President David Granger yesterday urged Guyanese to become part of a cultural revolution which would see the revival of “strong village economies [which will in turn] make a strong national economy.”
Granger told a forum on the State of the African Guyanese that “If we are going to construct a new economy, we have to make economic decisions the first of which is how we are employed.” He explained that “we need, as a country to explore opportunities for self-employment, entrepreneurship, and business. Every society in this world is defined by what it produces, is defined by the way it makes its living.”
The forum held at the Critchlow Labour College was the third of its kind organised by the Cuffy250 Committee. It was held under the theme Guyana’s Renaissance: The 50th Anniversary of our Independence and the positioning of the African Guyanese.
President Granger delivered the keynote address in which he addressed the high youth unemployment in Guyana. A recent Caribbean Development Bank report stated that Guyana’s youth unemployment rate is hovering around 40%; one of the highest rates in the Caribbean.
Granger spoke of meeting young people who express the intention to enter into “salaried employment”.
He argued that “salaried employment is very seductive” when compared with the risks associated with the maintenance of a business.
“You can spend out your whole salary because you know next month you will get another salary. If you are a farmer you need to save money for fertilizer, seed, equipment, if there is a drought or a flood you need savings to tide you over but if you are a policeman and there’s a flood you still get paid. Some people do not like to take risks but …unless you change the economy, unless we create people who are entrepreneurs, manufacturers, we will always be victims of people who make decisions for us”, the president said.
Granger further warned Guyanese that if they do not change the economy and add value to their products, “we would always be exporting raw products like rice, sugar, timber, gold, diamond and bauxite. These six sisters have been the base of our economy for over a hundred years. The countries which make their wealth are those who manufacture and …sell it back to us.”
He bemoaned the fact that many communities which were once economically productive units have now become dormitories where persons do no more than sleep. “If you are going to solve the employment problem do not expect some magical government to magically create jobs in the police and the army, it’s not going to happen.” Granger noted.
“The [world] economy will not stand still waiting for people to make up their minds…if we are to overcome poverty we need to change the way we make our living at the individual level; the village economies need and demand more attention from our economic planners,” he said.
When we speak of renaissance, the president stressed, we speak of a rebirth of the village economies, of participation of villagers in that economy. Strong village economies will make a strong national economies. You produce in those villages products which can be exported.”
Referring to the Village Movement as an economic miracle, the President urged Afro-Guyanese to resurrect a culture of investment. “You make the economic choices and you will have to live with the economic consequences”, the historian told those gathered.
