President David Granger during the United Nations General Assembly in New York, suggested that Guyana has “to consider [its] land space as being the hinterland of the Caribbean” and that we have to “sit down and speak to other Caribbean Community (Caricom) States to see how this gift [of our land mass] could be utilised to give the Caribbean people a better life in the wake” of natural catastrophes.
This would have been an honourable proposal were it not for the fact that his Government can barely guarantee the welfare and security of the less than 750,000 of us who make up the local population, much less the distressed victims of the recent natural disasters which hit neighbouring countries. Whether the President actually meant it or was simply trying to embellish his image in the international arena, is another story.
The hurricanes which rocked several Caribbean nations, followed almost immediately by the two horrendous earthquakes that left at least 298 dead in Mexico, do warrant national concern, solidarity and our empathy for families that have been devastated. So does the ongoing Venezuelan crisis that is currently forcing impoverished families across the country’s borders. They need our support, and where our Government has the resources to help them, especially stranded Guyanese nationals, it must. However, what exactly the President means by our land mass being a “gift” in this context, is yet to be determined.
While it is true that Guyana has immense potential for agricultural development and can assume the role of regional leadership on several fronts should we chose to invest intelligently in our human and natural resources, this reality still exceeds our grasp for now. The change in Government in 2015 marked the commencement of a series of economic and fiscal reforms which are directly responsible for the stagnant state of our since contracted economy, as well as the decimation of the rice and sugar industries in particular. The subsequent decline in the people’s purchasing power is perhaps the most flagrant indicator of this economic crisis which seems to be the least of the Government’s concerns.
However, development is not only stymied by the reluctance to reverse or to cushion the impact of irresponsible economic measures, but is accentuated by the Government’s neglect of the socioeconomic development of the population. This is marked inter alia by the removal of social welfare programmes or the replacement of some by mediocre hand-outs, as well as the slothful handling of the national housing programme which has been transformed to suit all but the needs of Guyanese families.
It has not yet been disclosed how many of the 1000 turn-key homes initially designed under the previous Administration, have been delivered to date. Yet, the coalition has proceeded to evolve the housing programme through which applicants can either obtain individual house lots or turn-key homes based on their income level, to one which forces families to settle for already built houses at a starting price of GY.5 million. This programme restrains the freedom of Guyanese to build at their own pace and to suit their own architectural tastes since it reduces their access to actual individual house lots. And since the price of a low income property is now five times higher than the price of the most expensive house lot proposed by the CH&PA (GY.2 million), access to housing might as well be reduced in general.
One of the pretexts advanced by the Government during the launch of its new but largely unwelcomed housing project, was the presumed unavailability of land. Such an absurd argument can only be advanced by a myopic Government which overlooks the fact that from 1992 to now, the expansion of housing schemes boomed across the coastland with the development of a growing middle class. Incidentally, if more land is needed to match the growing needs of Guyanese as is implied by the current Government, then it is but a question of expanding housing schemes in a country where some 80 per cent of the national territory remains unoccupied.
So, how President Granger intends to put our land mass to the service of distressed nations is an intriguing affair considering his Government’s deficiencies in optimising our resources via sustainable and viable policy-making.
Decidedly, we’re confronted with yet another paradox at a time when deceitfulness is the best the coalition can seemingly offer.
