As the Guyana Government continues discussions on developing a national migration policy, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has disclosed that the administration is considering granting residency without voting rights to foreign workers.
“…we have to pass laws to determine what rights people are going to have here if they are migrants. We want people to come and work because we need that, like on construction sites where we have shortages, etc. But they can’t change the nature of our society. And we’ve made it clear that we would have to think about people who come here and maybe they can have residency but not voting rights,” Jagdeo told a press conference on Thursday.
“This would be a debate that we’ll have to have, maybe in the constitutional reform process, but also at the national level, about how much rights we’re prepared to accord to people who come here, given that we want to preserve our country for our people too,” he added.
The Vice President highlighted that this situation is not unique to Guyana but has unfolded in places like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Last year, Guyana experienced exceptional economic growth, with a 43.6% expansion in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). While this growth was largely driven by significant increases in oil production and exports, the country’s non-oil sector also showed strong performance, growing by 13.1%. For the first half of this year, the economy recorded a 7.5% growth.
With projections of sustained rapid economic growth in the years ahead, Guyana – with a population of less than one million citizens – will need labour to support its expanding and emerging industries.
Jagdeo previously emphasised that locals will be given first preference to fill these human resources gaps but eventually, the country will import labour – processes which will be guided by a migration policy.
On Thursday, the Vice President noted that the security architecture is currently being upgraded to ensure better tracking of citizens, especially foreigners in the country.
He referenced the electronic identification card project which will be rolled out soon.
“We’ve already started a few years back, putting together the project that is being implemented right now, that will register every migrant, but also every other citizen, and we’ll have their biometrics. So, every person in Guyana will have a card with biometrics, their facial recognition, everything there on it. If you don’t have that card, it’s hard to survive in this country. You can’t be working because the employers, people who employ you, will face serious penalties, when they check your workers and they don’t have that card. To open a bank account, you need a card of that nature. To remit money to another country, because some people send money back home, who are here, you’d need that card. So, we’ll know everyone who is here in Guyana, who is non-Guyanese, and we’ll have all of their details, and with the cameras that we’re putting in, as we said, we’re planning for about another 4,000 of those cameras that can recognise people,” Jagdeo said.
“So, once we put in the biometrics there, they can identify anyone, anywhere in the country at any time, so, we can keep our country safe,” he added.
Guyana will need imported labour like Dubai, but Govt will guard against foreign takeover – Jagdeo
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