GuyExpo: Another Jagan concept : –for growth and development

GUYANA is a veritable paradise, and Dr. Cheddi Jagan, with his wife Janet and a few chosen comrades, had intended to exploit the full potential of this wonderful land for the benefit of its tapestry of nationality.

Unfortunately, like the first Garden of Eden, Guyana also had its serpent that poisoned that potential and stunted that growth; so much so there was severe retrogression of its developmental gains under the first Jagan-led Government.The first PPP Government, albeit constrained by the yoke of the colonials, had driven, with tremendous dynamism, social development and economic growth in every sector of the country, even in the remote hinterland regions — agriculture (especially with the polders), health, housing, et al. But then, the serpent struck, and it was all poisoned.
Fast forward to October 5, 1992, when PPP’s victory at the first (relatively) free-and-fair elections in decades heralded the dawn of a new era. Dr. Jagan (who had seen the decay of his beloved Guyana and the oppression of the Guyanese people with great anguish, always struggling to halt that decay and restore democracy in the land, so that its growth patterns could be stabilised and take an upturn, even during his 28 years in the political wilderness) upon his ascent to the highest administrative office in the land, began, with immediacy, to implement developmental strategies.
These were strategies that had been implemented during his first term in office as Premier under colonial jurisdiction, and outlined in the PPP/C’s 1992 elections Manifesto, and delineated in the Poverty Reduction Strategy and National Development Strategy — the formulation of his vision for Guyana’s development paradigm, both of which he had delegated to the guidance of then Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo.
While space constraints do not permit the detailing of the limitations of private enterprise under PNC stewardship, suffice it to say that every sector was stymied, and the former ‘Food-basket of the Caribbean’ had become a breadbasket and a pariah in the region, with even the agricultural sector having nose-dived. Farmers deserted their lands in droves; beet sugar was imported for local consumption from Guatemala; and white (chicken-feed) rice from Spain.
The sugar levy had taken its toll on the industry, with re-capitalisation constrained by lack of funds and resources. The debt burden had crippled the economy, driving it to bankruptcy, and there was destruction and stagnation everywhere.
This was the country inherited by the second Jagan-led Government; but The Father of the Nation was unfazed. He set out to right all wrongs, and worked indefatigably, driving his ministers and all those who worked with him to strive for the seemingly impossible to achieve.
Recognising that he needed the Private Sector, the engine of growth to be restored to vibrancy, he formulated the vision of a trade fair, whereby a free-market system could be catalysed into vibrancy, and a driver of the nation’s restored economic viability; thus, under the stewardship of the PPP/C’s first Minister of Trade, the late Michael Shree Chand, GuyExpo 1994 was launched.
Vic Insanally of Guyenterprise officiated at the 1994 and 1995 GuyExpos; but there is one person who was the real powerhouse behind the success of the first GuyExpo under a PPP/C administration; and that was Vic Nemdhari.
At that time, the Sophia Complex, as a microcosm of the country under PNC governance — every structure was crumbled and rotting. The land was swamp and jungle, inhabited by alligators, boa constrictors and other denizens. The time-frame allocated by Dr. Jagan to get the site in readiness was mere months. Vic Nemdhari and his team worked night and day, and finally the site was ready; but, unfortunately, Vic Nemdhari did not get to participate in the success engendered by his tremendous efforts, because he dropped dead of a heart attack mere days before the launch of GuyExpo ’94 on February 17, 1994.
Media operatives and even officials keep referring to GuyExpo ’95 as the first GuyExpo. However, the first GuyExpo was organised by the newly-formed Guyana Export Promotion Council, in collaboration with the CARICOM Export Development Project, and was launched on February 17, 1994.
This first public/private partnership facilitated by a PPP/C Government saw private firms undertaking to repair and refurbish, and even build the buildings to display their exhibits. The exhibition and trade fair ran from 17th to 21st February, and was such a success that private enterprise urged Dr. Jagan to facilitate another one in 1995, although GuyExpo was initially meant to be a bi-annual event.
Today, the private sector has grown so overwhelmingly, with manufacturing and agro-enterprises being such mammoth revenue-earners, that the blinding smile of the Father of the Nation must be projecting his blessings on the continuum of successes that has fructified from his visionary conceptualisation of a trade fair and exposition to act as a rudder, guiding Guyana’s engine of growth to drive the nation’s economic prosperity and social development.

excerpts from Guyana Chronicle