Dear Editor,
The recent spectacle of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) “handing over” newly constructed offices to the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) in Bartica and Port Kaituma is a masterclass in political gaslighting. While government officials and their digital defenders will frame this as a “milestone of partnership,” any objective analysis reveals it as a damning indictment of the state’s inability to manage its own prosperity.
The $1.3 Trillion Question
In 2025, the Government of Guyana (GOG) tabled a historic $1.382 trillion (GYD) national budget—a 21% increase from the previous year, fueled by a 43.6% GDP growth rate that is the envy of the world. With billions of US dollars sitting in the Natural Resource Fund (NRF), the public must ask: Why is the UN still paying for our office furniture, GPS stations, and ATVs?
Administrative Welfare
The Sustainable Land Development and Management (SLDM) Project, under which these offices were built, is funded by the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) and managed by the FAO. This means that for a core sovereign function—land administration—the GOG is effectively on administrative welfare. If the state cannot find the capital to build a regional office in a “booming” township like Bartica, it suggests a terrifying level of fiscal incompetence or a deliberate strategy of outsourcing the state’s responsibilities to save domestic cash for “vanity projects” elsewhere.
The Sovereignty Risk
Beyond the optics of dependency, there is a deeper concern regarding sovereignty. Land is our most precious national asset. By allowing international organisations to lead the strengthening of “institutional capacity” and “geospatial systems,” the GOG is admitting it lacks the vision or the trust to build these systems internally. Why are we relying on foreign “knowledge transfer” to manage our own hinterland? After five years of record-breaking oil production, shouldn’t Guyana be the one exporting technical expertise to the region, rather than receiving “boats and ATVs” as charity?
A Pattern of Duplicity
This is not an isolated incident; it is a pattern of duplicity. The government touts its “decentralization” efforts while neglecting to mention that the literal roofs over these decentralized offices were provided by the UN. They boast of “modernized surveying platforms” while the GPS base stations were installed under a foreign-funded project.
The “fastest-growing economy” tag has become a hollow slogan used to distract from a reality where basic civil service infrastructure is still treated as a luxury that requires a foreign donor’s signature.
Conclusion
The GOG cannot have it both ways. You cannot claim to be a regional leader and a global economic powerhouse while simultaneously standing in line for FAO handouts to fulfill your basic mandate to the people of Regions One and Seven. It is time to stop the ribbon-cutting for foreign-funded charity and start funding the nation’s development with the billions of dollars the people are told we have.
Yours truly,
Hemdutt Kumar
