Over time there has been a great deal of local chatter at official levels on the subject of embracing Guyanese in the diaspora in pursuit of the attainment of the country’s development goals. There are Guyanese in the diaspora possessed of skills and accomplishments that are needed here and many of them have evinced a demonstrable willingness to return and give service. This, frankly, has to be a ‘big deal’ given our scarcity of skills across a wide range of critical sectors, a condition that is probably more acute than we think.
How to properly absorb ‘the diaspora’ into the national development agenda poses some interesting challenges, not least among which are what, sometimes, are the exalted expectations of overseas-based Guyanese who may well feel that their particular skills coupled with their willingness to leave their luxuries behind, so to speak, equip them with what one might call a sense of entitlement that might include particular waivers and concessions. That, one supposes, is probably understandable.
Some Guyanese in the diaspora who say they are prepared to return home to ‘help out’ are also inclined to become impatient with a bureaucracy that often moves at a snail’s pace and which can transform what they consider to be basic procedures into major undertakings. Procedures that have to do, for example, with customs procedures, opening bank accounts and the acquisition of things like TIN numbers and various forms of ID are widely believed to be little things that take a long time.
Then there are considerations that have to do with accessing well-placed public functionaries in order to expedite matters that have to do with (for example) setting up a business in Guyana. “Too much bureaucracy,” our diaspora Guyanese say or as another Canada-based Guyanese said to this newspaper recently, “too many one-man shows.”
There is, as well, usually complaints about what is loosely described as ‘the Guyanese culture,’ differently described as “a certain laid-back attitude. It is a stigma that has, for decades, hung like a Sword of Damocles over parts of the Public Service.
The ‘whiff’ of oil and gas and all that it appears to promise has caused Guyana to attract a heightened level of attention in the diaspora. Oil and gas could mean opportunities for investment in sectors where services will doubtless be in demand and the oil and gas sector is also likely to create opportunities for acquiring skills secured by overseas-based Guyanese and which can be pressed into service here in terms of both employment in the various sectors as well as in areas of training.
A successful diaspora relationship, however, requires an ‘arrangement’ that not only provides a clear understanding of the responsibilities on both sides, but also a formal structure that sets out a procedure or set of procedures which Guyanese in the diaspora can access under conditions associated with remigration and which ought not to be tinkered with (circumvented for the granting of special privileges) whimsically. Guyanese who give some form of hard and fast commitment to returning home to serve Guyana in particular ways should be facilitated in a manner that reciprocates his or her commitment. Such a commitment must, of necessity, be underlined by concrete, even documented understandings that do not become ensnared in bureaucratic holdups. If, for reasons, that appear flippant we frustrate the efforts of Guyanese in the diaspora who are prepared to bring their skills and their investments home, they are probably likely to turn their backs on Guyana…..maybe for good.
Simultaneously, we must be clear and deliberate in the articulation of the rules in order that these may not be cynically bent by those whose only motive might be to take advantage of an opportunity.
As has already been stated encounters between Guyanese in the diaspora and local officials regarding issues like remigration and the benefits that go therewith can be testy. Both sides, frankly, tend, sometimes, to strike postures. There is, arguably, at this stage, need for a Department of Diaspora Affairs. Under which Ministry this should go might well be the subject of controversy (that, as it happens, is the nature of our Republic.) Frankly, however, where the Department of the Diaspora is located is not anywhere near as important as the manner in which it is structured, the training afforded those persons employed therein and the creation of a set of clear rules and procedures that are not so structured as to become easily bendable at the drop of a hat.
A Department responsible for Diaspora Affairs should be empowered to “go the whole nine yards” in terms of giving clearance, obviously empowered by the requisite state agencies. Nothing frustrates like spending days, sometimes more, seeking to access functionaries without whose intervention everything comes to a grinding halt. That has to change.
Not nearly sufficient information usually appears in the public domain on the subject of diaspora investment in the country’s economy. There really is no good reason why, with the application of the various procedures, there ought not to be regular publication of information regarding new investments by returning Guyanese, whatever the sizes of these new investments. Where possible, such information should include information on job-creation prospects.
The Stabroek Business has commented previously on what one might call the fuzziness of the term Economic Diplomacy in the manner in which it is employed here. We make two assumptions about economic diplomacy; the first has to do with the particular role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its execution. The second has to do with the particular role that our Diplomatic Missions abroad have to play in facilitating its practice. There is no reason, we believe, why a prospective re-migrant should return to our Republic ignorant of any aspect of the country’s regulations relating to remigration and the privileges attached thereto or matters to do with investment procedures, particularly in circumstances where they have come from a location where a Guyana Mission is in place. Costs should not deter the creation of websites that provide all of the relevant information on matters to do with diaspora relations, investment and re-migration. When a Guyanese individual or family first encounters a local functionary here in Guyana to discuss ‘coming home for good’ whether to provide some valuable public service or to make some meaningful investment in the country, there should be no barrier arising out of clutter, misunderstanding, a lack of information or the various other inconveniences that often arise. We really ought to have cleared those hurdles by now.
