Profile Guyana: A nation suffering from “brain drain”
January 21, 2008
For those of us who are Guyanese, the following discussion will bear some familiarity. The subject is “brain drain” and the term implies a situation where by a nation has been depleted of its most influential minds, the very minds that that keeps a nation in tact so to speak and the economic wheels turning. Guyana by far has experienced a severe case of brain drain and is now at risk of loosing the scattering of skilled laborers and formally educated incumbents that have the drive and motivation to own the problems that Guyana suffers from and make a genuine effort to turn the economic wheels forward and get Guyana on the start to recovery.
The conundrum that Guyana finds its’ in urbanized in the early eighties and augmented later on in the decades. The inception of the problem instituted when Guyana took an economic downturn due political distention and racial uprisings. From rigged elections to social unrest between Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese, lack of food, increase in cost of living, racial profiling by police/armed forces, shortage of medicines to treat key diseases and a physical breakdown of government supported infrastructure (schools, hospitals, roads, transportation etc), Guyana’s economic infrastructure spiraled downward imploding upon the foundations from which it stood- the people. Coupled with poor and dishonest leadership Guyana found it self as a nation starving hoping for foreign economic aid and economic pardons.
Resulting from the log of chain reactions, influential denizens sought the better to leave Guyana with their families and legacies in search of a better life and who could blame the them my family did the very same for the very same reasons. Many of us opted for North America and to a lesser extent England. Family sponsorships, became more frequent, so did marriage to foreign nationals, foreign university self sponsorships and a robust growth of illegal immigration to the U.S and Canada. Today however, Guyanese nationals are opting for lesser yet fruitful havens since migration to the U.S and Canada are less attainable because of immigration crackdown on less than truthful means and crafty methods of gaining residency in North America. Today, Guyanese nationals are opting for Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Cayman Islands, St Martin and Surinam to name the more popular destinations to gain jobs and hope fully a better way of life.
But this is all changing very soon and in some cases it has already changed. As part of the Caricom of nations, Guyanese are allowed to travel to Caribbean island nations without visa requirements but as it is Guyanese are seeking semi permanent employment in these more prolific island nations and are refusing to return to Guyana. Most of them in these island nations are between the ages of twenty and forty years old are working to financially support their elderly parents and younger siblings who reside in Guyana. The money that they send is used to balance the economics of every day living and building better homes for living in Guyana.
On my recent travels to Trinidad, Cayman Islands, and Surinam and to a lesser extent Jamaica, I was starkly surprised to find a plethora Guyanese working on these island havens. Most of them that I encountered worked in hotels as maintenance workers, construction help for new structures being erected, clerks in various stores and domestic workers for wealthy families. A few brief conversation when passing by in hallways or while attend to in various boutiques allowed me to comprehend why these individual were there. A lady probably in her late thirties who worked in “Landmark Crafts” located in Georgetown, Cayman Islands mentioned to me than she left Guyana four years ago on a work permit to the Cayman Islands and is currently getting married to a Cayman national who she fell in love with. Her new status would allow her to apply for residency and be exempt from exiting the country after seven years when the maximum extensions on her work permit runs out. A fellow in Trinidad whom I had pleasure to converse with at the Hilton hotel- Port of Spain noted that he works on various construction sites as a helper and makes five times as much as he would in Guyana. “I have no intentions of returning to piss hole country” (referring to Guyana) were his exact words. He sends money for his sixteen year old daughter and two sons. In Barbados, immigration officers are turning away Guyanese nationals at the airports because they have too many occupying positions in the country and quite possibly cannot handle more. In Jamaica, Guyanese are far and few between but they are there either on special job offerings or special venture capital initiatives. In Surinam, I met many Guyanese waiters, store clerks and hotel maids.
Currently there is a call by the Guyanese government to initiate visa requirements for any one wishing to travel to these islands. This I say is a political crime considering the economic devastation that is currently Guyana. I understand that the preservation of capital needs to remain and multiply but the sources to drive the engines are absent. The wage for a book keeper at the sugar estate is no more than 900 Guyana dollars per day. That amount equates to less than five U.S dollars per day. Moreover, children are starving and the poverty line is at an all time high. The schools are poorly maintained. The hospitals cannot afford to keep patients because there are limited medicines to treat them. The police system which was created to protect people is corrupted. Police are accepting bribes for the well to do for capital crimes committed. I can describe Guyana a once flourishing oasis that is now a barren desert stifling for rain fall. If that was to happen, trees would grow and not long after flowers would give way to fruits. Moreover, the crisis is being facilitated by foreign investments of products at have a shot life span or fast turnover. Private business owners living abroad are importing clothing, cell phones, small electronics, and other wishful necessities. I am not saying that clothing, cell phones and electronics are not necessary but they are selling than for sometimes marking it three times the cost price. But investors know where the need is and have help to create the need. An Old Navy tee shirt that sells in the U.S for $3.49 is being sold in Guyana for $20 dollars. I know because I wore the exact one and saw it in New Amsterdam market for the said price. Most young Guyanese now in Guyana are working to gratify there branding Satiety. In a previous blog, I emphasized on the value of living on term and here it is again. The needs are being created without long term value or as a matter of fact a system to sustain the need.
