As Guyana moves into a new period of increasing national affluence based on oil revenues coming on stream this year, the country will face the challenge of deciding how best to put these new resources to work for the good of the entire population. This is according to Michael A. Matera, Senior Fellow and Director of the Americas at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
In his contribution to the daily publication of the Latin American Advisor, Matera said that taking full advantage of the opportunity to effectively manage the oil resources well will require a level of political consensus and social stability that often has been lacking in Guyana in recent decades. Further to this point, the Senior Fellow was keen to highlight that Guyana’s general elections come almost 15 months after President David Granger’s APNU/ AFC coalition lost its one-seat majority in Parliament in December 2018,via a vote of No-Confidence , setting off a period of political and policy stalemate.
The CSIS Director said, “In the wake of this recent period, there is hope that the election will allow the country to move beyond this stalemate and get on with the big decisions pending. However, there is still the possibility that any election outcome will be challenged by the party coming in second, be it the PPP/C or APNU/ AFC. It is rumored that both major parties have already drafted legal challenges to the election results, which they are ready to file depending on the outcome of the election. Such challenges would likely be based on ongoing controversy surrounding the voters’ list and the overall voter registration process in Guyana.”
But irrespective of the election outcome, Matera said that the Guyanese people and their political representatives would be well advised to renew past efforts to address the ethnic and racial divisions that have plagued the country and to work toward a social consensus over how best to manage the newly found resource wealth for the good of all Guyanese.
Matera commented that the international community, including the oil companies assisting Guyana in its development process, should be ready to collaborate closely in this critical effort in the coming months and years if requested by the Guyanese government.
