Ivor Mitchell
The threats to the Guyana economy arising out of the global economic crisis demands that the University of Guyana help in the search for solutions. “Part of the responsibility of the university is to make meaningful intellectual interventions that can generate ideas and approaches that can be applied in the contemplation of options for lessening the impact of the crisis, Guyanese-born Distinguished Professor of International Marketing and Business at Clark Atlanta University Dr. Ivor Mitchell told Stabroek Business.
According to Mitchell, a former Head of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) the prevailing economic climate also dictates that there be a greater level of activity within Go-Invest to seek both to create external markets where possible and to attract investment into the country.
“Frankly, I am disappointed that it does not appear that, as an institution, the University of Guyana has been making any supporting intellectual input in that national quest to respond to the challenges based on what one would have to assume are their intellectual and research capabilities. That is the way universities work around the world. They provide the intellectual pool from which think-tanks emerge to support the system with informed thinking on critical national issues,” Dr Mitchell told Stabroek Business.
According to the one-time top Guyana Government official, apart from the role which the Business Faculty should be playing in supporting both the public and private sectors in meeting the country’s economic challenges, the wider university also had a role to play in helping to meet the other challenges facing the country. “Our crisis is not one of a purely economic nature. There are other social facets to the crisis including the issue of crime and the University’s students and academics in the field of Social Work, for example, also have a major role to play in the national search for solutions to the various social problems. There are also roles for the university’s legal and communications students and researchers in examining some of the critical problems associated with the `dysfunctioning’ of the country’s legal and communications systems,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell was quick to add, however, that he did not believe that the weaknesses of the university could be blamed on its academic staff. He said that it was the responsibility of those managing the university to fashion it to play its rightful role in the development of the country. “A university in a developing country like Guyana cannot simply be allowed to dwell in isolation from the central currents in the society,” Mitchell said.
The Distinguished Professor told Stabroek Business that he believed that “those in charge of running the university” appeared not to understand the roles of key functionaries including the Vice-Chancellor of the University. “A Vice-Chancellor or President of a University should not simply be sitting in office or simply visiting other universities. Part of the role of a University President, for example, is to be pro-active, to help to raise money for the running of the university,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mitchell told Stabroek Business that he believed that the discourses between United States President Barack Obama and Heads of Government of the English-speaking Caribbean at the Summit of the Americas to be held in Trinidad and Tobago later this month could witness important qualitative changes in relations between Washington and the Caribbean. Mitchell said that the failure of Washington to pay sufficient attention to the English-speaking Caribbean has resulted in the infiltration of the region by drug cartels that had originated elsewhere in the hemisphere. “Apart from narco-trafficking, the English-speaking Caribbean has also had to cope with its concomitants, gun running and money-laundering. I believe that arising out of the Summit of the Americas we could see initiatives in Washington designed to respond to those particular problems,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell told Stabroek Business that he is of the view that the prevailing economic crisis notwithstanding, there are opportunities “out there” that Guyana can still take advantage of. “The Head of Go-Invest, for example should be busy seeking to create openings for our exports in such markets as may exist. The economic crisis has not taken away all of the markets. The markets are there and it is simply a question of undertaking diligent searches for these opportunities,” Mitchell said.
According to Mitchell agriculture still holds the best investment options for Guyana even in the current unfavourable climate. He named soya and tomatoes as two locally grown crops for which there is still a considerable overseas market. “I think that the circumstances in which our economy finds itself dictates that agriculture be looked at carefully by professional people. We need to begin to move seriously towards copying the farming practices in developing countries where support is provided for large agricultural ventures.”
Asked about the significance in the completion of the new Skeldon 11 factory for the future of the sugar industry Mitchell said that he believed that cane for the factory would provide a difficulty in the immediate term but said that he would, if necessary, support the importation of sugar cane to feed the factory. .
Meanwhile, Mitchell told Stabroek Business that the proliferation of various forms of crime in the Guyanese society may well be “a much bigger problem than we think” in our search for a response to the economic crisis. “Apart from the disincentive that crime has created for overseas investors, a state of affairs exists in which our legitimate businessmen cannot compete with the money launderers. Part of the challenge facing Guyana as a dimension of its response to its current economic difficulties is that of removing the toxic element from the business environment,” Mitchell said.
Meanwhile Mitchell says that he believes that profitability in the retail trade was being impaired by the sheer weight of the competition in some sectors. “The information technology and hardware sectors are typical examples of areas of the retail trade where profit was being squeezed by competition, Mitchell said. “It is in this circumstance that we need the professionals, from the University and elsewhere to prepare the business plans and to do the evaluations regarding markets, competition and other considerations that would help inform the choices that businesses make,” Mitchell said.
