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By Dorwain A. Bess
My New Year’s resolution is to do my part, in whatever way I can, to make the dreams of so many, to see the peoples ALL the little villages of Guyana prospering. I am making myself available and stand with both sides of the political divide to bridge that socioeconomic gap that has hurt our country for too long because of the political undercurrents at play, always since the establishment of Guiana, to British Guiana, to an Independent Guyana, now Cooperative Republic with an Executive President in place, imbued with far reaching state powers.
A united Guyana will always be led by exploiters, which is why I embrace the ‘One Guyana’ philosophy since it is in keeping with our national motto and for it is a critical show of good faith in depolarization of a fractured nation. Let’s come together for One Guyana, as “One People, One Nation, One Destiny.”
It is time to put all of our collective shoulders to the wheel, roll up our sleeves and stop talking about cheap politics blaming PNC, blaming PPP or even the AFC. They are all products of our society so in our lamentations against any of our leaders and first look within ourselves as individuals and as a collective nation. It has been said time and time again to be the change you want to see, Michael Jackson through his lyrics ‘Man in the Mirror.’
We will address that concern at the next polls. This is for the citizens, and I call for support on both sides. We are suffering while the leaders fight. We need the kids in school, we need our youths to put the guns down and stop seeing prison as a second home with rent free and meals prepaid.
We need our young females to feel they can earn lawfully without the help of a man or a system and be independent. Guyanese are very intelligent and hardworking people.
The volume of hampers and gifts we hand out is a clear illustration of an acknowledgement by the powers that be that (Ras Dalgetty voice) ‘Tings nuh regular.’ I would like to see my fellow Guyanese brothers and sisters, our comrades, become self-sufficient and for us to truly prosper as millionaires, we know we can.
So, while all may not be in my favour, I still believe that with this column I can play my part to help my fellow people of this great land of ours, brimming with potential but in desperate need of guidance. To start with, let’s take a look at the State contracts that are being signed to the tune of billions. Let’s see these contracts, say 30 % goes to the minority contractors to start.
The law already stipulates that 20% of all State contracts go to small contractors. While we might encounter the common concern not being able to qualify, the government can work with the local banks giving them the contract as collateral and withholding the amount extended to the contractors to guarantee its repayment.
Anecdotal evidence suggests this does not happen. If it is that capacity constraints are a problem, then we identify that root source and address that. We reach on and teach one. This does not require tens of thousands of scholarships to educate our people. Very many more of us are skilled in our own ways and if we only reach out to one person and teach that one person one single life skill, we can become a prosperous one Guyana.
Pick 5 logistically located small communities giving each 4% to launch as a pilot and test the theory go before investing billions only for desperately needed investment capital to be wasted either through incompetence or outright corruption. Such an approach will be a great benefit and will see lots of revenue circulating in these communities.
I am calling on both sides to let us leave politics in its own arena and not infiltrate the economics of the nation and its own citizens to their own detriment and the benefit of a few. This for our people:- “Dorwain Alpha Bess, stands ready to work with all the communities giving them the framework and a very simple blueprint to follow.”
Let’s also see the small business grants used selectively in order for the private sector micro and macro to not only survive but thrive in this land of plenty. The last grant was 250k what kind of meaningful business can you, an individual really start with this, to compete with the multi-nationals rushing to our shores and exploiting not only our all but ALL OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES, AND HUMAN CAPITAL?
We can INSTEAD encourage groups of 10/20 to start a partnership where THEY together can now pool their resources into chickens for example and with this approach the governments can encourage the prison, police, army to buy from local rearers. The multiplier effects are numerous.
While the multiplicity of academic subjects available in the formal education system is commendable, basic life skills are lacking and it is this that serves as part of the root source of all our problems. Crime does not persist because people are inherently bad or greedy, but a lack of money will push a man to do just about anything to survive as the headlines blare daily as evidence of this. Let us stop the voting race and start voting for good governance.
WE NEED TO UP THE ASK. We united on the Venezuela issue, we always do, let’s unite on this, lead by example showing the citizens we care for all, and I repeated let us all, reach just one and teach just one and collectively we will all be better for it. We must first agree and come to the understanding however that NO government can or will ever make everyone happy, they can help one person, today he’s happy and another mad the next day that same person complains about something else.
This is in any democratic society, but If the leaders are willing to listen to the citizens and address the problems they have. We must see this as democratic; a democratic society starts a peaceful election. Not every voice speaking out should be considered political however since like me, very many Guyanese have no political ambitions but rather personal Guyanese ambitions.
We are now referred to as the Dubai of the Southern Hemisphere, the United of America was once seen as the land of equal opportunity for all, when one can aspire to that ‘American Dream’ of success. My parting words until next week comes in the form of a question.
What is the Guyanese Dream we have as we begin this year 2024, more handouts and more of the same, or do we now accept that Tings Nuh Regular, and we need to as a people, collectively Up the ASK.
