Guyana needs to fast-track inclusion, sustainable economic growth for all- US

Last Updated on Wednesday, 9 November 2022, 18:13 by Denis Chabrol

The United States is urging Guyana to be more inclusive at a faster pace and to go beyond cash grants by focussing on long term growth for all nationals of this oil-rich South American nation.

“It is an ethnically divided society and s0 they will need to focus on inclusion and there have been many efforts to do so  so far but they will need to continue to do that and at an increased pace,” American Ambassador to Guyana Sarah-Ann Lynch said on the Wilson Centre’s Plaza Central podcast titled “Guyana Oil Rush.”

In the area of cash grants that have been delivered countrywide to marginalised groups to cushion the impacts of floods and COVID-19, she said the Guyana government needed to do more. “Those short term grants do not mean long-term sustainability so we are encouraging them to focus on efforts that will create sustainable growth for the entire country no matter ethnicity, no matter race, no matter gender and no matter geography because there is a bit of a rural-urban divide here too,” said Ms Lynch whose tour of duty here wraps up by year-end.

She remarked that Afro-Guyanese women form part of the “marginalised group” with which the US has been working in the area of entrepreneurship.

A number of Democratic Congressmen have over the past several months been vocal about the need for inclusion in Guyana. But the Irfaan Ali-led administration has been stoutly defending its record and has heaped scorn on Congressman Hakeem Jeffries for shunning opportunities to hear the government’s perspective.

Ms Lynch praised Guyana for “saving the oil profits”, investing in key infrastructure and renewables to shift from its 95 percent dependence on fossil fuels such a green investments in solar energy, solar, wind and a 300 megawatt gas-powered electricity plant at Wales, West Bank Demerara. “Their top priority right now is to lower the cost of electricity which is one of the highest in the region so that they can attract more investments including investments in renewables,” she said.

With the country’s growth being pegged at 60 to 30 percent and lots of revenues pouring into the treasury, she said there was potential for corruption. “It’s tough to do it well so they will have o keep their eye on the ball but there are many models of what to follow what not do to but they are truly educating themselves,” she said.

The US Ambassador said Guyana would need to enact and enforce legislation against corruption.

The opposition A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), which has been cozying up to the Democrats since President Joe Biden came to power, has been complaining to Western diplomats here about alleged corruption, inequitable distribution of the oil wealth and discrimination against Afro-Guyanese and others who are opposed to the Indo-Guyanese-backed People’s Progressive Party (PPP).