December 6,2016 Source

Dear Editor

It is interesting to note the many weekly letters by Hydar Ally, a former Permanent Sectary in the Office of the President under PPP rule. Whilst working for the previous government, there were no such comments.

In his latest letter (‘Government should convene a bipartisan task force on the economy,’ SN, December 5), Mr Ally wrote, “My fear is that if this trend of contraction of the economy is not halted, it could lead to an increase in the level of poverty, growing unemployment and the concomitant adverse impact on crime, prostitution and other forms of social pathology. A growing economy is the foundation for prosperity and any downward trend must be a matter of grave concern not only for policy-makers but for citizens as a whole. It is perhaps a good idea for the administration to convene a bipartisan task force on the economy which should include representatives from the private sector, the academic community and a wide cross-section of civil society with a view to generating new and innovative ideas on how to grow the economy in an accelerated and sustainable manner.”

The National Development Strategy (NDS) was developed by the same private sector, academic community and a wide cross-section of civil society that Mr Ally now proposes. If memory serves me well, there were over 200 individuals and 25 organizations involved in the development of the NDS. Mr Jadgeo dumped the NDS document for his own reasons, and hence it lies unnoticed in his political war chest.

At no time over the last 10 years of the existence of this document did Mr Ally, a long time PPP member say anything about this. Now his amnesia has gone. Not gone is his amnesia about drug trafficking dominating our economy; about significant cross border money-laundering that involved some of our banks;  about the 15000 ounces of gold being smuggled weekly out of Guyana; of a 40% underground economy that drove the average growth rate of 5 per cent over 9 consecutive years through massive construction of unoccupied buildings;  about remittances that were approximately 25% of GDP and that the US economy and global economy have slowed down.

Mr Ally now has amnesia about why the economy has contracted. The DEA is in Guyana and is dampening the drug trade; corruption is being reduced but is still significant as this is now being addressed by SOCU and SARU.  Indeed, white collar crimes that are so rampant in Guyana are forgotten by Mr Ally, while the young man with a bag of weed gets 3 years.

While I agree that we need an institutional  framework for the development of a National Development Strategy and Plan, Mr. Hydar Ally knows his letter is about divisive politics, and his convenient amnesia at the time of the debate on the 2017 Budget is all about that and not about his now newly found inclusiveness.

Yours Faithfully

Eric M. Phillips