THE type of development and investments which are being witnessed in Guyana could not have been possible any time before 2006, since the period 1992 to 2006 was mainly a period of pondering restoration.

Further, the period before 2006 was a period when much was being done to realise the present wave of development and investment being achieved today.

Those statements were made by Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, in delivering the feature address at the opening ceremony of the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory, which was commissioned on Monday on the University of Guyana Campus.

“2006-2011, that term of office of Bharrat Jagdeo and the Peoples Progressive Party Civic Administration, it is my contention it was unparalleled; and as we speak here today, it remains unparalleled in the history of Government in Guyana,” Luncheon told the gathering.

He said that much, in terms of the vision that propelled this country forward, flowed from the Office of the President and Cabinet and the administration during that period of governance; and Luncheon said it is worth being reminded of, as he pointed to the period of 2006 to 2011 as being the period when the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory Initiative was cultivated.

The presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo and his term in office, Luncheon added, challenged Guyanese and those who supported developing countries in transforming Guyana and the economy, causing the period to be unparalleled in the history of governance in Guyana.

Dr. Luncheon said one should not forget what the 1992 to 2006 period was all about. He said the Government of the day might hardly have spoken of investments or of projects of the magnitude of what are being witnessed now, but the period had more emphasis on restoring the country to financial viability.

“We had to build back, put things back in place…. We had…much to do to take us to the place where we were ready to take off,” Luncheon added.
Luncheon said the period 1992 to 2006 also served to have Guyana look at what was happening in the rest of the world. That observation, he said, did help to guide the Government to select the kind of investments which should be embarked upon.

(By Leroy Smith)