Local Businessman and former politician, Stanley Ming is adamant that Guyanese have all the skills necessary to mold the country’s promising oil and gas sector. In fact, he expressed displeasure that the powers that be are hesitant to tap into the expertise of accomplished Guyanese operating in the sector, locally and abroad.
In a recent interview with Professor and political commentator, Dr. David Hinds, Ming said that Guyanese can accomplish anything if given the chance. He scoffed at the apparent overreliance on non-Guyanese to direct and comment on the management of the sector.
Ming said, “We have Guyanese in the United States, Canada and further afield who work for Exxon[Mobil] and the largest oil companies in the World. But you know what? We don’t call on them…We don’t call on them, because you know, a lot of us feel that you got to have a white man coming from North America or a European country to tell us what to do. We have a mentality that goes back to the days of slavery, and we have to break ourselves out of it.”
He continued, “We got to recognize that amongst our own people we have the skills. Our people, Guyanese, have the ability to do almost anything if given the chance. We’ve proven it already, all over the world. So why are we short-changing ourselves? It’s a mindset. We have to get out of it.”
He also noted that it is imperative that Guyanese at every level of society become educated to ensure that they “fully understand” the sector and how they can “get a piece of this pie called Guyana”.
