Dear Editor,
The focus of our country’s leaders is on oil. Oil and what it can do for this country. We no longer hear of bauxite or gold, sugar and rice. We keep exporting these raw products and import valued added products that were made using the same items we exported. For example, we exported sugar and imported chocolate bars made out of the sugar. And yet again, we are exporting crude oil and importing gasoline, diesel, kerosene, etc. When are we going to wake up? When will our leaders put Guyana first?
We hear of telecommunications liberalization and yet no positive result. A large number of Guyanese are without landline and internet services from GTT. With no alternative, some resort to paying for an internet service from a private company that gives 512 kbps during off peak hours and in most cases, no connection during peak hours. It’s frustrating to know that the company (GTT) that was given the monopoly to provide these services cannot do so and yet our leaders are not doing anything about it. In one case, the cable providing these services passes through the village to give services to the other nearby villages. What can you consider that to be?
Teachers are still using the chalk and talk method in school and we are living in a society that relies on ICT. Curriculum guides are outdated. Teachers are teaching students what’s a floppy disk when we are using flash drives and cloud storage. The Government subvention provides 10 cardboards, a few markers and a ream of typing sheets for a school population of 600+. Teachers are getting assaulted in school and still most schools are without proper security. When will we learn to foster our future?
Recently, a foreign bank operating in Guyana created distress among Public Servants with regards to their salary. Three months on and still the Government or the Regulatory Agency hasn’t taken any action against the bank. Public servants were to have received their January salary on Wednesday 15th only to find no salary in their Republic Bank account as of Saturday 18th. No word from the bank or from the Government.
When will our leaders put Guyanese first?
Without Visionary Leaders, the People Perish.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address supplied)
