Readers Response

Dear Editor:
Guyana is a really extraordinary country, and for various reasons neglected. The majority of the blame I put on the administration that was elected by the people of Guyana to govern properly. Looking at many other countries and the way they promote themselves, I believe that if Guyana were to do the same we would go a far way in the tourism race. The little pickings that enter Guyana are comical but given the numbers in the past, it seems to be sufficient reason for them to lay back and celebrate.
Tourism offers many benefits, including em-ployment, increased spending in communities, marketing for our produce/products, the development of communities, opportunities, etc, but why they are not concentrating more on it boggles my mind.
There’s no worthy preparation taking place to motivate tourists to visit Guyana, except for a few relatives and friends returning and being classed as tourists. There is an abundance of wildlife, scenic places too numerous to mention, adventures to experience, etc, but incredibly, Guyana cannot be marketed to attract tourists.
Apart from attracting visitors from other countries, there seems to be no incentive for locals to visit tourist sites throughout Guyana. The cost does not change for locals and that is bad because when you ask someone living in Guyana about certain places here, they cannot answer because they have never visited them. In addition, the chances are that they cannot afford to, even though they are interested in going. There should be some flexibility for people living here that would give them the opportunity to visit places, and I’m quite sure they will assist a great deal in promoting Guyana for free, using the various social media sites.
Editor, recently I visited Lake Mainstay in Essequibo, and as usual I was just in awe at the location, the design and the views on the way there. Going to the resort, you see small villages, but I don’t see anything on display that would attract tourists like art, craft and so on, especially when the villages are Amerindian villages.
One of the biggest drawbacks hampering the place is the road to get there. It is in such a condition that it would deter anyone in just a few minutes after leaving the public road. As it is now, it takes you almost one hour to reach Lake Mainstay from the public road, and if the road were graded you could reach there in just fifteen minutes.
The condition of the road was the same under the past administration. The road is a sand and loam road, and it should have been graded at least once a month because apart from the resort, it is utilized by the residents of the various villages and also by the farming community.
Now that the rain is falling, the two sides of the road seem to be walls and the water lodges in the middle, so when vehicles traverse, huge holes are formed.
That is only one location that is being stifled for lack of resources and prevented from being able to achieve an income to maintain itself; there are many others similar to that.
Sahadeo Bates via email

June 21, 2017 issue
Readers' Response
Guyanese should acquire expertise in all aspects of oil
Dear Editor: Many new graduates searching for a job lack the experience they need to get their dream job. They have spent years studying and have good grades. However, without the relevant industry experience, many employers are not willing to take the risk on them, especially for highly technical positions. Usually it takes 10 years to develop expertise in complex fields but no commercial enterprise is willing to invest that amount of time on training an employee. Commercial enterprises want new employees that can be productive quickly so in a short period they can recover the training cost of the new employee. In the original petroleum contract, available on Stabroek News website, Article 19 of the Petroleum Agreement which deals with Employment and Training, states, “Without prejudice to the right of the Contractor to select employees and determine the number thereof in the conduct of petroleum operations, the Contractor shall, to the maximum extent practicable, employ, and encourage sub-contractors to employ Guyanese citizens having appropriate qualifications and experience.” This seems to make sense; you want the oil companies to be using the best experts. However, oil production is new to the Guyanese population so how do Guyanese gain the expertise to be among the best experts such that the foreign companies leading the oil production effort will be comfortable employing them for senior managerial and highly technical positions? Article 19 further proceeds to ask the oil company to outlay yearly funds for the training of Guyanese in various aspects of the oil business. But the amount being requested ranges from US$30,000 to US$45,000 per year. If you need to send Guyanese abroad to get training to develop expertise in the oil industry this money is probably sufficient to send a few Guyanese for several weeks of training. You will not develop expertise in various aspects of the oil industry with such a limited amount of funds. Guyana’s oil and gas reserves are a rare gift that can be leveraged to help its young generation acquire the skills of the future and be employed by commercial enterprises in highly technical and well paying positions. If the terms of those documents, signed in 1999, are kept they will put Guyanese at a disadvantage for gaining expertise in an industry that will potentially be one of Guyana’s most important for many generations. There are a few solutions countries can leverage to help their young generation acquire the skills of the future and be employed by commercial enterprises in highly technical and well paying positions. They include apprenticeship programmes with a mixture of classroom training from instructors in the trade and on-the-job training. Additionally, there are programmes where the government will subsidize the new employee’s salary so they can gain the relevant experience to become an expert. While Article 19 is a good starting point, in its current form it does not specify an implementation to properly nurture Guyanese to be competitive experts in an industry that will have a big impact on Guyana for decades. What better training can Guyanese get than working for one of the largest, oldest, and most successful companies, Exxon? The Government of Guyana needs to ensure the contract has provisions to allow Guyanese to develop expertise in the various aspects of the oil business, from exploration and production to refinement and processing. Experts need to be able to understand geological and seismic surveys, the type of recovery technology that can be employed, how to best separate petroleum into various parts such as oil and gas, and many more aspects of the oil industry. Darshanand Khusial via email

