Missed 2022 opportunities can be 2023’s ticket for a new Guyana – Caricom’s crown jewel

In a few days, 2022 will come to an end. We wish everyone a great New Year’s Eve (or Old Year’s Day) celebration. We wish everyone also a blessed 2023. Genuinely, Guyanese have many reasons to celebrate 2022. Our country has had a remarkable year, a year that sets a positive path ahead for a transformative future. But really, we have had some opportunities in 2022, opportunities that really could guarantee the prospect of Guyana being the Dubai of the Americas. A few years ago, talk about Guyana being a Dubai of the West was considered, justifiably so, as wild talk. But the remarkable progress Guyana has made under President Irfaan Ali and the PPP Government, in spite of the continued global fallouts from COVID-19 and the Ukraine-Russia war, has convinced people that if there is any country in the world that could transform itself into a Dubai, it is Guyana. Few could dismiss such talk as wild anymore.
But, as much as Guyana’s prospect of becoming the Western Dubai has become something possible, far from a utopian dream, there are jeopardies in our way. These are real threats, and unless we confront them, the journey to prosperity for every single Guyanese can still elude us. That every Guyanese family can become prosperous is a real prospect today, but it is not a guarantee. We can guarantee this prospect, however, through some small steps. Oil and gas and the policies of the Government have set Guyana on a path of economic prosperity as a country, but we need a united Guyana to guarantee that our economic fortune as a nation is a patrimony for all citizens. President Ali’s “One Guyana” is a platform that can guarantee that prospect. As the President himself has explained, “One Guyana” is more than a people willing to live together as different ethnic groups, willing to share each other’s culture and consider each group’s contribution as an asset to the country.
President Ali has explained that “One Guyana” is a movement intended to go beyond racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural unity. President Ali has explained that “One Guyana” is a movement to ensure that we are all our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers. The song ‘Lean on Me’ comes to mind. It is a movement that inspires the notion that no child in Guyana will ever go hungry again. It is a movement that ensures every child and every young person is guaranteed an education, and opportunities for tertiary education, no matter what their dreams; that every citizen’s health needs are met; that embraces the notion that every Guyanese family has their own home, that wants to ensure all basic necessities that are required for a decent standard of living are guaranteed to very citizen, no matter where they live, no matter who they voted for. But the movement wants to ensure that social issues like mental health, domestic violence, and sexual abuse are addressed, and that these become the concern of every group in Guyana. It is why the MOM movement, led by the President himself, is a critical element of the “One Guyana” movement.
In 2022, the President, the Vice President and the Prime Minister led outreaches across Guyana. No President has been out to the communities like President Irfaan Ali. His commitment to working with every group is genuine and inspiring. He has provided a genuine and real platform for persons to come aboard and make ONE GUYANA successful. Political groups, the Private Sector, faith-based organisations, social groups, the media, each have an opportunity to come and participate without having to give political support to the President and his party. Helping citizens navigate their difficulties, whether economic, social or otherwise, is not the sole responsibility of the Government, although the Government must be the lead player. But every citizen, every group, can find a place in the ONE GUYANA platform to play a role.
In 2022, the opportunity presented itself for genuine unity though the One Guyana platform. But political obstructionist postures hurt the rapid consolidation that is required to make the ONE GUYANA platform accelerate Guyana’s transformation. Unless we can learn to live in a democracy, were all political stakeholders share the responsibility of building a lasting democracy, we will continue to make the journey to universal prosperity a hard journey.
The Aubrey Norton-led PNC continues its historical obstructionist posture. But Norton is also threatening a repeat of the Hoyte-inspired “slo’ fyah, mo’fyah”. He and his surrogates are desperately trying to use the race card to sow dissonance. But the surrogates are also testing new grounds. The recent ranting of the Mayor of Georgetown is not as harmless as some think. Clearly, he was sent out there to test the waters. The danger lies in the fact that these obstructionists are ready to use any and every means to create mayhem.
“One Guyana” can survive and prosper even with this obstructionist posture of the PNC and their surrogates. In 2023, the people of Guyana can continue to take matters in their own hands. They did in March 2020 when they ended the term in government of the PNC-led APNU/AFC. They can let their voices ring out loud and clear by voting in the Local Government Elections and rejecting the obstructionists. In 2023, we can choose “One Guyana” as our vehicle to become the Dubai of the West. This is our destiny. It is in our hands.