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.