Lucas says African Guyanese should explore cooperatives to reduce economic suffering

Amidst widespread complaints the government is not managing the economy equitably, and is discriminating against groups and supporters of the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), affected groups are urged to rethink approaches in demanding their fair share and creating economic opportunities for themselves.

In his Emancipation month, Rawle Lucas, a financial expert, is urging African Guyanese who are suffering to explore the virtues of institutions like cooperatives to reduce that suffering.  Pointing out that two of the largest businesses in Europe are the product of cooperatives, the Credite Agricole Groupe and Groupe BPCE, both of which are out of France, people could learn from these and the experiences of their ancestors.

According to Lucas, these two cooperative institutions finance about 40 percent of the French economy and are also major players in Europe and globally.  “For example, “Credite Agricole Groupe earns in excess of US$100B in annual revenues, employs over 140,000 people and operates in 53 countries.”

In the instance of African Guyanese, as in the sugar economy where Africans had no ownership rights and were unable to accumulate any wealth for themselves, Lucas said there is similar occurrence in oil and gas which has become the mainstay of the Guyana economy. He noted this exclusion is happening in a society that in two and a half years, with two wells operating, the contribution of oil to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) could be as high as 60 per cent in 2022.

The financial expert is questioning how the principal activity of an economy could exclude a substantial segment of its population from ownership rights and expects them to be successful. He noted where prices are being driven by large amounts of money coming from the oil and gas industry, prices for land, house and food prices are skyrocketing.

He is urging African Guyanese to recognise their economic status could not be improved by operating in the marginal parts of the economy.  And rather than accepting defeat and a position of inferiority, Africans should pledge themselves to change the economic and financial conditions that are holding them and their compatriots back, he implored.

Lucas bemoaned the model of African cooperation, the motivation for the name of our country, is highly disrespected, and the value of cooperation has been set aside for another form of exploitation despite the contribution of cooperatives to global growth and development. This is a significant national accomplishment by all.

The progress made in the immediate post emancipation period in buying up plantations and establishing the Village Movement through cooperatives, he said, such rapid progress at changing the lives of formerly enslaved persons through self-reliance is phenomenal.  African Guyanese have a history they could rely on, contends Lucas.