Dear President Ali,
Thank you for your warm greetings and wish for “peace”, “love”, and “humility” in the spirit of Christmas. Your sentiments are reciprocated.
Our recent experience arising from the Venezuelan threat of annexation of two-thirds of our dear land demonstrated the importance of PEACE. The principle of Latin America and the Caribbean as a “Zone of Peace” was formally embraced by the parties to the Argyle protocol to produce a most desirable outcome…a resolution to adopt a peaceful outcome to the border controversy.
I congratulate you as president for being a party to winning PEACE. Guyanese are less anxious and stressed, and we can breathe more easily…for now. It would be wise to counsel ourselves to “bide our time and build strength.”
But Mr. President, your message of “peace”, “humility” and “love” can only be of substance if the economic and social constructs remove the systemic inequality that Guyanese experience. Historically, the structures of inequality existed from post-slavery into the period of colonialism, and unfortunately, the issues were not sufficiently addressed after constitutional independence.
The victims of slavery are still handicapped by the psychological impacts and the perpetual economic exclusion of African Guyanese. Today, this exclusion appears to be driven by the marriage of the ethnic divide and political expediency at a time when the economy is fortified by the discovery of significant commercial quantities of high-quality oil second only to Singapore’s Tapis light sweet. The growing revenue from more than 11 billion barrels of oil reserves in the Stabroek Block alone is rapidly unfolding to a population of less than 1 million. It has produced a growth rate of 62.3% in Guyana’s GDP in 2022 and should reach 115% by 2028; it is the highest growth rate in the world. The IMF report also pointed to the non-oil sector of agriculture, mining, and quarrying as “performing well.”
Economic development is about the people.
It is painfully scandalous and a sad commentary on all of us to permit a situation that allows the continuation of poverty in the face of great wealth. It was Gandhi who said that “poverty is the worst form of violence.”
Violence breeds violence.
I saw your address on the issue of reparations in a TV interview before COP 28, and I know you are familiar with the history, but for it to have meaning, that awareness must be reflected in your policies at home as president.
If not, how can we speak of “PEACE” without understanding that we must maintain an environment that wins peace at home in our communities and amongst all ethnic groups and all industry sectors to make it sustainable? How can a country whose growth rate is already the highest in the world and is on a trajectory of even more rapid growth in the next five years justify the hardships its people are now enduring except to perceive it as unmindful?
Please permit me to segue into a short story to illustrate the point.
During my last extended visit to Guyana, I stopped to give an Indian couple and their friend a ride home from work. I asked how things were for them in the new Oil and Gas economy. One of the ladies, a full-time wage-earner, said that the wages are low and the cost of living is so high that she had to rely on her “body parts to help her through the difficult times.”
It tells a story of desperation, which may be rooted in the policies pursued.
Mr. President, this is not a state of affairs that can be cured by slender threads of wage increases on the one hand and handouts that target one set of people over the other. Such an approach only exacerbates the ethnic divide and the pangs of economic impoverishment. It requires structural changes that remove the systems of inequality and poverty for all people. The old designs must be replaced with systems that incentivize productivity and cohesion while reflecting compassion and a proper understanding of the people’s dilemmas. It must resonate with the people in real terms.
That is how sustainable PEACE is won and sustained in the local economic environment.
You may not personally be responsible for the policies, but as president, you are constitutionally accountable for the governance of our beautiful country.
There are ways to create structures and systems to transform some of these unsustainable approaches to economic governance in 2024. I am sure that there are Guyanese across the political spectrum and in the diaspora willing to contribute to producing viable solutions.
Please accept my best wishes for 2024.
Sincerely
Cosford A Roberts
