A Blueprint for a Modern Guyana

There is no doubt that any Guyanese who is truly interested in the long-term #development of Guyana, would agree that the May 11 elections that brought the much anticipated coalition government to power, has exorcised the stranglehold that hovered over the nation for the past 60 decades.

Unfortunately, some #Guyanese who still embrace the old order in which Guyana was historically polarized by blind ethnic loyalties that sacrificed tangible wide-scale development for five-year elections-based projects, would have no problem fighting for the maintenance of  winner-takes-all governmental rule.

As a journalist with the #Guyana Chronicle in the 1990s, I travelled to every part of Guyana except to the New River Triangle area. I can categorically state that the country is so vast and diverse that no one political party can effectively develop all 83,000 square miles alone. The irony is that Guyana is probably one of richest countries in the world based on the natural resources that lie beneath its surface and above ground, when compared to its population of only about 750,000 people.

The title, ‘A Blueprint for A Modern Guyana’, was chosen against the backdrop that with a reasonably well educated population, untapped natural resources, a stable political climate and excellent relations with the world biggest economies, political will is probably the single most important factor that will determine if Guyana will once again regain its place as the breadbasket of the Caribbean.

A comprehensive program is needed to decentralize government services so that citizens don’t need to travel to the capital city Georgetown for anything except to visit relatives. It is time that a zoological park is opened in Berbice and in Essequibo so that students don’t have to travel to Georgetown just to view and learn about the abundance of rich wildlife and fish that Guyana boasts of. Other components of this proposed blue print include:

An Infrastructure development blitz

The lack of a modern network of paved highways that criss-cross Guyana, interconnecting every region, is perhaps the single most hindrance to national development. 

Thousands of youth employment opportunities will be generated for several years to come with public spending on massive public infrastructure projects like building paved Western-style highways connecting, for example, the North West District to the Essequibo Coast; bridging the Essequibo River at the narrowest points; a light cargo railway network linking Kwakwani, Ituni, Linden and Kuru Kururu for agricultural produce coming out of the Intermediate Savannas for export; and with the anticipation of at least two refineries to process the newly discovered #oil in a few years’ time, it would make economic sense to build a large state-of-the-art International Airport where inter-continental jetliners can land and refuel at internationally competitive  tax-free rates.

Trade Liberalization

Successive governments have come into office with great intentions. However, when the honeymoon was over, they adopted 'unnecessary bureaucratic regulations' that they inherited, as the norm in conducting commerce. Among the major announcements that should be made in Guyana’s 2015 National Budget are: the immediate elimination of the tax compliance certificate requirement by the Guyana Revenue Authority when buying and selling vehicles and properties. If the application for compliance certificates is abolished and replaced with a flat tax, domestic trade would skyrocket and revenue to the treasury from the flat tax will increase substantially. Additionally, commercial cargo vehicles, including trucks and vans transporting agricultural produce from East Berbice to Georgetown and from West Demerara to Georgetown, should be allowed to cross the Berbice and Demerara bridges free, on a round-trip, two-days a week between 6 p.m. and 5 a.m.

Rebranding the Guyana Police Force

The decentralization of policing in Guyana needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency, meaning that more autonomy needs to be given to the various police divisions to effectively reduce the rate of violent crime. I took care not to say, "to reduce crime" because I believe that the police cannot reduce #crime. An unusually high crime rate is symptomatic of a wider societal breakdown of norms; poverty; joblessness; marginalization; and general hopelessness.                                                        

The police force needs to be restructured to create a new position of several commissioner of police to head each police division thus replacing the title of commander. Consequently, the current commissioner of police based at Eve Leary, would be called Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Police and should merely set policy, set macro targets for national policing and implement policy directives of the Minister of National Security. These individual commissioners should have the power to conduct their own recruitment exercises to meet the demands of their particular environment; conduct their own independent criminal investigations without central interference; and make independent decisions without having to refer to headquarters for every little issue.

Emergence Response Network

One of the main frustrations that has plagued citizens is the lack of a reliable 911 service. There is an urgent need for the implementation of emergency response communications centres in each of the 10 administrative regions where persons can call 911 in the event of an emergency. A highly trained operator would answer the call and connect the emergency to either the Guyana Fire Service, the Guyana Police Force or Ministry of Health's Ambulance Service while keeping the caller on the line until help arrives. This system would ensure accountability and would result in a faster response rate because the call would only be disconnected after the relevant personnel arrive on the scene. While I acknowledge that this elaborate and innovative system would require dozens of new ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles, a cohesive emergency response communications network would allow immediate contact with police, fire and ambulance services via radio instead of telephone landlines.