Guyanese warned against laid-back work culture while foreigners thrive

Public Service, Government Efficiency, and Implementation Minister Zulfikar Ally and Natural Resources Minister Vickram Bharrat have raised concerns about the laid-back approach to work in some Guyanese, warning that it could undermine productivity and allow foreign workers to capitalise on opportunities in the local labour market.

They made these remarks during the commissioning of a Government Service Centre in Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), last week.

Ally highlighted Guyanese living abroad as immigrants who have worked hard to achieve considerable success, stressing that the same strong work ethic should be embraced and replicated at home.

In fact, he pointed out that the immigrants currently working in Guyana demonstrate that same work ethic, which could potentially undermine the growth of locals if they embrace a laid-back approach to work.

“You know, many of you here probably have relatives who are living overseas in North America or in Europe or in the Caribbean, and when they go there, they are known as the immigrants of those countries, and the citizens of those countries, they look at those immigrants. They look at how hard they work, they look at how they moved from starting life with a couple hundred dollars and living in a basement towards working their way up; buying cars, buying homes, sending their kids to college, paying for their kids to go to college and being successful. And those citizens watch that, and then sometimes they look at themselves, and they said “how am I not making it?”. We can’t have that in the reverse in Guyana because we already know that if we go anywhere else, we have the capacity, we have the will, and we certainly have the talent to work hard, and we just have to replicate that right here. We can’t sit here and watch other immigrants now coming into Guyana, working hard, and we’re happy that they’re working and they’re building a life for themselves, but as Guyanese, we have to get up and work too,” Minister Ally asserted.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Minister Bharrat, who contended that “there’s a growing trend in the country that people are often misled by elements in the political sphere that because Guyana is now producing oil that we no longer need to work, that we can sit at home and we’re a rich country and we can collect cash grants.”

According to the Natural Resources Minister, that is a wrong perception and approach for Guyanese to embrace.

In fact, he referred to a local publication which expressed that Guyanese “are starving” in an oil-rich country, but argued that “you will starve anywhere in the world if you don’t work.”

“That is the bottom line…or if you’re not a part of the development that is taking place or if you don’t get on the train of development or if you prefer to sit idly at the side and to blame everything on the President and the PPP/Civic Government,” Bharrat posited.

He lamented that some citizens opt to just complain rather than seize opportunities to enhance their lives.

“If the rain fall too hard, Irfaan Ali get blame for it. Now the sun shining; believe me, he gonna get blame for it too. If a man get knock down on the road because he drunk or he ain’t watching where he going, the President get blame too. We got to step out of that, we got to step out of that mindset, and we gotto get on board on what is happening in Guyana because if you don’t join the ship now, believe me, you’re gonna be left behind; you will be left behind if you don’t get onboard now,” Minister Bharrat expressed.

He also warned Guyanese of their laidback attitude to work in the wake of the growing number of immigrants coming to Guyana in search of a better life.

“We see so many foreigners coming to our country, and they’re doing well. Why? Because they are working, because they don’t wait on cash grant and this cash grant mentality that some people are allowing to overcome them. The President did make a commitment, openly, that we will continue to give out direct payments to people… but it should not replace your regular economic activity or your income. Rather, it should supplement what you’re already doing; it should be an addition to your salary, or an addition to your business or whatever you’re doing. But yet we have some people who will sit by idly and say, ‘When y’all paying the cash grant?’ and when we announce a $100,000 cash grant, ‘Oh, it shudda been $200,000’ and if we raise to $200,000, ‘it shudda been $500,000,’” he contended.

Just a few weeks ago, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall urged Guyanese to seize opportunities to gain the qualifications and certifications needed to compete in the country’s evolving economy, noting that they are increasingly competing with skilled and disciplined foreign workers for jobs.

“The Government of Guyana has a primary and principal duty to ensure that you are accorded all the priorities and the first preferences, that we have no apologies for saying that; that is your birth-right, but my dear brothers and sisters, you have to also help yourselves, you have to qualify yourselves, you have to be certified,” he had asserted.

Nandlall also posited that “the last thing we want is for this country to be dominated by foreigners, and that is why we’re going to put regulatory framework in place,” but he cautioned that it is a free economy.