“They want us to be grateful for our poverty while they pillage our future”; The New Colonialists Wear Suits and Carry Briefcases

A ghost is haunting Guyana. It is not the ghost of our past, but the specter of a colonial mindset we thought we had buried. The same system that titans like Cheddi Jagan, Forbes Burnham, and Walter Rodney dedicated their lives to dismantling is back. It has not returned with soldiers and flags, but with contracts and promises, and it is being welcomed by our own government with a shameful embrace.

We are told to celebrate the new Guyana, a nation on the cusp of unimaginable wealth, a darling of global investors. But from the ground, where most Guyanese live, this “progress” feels like a familiar betrayal. While a tiny elite and their foreign partners feast on the bounty of our land and seas, the vast majority of our people are left with scraps. Half of our nation survives on a paltry $5 a day, while the other half struggles against a tidal wave of rising costs, stagnant wages, and vanishing opportunities. This is not development; it is the raw and ruthless economics of recolonization.

Jagan fought for a Guyana where the fruits of our labor and resources would benefit our people. Burnham spoke of self-reliance and economic emancipation. Rodney gave us the tools to understand how Europe systematically underdeveloped Africa, a blueprint that now reads as a chilling prophecy for our own nation. They fought against a system designed to extract wealth from the Global South for the enrichment of a foreign core.

Today, we see this same extractive model playing out under the PPP administration. Our oil, our gold, our timber, our minerals; they are not being developed for Guyana; they are being shipped out from Guyana. The much-touted oil contracts, negotiated in secrecy and defended with arrogance, have been widely criticized by international watchdogs as disproportionately favoring foreign corporations. We are giving away our birthright for a fraction of its value, replicating the very plunder our forefathers rose against.

What we are witnessing in Guyana is the Machinery of modern colonialism.  This new colonialism operates through a sophisticated machinery; The Illusion of Inclusion pervades.  We are told that local content will save us. But what good is a “local content” policy when the procurement process is riddled with bias, and major contracts consistently bypass qualified Guyanese businesses in favor of well-connected PPP cronies or foreign interests?

Additionally, the poverty paradox persists.  How can a nation swimming in billions have citizens choosing between food and medicine? How can our nurses, teachers, and civil servants struggle to pay their electricity bills? The answer is that the wealth is not circulating; it is being siphoned. It flows out to shareholders in PPP crony enclaves, in Houston and in the US; while the potholes in our roads and the overcrowding in our hospitals testify to its departure.

The Silencing of Dissent is another source of contention.  Any criticism of this grand bargain that is PPP’s failed development plan is met with accusations of being “anti-development” or “unpatriotic.” This is the oldest trick in the colonial playbook; to paint the defenders of the people’s interest as enemies of progress. They want us to be grateful for our poverty while they pillage our future.

We cannot stand by and watch the dreams of a generation be auctioned off. The fight for true independence did not end in 1966. It continues today, against a new set of masters who, though they may share our skin color, uphold an economic order just as oppressive as the old one.

We must demand a new course; We insist that the government renegotiate the Robber Contracts.  Our resources must work for us. We must have the courage to demand fair terms that guarantee world-class healthcare, education, and infrastructure for every Guyanese.

We must demand an end to the Corruption in Procurement.  A transparent, unbiased system for awarding contracts is non-negotiable. Guyanese businesses must have a real, not a symbolic, seat at the table.

We must invest in Our People without regard to race, gender or political affiliation. The greatest resource of any nation is its people. The billions in oil revenues must be invested in diversifying our economy, supporting local entrepreneurship, and raising wages to meet the crushing cost of living.

Our ancestors did not break the chains of political colonialism only for us to willingly don the shackles of an economic one. The struggle continues. It is time for this generation to find its Jagan, its Burnham, its Rodney, and to declare, with one voice; “Not in our name. This land is ours, and its wealth belongs to its people.”