One of the themes of Development Watch has been the constant call for building up the capacity of the State to implement economic development plans since private markets alone cannot achieve this transformation in an economy such as Guyana. Guyana’s present economic position is path dependent on events going back to the 1700s; events, moreover, that instil rigid coordination failures relating to the small internal market, dispersed population and high cost of production.
The Guyanese State, however, has been methodically abused since the Sophia Declaration of December 1974. Almost every developmentalist organ of the State was corrupted after 1974. In addition, the criminalization of the State took its form after 1974. I view the findings of the Rodney CoI in the context of the corruption and criminalization of the State. This criminalization and corruption of governmental systems did not start under Jagdeo as the great Guyanese economist, Prof. Thomas argued, it was merely taken to another level by the Jagdeo PPP which chose not to institute structural reforms, but instead selected to benefit personally from its inherited weaknesses.
Furthermore, by the year 2000 the PPP realized it had no serious professional, decent and credible police and security system to face the political-criminal onslaught against its East Indian supporters on the