Coding Charade! Guyana’s 150,000 Coders Initiative, Another Billion-Dollar Promise That Delivered Peanuts

by Randy GoPaul,

Back in December 2022, the Guyana government pulled out all the stops for the launch of the 150,000 Coders Initiative at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, rubbing shoulders with UAE bigwigs under a shiny Memorandum of Understanding signed months earlier. President Irfaan Ali gushed about transforming Guyana into an ICT powerhouse, equipping 150,000 citizens aged 14 and up with skills in coding, animation, website development, software engineering, IT tech roles, systems admin, and even cyber security. It was billed as a three-year online blitz to catapult Guyanese into the global software workforce, exploding from 26.9 million developers in 2021 to 45 million by 2030. The website went live, guyanacoders.gov.gy, promising UAE-recognized certificates and a hub for CARICOM kids too. Private sector? Urged to fling open doors after hours for community training. Fanfare? Off the charts, with Ali declaring it a battle for the region’s youth and praising UAE as an “outstanding” partner.

Fast forward to nearly three years later, and the whole thing reeks of monumental failure. As of March 2025, a measly 463 learners (probably a lie) had slogged through and finished just four training tracks. That’s right 463 out of a hyped 150,000 target, or about 0.3% of the goal, with the program supposedly wrapping up any day now. No floods of jobs, no ICT boom, no regional revolution. Just a digital ghost town where ambitious vows curdled into irrelevance. The government’s own updates? Crickets since that pitiful milestone, buried in a Chronicle puff piece while the site limps along, collecting dust.

This isn outright deception, a pattern of fleecing the public with glossy announcements that evaporate under scrutiny and they’re at it again with the relaunch of the “Guyana Digital School:. Billions funneled into ICT; $1.6 billion in the first half of 2023 alone, yet the coders initiative joins the scrapheap of flops like the Digital School relaunch, propping up illusions of progress while kids drop out at alarming rates. They’re cheating the next generation, dangling tech dreams to mask a system that leaves more than 1/2 of the students without a basic education, let alone bandwidth for coding bootcamps. Officials bleat about 2030 readiness, but with participation this pathetic, it’s clear they haven’t a clue how to deliver, no real rollout strategy, no sustained enrollment drives, no accountability for the UAE-touted platform that’s more mirage than machine.

The 150,000 Coders, like the Digital school, was never about empowering youth; it was a photo-op prop for a regime allergic to results. Guyana’s leaders peddle these schemes to the world, pocketing praise and partnerships, but deliver squat to the people footing the bill. Kids coerced into empty classes, parents fed lies about futures in code, it’s predatory, plain and simple. This government fumbles every tech gamble because they’re winging it with zero grasp on execution, pedagogy, or even basic follow-through. Time to call it another colossal bust, and the tab’s on our children.