Kari posted:Hoyte did not have one ounce of socialist economic thought in his time as a politician. The Americans and Canadians had nothing to do with the reforms Hoyte initiated. The IMF and World Bank reforms started under Burnham due to the balance of payments situation of Guyana. Burnham did not follow a lot of the guidelines. Hoyte embraced these and then some. Note that the Cheddi Jagan Administration benefited from the debt write-off by the Paris Club. The Jagdeo Administration got relief through the HIPC initiative and had some debt write-off as noted in the IMF country report. So basically debt write-offs played a role in two Administrations (Cheddi and Jagdeo) while both the Burnham and Hoyte regimes had to make painful reforms without such benefit - like currency devaluations and restrictive government spending (that affected importation).
Hoyte was a key man in Burnham's gov't when it comes to formulating economic policies and drafting the controversial 1978 constitution. I don't know how you could stand up proudly and deny the facts about this man's role in the gov't. and his socialist-orientated mindset. It is certainly true that he began espousing free market policies during his time in gov't. especially during the 1992 elections campaign. He exaggerated his commitment to damper the PPP, but the opposition was doing the same about strengthening the private sector and making the engine of economic growth.
During those years in the seventies the gov't invested US$200 into national service which was more a military and ideological program to build support for the comrade leader LFS Burnham. Hoyte was not only the finance minister at that time but part and parcel of this major ideological stunt the PNC was pulling off. Show us one article written by Hoyte during his time in the PNC that touted free market as the solution or attacked the socialist program of the PNC?? If you can show us some evidence of his independent thinking we will be more than happy to look at it.