CARIBBEAN: Numbers Quitting Troubled Guyana Double in 10 Years

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Bert Wilkinson

GEORGETOWN, Nov 22 2002 (IPS) - It is easily the largest landmass among the 15 nations of the Caribbean Community, but has never had the population to match its size and for decades no significant increase in numbers.

Now Guyana, a former British colony about the size of Britain, has discovered that its current net migration rate is among the highest in the world, and climbing.

A study just released by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shows that the annual departure rate has reached an alarming 50,000 people a year, compared to about 20,000 in 1992.

Handed over to officials in the Bharrat Jagdeo administration recently, the study shows that the figure could double in the next eight years if current trends continue.

The population of this republic perched atop the northeastern shoulder of South America is 750,000.

”People are voting with their feet. Many think that hope has died and that it is better that they leave and pick up the pieces elsewhere,” said University of Guyana’s Mark Kirton, a Latin American and Caribbean expert.

”We need a systemic overhaul of our politics and the economy, or people will continue to leave,” he added.

The migration findings came out of a study on remittances of foreign currencies by nationals living abroad, mostly in the United States, Canada, England and other Caribbean countries. 0 It showed that overseas-based Guyanese send home at least 100 million U.S. dollars each year. The amount could easily be higher because that figure is based on data provided only by established money transfer companies, such as Western Union, Money Gram and a string of locally-owned firms with branches overseas.

But it is the emigration figures that have caught the eye of government officials and professionals here.

The study estimates that the number of Guyanese abroad could equal the total in the homeland.

The 1990 census counted about 750,000 here, which puts the population density at about 10 per square mile, not surprisingly among the lowest on the globe.

The recent study showed that a great majority in the U.S. diaspora live in the Tri-state area – New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – though thousands of them have moved south to Georgia and Florida in recent years, leaving harsh northern winters behind.

Many emigrants are fleeing the country’s debilitating race politics, rising crime and worsening economy, according to Tom Whitney, a USAID official at the agency’s Guyana office.

He suggests that a political solution would start with a government where power was shared between Indo and Afro-Guyanese, who together make up about 90 percent of the population.

But both the Indian-dominated governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the black-supported main opposition People’s National Congress (PNC) have given that suggestion only lukewarm support, despite prodding from civil society groups in recent months..

Relations between the two main race-based parties are at a discouraging low and talks between President Jagdeo and opposition Leader Desmond Hoyte have broken down.

In recent weeks, voices have increasingly called for the drastic solution of dividing the country along racial lines.

Whitney suggests that general elections, due in 2006, could be postponed for eight to 10 years while experts re-design the political system. For example, a new constitution would ensure that the election winner would not dominate the country at the expense of the other racial group.

”Without this, there is bound to have tensions as we have now,” he said.

Now, blacks say that Jagdeo’s government completely ignores their needs and even discriminates against them when hiring for public-service jobs.

As many Guyanese flee – a growing number using illegal documents – some companies have stopped skills training programmes for staff, arguing it is a waste of time and money.

”Many feel they are training for export,” said retired Major General Norman McLean, human resources chief at Omai Gold Mines, owned by Cambior Inc of Canada.

He wants government to quickly enact an incentive scheme of cheaper mortgages and duty free cars for professionals and skilled persons, now unaffordable given current low salaries.

He admits it is difficult to persuade qualified people – who struggle here to make ends meet – not to leave, given the fact that many are able to obtain basic material needs within months of migrating to other lands.

Guyana, a country of enormous mineral and agricultural wealth, has been feeling the effects of the brain drain for most of the past 40 years, particularly during periods of high tension and economic misfortune.

Employers have complained especially this year, mainly because of an unprecedented violent crime wave that includes four times as many murders as last year and an unemployment rate that is climbing past 25 percent.

Inflation is soaring, thanks in part to higher utility bills, yet wage-increase ceilings have been imposed by multilateral lending agencies like the World Bank.

With tensions soaring from the violence, the country now braces for a public service pay strike. A 1999 shutdown lasted 57 days and nearly crippled the economy.

CARIBBEAN: Numbers Quitting Troubled Guyana Double in 10 Years

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Bert Wilkinson

GEORGETOWN, Nov 22 2002 (IPS) - It is easily the largest landmass among the 15 nations of the Caribbean Community, but has never had the population to match its size and for decades no significant increase in numbers.
(more…)