KEVIN RAMNARINE
Last week Guyana celebrated its 50th anniversary of Independence. In the post-colonial narrative of the Caribbean, Guyana has always been an enigma.
In primary school I learnt that Guyana was a large country with many natural resources. We were told that it was larger than England and much larger than Trinidad. In high school I read Jan Carew's Black Midas which follows the life of its protagonist "Shark" who makes his fortune in the gold mines of Guyana's interior.
While Guyana is in many obvious ways similar to T&T its political history has been more turbulent. Its road to independence in 1966 was different from the road taken by T&T. In 1953, Cheddi Jagan's "Marxist illumination," to quote Naipaul, led to his removal from office by the British authorities.
The politics of race would become a prominent feature from 1955 onward following a split between Dr Jagan and Forbes Burnham. The latter though left leaning would be more palatable to the British and Americans as Jagan, to again quote Naipaul, was "the possessor of the purer form of Marxism."
As a result of the split, the country's pre independence politics was marked by racial tension which at times manifested itself in violence and murder. Interestingly, since independence in 1966 Guyana has changed its governing party on only two occasions (1992 and 2015) while here in T&T we have done that on six occasions (1986, 1991, 1995, 2001, 2010 and 2015).
To understand the forces that shaped Guyana one must appreciate its history, its culture and the fact that its struggle for independence, like ours, took place at the height of the Cold War when the alignment of its young leaders with communist ideology would have caused discomfort in Washington and London.
During that period communism had come to America's backyard in Cuba (1959). This culminated with the "Bay of Pigs" in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. On the other side of the world, America was engaged in checking the advance of communism in Indochina (Vietnam). This was the world in which Guyana transitioned from the colony of a fading empire to an independent nation in the backyard of a superpower.
Guyana's experiment with Marxism/communism was one of the main reasons for its political and economic decay after independence. During the years of decay the country racked up debt, its currency became worthless and investment dried up. The period between Independence in 1966 and the 1990s also saw thousands of Guyanese migrate mainly to the United States and Canada.
The question that Guyanese, and indeed the Caribbean, must ask is, if Guyana is so endowed with many natural resources, then why is Guyana still poor? Why after 50 years of freedom is Guyana consistently ranked as one of the poorest nations in the Americas? Why has Guyana not unlocked its economic potential?
Guyana will do well to acknowledge its past but not be imprisoned by it as is the case with many of its neighbours. In marking 50 years of Independence it's important to be resolute and think point forward.
Guyana seems to be maturing, at least politically. Last year the country changed Governments after 23 years of unbroken PPP/ Civic rule. While there were some incidents of violence it was nowhere on the scale of what used to happen in the 1960s.
On the eve of that 2015 general election Exxon announced that it had discovered hydrocarbons in what is Guyana's deep water acreage. Almost immediately Venezuela turned hostile and resuscitated its claim for two thirds of Guyana including maritime space. That matter is being arbitrated by the United Nations and President Granger has stood his ground.
The discovery means that Guyana has a bright future providing it builds the capacity to manage oil wealth. Last October, on the invitation of the UNDP, I spoke at a forum in Guyana on building capacity for managing the new Guyanese hydrocarbon sector. My advice to the Guyanese was to establish a Heritage and Stabilisation fund with defined targets and to use a component of any oil windfall to develop national infrastructure. A major obstacle to Guyana's progress is the inadequacy of infrastructure which makes it inefficient or impossible to develop its natural resource base. High on the list of priorities must be deep water port infrastructure.
In the book "Why Nations Fail" authors Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue for the importance of "inclusive institutions". Inclusive institutions provide incentives for innovation and create a level playing field. On the other hand "extractive institutions" concentrate power in the hands of a few and ultimately leads to corruption.
Guyana must develop the independent "inclusive institutions" that form the platform for sustainable economic growth. It must empower its private sector. It must continue to attract foreign investment. In developing its oil industry Guyana need look no further than T&T with its well-developed energy services and academic institutions. If the right political decisions are taken, Guyana's future is bound to be brighter than it's past.