Guyanese tourism hamstrung by inherent neglect
Dear Editor: Guyana is a really extraordinary country, and for various reasons neglected. The majority of the blame I put on the administration that was elected by the people of Guyana to govern properly. Looking at many other countries and the way they promote themselves, I believe that if Guyana were to do the same we would go a far way in the tourism race. The little pickings that enter Guyana are comical but given the numbers in the past, it seems to be sufficient reason for them to lay back and celebrate. Tourism offers many benefits, including em-ployment, increased spending in communities, marketing for our produce/products, the development of communities, opportunities, etc, but why they are not concentrating more on it boggles my mind. There’s no worthy preparation taking place to motivate tourists to visit Guyana, except for a few relatives and friends returning and being classed as tourists. There is an abundance of wildlife, scenic places too numerous to mention, adventures to experience, etc, but incredibly, Guyana cannot be marketed to attract tourists. Apart from attracting visitors from other countries, there seems to be no incentive for locals to visit tourist sites throughout Guyana. The cost does not change for locals and that is bad because when you ask someone living in Guyana about certain places here, they cannot answer because they have never visited them. In addition, the chances are that they cannot afford to, even though they are interested in going. There should be some flexibility for people living here that would give them the opportunity to visit places, and I’m quite sure they will assist a great deal in promoting Guyana for free, using the various social media sites. Editor, recently I visited Lake Mainstay in Essequibo, and as usual I was just in awe at the location, the design and the views on the way there. Going to the resort, you see small villages, but I don’t see anything on display that would attract tourists like art, craft and so on, especially when the villages are Amerindian villages. One of the biggest drawbacks hampering the place is the road to get there. It is in such a condition that it would deter anyone in just a few minutes after leaving the public road. As it is now, it takes you almost one hour to reach Lake Mainstay from the public road, and if the road were graded you could reach there in just fifteen minutes. The condition of the road was the same under the past administration. The road is a sand and loam road, and it should have been graded at least once a month because apart from the resort, it is utilized by the residents of the various villages and also by the farming community. Now that the rain is falling, the two sides of the road seem to be walls and the water lodges in the middle, so when vehicles traverse, huge holes are formed. That is only one location that is being stifled for lack of resources and prevented from being able to achieve an income to maintain itself; there are many others similar to that. Sahadeo Bates via email

VAT on private school fees punitive
Dear Editor: On one of my visits to Canada, someone residing there pointed out to me that citizens are really taxed but they see their tax dollars at work. Now that parents in Guyana are taxed in relation to private school education, I am wondering what benefits they will have with respect to the following: The training and retraining of teachers in private schools via professional training programmes organized and implemented by the Ministry of Education. Making available resource teaching/learning materials developed by the Ministry of Education such as radios, CD players, DVDs, pupils’ workbooks, teachers’ guides, curriculum guides, textbooks, exercise books. If the state caters for public schools only in its budgets, then we can only conclude that the VAT demanded of parents of children in private schools is punitive and intended to victimize. Krishna Nand Prasad via email

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