Guyana needs to formulate its immigration policies in favor of its law abiding citizens. It is rather a simple thing…..if you give people their freedom they would not try to escape because there would be nothing to escape from. Pretty soon people would want to return to Guyana to live and in a matter of ten to fifteen years Guyana would start to observe a positive turn around. If you ask most Guyanese, they would say that they love Guyana but would not live there or cannot go back there to live because the quality of life is desperate.
As it is for now, the borders of the alternative havens are somewhat still welcoming Guyanese. At this immediate time I would recommend any young ambitious Guyanese aiming for a better life to exit Guyana now because the system is about to change for the worse. The current government is bent on self gratification and not the needs of the people. If I am not mistaken, the Buddies Hotel (now closed for business) and world class cricket complex that was built over looking the Demerara River is now an empty field nurturing the echoes of long gone cricket world cup. It is sad to see millions of dollars wasted but there is no need for me to hypothesize where the money should have been spent….I think Guyana needs a world class medical center or an international competing university….don’t you think so readers?
PS: Can anyone enlighten me as to why Guyana was so bent on attaining Independence?
Andrew
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- Some Health Care Professionals should be imprisoned for their gross misconduct on patients in Guyana. My personal experience..
- Critique to “Being green” Published 10/27/2007 Stabroek News.
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Comments
4 Responses to “Profile Guyana: A nation suffering from “brain drain””
Got something to say?
“At this immediate time I would recommend any young ambitious Guyanese aiming for a better life to exit Guyana now because the system is about to change for the worse.”
Andrew, if everyone leaves Guyana in search of a better life as your parents did and as you suggested, then what hope is there for your country? Improvement can only come from effort - you can’t solve the problem by running from it.
Point well taken..however, life waits for no one…For Guyana to become a self sufficient nation, it will take approximately two life times and no one has two of those. When a system is corupt from the operating systems that enable it to function..purging or deleting are the only options to re-gain control. The fundemental problem in guyana is the ownership of core issues that inhibits functionality…
Andrew, so we have a list of things the government needs start focusing on to get the country back on track, so to speak, but what are they doing? You have written on the problems Guyana is facing, but I urge you to also write about what the government is doing.
I enjoy reading your blogs by the way. How often do you post?
Hamid,
Your reply is much appreciated. For the most part, nothing. It is a matter of maintainance…like fixing a pot hole so to speak. The schools are poorly maintained, hospitals are like hospices, roads are like a hiking trail, Sewage systems are poorly maintained and this has been the case for the last 20 years. So what are the doing? They have built a staduim, built a hotel, added a few stoplights is Gerogetown, had the Korens built and financed a new hospital that is now is ruin after 3 years because the support system is not at reach to maintain it. The’ve built a amusement park that the normal working joe cannot afford to take his family, The’ve finally settled the border dispute with Surinam and the’ve let…well you read
Canadian company drills Guyana for oil
Monday, May 9, 2005
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AFP): A Canadian oil company is to begin drilling in one of the world’s largest remaining oil basins next week, Guyanan officials said Saturday.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission confirmed that the oil exploration rig arrived in Guyana from Trinidad on Thursday for CGX Energy.
“Once we have the rig offloaded, it will take three to four days to transport and setup,” CGX Energy spokeswoman, Charlotte May, told AFP.
Top CGX officials have flown to Guyana to observe the onshore drilling more than 120 miles east of Guyana’s capital, she said.
President of CGX Energy, Kerry Sully, said the company plans to drill four wells in the area, at a dryhole cost of approximately 5.2 million dollars US, with a maximum target depth ranging from 4,000 feet to 6,200 feet.
No oil found yet …. I bought the stock…it traded in 2005 for $4,44 per share U.S currency…..Today it is being traded for $2.41 approximately U.S currency…The stock had no volume count for the last year…at minimal may be…all investors went flat on the stock…A stock with no volume trade might as well be extinct…
Why? ….No substantial oil found..
The gov’t have depleted the gold, diamond, silver, and bauxite mining industry…next…there will be no amazon…why? The loggers do not practice selective logging…Welcome to Brazil’s Amazon …
PS: Thanks for reading my blogs…I post every two weeks or so…When I am moved by a subject..