana dollars in the economy that reminds one of Keynesian economics to a certain extent. This is oil money. We come out of oil, and hope the world will help us, then, we will live in hope and die in despair.

Let’s quote the Stabroek News in the context of that $70 billion. “The President also cannot be oblivious or insensitive to the fact that roughly 645,000 barrels of Guyana oil per day is being burnt somewhere in the world and contributing to climate jeopardy. This administration refuses to develop an oil depletion policy and is aiming above one million barrels a day.”

It is that oil money that will enable less economically endowed children to go UG for free. Let’s aim for that target of a million a day so Guyana can be free of poverty and its citizens can enjoy its oil wealth.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.