Dear Editor,
I suspect Dr Randy Persaud was not clear on my public position that the 2010 national budget lacked inspiration and offered minimal benefits to the working class in Guyana. What I suspect Dr Persaud did not calculate on when he left the USA was that his credibility would have been undermined as a result of his raw propaganda in favour of the Jagdeo presidency. The working class heard all that he has said so far many moons before he arrived on the scene, and they are wise enough to distinguish propaganda from information. What the working class wants is deliverables, results, ie, substance and not more words. Ad praesens ova cras pullis sunt meliora ad quem ad quod. (Eggs today are better than chickens tomorrow.) The clarion call of President Jagdeo is, ‘I promise, I promise, I promise.’ The fact is the time for delivery is long overdue; he has been in the hot seat for 10 years now and we have had enough of his promises. If anyone thinks I am being economical with the truth, just visit the 2006 manifesto and measure how much of that document was delivered 4 years into the 5-year term.
On page 6 of the National Budget, the Minister of Finance stated, “the economy grew by 2.3 per cent in 2009, somewhat more modest than the 3.1 per cent growth achieved in 2008.” What he did not say was that this growth was eroded by inflation of 3.6 per cent. So where is the real growth since 2.3 per cent was the nominal growth?
What is inflation? It is a rise in the general level of the prices of goods and services in an economy over that year. So what is happening in Guyana is classic stagflation – a combination of inflation higher than economic growth, slow economic growth and high unemployment. For Guyana to grow out of poverty the growth rate must be higher than the inflation rate; the growth rate should most certainly be above 5% and the unemployment levels must come down. The measures in the budget were vague with respect to what it was going to do in 2010 regarding creating new employment. Yes, there was the offer of 2,000 jobs from ICT-based industries, and the Ministry of Labour placed 2,023 persons into employment in 2009. For this effort in 2009, Minister Nadir and his team must be commended. However, what is pertinent is what will happen in 2010, and this is where we have an information blackout other than the 2,000 ICT related jobs.
Everyone must be very apprehensive of the 2,000 jobs that will be created by the ICT-based industries. Those of us who know their history would recognise that this is not the first time a budget speech under a Jagdeo presidency committed to creating jobs in the ICT sector. In 2001, with President Jagdeo as the sitting president, his government committed to “re-engineering the economy” by allocating $425 million to take advantage of advances in computer technology and fibre optics which would “create substantial jobs.” In 2002, he stated that he planned to invest US$8.2 million (ca $1,600 million) in tele-centres and medical transcription services. In 2003 there was total chaos in his ICT job creation message since GT&T was able to successfully block the US$22 million IDB loan for this sector. In 2004, ICT took a holiday from President Jagdeo’s agenda. In 2005, the Minister of Finance proudly proclaimed that 500 jobs had been created and promised that a number of new call centres and back office processing centres were being established in Guyana. Where are these centres today? In 2006, the Minister was boldest when he stated that Go-Invest was considering 72 projects worth $36 billion which were expected to create 2,355 jobs in areas such as ICT.
Need I go on? Unkept promises, deception, sham, charade – and the funny thing is, the charade continues in 2010. If the workers do not understand the game being played here and think carefully before they vote in 2011, then they are in for some serious poverty come post-2011. The professional con game can only continue for so long because the bubble will burst some day.
The direct recipient of economic degradation as a result of stagflation is the working class. Thus they cannot identify with Dr Persaud’s message since it is becoming harder and harder for them to put bread on the table after 10 years of this presidency. The only reason the economic numbers were spiced up was mainly because of better than expected remittance flows to Guyana, the fundamental support that the illegal underground economy provided to the formal economy and of course that Herculean effort from the gold miners.
While the average American was losing his job, the average Guyanese-American was preserving his job by demonstrating he is a worker of excellence and was willing to go the extra mile for his company. The end result: The average Guyanese-American tended to keep their jobs during this recession and thus they, by and large, maintained their remittances to families back home.
Well, the underground economy is a totally different kettle of fish, which was extensively studied by Dr Ibrima Faul from the IMF, and those findings do not need repeating here. However, what must be made clear here is that the illegal underground economy is mainly driven by the narcotics trade. There is more to this story which I will share later.
Dr Persaud should join us and let us go back to basics – back to a lean and clean government; back to a government that is willing to establish more democratic institutions and strengthen those in existence; back to improving the quality of life for all Guyanese, not only connected business associates, friends and family; back to ensuring that the benefits of economic growth reach the working class; back to the days when waste and financial excesses are tempered. Incidentally, I paraphrased most of this paragraph from a speech made by Asgar Ally in 1994 which clearly reflected the Jagan way.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh