Crushing Corruption

by Peter R. Ramsaroop

One glance at the headlines of yesterday's paper demonstrates the complete and utter frustration Guyana feels over the extensive corruption on every level of law enforcement and governmental agency. Black smoke filled the air as tyres burned with the same hot fire that burns in the hearts of those in Tain who want justice instead of corrupt law enforcement officers.

This week, BBC had a report on the ongoing corruption in Kenya . The British High Commissioner in Kenya , Sir Edward Clay, has taken a very strong stance on this issue by vocally criticising Kenya 's record on tackling corruption.

Sir Clay said he believes the foreign aid for Kenya is going into the right places, since there are safeguards to ensure the proper disbursement of the funds. The money is watched very carefully. However, he feels that in many instances the aid is simply funding what tax dollars would normally cover and those tax dollars then disappear into the pockets of corrupt government officials.

Can this be one possible explanation for how those government officials in our own country have assets that far exceed their income? There are many other possible explanations as well, such as kick back deals, bribes and payoffs. It is as if these officials think they can live above the law.

All Guyanese share the frustration expressed by the people of Tain this week. Corrupt and criminal law enforcement officers and government officials drag this nation further into a desperate whirlpool of degradation – and these are the ones we have trusted to protect us from crime and corruption. Now the question is who will protect us from them?

The Guyana Third Force (GTF) is readying itself to be a force for the people. We realise the importance of putting action to our words. This is in sharp contrast to the parties of the past who say they encourage transparency and revile corruption, but their actions – and their assets – prove otherwise.

Addressing the issue of corruption, especially of State and Government employees, will be a top priority. The law should be amended to allow the presumption of guilt to shift if it can be demonstration that an employee or state official's assets are in excess of his income.

Although we all wish it did, money does not grow on trees. Therefore, those who enter public service with a certain amount of money cannot expect to get rich in service to the people. This is even truer for a poor country.

Many of these “public servants” entered their positions with very little in way of monetary possessions. While it is true that most have maintained their official position for quite a few years now, which makes a decent salary, there is still no way most of them could purchase the houses and cars they have without “outside” funding.

If the average salary is about a few hundred US dollars a month, then how can these officials possibly afford to put up grand homes that cost around US $200,000? Even if they make US $1,000/month, there is no way they could afford these types of homes without some extra padding.

It is reprehensible that any “public servant” would get rich on the backs of his/her fellow countrymen, while the rest of the nation is trapped in a quagmire of poverty. The money being siphoned from the public through illegal means could be used to raise the overall standard of living.

In other words, the kickbacks from deals paid for by the taxpayers could easily fund so much. However, instead of a viable infrastructure, a road to Brazil , functioning traffic lights, a new sewer system, new economies in technology and non-traditional agriculture, a reduction in the poverty rate or a thriving industry in any of the upcoming new markets – instead of all of this, many officials have big houses and nice cars. What we have been saying for years finally came through. Sugar will collapse and they did not do what we had advocated for years: Diversify our economy. This failure will cost the loss of thousands of sugar workers jobs in the near future. The propaganda must stop.

So much for the PPP's communist notions. If they truly believed one word of their own propaganda, they would be living in the same conditions as the rest of the nation and the money used to build those big houses would have been used to better the economic state of the entire nation – not just the economic state of a few political elites. That does not sound like communism to me.

The GTF recommends the creation of an independent Corruption Investigation Bureau to investigate corruption in the State Sector. We propose strict sentences to be imposed on convicted corrupt officials and their assets to be seized and forfeited. These officials should also be permanently banned from Government Service and lose their pensions.

The corruption that is so rife in this nation has been a constant pain since our independence. The PPP have failed the nation by using the people as pawns for their own gain. Instead of working hard for the people, they make the people work hard for them. This twisted corruption must end with the next election.

The GTF plans to raise the standards of transparency and accountability. We plan to make our net worth public right up front, so no one can question the integrity of our political pursuit, which is a better Guyana .

We believe the salaries of all public officials should be a matter of public record and that strict conflict-of-interest guidelines should be implemented and enforced. These are necessary steps if any government wants the people to start trusting them again. Trust is an earned commodity, and right now in Guyana trust is a rare commodity.

Thanks to the PPP, it will take years to rebuild the trust of the people, but the GTF is up for the task. The slippery money that greases the greedy hands of these corrupt officials is money that belongs to the people. In the next election, it is time to make sure this money gets to where it belongs.

The black smoke that filled the sky over Tain this week represents the frustration of every single Guyanese. The empty promises of these corrupt officials rise in a spectacular display, but in the end – just like the black smoke – it dissipates into nothingness. We are long on broken promises and short on actual progress.

It is time to crush corruption once and for all in our country.

Winning Guyana's Future

By Peter R. Ramsaroop

I firmly believe that the primary focus of the next elected government of Guyana should be to bring this nation into the 21st century. Without bridging the gap that exists between the technological haves and have-nots on a national level first, and secondly on an international level, Guyana will continue to fall further behind the rest of the world fiscally.

Presently, our arduous struggle to catch up in the vital areas of communications and Internet capability/accessibility has produced very few fruitful results. Relatively speaking, we are light years behind our Caribbean neighbours – a fact that is simply unacceptable.

It is unacceptable because we lack the hi-tech know-how and necessary technological infrastructure essential to function in today's information age. These components are readily available, as is evident by the implementation of such elements throughout the Caribbean , but as a country we have yet to tap into these mechanisms to even a small degree.

These are areas in which a country wants to be on the cutting edge, or even better, to be the one setting the standard and leading the way. Regretfully, Guyana hasn't the ability to act in such a capacity at present. Though we may view Internet capability and Information processes as novelties or luxuries, these features are in actuality considered essential facets of conducting even small-scale business endeavours in most of the world.

However, if a nation like India can pull itself out of economic obscurity and redefine itself as a vanguard of a whole new industry that is on the cutting edge like Outsourcing, then I truly believe that with the right amount of foresight and proper leadership, Guyana has hope to recreate itself as well.

Our nation needs a government with a vision to see the future and keep up with the progressive changes of the rest of the world so that Guyana is not constantly playing catch up. Our parliamentary seats should be filled with brave, forward thinkers, whom we can trust to fight for our interests.

It is time for Guyana to have a government that moves at the speed and effectiveness of the Information and Knowledge Age. Imagine walking into a government office today and seeing all the paper and the time consuming task of writing things five different ways. The very image of the office would communicate the obsolete and archaic characteristics of the system.

If you saw someone trying to run a government program in that office, you would know instantly it was hopeless. This situation is akin to a carpenter building a house today with a simple hammer and screwdriver instead of power tools that gets the task completed faster, easier and more efficiently.

Winning the future of Guyana will be hard work, but the Guyana Third Force is taking the initiative to roll up its sleeves and get to work. The GTF core values and contract with the people focuses on making the citizens of Guyana and their needs the focal point for determining policy.

The GTF is determined to unearth the necessary components to highlight and/or create areas of our economy that can be utilised as driving factors to stabilise our fiscal condition and then promote continual marked growth.

I believe the driving factor of any effectual government should always remain the welfare of the people. For as long as the economy continues to bottom out and crime intrudes into our very homes to steal our sense of security, we will forever be yoked to the feelings of inadequacy and eventually resign Guyana to complete failure.

The current government offers sporadic programmes that are often financed by foreign aid. Or they offer occasional indulgences, like new roads, to feign growth. However, it is what has not been accomplished that speaks volumes about the sincerity with which this government operates. In other words, it's what we do not see that proves the incompetence of this administration.

Let me put this bluntly, it has become more than obvious that the PPP does not have the resolve or the wherewithal to forge Guyana into a prosperous and flourishing nation. If they did, then we would see marked improvement instead of a continual decline in our economic status.

If the PPP had the power to create a safer nation, then we would be able to sleep at night without fear and our children could go to school without encountering sexual predators. If they had the aptitude to mature our economy, then we would have seen an influx of investors, both local and foreign, clamouring to set up business in Guyana .

If the current government had the vision to see Guyana as a thriving nation, our Diaspora would be returning in droves and welcomed with open arms. If they had the skill to employ a policy of racial diversity and national unity, our country would be working hand-in-hand toward national success instead of divided, still, by repulsive partitions of racial hate.

At this rate, our children and their children will still be stuck in the bygone era of intolerance and poverty, while the rest of the world continues on in racial synchronization and prosperity. We have to realise that while the rest of the world has moved beyond their racial issues and found ways to overcome poverty, we have stood still in time.

We have been trapped in this condition for decades and the only thing that can jolt us out of this sad situation is to change our way of thinking. We have to grow up as a nation by acknowledging our weaknesses and following the compulsory path that so many other nations have taken to success.

We need to open our eyes to the world outside of our borders and understand that we have a vital role to play in the international community. We are obligated to fulfil this role, just like every other country on Earth, though we cannot even begin to function as an international player until we can function as a viable entity on our own accord within our own borders.

Guyana is a victim of its own shortsighted selfishness. We have been so led by offence and a desire for retribution from our fellow countrymen and women that the rest of the world has passed us by in a whirlwind. I cannot stress this enough, we must lay aside our racial separation, if we ever want to see growth in our nation.
We need to realise that the responsibility for the current state of the nation lies squarely on the shoulders of the people. That is not to say the government is innocent in regard to the sorry condition of this country, but it is the people who have given them the power to pull our nation into poverty, crime and corruption.

Though we are still just an adolescent country in some regard, it is quite clear that future history is calling upon our generation to carry the burden of redefining the standards by which our country conducts its political business. The members of the GTF know and accept their responsibility to Guyana and plan to make every endeavour possible to create unity, national stability and growth.

When we all come together under this noble umbrella as one force moving in unison toward winning the future of Guyana ; that is when our nation will begin its path toward independent success - and not before.

Capitalising on the Caribbean Craze

By Peter R. Ramsaroop

Guyana, a developing country, is by default a much-desired commodity in the more commercialised countries of the world. This statement might sound a bit outlandish; nonetheless, as far-fetched as it may sound, Guyana has exactly what so many big spenders earnestly desire.

The natural resources and culture of the Caribbean have become hot commodities in the Western World. It is difficult to find an urban music release that is not sporting a catchy Caribbean beat and all of the major store-chains are carrying decorative pieces made of bamboo or multiple woods. This is the music we have enjoyed since we were children and the decorations that have donned our homes in classic natural beauty.

The familiar surroundings of palm trees and bountiful flora that we take for granted is exactly the type of soothing environment hungrily sought by the rich and affluent. Even the fruit that grows in our yards and the food we cook every day is a craze for those who have some extra spending money in their pockets.

There is an incredible amount money just waiting to be poured into our country.

If we are so desirable, why is it that very few tourists actually choose to spend their money here in Guyana ? Why is it that we are not exporting more of our own products to gratify the insatiable thirst for Caribbean and South American goods? The experts say we do not know how to market Guyana .

Sometimes it feels like we're beating a dead horse when it comes to the economy. To no avail, we tell the government over and over to lighten the burden on imports and exports.

Yet another year is almost over and we find ourselves once again in the negative numbers concerning economic growth. They say they have lots of red tape and if the private sector gives them the vision, they will cut it. The rhetoric goes on and on, but at the end of the day, we are declining.

If we examine our neighbours who generally proffer the same natural resources and culture as Guyana the contrast is nothing short of shocking. For example, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a report in August on the economic condition of Barbados .

This report found that Barbados , which has redefined itself to be heavily dependent on tourism and financial services, is indeed thriving economically.

In fact, Barbados has the lowest poverty rate in the Caribbean and according to the IMF report, “Social indicators compare favourably in both a regional and global context; in 2004, for example, Barbados was ranked 29th among 177 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index.” Conversely, Guyana came in at a dismal 104.

So what is the difference between Guyana and Barbados ? Our neighbour is not without its' own economic woes. Consider this quote from the IMF report, “The economy - especially the tourism and financial services sectors - suffered a sharp recession in 2001-02 following the September 11th attacks and the global slowdown. In response to the deterioration in the external environment, the government implemented a public investment programme to help revive economic activity.”

If we examine this statement closely, the key words to note are “the government implemented.” It is clear that Barbados has a proactive government that is quick to shore up weak economic areas to limit the overall national impact and to buoy the areas producing static or promising results.

What was the result of this Bajan foresight? According to the IMF report, “A strong economic recovery appears to have taken hold in 2004. Real GDP growth in 2004 is estimated at 4.4 percent, led by a recovery in tourism, construction and communications.” It should be noted that a number of the construction projects in Barbados are vacation homes being built for foreigners.

These same foreigners will return regularly to spend their money in the Bajan economy. Of a significant note to the readers, Barbados is the size of Hogg Island , one of our over three hundred islands in Guyana .

By comparison, Guyana 's economy continues to worsen. This year's poor standings can be blamed on the flood, though we probably received more than enough foreign aid to take care of the rebuilding efforts and more.

In fact, there are probably several factors that could act as agents of blame but when we reach the bottom line it is a lack of government foresight and capable economic strategies that hold Guyana back from the same type of thriving economy that our neighbours enjoy.

The combination of ineffective, long-term policies and a severe deficiency of vision by the government continue to stifle substantive fiscal growth for Guyana .

Another one of our close neighbours is also making marked progress economically. According to a Secretariat report released in September by the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Trinidad and Tobago – with a rank of 54 on the UN Human Development survey - has capitalised on its trade capabilities and natural beauty to achieve measurable economic progress.

This report maintains that, “Since its last review in 1998, trade has played a crucial role in supporting Trinidad and Tobago 's rapid economic growth. The country's rich natural endowments, its attractiveness as an investment destination and favourable developments in world markets, especially in the hydrocarbons sector, have produced a strong increase in GDP growth and per capita income.”

These islands we are contrasting to Guyana have comparatively the same natural abilities (some we are afraid to develop internally, such as oil) and resources that we do; therefore, the difference between our flagging economy and their thriving economy can only be attributed to governance.

We have the best rum in the world, yet it gets only regional recognition in sales. Our music and culture is as rich as any other Caribbean neighbour, yet Barbados and Jamaica have artists topping the international charts.

One would be hard-pressed to find a more beautiful country than Guyana , yet billions of dollars in tourism are being spent in all of our neighbouring countries - and we get but a trickle.

It makes no sense to continue down this unproductive road. The ongoing economic decline is a direct result of an unfriendly investment climate and years of inaction in relation to the strategic planning for growth. We cannot sit on our hands and expect for progress to be delivered to our doorsteps. We have to go out and get it.

What we need is an infusion of life sparked by a sound economic strategy by the public sector that allows the private sector to be that engine of positive growth as we all talk about. It is too much to ask for a proactive government at this point, since that boat has long since sailed on that opportunity.

However, it is not too much to ask for a welcoming investment climate and open harbours and borders to stimulate the economy. Or is the government boat still tied to the dock?

If we shift our thinking and begin capitalising on our own natural resources and culture, the IMF and WTO could be writing glowing reports about Guyana too. If we do nothing, like we have been doing for decades, we will be reading about the continued progress of our neighbours and still wishing it was Guyana.

Defending our Republic – Bold Leadership needed

by Peter R. Ramsaroop

Bold leadership is often a direct result of a well-defined and conscientious strategy. When a person knows the prime objective for which he/she is striving, all decisions and actions are subsequently guided by the ultimate goal of attaining this objective.

Further, when one's conscience is settled that the objective is in fact a noble effort, there is very little reason to be hesitant or apprehensive. Such a climate in Government is rare since most times leaders are unsure of how to address the relevant issues and, when that decision is finally made, doubt creeps in about the integrity of implementing the resolution.

This is why strong leadership is so difficult to find. Politicians often make compromises to retain their positions and those concessions often cause these leaders to second-guess themselves or to totally disregard their conscience in future decisions.

When this occurs repeatedly over the course of time, a leader's drive for helping others can become desensitised and, instead of a caring individual who is pursuing lofty dreams of democracy and equality, we are left with a jaded personality who is trying to hold on for dear life to any remnant of goodness.

At this point the conduct of this type of leader becomes suspect and shady activities become the rule – instead of an exception to the rule. When such a leader is reproduced over and over as a result of general expectations from party paramountcy and submission to the nastiness of party rules, an entire government can become weak “yes-men” who are incapable of effective leadership.

This is the state of the government in Guyana . This country's bold leadership has been forfeited for the sake of the party, and strong leaders have succumbed to the tantalising seduction of power and ever-present longing to be accepted by the more experienced and influential leaders.

However, experience and influence don't equate to good leadership. Likewise, bold leadership needn't be the equivalent of brash leadership. Bold leaders are capable of adhering to their convictions over party expectations. This is the type of leadership we need in Guyana .

We need bold leaders from all walks of life who are qualified and optimistic men and women with the courage of their convictions, and the vision to lead our nation to greatness. The anaemic state of the current leadership is obvious in so many ways, but it is more than obvious how faint-hearted they really are when considering the state of our national security.

In regards to the protection of our sovereignty, the current government offers the equivalent of a pathetic “boo” to chase off potential land squatters. We have seen weak leadership when it comes to protection of our borders. How embarrassing that Suriname kicked us out of our own waters while we were drilling for oil, and Venezuela limits our activities in the Essequibo Region, claiming two-thirds of our land.

Where is our strong leadership in this regard? We need a national defence team that becomes the backbone for peace. We need to stand up to any neighbour that hinders our growth.

Although narrowly not a “law enforcement” agency, the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is vital to our country's security. Thus, this is an appropriate point at which to briefly deal with its challenges and offer solutions.

The dismantling of the GDF in recent years has rendered it incapable of protecting our citizens in time of need. In 2001 when the GDF had to deal with the CGX crisis in Suriname , they were not prepared, due to the lack of a modern force and equipment. This terrible policy error must be rectified as quickly as possible. Defence is the foundation of peace; therefore we should not neglect this major component of our national defence strategy.

Today we see our armed forces fighting crime, which indicates the breakdown of our police forces. We need the armed forces to be defending our nation and to stand against any aggression that hinders our economic growth. We need to be drilling for oil in our waters, which means we need to be drilling for oil in the Essequibo .

We must revive the soundness of our Defence Forces so they can defend the integrity of our territory, engage in humanitarian missions and react swiftly to crisis situations. The following are examples of some actions that should be taken to establish a sound national security policy:

• Establish a strong militia and a military based on an extensive reservist system that can be called up at any time.
• Set up an active defence force consisting or a predetermined number of soldiers as decided upon by the Parliament.
• Establish permanent base camps with a battalion of troops in each camp at strategic locations to monitor our borders.
• Modernise the Coast Guard for national defence purposes and to protect our exclusive fishing zones and protect our waters against the growing narco-trade.
• Re-equip the Army Air Corps to provide aerial surveillance on our borders and assist in drug-interdiction operations.
• Revitalise and expand an Engineer Corps to allow for participation in building homes, roads, bridges and any tasks that are deemed necessary. It is better to have a permanent skilled work force than to continue to employ expensive foreign contractors.
• Revitalise the Agriculture Corps to assist in offsetting the impact of the GDF on the country's GNP and serve as a part of the training pool for youth.
• Create programmes for the Army to generate revenues.
• Re-establish a form of the National Service

Guyana 's problems are many and complex. Even seemingly straightforward concerns begin to seem intractable when politics become involved. Guyana needs goodwill, good laws, good men and women and good resolve.

Most of all, we need to work to truly solve our problems and replace the rule of moral chaos with that of order and direction. It is easy to propose laws. Sometimes it is easy to pass laws. But the measure of our seriousness is enforcing the law. This is where Guyana 's severe lack of strong and bold leadership becomes obvious.

Our hope does not lie in the reliance on status quo leaders who curtsey to the whims of the elite. We need leaders who have the internal fortitude to turn away from the temptations of power. We need leaders who seek national interests over personal interests. We need bold leaders who govern with compassion and wisdom. Guyana is ready for strong leadership. Are We?