David Granger is, in many ways, not a natural leader. The evidence at our disposal is more than enough to prove that he is incapable of motivating the Guyanese people into throwing their shoulder into the transformative process needed to grow Guyana out of poverty. He comes across as tired, faded, uncreative, and deeply lacking in enthusiasm.
One can easily describe him as a pageantry president who is only interested in the pensions, the parade, and the charade. When a president refuses to meet the FULL MEDIA, but chooses instead to perpetuate a stage-managed TV programme in his comfort zone, then you must recognise that he is bad for the Guyanese economy. This situation confirms that he is unable to communicate his vision and connect with the people, to be able to influence the change needed for the nation.
But what is even worse is when his minions choose to excuse away these presidential defects by arrogantly blurting out there is “NO NEED FOR THE PRESIDENT TO FACE MEDIA” (source – https://guyanatimesgy.com/no-need-for-president-to-face-media-harmon/).
Such a statement was made after this same President promised, on June 21, 2017, to hold a press conference within a month, when the international media cornered him on this matter at the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting. It has now been two months since that promise was made, and not delivered. But what this experience can teach the Guyanese people is that there are, at the highest levels of the Granger regime, some seriously dishonest people who must be exposed before they destroy Guyana.
The first evidence of this destruction is the state of the international reserves. According to the Ministry of Finance’s 2017 Half-Year Report, the reserves fell by US.3 million, or 3.2%, to US8 million at the end of June 2017. Sugar production in down by 12.4% in the first half of 2017, compared to the first half of 2016, to reach the lowest level in 26 years. The mining and quarrying sector contracted by 4.1% during the first half of 2017, and it was being dragged down by the decline in gold and bauxite production. The forestry sector declined by 18.2% in the first half of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016.
But what I found most interesting in Minister Jordan’s report is that sand and stone production declined. I am reliably informed that they both declined by over 10% in the first half of 2017 vs. the same period in 2016. Which industry uses sand and stones? You are correct: the housing and construction sector. This is a clear indication that the bricks and mortar industry is in reverse gear in 2017.
I have always been trained to understand that great nations take great care of three industries – agriculture, manufacturing and the construction. This Granger regime has literally abandoned all three of them, left them as orphans, and are now blaming all and sundry for the state of the economy. Utterly delusional!
When one observes the export sector, gold exports declined, diamond exports declined, rice exports declined, and the cost of fuel has increased.
What is the story here? Guyana is spending more than it is earning internationally, and because of this mismatch, the Central Bank has to dip into the foreign reserves again and again, to honour the nation’s international commitments. Is this the legacy of the Granger regime – the team that raided the foreign reserves because they were too incompetent and clueless to actually expand the productive capacity of the export sector to pay the foreign currency bills?
This entire economic crisis under the Granger regime was preventable. Had Granger understood the value of building relationships with key economic stakeholders like the private sector, the unions, and his peers in the political opposition; and had the people of Guyana and the media found him approachable and not so aloft, the process of understanding how to develop a nation would have been more straightforward.
What I can say emphatically, after closely observing the Granger regime over the last 2 years, is they have failed to understand the cross-functional challenges of developing a nation, and why you need to collaborate, cooperate, communicate and make decisions every minute of the day, and try your best to include as wide an audience as possible in the process.
But, as you can see, I, like thousands of other Guyanese, am disappointed at the talentless class in power today, and thus we must expect more incompetence and cluelessness over the next 3 years. Wither Guyana under President Granger?
