Dear Editor,
In a budget speech to the National Assembly on February 4, 2022, that lasted more than one hour, Minister Hugh Todd mentioned the Guyanese diaspora twice in two sentences-less than 12 seconds- during his delivery. The Guyanese diaspora is disappointed by the lack of seriousness by the administration to involve the diaspora in nation-building. According to the Migration Policy Institute, aware of the diaspora potential, developing countries have established institutions to facilitate relationships with their diasporas systematically. Countries serious about engaging their diaspora in nation-building allocate funds in their annual budgets for diaspora programs and initiatives, including India, Israel, China, Mexico, Chile, Philippines, Nigeria, Jamaica, Senegal, and Somalia. Many developing countries have established ministries whose explicit purpose is to address the needs of diaspora populations. Some have diaspora institutions at the National level, including Chile, China, Mexico, Morocco, Philippines, Poland, and Sierra Leone. Countries like Mexico, China, and the Philippines have multiple institutions and represent diasporas at various levels of government.
Guyana has continued a novel approach that has been ineffective over five decades from one administration to the next. In the late seventies, during the exodus of Guyanese from Guyana, former President Forbes Burnham urged Guyanese to return home and contribute- Guyanese did not heed the call. Similarly, David Granger promised to craft diaspora policies for the “huge diaspora” during his first speech to Parliament in 2015. Guyanese in the diaspora are still waiting to see the policy. The current PPP/C administration has not developed any policies for the diaspora or released the Diaspora Engagement Strategy. However, President Ali committed to creating an effective diaspora engagement structure for national development during his Inauguration speech in 2020. Foreign Affairs Minister Todd stated that Guyana is “committed to harnessing in a structured manner…skills of Guyanese in the Diaspora “during the 2022 Budget Debate, but there are only two persons assigned to diaspora affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Two years ago in 2020, Minister Todd had told reporters and the public that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would expand the diaspora unit to an entire department- not yet realized.
But diaspora disappointment is compounded by the lack of trust in the administration. Trust was lost when the Ministry was unable to find personal and confidential data for 7,700 members of the diaspora who participated in a survey on the website of the Ministry.
The head of the diaspora unit, Rosalina Rasul, told diaspora members that the Diaspora Unit would develop a new website in 2021. While the new website never materialized, the old website still exists with misspelled words like “invester.” The Foreign Secretary, Robert Persaud, further eroded trust when he told a large diaspora delegation that the Diaspora Engagement Strategy created by the International Organization for Migration was at the Cabinet-level for review, which turned out not true and confuted by Gail Teixeira-Parliamentarian.
According to some estimates, there are 1.5million, including second, and third-generation Guyanese living worldwide. Guyanese in the diaspora send more than US$400 million annually in remittances to friends and relatives in Guyana-more than oil revenues for two years and approximately 13% percent of GDP. Members of the diaspora have substantial human, financial, and social capital to increase the development momentum in Guyana if the Ali administration establishes a structured mechanism for engagement and develops effective diaspora policies along with increased seriousness by the administration. The diaspora can play a crucial role in investing and providing the human capital to alleviate the skills gap and skills mismatch that pose significant challenges for Guyana now and in the future.
Sincerely,
Dr. Wayne Forde
