Politics and big business in Guyana

We live in the age of neo-liberalism. The economic mantra of this ideology limits the role of the government in the economy and encourages it to get out of the economic sphere and leave this space for the private sector which, it is said, is more efficient at delivering goods and services.

The only sectors where the government is encouraged to become involved are those areas where it is not profitable for the private sector to do so, such as mass transportation services and infrastructure. The government is therefore asked to assume loss-making economic activities, under the pretext that this involvement facilitates private sector development.

Interestingly, while this neo-liberal ideology seeks to distance the government from the economic sphere, it does not seek to limit business from politics. In fact in many countries, the facade of democratic rule is perpetuated every four or five years. The citizens are made to believe that they are the ones who elect the government when, in fact, it is the big corporations which determine the outcome of every election through their support of political candidates and parties.

Big businesses splurge huge bucks into shaping public opinion. And despite the small man feeling that his small donations make a difference, in reality the more influential financial support comes from big businesses.
When the elections are over, these corporations, through their lobbyists, ensure that their interests are reflected in the make-up of the government and in the policies that are pursued.

This is why following the financial crash of 2006 in the United States, the Obama administration had to bail out many of those institutions which were responsible for the crisis. The pretext for this support was that these corporations were too big to fail. I guess that for the millions on “Main Street” who lost their jobs and whose mortgages were foreclosed, they were much too small to be saved.
It is no different in Guyana, the economic oligarchy is spreading its wings. But this oligarchy now owns the government. What we have is a government that represents the interest of a powerful economic oligarchy whose purpose is to corner the Guyanese market.

The danger, of course, is that this market is too small to be allowed to be cornered, and because it is increasingly coming under the control of a small group of businessmen, then the entire country is at the mercy of this oligarchy, which is also interested in taking over sport.

The oligarchy was never going to allow forces outside of its control to assume the government, and so it ensured that it had political influence within the government.
The PPP has become beholden to this political oligarchy. This oligarchy funds its political campaigns, making the PPP less dependent on other sources of campaign-finance. And the PPP has become almost totally dependent and tied to this oligarchy which also has its acolytes within the government.
The oligarchy pours out generous support to its acolytes, and therefore it can be said that the oligarchy has its lackeys within the government to safeguard its interests.

This is a real challenge that the incumbent President of Guyana faces: How does he recuse his administration from this overweening control by the economic oligarchy. It is not going to be easy to simply let go of those whom he may feel are in bed with the economic oligarchy, because he still faces the dilemma of where the support for his party’s election campaign will come from.

The President is a wily and astute political figure. He is attempting to unshackle his government and his political party from the influence of the oligarchy, and this is why he has kept old party loyalists close to him within the government. He is hoping to wean his administration and the party away from this influence. But do these loyalists have what it takes to undertake the massive task of breaking links with the new oligarchy, and how many of them have not already been compromised?

But the big question remains where will the funds for his party’s re-election come from if there is a confrontation between the government and the economic oligarchy, whose rapaciousness caused the PPP/C to lose ground with its traditional political base in last year’s elections?
Do not expect the masses to fund any election campaign. They cannot. And while overseas-based supporters of the party may flatter themselves that their financial contributions are substantive, they are only fooling themselves. The election campaigns of the political parties have always been funded substantively by the local business class.

And this is where the local business class, which is outside of the economic oligarchy, must appreciate their long-term interests. They may be surviving now, but eventually this oligarchy will steamroll them and put them out of business.  And eventually, as the powerful economic oligarchy spreads its wings, it will stifle existing businesses in Guyana. 

It is therefore necessary for these businesses to appreciate the threat that they face from, and the power and reach of, the oligarchy. They must therefore step in and help the President to wean his administration and party away from the economic oligarchy, that is, if that is what he really wants. Does he?