Back in the day (of Jagan and Burnham), there were two competing models of growth and development: there was the communist model, represented by the Soviets, that attracted Jagan and (initially to a lesser extent) Burnham. And this was the crux of the problem, since the US – which considered us to be in their backyard – were more than miffed that we were implicitly rejecting their capitalist model. Which was captured by JFK’s advisor Rostow in his “5 stages of growth” model: traditional society, transitional, takeoff, maturity and finally mass consumption.
One can consider our colonial period the “traditional period” – but what a tradition!! Slavery, Indentureship and colonialism!! With independence, we were supposed to enter the “transitional” period, in which the preconditions for growth would be nurtured. These were characterised, according to Rostow, by factors that had to be injected into the economy, such as an increase in productivity brought on by science, technology, and investment in infrastructure necessary for continued growth.
Well, Burnham ensured we were on a super-extended “transitional” period by adopting from Tanzania a co-operative socialist model that ignored the abovenamed factors and depended on nationalisation of our industries and introducing co-ops for “takeoff”. We took off, all right – only to crash and burn within a decade of introducing his co-op model in 1974!! In his takeoff period, he got some help from the West – who’d bought him out to prevent the communist PPP from getting into Government. They built some highways and the Demerara Bridge. The nationalisation project crashed and burned!!
So, up to now, while there’s been some progress under the post-1992 PPP, that was only relative, and at the very best, we’re not far economically from where we started out in 1964!! And socially worse off! Missing were the necessary massive injections of technology encompassed by large expansions in infrastructure and businesses. Not to mention local knowhow, as economists after Rostow discovered was necessary, along with his other factors! Well, in the opinion of your humble Eyewitness, we’ve finally arrived at that long-longed-for moment with the reading of BUDGET 2022 on Wednesday!!
Let’s look at the environment for the Budget. Oil’s been flowing and generating previously-unheard-of revenues into our NRF. No need for “begging bowls” – as Bruce Golding had once taunted us. We don’t have to dance to the Piper’s tune!! While disavowing Burnham’s communistic “5-Year Plans”, the PPP Government has clearly outlined the elements of its strategic plan going forward. And they satisfy all the prerequisites for takeoff!!
It’s apposite to note that this plan’s also diametrically opposed to the substance of the Burnhamite-induced nightmare.
…and the plan
For good measure, your Eyewitness has to point out that Burnham’s “experiment” also collapsed, along with every other model tried in Africa and other locales which tried to buck the capitalist model. And it’s for this reason we have to be very wary of a PNC returning to power, when its leaders vow to “fulfill Burnham’s legacy”!! What really does that mean?? To plunge us BELOW Haiti on the development index??
The PPP pre-budget strategic decisions include 20,000 scholarships, and upgrading of our tech-voc secondary and tertiary institutions to produce the “know-how”. This is coupled with a Local Content Act to bring our businesses up to world class standards, and plans for an industrial park that’ll dwarf anything seen in the region – centred around the associated gas from the offshore oil fields!
Thus, the Budget allocated funds to launch each of the strategic prongs for development – starting with cheap energy for industrial expansion via that 250MW generating plant at Wales, plus the Amalia Hydro 650MW clean generating turbines!!
…and corruption
There’s no way to compress in a single column a Budget that took 5 hours+ to read. Your Eyewitness just wants to mention that, in any capitalist system, there will be some who’ll try to game the system.
We’ve got to call them out when exposed!!
