Dear Editor,
Government, politicians and the unions have their individual roles in bringing stability to Guyana, but civil society and the diaspora also have roles, and to make an impact this group must come together as one big body.
Everyone is unanimous that what generates the culture of violence and crime is the lack of jobs and a job-creating environment. Prevailing circumstances have created disillusionment among the young and not so young. The feeling that no one cares and there is no place to turn for relief can make persons do desperate things and take chances they normally would never consider. The result? – a rise in the incidence of crime. The irony is that crime restricts job-creating investments.
The daunting problem therefore is finding a way to minimize the incidence of crime. How can we convince the disillusioned to stop the violence long enough so that investment and jobs can flow?
In the absence of an obvious push for massive job creation, or at least establishing an atmosphere for job creation at home, I have a two-part programme, which I think can help to address the issue. It entails contributions and investments from the diaspora and a commitment to see it through.
In Part One of the programme, the first objective is to create an atmosphere of hopefulness in the communities. The recent news article about the youths in Agricola roaming the streets with idle hands, is representative of circumstances in almost every community in Guyana. We have to curb this. But first, we must get the attention of the youths. We have to create opportunities to make members of the communities regain the belief in the positive side of themselves. They must be able to visualize a positive future outside of the ill-gotten means – get an education, follow their dreams, get a job, provide for a family, receive a livable pension and even establish a business.
To do that I think we must first re-vitalize the amenities and activities in our communities that are run down or destroyed. A well-run community needs sports facilities and clubs, libraries, drama groups, sponsored debating and other competitions taking place in and out of schools. Assuming that every town and village is represented in the diaspora, this could happen if we came together and worked with persons we know to adopt our place of birth. Because the communities are controlled by district councils and some of the projects will need the blessings of district chairmen, etc, adopting districts may also be a way to go. Another good reason for this approach is that some district councils incorporate villages with varying demographics. The opportunity for the different villages working together may be very rewarding. When we have the attention of the communities we can proceed to start the re-education of our youths and lay the foundation of job worthiness for early school leavers. That means the introduction of classes in various skills, the expectation of a worker in a business venture, how a worker can move up the ladder of superiority and how a worker can be his own boss. There would also be the teaching money management, honesty, respecting others’ investment, managing finances, upward growth and mostly the curbing of crime. DVD presentations and lectures could shore up the learning process.
What we would really be doing here would be gearing them up for Part Two. We would be teaching them that a stable crime free environment would create a space for job creation, we would identify possible investment projects to help them and make them feel comfortable that jobs creation was near. As a matter of fact the early projects would create jobs. The police and law enforcement have a major roll to play in this. You can bet there will be those who gain from the status quo, so we must guard against this. We must be able to get to the leadership of the force and emphasize the need to implement a different approach to crime-fighting. They must be able to find ways to create positive bonds with the communities. They must learn ways to be thorough in the execution of justice without being brutal. They must strive to create trust in the communities, to become friends and not foe, to be able to easily garner information on crime.
To this end we must be prepared to help the police establish a department of information gathering. They may need computers, which can be used to capture anonymous crime leads from computers in libraries, schools or any other innovative ways that can be used. We may also want to help them with vehicles to speed up the response time to crimes.
Importantly also is the re-vitalization of the Critchlow Labour College. Part Two calls for massive investments and there will be a need for a lot of workers equipped with various skills. I am particularly interested in getting a work force educated in computer assisted design and programming. We have to keep up with the advancing technology of the newer manufacturing equipment.
In the absence of government funding for the college, the diaspora may be able to contribute here. As far as I know, the college was enacted by an act of parliament, so permission may be required, but I do not foresee problems there. Of course the preference would be that Government continue the financing, but in the event a resolution cannot be forthcoming in a short space of time, a similar college may be established as was the case in the early days of the University of Guyana.
This section is very simple. It is about pooling our resources into one big fund and investing as one block. It is completely separate from the investments in Part One. Opportunities abound in Guyana. Persons can buy shares in this venture. Various projects may be attempted by one major fund. We can identify a CEO and a board of directors. Each project will have a project director. Beni Sankar and Joe Coxall wrote about forming a conglomerate. This is the way to go.
I do not believe that foreign nations and investors from those nations can love Guyana more than Guyanese. I definitely do not see them taking up residency in Guyana, but if we sit still who can blame anyone for soliciting them? If foreign nationals can see investment potential in Guyana, why can’t we? Together we can lay the platform for development and for re-migration. We can do this.
Yours faithfully,
F. Skinner
