…with Brazil
Singapore is conceded to be a success story par excellence as far as the Third World – to which it once belonged – is concerned. Hard to believe we were once doing better than Singapore, isn’t it?? In his book, “From Third World to First”, miracle man Lee Kwan Yew pointed out how Jamaica’s Manley used to be the big kahuna at Commonwealth Meetings in the seventies – with answers to everything. Well, Lee Kwan Yew had the last laugh! He mightn’t have been as blunt as Naipaul, but he did imply we have more “talk men” than “do men” here in the Caribbean!!
One of the reasons Singapore succeeded so spectacularly was because of the strategic decisions LKY made. Leaders are supposed to look “beyond the horizon” to identity opportunities that others mightn’t even be THINKING about. One of those decisions was to choose Europe and the US – thousands of miles away – as Singapore’s “hinterland” it would service! Imagine that!! At the same time our smart man Burnham gave us subsistence co-operativism!
Well, it’s clear by now that our young President Ali is a “do man”, and not a “talk man”!! Your Eyewitness has always believed that one strategic decision we needed to make was quit looking so fixedly north when it comes to our trade linkages, and shift our gaze elsewhere – especially to that behemoth south of the Rupununi. And lo and behold, early in the day, President Ali pivoted south!! Brazil – the #10 economy in the world, with GNP of US$1.6 TRILLION – might’ve stuttered a bit because of COVID, but it’s a giant that can only grow in the years ahead, and provide markets for the diversification of our economy – while taking advantage of our newfound oil revenues.
Presidents Ali and Santokhi of Suriname, after collaborating to create more heft, quickly scheduled meetings with their Brazilian counterpart – now Lula – to discuss a number of initiatives on the strength of the three countries becoming South American energy powerhouses. On the Caricom “25 by 25 initiative” – to cut its food bills by 25% by 2015 – Pres Ali quickly roped in Brazil. Roraima has a long history in the cultivation of soya, beans and corn – which that private conglomerate is experimenting with in our Intermediate Savannahs. Now they want to explore getting into the business on our side of the border in Region 9, which has the identical terrain add soils like theirs. And the Rupununi may soon be crowded with cattle!
We’ve now launched the completion of the Highway to the Takutu Bridge. Which’ll give Brazil entry to our upcoming Berbice Deep Water harbour to ship their products from Roraima and Manaus to their northern markets!
Go south, youngsters!!
…for votes
The new race for the PNC leader “wuk” is again throwing up the perennial question in Guyanese politics: how’s the leader to solidify support of the ethnic base but still try to get some support from the other “five peoples”? When Burnham formed the PNC in late 1957, he was the darling of urban Africans – because of their pride at his exploits at Queen’s. He appealed to the rural Africans by bringing in Eusi Kwayana (then Sydney King) and the urban Coloured/Mixed of John Carter’s UDP.
For Indian Guyanese support, he brought over Jainarine Singh and JB Latchmansingh from the BGEIA via the PPP. Jagan, of course, did the same thing with the rump PPP he was left with, consisting of mostly Indians and some loyalists from the other race groups. And that pretty much set the pattern of party mobilization in Guyana to this day!! So, is anything gonna be different this go-around in the PNC?
Let’s see who’re the wannabe leaders Latchmansingh or Jainarine Singh!
