I grew up hearing the saying that sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me. This statement was often parroted by people cussing out one another and the loser deciding to take the easy way out.
These days the government is a firm believer of this statement. It has been roundly criticised for its treatment of the population. In fact, it has been criticised for just about everything that it has attempted.
It would be tedious to repeat the criticisms. Suffice it to say that it has been criticised for its handling of the national economy to the deliberate drive to impoverish one section of the society.
An examination of the government’s handling of the economy would reveal that it has spent money on so many things without securing the quality of work or even securing the work in the first place.
There have been attempts at modernisation that failed horribly. Coming readily to mind is the Skeldon sugar factory that was supposed to help Guyana produce sugar cheap enough to compete on the world market.
That factory used more cane to produce a ton of sugar and failed to attain one-tenth of its stated potential. It cost the country some US$200 million. Looking back one needs to wonder whether most of the money was not siphoned off before the actual factory was attempted.
Given the drive by the government to refuse examination of its financial dealings the nation may never know in this lifetime.
There have been attempts to construct low cost homes for the lower income people. Many of these are unoccupied for many reasons. The people who were supposed to occupy them can no longer afford the down payment.
The actual construction of these homes also left a lot to be desired. Shoddy construction landed the potential home owner with astounding costs. The extent of repairs that some people had to do left many in tears. The result is that money has been spent but the desired result has not been achieved unless the result was to put money in the hands of select contractors.
As Guyana began to wallow in oil money these indiscretions and wanton waste became even more pronounced. Wells are being attempted but get no farther; roads and private property are being destroyed in the execution of some projects but the projects never get completed.
Just the other day there were reports of a truck falling through a bridge at Smythe and Princes Streets. This appeared to be a newly constructed bridge. Was there an engineer to pass the quality of the work? Was the bridge constructed with weight restrictions?
One report suggested that the bridge collapsed under the weight of heavy-duty trucks. Trucks are generally not allowed in inner city streets in most countries. Guyana is different. They can use any street.
In cases where people build barricades to keep the trucks out, the drivers destroy those barricades with impunity. In Guyana during the 1970s, the Guyana Information Services produced a film captioned, ‘This is Guyana’. It highlighted the significant developments in the country.
To caption such a film production in Guyana today would attract the hostility of the government and expose Guyana to international embarrassment. Such a film would fit expertly into a First World documentary depicting life in a Third World country through the eyes of people who see these countries as garbage dumps.
One can find fault with the infrastructure until one becomes hoarse talking with the government. The Cheddi Jagan International Airport is still a work in progress almost thirteen years after it started. There is no end in sight to this project.
For all the focus on infrastructure there is no change in the life of the ordinary man. Things have reached the stage where people from India can obtain a quarry in Guyana and bring in their own labour force. The first time this happened was when the Marriott was being constructed.
The Chinese brought in all the workers. This was the first time that there was no local work force on a project in Guyana. This seems to have become the trend. Trinidadians are doing the same.
One newspaper screamed that people are buying a single tennis roll on credit. This is the limit of poverty in Guyana. Never has the situation been so bad. There are reports of Chinese supermarkets opening a loaf of bread and selling the loaf by slices.
If this is what it means to live in the fastest growing economy in the world, then one can understand why Guyana has the highest level of brain drain in the world.
And those who study medicine and law are positioning themselves to become very rich. The growing illiteracy rate will ensure that lawyers get a steady income. Robberies and murders will increase. But then again the failed criminal would not be able to afford legal representation so more prisons would have to be built.
This job would go to foreigners who would bring in their own labour force. The police force would have to be expanded. But then again, the police swell their ranks from the very illiterates in the society.
People will become ill in greater numbers. Poor diet, diseases, renal failure, diabetes, and hypertension are already on the rise. People will need the doctors. Those who cannot afford medical attention would be among the worst affected.
Guyana will become another Haiti, an ungovernable country. And the government leaders would do what leaders in a dictatorship do—flee to other countries with their plundered wealth.
On the eve of Guyana’s 60th anniversary of independence this is a grim picture. Sixty years ago when Guyana had no money the whole country, from the poor to the rich, went all the way to make the country look new, clean and prosperous.
Today, there isn’t even an attempt to hide the extent of poverty in the country.
