Tuesday, May 3rd 2005

Dear Editor,

As I move around the country from Berbice to Essequibo there are certain factors which indicate that Mr. Jagdeo and his government have lost their way. Mr. Jagdeo and his propaganda mouthpiece Robert Persaud might think that peddling lies and distortions about our economy will result in a victory at the next general elections, but they have lost their way because factors such as neglect of the people's welfare, increasingly high cost of living and widespread unemployment will bring them a political surprise come the next election. Everywhere I go there is a common mantra coming from the people's lips .. "Joey, it is time for a change" and this crosses racial lines, religious lines and class lines to embrace a large cross section of our people.

I met an old man of 78 years on the Pomeroon River and he told me that he has to paddle his boat 12 miles to Charity each way when he needs to and even though he is that old, his pension of $2500 leaves him with no choice but to continue farming even though his crops are flooded out by governmental mismanagement with drain-age along the river.

He told me that every month he had to paddle 2 1/2 mile each way to pick up his piddling $2500. Imagine that Mr. Jagdeo has increased the local debt almost 40 billion dollars and yet this old man still suffers and endures the hardships and privations which this government has refused to address throughout the country. Everywhere I went, we saw the same examples of government neglect to the people from roads, stellings, riverine transports, hospitals and the list could go on and on.

Mr. Jagdeo tries to impress the public with handouts everywhere he goes in his campaign for the next general elections, which, by the way, has already started.

His sudden concern, for example, with the situation at Sophia which has been neglected for the last four years, is obvious electioneering and the people in every area he goes to (doling out millions of taxpayers monies) are quite aware that once he gets their vote, they will be forgotten again.

If one looks at just one major aspect of our economy, electricity, and traces Mr. Jagdeo's decisions as Finance Minister and President, one will see a trend of incompetence, bad decision making and betrayal to the Guyanese taxpayer and consumer. State own electricity has been a disaster to this country both from a consumer view and from the aspect of promoting private sector development and foreign investment and trade.

We had our first real chance to save the electrical situation with the Sask-Power deal which went sour because of the opposition of Mr. Jagdeo and company while he was Finance Minister. Sask-Power is a Canadian enterprise which is reputable and which has years and years of experience in electrical supply and transmission with huge resources at its fingertips and if this company had come to Guyana we would have seen a big difference in electrical service in this country. Because of Mr. Jagdeo's personal interference the Sask-Power deal fell through and we went back to state owned electricity. After he became President, Mr. Jagdeo then brought an Irish firm to run our electricity but left them hamstrung by government's interference and ownership until they were forced by this government to pack up and virtually run out of the country, in the process, losing a lot of money. Now we are back with state owned electricity which contributes to a barren wasteland as far as foreign investment is concerned because foreign investors and private sector entities need to see a good electrical, water and road infrastructure which facilitates the spread of good business. To the Guyanese consumer of electricity, I need not tell you of the hardships and privations which this government is steadily stacking up on the people's backs with high bills and a shoddy and unsteady supply of electricity. The history of our electrical services after independence parallels that of our general economy in the sense that government ownership has been a general disaster and the changes which I refer to in order to bring betterment can be seen in a company like GT&T which provides a much better service and product then when government owned.

The infrastructure changes that the Jagdeo regime has brought are welcome and should be applauded because they are good for the country but the real structural changes in our economy which have not been done or even attempted by Mr. Jagdeo will marginalize his attempted infrastructure works because fixing a road or building a bridge is not enough. Structural changes in our economy would mean real privatization (with hardly any government ownership or control but as a faciliatator and public advocate) of water, electricity (hydro power), drainage and irrigation, road building and other aspects of our economy where the private sector could step in and in time play more and more a major role.

Just look at success stories in places like Ireland (once a European backwater of economic growth) and Mauritius where true structural changes have brought economical betterment to the people.

It is obvious to me, as I travel around this country, that Mr. Jagdeo and his communist Gang of 8 are on the road of no return to more and more government intervention in the daily lives of our people and this is not working; we Guyanese have been through this for the last 40 years and we remain impoverished and moving backward and I agree with the general sentiment of the people who suffer under this continuing lack of vision : "it is time for a change" come the next election.

Yours faithfully,


Cheddi (Joey) Jagan, Jr