The United Nations (UN) is hosting its 79th Annual General Assembly in New York. One could not help but notice President Irfaan Ali’s pontification on the UN’s platform, attempting to fix the world’s problems when Guyana’s are huge, and he does nothing to solve them. This nation is being torn asunder by pervasive socio-economic inequities, discrimination and disregard for sustainable development.
On the global stage the president seeks to give the impression he understands what sustainable development constitutes but at home has no interest in it beyond the economic returns the Government of Guyana can gain from carbon credits.
The indigenous peoples, who live in the hinterland and source of economic substance comes from the rainforest are not being denied their fair portion of the carbon credit money. On the coastland the money is not being used to create sustainable infrastructural development that enhances the wellbeing of the people and the environment. We continue to bear witness to massive graft, corruption and discrimination in every sphere of the economy the government has a say or could influence. Race, political and social discrimination has worsened.
In Guyana, the Jagdeo/Ali regime has no regard for sustainable development which places both people and the environment at its core. For these two men, development is about physical infrastructure and the enrichment of self and cohorts.
Issues pertinent to sustainable development are food security, building of new communities inclusive of sanitary facilities consistent with modern hygienic standards, health policies that dedicate resources to preventive and curative care, litter free environment and absence of prolonged flooding. This economic model is built around people centeredness, developed and guided by laws, conventions and charters, which protect the rights of every citizen and help communities in making decisions as to the form of development best suited to their needs.
For sustainable development to work it requires making resources available to strengthen institutions such as in the judiciary, research policing laws and improving the pillars upon which the society has been built. It also requires helping the justice system to recalibrate its role in making decisions that give society the comfort that justice is universal and will be served regardless of. The executive also has a role to play in demonstrating zero tolerance for corruption, graft and nepotism.
The nation must be reminded that the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on 25th September 2015 which identified the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This must be our guide, with compliance to the 17 Goals and 169 Targets which focus on five areas, namely: People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace, Partnership.
The 17 Goals are: 1) End poverty in all its forms everywhere; 2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture; 3) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; 4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; 5) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; 6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all;
7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all; 8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; 9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation; 10) Reduce inequality within and among countries; 11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; 12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;
13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts; 14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development; 15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss; 16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and 17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
Readers are invited to review these goals and see how much, if any, the regime respects or is putting systems in place to meaningfully achieve. We are six years away from 2030 and Guyana is still to commence the programme in an organised and sustained manner.
We will not be able to achieve anything, particularly when more than half the society is being shut out for any meaningful participation in the management and decision-making processes of the state as mandated in Article 13 of the Guyana Constitution, which speaks to “inclusionary democracy.” The ‘one Guyana’ sloganeering is not “inclusionary democracy,” nor can it replace it, for its conceptualization was based and is being nurtured on exclusion.
