The PPP/C’s manifesto explicitly “acknowledged the vast potential of the Guyanese diaspora to contribute to Guyana’s transformation.” It promised “Through targeted and sustained engagements, the government will ensure that the members of the diaspora remain informed of national developments and priorities. It will encourage investments, foster collaborations, and create pathways for the diaspora to participate in key sectors, including oil and gas. Additionally, diaspora outreaches will continue to unlock expertise, capital, and innovation, strengthening the connection between overseas Guyanese and their homeland. These efforts aim to empower members of the diaspora to maintain a strong connection with Guyana and serve as ambassadors.”
The inaugural “diaspora” had been formed out of their dispersal of the Jewish people subsequent to their conquest thousands of years ago, when most had been driven into slavery to Babylon and Egypt. In more modern times, the process was not much different for several other “peoples”. Between the sixteenth and nineteenth century, two sets of “diasporas” were formed when millions of Africans were snatched from their native lands by Europeans and shipped to the “New World” as slaves – Africans and Europeans of several nationalities.
Following the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, Indians, Chinese and some other groups were shipped as “indentured labour”. The shipments of Indians and Chinese created two new diasporas that become very significant because of their numbers. Intellectuals from people of African descent – from the USA, the West Indies and Africa – were the first to organise their diaspora and launched the 1st Pan-African Congress in 1900.
When the 5th Pan-African Congress was held in Manchester in 1945 at the end of WWII, the individuals who were to become leaders in the struggle for independence – such as Eric Williams of Trinidad and Tobago and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana from the African Diaspora – honed a common strategy for their countries’ development that integrally involved their diaspora. However, the developmental focus on the diaspora subsequently waned during the 1980’s.
The successive governments of post-Mao China much more self-consciously mobilised its diaspora and very successfully tapped into the skills and resources in its drive for development starting in the 1980’s. The Chinese diaspora – like India’s – were quite successful in accumulating first world skills and asset accumulation that could be tapped into by their country of origin. When the government of India initiated the annual PBD in 2003 for is diaspora, it attempted to accommodate two imperatives – the drive for India’s development by harnessing the skills and resources of its diaspora and the desire for cultural contacts of the latter. With the advent of the nationalistic government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, a decision was made to host the event biennially, and to have preparatory structured meetings and discussions in New Delhi with representatives of the diaspora on identified subject areas. Several Guyanese leaders – including Pres Ali have attended PBD’s which have been very successful in directing FDI’s into India .
In 2022, the inaugural AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF) was launched in Barbados and expressed its support for closer economic and trade ties between the two regions, “which share historic and cultural ties and face critical challenges of climate change and economic reliance on commodities”. The forum, with the theme “One People, One Destiny, Uniting and Re-imagining Our Future” took place in September 2022 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Afreximbank, Export Barbados and Invest Barbados organised the event which has been repeated three times with the fourth – ACTIF2025) – taking place in St. George’s, Grenada, last July
For Guyana, the experience of its delegates to PBD and to ACTIF over the years should be tapped to facilitate our own aspirations to utilise our multiethnic diaspora and involve them in our development as articulated in the PPP’s Manifesto 2025, summarised above. Once again there has been efforts for Guyana to achieve this goal through the explicitly named “Diaspora Unit”.
President Ali should direct the unit to analyse India’s, Africa’s and China’s strategies and perchance adopt some of the policies from their successful models.
