Dear Editor,
It has been one year since the APNU+AFC took power. During that year, President David Granger seems to have been too busy with other things and was not focused on what was most important – the state of the economy.
In a recent interview on May 11, he discovered that we need to focus on cheap energy and job creation. It is commendable that he has finally been aroused from his year-long slumber. What, however, is worrying are the policies this government has implemented and is practising. They will bring neither of the two initiatives identified by the President to fruition. No new initiatives are being developed and many that were ongoing under the PPP/C administration are being put aside or abandoned altogether.
President Granger, when he was Leader of the Opposition, led the fight against cheap energy. The Amaila Falls Hydro Electric project would have gone a far way had he not voted against the project, the obvious reason being to prevent progress because his party was not the one holding the reins of government. He and his party had the benefit of detailed presentations, yet he voted against it.
Even after the PPP/C administration concluded the deal to commence the project with a Chinese company, this government seemed totally uninterested. Minister of Finance Winston Jordan is on record as stating that it would be criminal to continue with the Amaila Falls project. Clearly, Mr Jordan was wrong. Indeed, the reverse is true. It is criminal for the APNU+AFC to abandon the Amaila Falls Hydro project. How serious, therefore, is the President when he talks about cheap energy? This seems to be more lip service than anything else.
On the issue of job creation, his words ring even hollower. The Amaila Falls project has the potential to create thousands of new high-paying and technical jobs in the manufacturing sector. Everyone knows that in order to advance industrialization and to add value, the availability of cheap energy is indispensable. This is why the Amaila project is so important. It has the potential to transform the country and sharply reduce the unemployment rate. This could have given us full employment.
The APNU+AFC regime’s attitude to Amaila is only matched by its approach to the sugar industry. The industry is already a major employer of labour. However, with some more investments, thousands of high-paying jobs could be created. New revenue streams can be developed in the industry with great benefits to the entire country. The industry could add to its products energy from bagasse ‒ fuel, alcohol, and another distillery to supply alcohol to the rum industry in the Caribbean and to the cosmetic industry in the region and beyond.
The industry could produce industrial sugar by establishing a refinery. With our Caricom agreement, Guyana could take most of the region’s market for white sugar. With that, too, the manufacture of confectionery, soft drinks and other related products could take off rapidly. Our special black cake could be transformed from being a delicacy at Christmas time to an industrial product, like the rum cake in some Caribbean countries.
Instead of pursuing such a policy, this regime is closing down estates and contracting production. The policy towards sugar is visionless. Yet President Granger talks about job creation while his regime is killing it.
It has also been reported in the media that the APNU+AFC regime is planning to cut back on incentives offered to foreign capital. Well, how are we going to attract investments and create more jobs? Recall that we have no sources of cheap energy, so what will be the incentive for investors to come here? This policy will lead to stagnation and decline in the economy. It can also lead to more unemployment and the other social problems associated with unemployment. How will this policy create employment? Can we really take the regime seriously when they talk about job creation, while the local industries are having concessions removed from them? These disincentives are leading to a contraction of industries.
The rice industry is not only facing hardships due to low prices and no assistance from the government, but even some benefits they previously enjoyed are being removed. Duty is now being placed on machinery used in the agriculture sector. This will add to the burdens of the farmers. It will not attract investment in the sector and will therefore increase rural unemployment.
The same situation also exists in the mining industry. This will throw out a lot of small miners from the sector. Less employment will be created.
It is all well and good for the President to state the obvious about the need for cheap energy and to create jobs. What his government is doing about the situation is the question that must be asked. All indications point to greater unemployment and a deterioration in our electricity supply. This was a wasted year – one of stagnation and reversal. Most of the actions that the regime pursued have led and are leading to economic decline and greater unemployment.
President Granger has now been aroused and it is hoped that action to reverse the trends are taken sooner rather than later.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Ramotar