How has it been settling into your new position as president?
Quite good. As you know, I am the leader of a six-party coalition and we hit the ground running. We expected to win and we were quite prepared to hold office. I would say that the fusion of the coalition partners was quite good. My Cabinet...as you know, my prime minister is a nominee of the Alliance for Change, and one of the vice-presidents is also the leader for the Alliance for Change. We have representatives of the Guyana Action Party. The vice-president is the leader of the Guyana Action Party, so we have three vice-presidents reigning. I would say that a) the Cabinet is integrated, b) we are working together and c) we have a very clear vision of where we want to go in the next five years.
The issue of gold, sugar, rice—gold over a week ago hit five-year lows, dropping below US$1,100 an ounce which is almost 40 per cent dip from an August 2012 peak; the CEO of GuySuco threatened to shut down operations days after the May election saying he had no cash to pay workers and also Venezuela announcing that it will no longer buy rice from November, is Guyana heading for economic troubles?
Commodity prices always fluctuate...and bauxite, you may add that to the list too. Prices are not favourable, but we are confident that there will be a turnaround in the sugar industry. We have changed the management, and we are creating a Commission of Enquiry to determine exactly what has been going on. As far as the rice market is concerned, Venezuela is an important market; it is not the sole market. We are continuing to search for new markets in the Caribbean and elsewhere for rice. Paddy production has increased tremendously over the years and we are improving our milling capabilities, so rice is a long-term commodity for us and we are again searching for new markets.
Gold prices may be low but we expect that with the change in the world economy, once the situation in China and other major countries…the BRIC improve, we feel that gold prices will go up again. It’s been depressed for the last two years, but gold tends to fluctuate. We feel there will be an improvement in commodity prices, so we don’t feel that any one of those industries is on the point of collapse but this is part of the cyclical price change that adversely affects commodities.
Miners are asking for fuel tax concessions, road repairs and improved security, can your government afford this?
I met them yesterday (Thursday), the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association. I met them earlier this year as well, and we have given a commitment that gold and diamond mining is the single largest, almost lucrative industry in Guyana so we committed to support them, and we will be extending some concessions to ensure gold and diamond mining remain viable.
How much has been paid to GuySuco in the bailout?
In all, it came up to about GYD $60 million. It is a large amount. We did receive warning that the sugar corporation would require a bailout. We are providing funds for that bailout but at the same time, we have launched an inquiry into the entire industry to determine what changes need to be made, whether it’s managerial, field operations, factory or labour relations. The inquiry is going on and once we get the reports from that, we will be able to make improvements. Sugar workers are 16,000 Guyanese so we won’t allow it to fail.
Venezuela will not be buying Guyana’s rice because of the controversy with offshore oil. Last week, President Maduro met with the UN secretary general who said he is willing to send a UN commission to both countries to mediate. Maduro said he is willing to meet you. What is the way forward?
I spoke with the UN secretary general, Mr Ban Ki-moon, yesterday morning (Thursday) and we have a meeting so that he would explain to us his plan for moving forward. He did meet with Mr Maduro and he did speak with me, so I am confident that what Mr Ban Ki-moon is doing will lead to a lowering of the tension. It will not solve the problem because Guyana has more or less decided after 50 years of provocation by Venezuela that it will aim at a judicial settlement. But we are co-operating with the UN secretary general. We will be meeting in September, and we expect there is going to be an outcome which will lower the tension in the region. As far as the Venezuelan agreement is concerned, there are other markets.
At the beginning of the week, we held our first National Rice Industry Conference and we are looking for lowering of cost in the industry. We are looking for maintenance and improvement in production and also to ensure there is continued support for the paddy farmers because they bear the brunt. We are heading for 100 million tonnes of paddy, and I am very pleased at the progress that has been made in the rice industry. I said that it’s not going to collapse. There are issues that have to be solved, there are challenges which have to be confronted, but the Guyana rice industry is not on the point of collapse. It is not in a crisis which will prompt any panic.
You said at the Heads of Government Meeting in Barbados that Guyana needs Caricom’s support now more than ever. Is this support only for the Venezuela controversy?
We are committed to Caribbean integration. We are looking for growth for the entire region. We are looking to see a much deeper involvement of Guyana in regional affairs under this administration. My first diplomatic meeting after being elected president was with the Secretary General of Caricom, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, and my engagement with Heads of Government in the beginning of July was a restatement of that commitment, so it is much more than Venezuela. It is about CSME, it is about the future of Caricom, the future of the community, and I am here in Trinidad today because I feel that The University of the West Indies is pivotal to the future of integration in the region.
Guyana is considered as one of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, despite its wealth of resources. Will this overturn under your leadership?
One of the major obstacles to Guyana’s ability to exploit its resources has been the absence of social cohesion and political co-operation, and by establishing a six-party coalition, we feel that we have overcome, to some extent, the problems of political co-operation. The coalition embodies or embraces various interest groups in society. As far as social cohesion is concerned, there is some ethnic differentiation, but we feel that those differences and misunderstandings can be overcome with positive action on the part of the government. So our poverty is man-made and the solutions are within the capability of the present administration. It’s not as though we don’t have the resources, but we now have a government which has the will to exploit those resources in a way that benefits the majority of the population. The greatest happiness for the greatest number; that is our objective.
Why has your administration decided to end the Walter Rodney enquiry?
It has not stopped. It is ongoing. It was established by a presidential order in February 2014. It has exceeded the time allocated, extensions have been granted repeatedly and that’s over 16 months, and it has failed to submit a report. It has cost the Guyanese taxpayers over GYD$305 million and by the time it is finished, it will cost about GYD$400 million. This is money we cannot afford. The way that witnesses have been called to inquiry has reduced the hearings to something of a soap opera. The party I lead supports the inquiry. We had asked for an international commission…we have it, but it has taken a turn which has admitted a lot of anecdotal information, hearsay evidence, and we feel that the commission has not gone about in a sufficiently decisive way to fulfill the mandate it was given in February 2014. We just can’t afford it, and we have asked the commission to wind up as quickly as possible. We have not closed it down. It will be allowed to terminate its operations so that we can have a proper report. I feel that 16 months is a very long time and GYD$400 million is a lot of money. We are not against the inquiry, but we want it concluded as quickly as possible.