Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s latest performance on foreign exchange restrictions is nothing more than recycled rhetoric. We have heard this all before. When he introduced VAT, he promised fairness and relief, yet what do we have today? A monster tax system that chokes the poor while rewarding the powerful.
Now he is suddenly a champion of “protecting small businesses”? Spare us. Who created this very monster that has devoured local enterprise? Who opened the floodgates for unchecked foreign (mostly Chinese) dominance in retail, mining, construction, logging, and real estate? Guyanese are not blind. We see who controls the quarries, the manganese operations, the logging concessions, the trucking fleets, the supermarkets on every corner. The Chinese have been allowed to colonize Guyana’s economy with the blessing of Jagdeo’s policies.
And now he pretends to be shocked that the same Chinese supermarkets, quarries, and gold operations are draining foreign exchange. The real question is: who are they paying taxes to, and how often? Are they contributing equitably to the Guyana Revenue Authority, or are they simply stripping wealth out of Guyana while our people sink deeper into poverty?
Every little corner shop that once supported a Guyanese family has been wiped out by imported, tax-sheltered Chinese enterprises. Our people lose their livelihoods, their dignity, and their chance at a fair shot, while Jagdeo and his friends issue hollow reassurances.
Jagdeo’s rhetoric is not about protecting small businesses, it is about covering up years of reckless policies that sold Guyana cheap and handed the commanding heights of the economy to foreign exploiters. If Jagdeo is serious, let every Chinese supermarket, quarry, logging company, gold grant holder, and real estate dealer pay their taxes like every single Guyanese does.
Absent real change, the stupidly silent PSC, GCCI, and the wider chamber community will feel the pain first (no matter what they say publicly), an outcome made worse by their reluctance to challenge policy excesses. These forex rules add layers of bureaucracy while core issues persist. Guyanese deserve better than recycled ‘reforms’ that sidestep accountability.
