Dear Editor,
When a government cannot support its citizens in the event of a catastrophe, it fails in being called an elected government. A national budget should always include in its provisions an emergency fund, such as for a natural disaster, an epidemic or a pandemic. The threat of human lives being snuffed out by the ongoing pandemic of Covid-19 is heartbreaking and also perilous to economies around the world. The United States’ (US) government and major countries have quickly put measures in place to alleviate any emotional and financial suffering that will occur as long as the pandemic continues and people remain laid off from work. Through the stimulus package being issued by the federal government U.S. citizens are now receiving more money than they were earning, which is a strategy designed to make citizens not desirous of returning to work. This helps to enforce and prolong the policy of social/physical distancing and reduce the infections and casualties which are resulting from Covid-19. Besides emotional distress, loss of lives means loss of income for all. Employed people provide growth for companies and collectively they inject money into the country but the U.S government is prepared to increase their deficit at this time, knowing that they have the industries and skills to recover when the pandemic passes. The Guyanese government should feel the same about any similar stimulus package they extend, knowing of our resources including oil, and with systems in place to provide effective goods and services. Guyana’ s population is approximately 750,000, which is a comparatively small number to the populations of those in other countries whose governments are providing them with an income adequate enough to provide a meaningful existence and keep them afloat. Of course our economy is smaller but if the government can’t take up the mantle now, it doesn’t give much hope that they will ever do so.
It is significant that soon after Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said that Guyana is unlikely to receive aid from international organizations and governments because of the delay in the result of the local elections, the former Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, was transferred from that position to Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O) of the National Task Force, created to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. It also raises the question of why this transfer occurred soon after the financial assistance from a major country. Was the transfer of Harmon necessary? The C.E.O of such a Task Force should be someone qualified in medicine and Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence, should be instrumental in selecting and having that person appointed. We have seen the frequent rotation of Ministers within the Cabinet and the creation of many duplicitous designations throughout the tenure of the APNU/AFC Coalition government and even the transfer of a former Minister of Education who had done wonders in revitalising our educational system.
The Guyanese government needs to be held accountable by the U.S. government and the Guyanese people for the application of the money recently received, as it was designed to be used. Guyana’s government should realise that there are also the pressing needs of its citizens for food and other essentials at this calamitous time. As a former vice-president of the U.S., Hubert Humphrey had said, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”
Yours faithfully,
Conrad Barrow