Employ UG graduates to formulate policy papers on Guyana’s problems – Norton suggests to Govt

Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton walked with a list of suggestions for Government on Friday – including one that the Government utilise the skills of jobless University of Guyana (UG) graduates in think tanks and working bodies.
During the course of his budget debate presentation, Norton, who was the penultimate speaker on day five of the budget debates, suggested that the Government can tackle multi-faceted issues such as unemployment and gaps in Guyana’s development, by directly employing UG graduates.

“Guaranteed high-paying Government jobs. Guaranteed high-paying Government jobs. In this regard, University graduates must be employed to undertake analysis of our problems and offer solutions, resulting in development being data driven,” Norton said.
“Mr Speaker, there are many university students out there who have graduated and cannot find a job. If the Government undertakes to create proper think tanks and working bodies, and pay people to do their research, we’ll be in a better position.”
Another suggestion from Norton was that the Government provide grants to new entrants into the agriculture sector. He also called for the incentivising of existing farmers, which he said would address a range of issues.
“Grants must be made available for new people in agriculture. And for existing farmers, to ensure increased agriculture activity as a measure to prevent us from experiencing the Dutch disease.”
“These grants to farmers will allow them to boost productivity, grow their farms and increase their earnings by acquiring better equipment. It will contribute to the growth of the non-oil sector,” Norton said.
While Norton was of the belief that more needs to be done to boost the non-oil economy, Guyana’s non-oil economy actually performed well and registered 11.5 per cent Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Of this amount, agriculture accounted for almost 9 per cent.
During his budget debate, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha had pointed out that at a time when many countries in the world suffered from food shortages and other globally influenced economic woes, Guyana is still able to produce the majority of the food it consumes.
“We have seen what took place during the last two and a half years during the pandemic. We have seen many countries that have large sums of money, were unable to procure food for their population,” Mustapha said.
“And we in Guyana are very fortunate, because with the prudent management and investments we have created, we are able to produce 60 per cent of the food we are consuming. I am hearing my colleagues saying 100 per cent, we will reach there… I have a plan, unlike them, for the agriculture sector.”
With Guyana able to produce 60 per cent of food for domestic consumption, Minister Mustapha had expressed optimism for the agriculture sector. He had also spoken about Guyana’s influence at the regional level when it comes to food security and how it has grown in the past few years.
“The entire Caribbean is looking forward to the leadership of His Excellency President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. And with that portfolio that our President holds, we have seen a renewed interest in agriculture in the Region. Countries that depend on tourism, are now moving to transform their economies into agriculture. Because they see the future,” Mustapha said.
In his budget presentation, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had predicted that the real GDP for Guyana will grow by 25.1 per cent in 2023, as oil production increases. He had meanwhile projected that growth in the non-oil economy would reach 7.9 per cent this year, driven by continued expansion in a number of areas including other crops.
Major developments are expected in the sugar sector, including higher performance from existing estates and production from the reopened Rose Hall estate. An output of almost 61,000 tonnes of sugar and the growth of the subsector by 29.3 per cent, are expected in 2023.
When it comes to rice, growth of 8.3 per cent is projected for the subsector in 2023, with total production of 652,103 metric tonnes. The other crops subsector is also expected to expand in 2023, at a rate of 5.8 per cent. Livestock, forestry, and fishing are projected to grow at 12.1 per cent, four per cent and 8.4 per cent, respectively. (G3)