When Mr. Michael Hope (in Stabroek News, Wed. 1st June 2011) writes that Guyana has “seen forty-five years of no proper development” and that the “two major parties (PNC and PPP) have taken (the) country for a ride, diminishing its prestige…” he is right, but only in part.
Yes, indeed the PNC did a lot of damage, from which the nation is still reeling. But Hope must learn to disambiguate the pre and post 1992 eras of Guyana. Hope and others expect the PPP to miraculously reverse in 19 years, 28 years of PNC destruction hence they will never accept the progress that Guyana has made under PPP rule despite the challenges those 28 years of PNC misrule presented.

He then went on to say that Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that Guyana is a begging country and that “it existed on foreign aid”. While Golding’s statement’s were reported far and wide it was the less than credible Freddie Kissoon who directly attributed it to Guyana, not Mr Golding himself.  Mr Golding barely mentioned that the leaders of  ‘some countries’ act like panhandlers, running around the World with a begging bowl.
However, I should remind Hope that President Jagdeo’s trips abroad have yielded substantial debt write offs. Debts which were incurred during those 28 years of PNC misrule. It also yielded Billions of GY Dollars in funds from Norway through Jagdeo’s LCDS initiative. A substantial portion of those funds have gone into development of Amerindian communities and will also ensure cheaper, cleaner and a more reliable energy supply via the Amaila Falls Hydro-project.  There have been substantial investments in the area of Education which have yielded positive results. So much so, that the population of Jamaican students pursuing first degree courses at the University of Guyana have increased three-fold over the last five years.

Hope’s claim that Guyana does not have the ability to generate successful economic activities from its own natural resources is laughable. And since he uses Jamaica as a comparison to Guyana, this is exactly what a former leader said some time back about Jamaica. The leader was at the time referring to the paucity in local farm products on the local Jamaican market scene.
It is the various species of fishes from Guyana  being sold all over the Caribbean and North America that have found their way in the Jamaican markets. Local exporters of fishes can attest to this fact because they run a lucrative business, employing ‘hands’ by the dozens, to offset the necessary work. This is just one example, the rest of which hope seems ‘blind’ to.

The development which is absent in the eyes of Michael Hope and others of his ilk is being seen by the ordinary citizens who no longer have to join long lines at the Knowledge Sharing Institute in order to obtain basic food items. Who are now able to own a home of their own through the Government’s houselot allocation programme and access loans to build with low interest rates. Development is evident everywhere except in the eyes of Michael Hope.