Two contrasting statements made by prominent persons are of note this past week. The British High Commissioner marvelled this past week about the massive construction taking place in Guyana. High Commissioner Jane Miller marvelled about the massive infrastructural transformation taking place in Guyana over the last two years. Indeed, no two-year period in the history of this country has shown as much infrastructural development as is occurring right now, even before the second anniversary of President Irfaan Ali’s term in office.
But, according to Winston Jordan, the former Minister of Finance in the failed APNU/AFC Government, the growth that the PPP Government is celebrating and that persons like Her Excellency Jane Miller is awed by is nothing but a mirage.
Winston Jordan has chosen to be blind. Between 2006 and 2015, we roamed the country to bring patients to Port Mourant Ophthalmology Center for cataract surgery. By 1992, there were more than 20,000 backlog cases of cataract cases. By 1997, that backlog was about 16,000 cases. By 2006, it was down to 8,000 cases. By 2010, Guyana had almost eliminated the backlog.
The hurtful truth is that the Port Mourant Ophthalmology Hospital stopped doing any cataract surgery after 2015. Outside of two outreaches, one by a missionary group and one by the US Medical Corp, no cataract surgery was done at this specialised institution between 2015 and 2020, causing the backlog of cataract surgery cases to return. This is the APNU/AFC’s legacy. The Minister of Finance during the period 2015 to 2020 was Winston Jordan. It appears that he is today suffering from myopia and cataract. He can feel assured that the present health sector can offer him quick relief. Cataract surgery is available free of charge in the public health sector again, after Jordan’s party was dumped by the Guyanese people.
Jordan, as usual, put his foot in his mouth again for the umpteenth time this past week when he claimed that the massive GDP growth, now pegged at more than 57% for 2022, is nothing but a mirage. Hopefully, he watched on TV, listened to the radio stations, and read the newspapers about the outstanding success of the Building Expo which was held on the tarmac of the National Stadium between July 22 and July 26. We can assure Jordan that the International Building Expo 2022 was not a mirage.
The Building Expo was last held in 2013 when Guyana’s present President was Minister of Housing. It has made a triumphant return. However, no one in 2013 could have imagined what the Building Expo 2022 would have looked like. The massive Building Expo 2022 gave Guyanese a glimpse of the Guyana of the near-future. Building Expo 2022 is a measure of the development taking place in Guyana. The Guyanese people came out in unprecedented numbers to give witness to the new Guyana.
This was no mirage. While Jordan urges Guyanese to ignore what they see and feel, and claimed that the 57% increase in the GDP predicted for 2022 is nothing but a fiction of somebody’s imagination, the Guyanese people have shown that their confidence in Guyana’s economy is no mirage.
Jordan and his colleagues in the PNC are so mesmerised by what is taking place in Guyana that they have become confused. The construction of the Linden-to-Mabura Road as the first phase in the construction of the road to Lethem is no mirage. He and his PNC colleagues can jump up and down all they want, they can scream to the heavens all they want, the road to Mabura is real, and is a measure of the development taking place in Guyana.
Soon the reconstruction of the Linden Highway would begin. The Road from Eccles to Mandela Avenue is now traversed by thousands of vehicles every single day. Construction has started for the road from Ogle to Diamond. Soon the reconstruction of the Corentyne Highway would begin. Also, construction of the Schoonord-to-Parika road will soon begin, as would the construction of the new Demerara River Bridge.
In a matter of days, the President will turn the sod for the first ever Pediatric and Maternal Hospital in Guyana. Soon after, he will turn the sod for the construction of six new regional hospitals. Also on the agenda is a new Bartica Hospital and upgrading of the Linden, New Amsterdam and Georgetown hospitals. The entire infrastructure for health is being transformed.
This is what real development looks like. Between 2015 and 2020, the most noteworthy thing about health was the several scandals and corruption, such as renting an old house for $15M per month and procuring medicines worth less than $100M for $605M. Yet, less than two years into President Ali’s term, the whole health sector is set to be transformed. This is no mirage.
While Jordan speaks of a development mirage, thousands of Guyanese are building homes, acquiring cars, improving their vocational and academic qualifications and starting businesses. At the same time, more people are taking loans and mortgages, and fewer people are failing to make payments on their loans. More jobs are being created as the construction boom continues to increase. New international hotels, shopping malls etc. are springing up everywhere and every day. This is no mirage. Even the blind can feel the development.
