Frustrating sources of our

underdevelopment

The international community seeks to measure the development of countries by the number of schools, the quality of skilled people (teachers, nurses, doctors, artisans and the like) medical facilities, infrastructure and the level of technology. The presence of a sustained electricity supply and the level of literacy are also factors that help measure development. It would stand to reason, and frustratingly so, that Guyana would perpetually be considered underdeveloped because of the poor quality of the roads, the absence of certain skills and the level of technology at this time. Most of all, its electricity supply is such that many large businesses opt for self-generation. And the irony is that these companies insist and have proof that their generation is cheaper than if they had to rely on the power provided by the national grid. At one time Guyana had the best teachers in the English-speaking region. These teachers have either resigned, retired or migrated. They have taken with them the reputation for coaxing even difficult students, to the extent that recruiters from those countries actually descend on Guyana for more. It is the same with the nurses. Having determined the measurements for underdevelopment, the casual observer would then wonder at the determined efforts by those developed countries to condemn the poorer ones to their continued condition of poverty by poaching their paltry skills. Another effort, conscious or unconscious, of condemning these countries to poverty has to do with the conditions of loans. The borrowing country, in this case Guyana, is often forced to fund the foreign consultants who are part of the loan conditions. Sometimes about 25 per cent of the loan must be paid to the foreign consultants, whose job, it would seem, is to ensure that the money is spent. Indeed, the consultants are paid salaries higher than their local counterparts. The country is also expected to provide accommodation and transportation for these consultants at the expense of the taxpayers. At the end of the day, the country pays much more than it should. In many cases this is one factor that is responsible for the poverty of the country. These things cause analysts attached to one organisation or the other to conclude and to determine the extent of aid packages to the country. Sometimes the country would find the cost of development too high and not worth the effort. But more often than not, the aid donors seek to determine measures that would never be applied in the developed world. To break out of the vicious cycle of poverty, countries always seek to develop industries that would reduce their dependence on the aid donor. In the case of Guyana, it is desperately trying to move away from fossil fuel which is a very costly commodity. Indeed it must borrow to facilitate such changes, but the decision makers are also using the country’s resources. The issue, however, has been whether the resources are being used for the benefit of the country or whether there has been some siphoning off to a few who may be directly related to these planning programmes. There is the question of the selection of the people to conduct the programmes. In the view of many, the parties selected are not of the best calibre. For sure, they are not going to deliver a cheap product. It is here that another aspect of development comes into play. This aspect deals with the ready availability of information. As expected, the country has stretched its hands to the developed world for financial help. Money is coming in, but there are concerns on the part of the populace. These concerns are rooted in the absence of information—credible information. Reporters have asked many questions but they have not been getting the requisite answers. It is this that separates countries like ours from the developed world where there is a Freedom of Information Act. If we are to carefully examine the differences between the developed countries and ours we would find that development is hinged on the people’s access to information. The more the access, the more developed the country is supposed to be. Guyana sadly lags in this regard. We tend to guard information as though it is a precious secret.