Granger meets business community

…touts education as driver of economic transformation

A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Presidential Candidate, David Granger on Tuesday promised to transform Guyana’s economical landscape through education, if he is elected into office following the May 11 General and Regional Elections.

At the time, he was addressing members of the business community during the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) Business Luncheon at the Pegasus Hotel.

In an effort to overcome the scourge of poverty, Granger said major emphasis will be placed on repairing the “broken education system,” noting that an APNU+AFC Government would invest heavily in the development of five-star universities starting with the ailing University of Guyana, and not five star hotels.

“Under the APNU+AFC, every single region, will have a regional technical institute and a regional agricultural institute,” he added, stating too that the young generation will be guided along paths that will allow them to be experts in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “It is time to move our indigenous citizens and residents of the hinterland and our population as a whole out of poverty and ignorance, by building more and more educational institutes, not drop-in centres.”

The PPP/C Government over the years has plugged billions into the education system, virtually subsidising university education and also implemented a range of programmes catering for students at all levels. For last year, the government committed Gy$32.3 billion into the sector to carry out infrastructural and other improvements.

The allocation was Gy$3.8 billion more than what was expended in 2013 (Gy$28.5 billion), and Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had told Members of Parliament during the budget presentation that the funds are to be used to implement the first year of a “new Education Strategic Plan.”

As part of the plan Gy$2.9 billion was used “towards the construction, rehabilitation, extension and maintenance of education facilities including a new and expanded Zeeburg Secondary School and the Kato Secondary complex.”

The previous year Gy$2.7 billion was spent on infrastructural works, including the commencement of “the reconstruction of the One Mile Primary School, La Venture Secondary School and Parfaite Harmonie Primary.”

Granger told the gathering that every month 500 children are dropping out of school. But this he said is just a tip of the iceberg, explaining that within days, 16, 000 children will be writing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) Examination of which 8000 will fail everything. Most of the failures he said will be from the hinterland. “We can’t build a world class economy under the rubble of a broken education system,” he further emphasised.

Political Stability

Turning his attention to the political scene Granger claimed that Guyana is starving for political stability. According to him, the “winner takes all” system, which has been long established, is stymieing development within the country. But this trend, he emphasised must be broken or it will lead to the creation of more minority Governments.

“The APNU+AFC pre-election coalition will create for the first time in Guyana a Government of National Unity, we will reduce clashes in Parliament and we will guarantee political stability,” Granger told the members of the Private Sector.

In the area of crime and security, Granger a former Commander of the Guyana Defence Force pointed out that the APNU+AFC coalition if elected into office will take the requisite steps needed to suppress crime in the country. He said a safer Guyana cannot be achieved, if the Guyana Police Force is not reformed.

According to him, the time has come for the Force to undergo serious transformation, pointing out that over the past 15 years; it has received more than 15 plans and recommendations from the British Government and other Governments but to no avail.

Government has adopted a number of these plans referred to by Granger and has begun implementing them.