When resources disappear

Countries like Guyana have a paucity of resources. However, the people do not recognize this and therefore expect to enjoy the same facilities often reserved for developed countries. There is an absence of the human resource largely because the country, despite its size, has a small population.
To compound matters, the male members of the population, rather than concentrate on the aspects of development that would help the country move forward, decline to pursue a course of academic development, choosing instead to be part of the support industry. They are the drivers and the porters and the mechanics—many not so good after all.
Three years ago, in preparation for the Marriott hotel on the Kingston foreshore, there was need to reroute the sewerage lines. A local team was initially awarded the contract but this was cancelled. President Bharrat Jagdeo later explained that Guyana had lost the capability to undertake such projects.
Road contracts have to be undertaken by foreign companies which are not averse to pursuing certain contracts in Guyana. Until recently, the Trinidad company, Seereram Brothers was the preferred road builders in Guyana.
The construction industry was never large but again, the nature of the constructions was nothing large either. When it came to major designs Guyana was forced to look outside. So it was that aspects of the Cheddi Jagan Airport terminal necessitated a foreign construction company.
As fate would have it, despite the recalls of certain vehicles in foreign countries, Guyana has never had cause to repatriate any. Perhaps the local batch falls outside the recall but for all that, the local people seem to have the necessary skills in auto repairs. The newer models seem to pose no problem for them.
That apart, the resources seem not to be there. Decades have passed and despite the decline in the manpower resource in the cane fields, we have not been able mechanise harvesting. The local experts say that the soil is a problem but there is equipment for any soil. It may be that we just cannot come to grips with the specifications.
But there are other areas where the resource is not available. The Guyana Police Force simply cannot attract enough people. It is the same with the Guyana Defence Force. These organizations have had to be content with what they could recruit and resolve to provide whatever academic skills happen to be missing.
The Guyana Fire Service and the Guyana Prison Service are in no better condition. The latter has had to recruit more women than it would normally be inclined to do with the result that the prisons are more vulnerable than they ever were. Women are not supposed to be in the ‘yard’ inside the prisons but the absence of the male is causing a shift in this policy.
In the case of the Guyana Fire Service, people often complain about the sloth of the service. The truth is that more often than not, it would take time for a crew to be assembled. That is why false alarms take a toll on the service. It hurts the general public if the service must respond to a fire at the same time it is responding to a call that turns out to be a false alarm.
This past weekend the police, given their limited resources, were asked to rush their depleted stock to Linden over what may turn out to be the hoax of the year.
There is a drastic lack of teachers and nurses. The result is that the paucity of resources becomes more critical. Without the teachers there can be precious little learning. With reduced learning comes the development of negative attitudes in the society. This in turn leads to the need for more law enforcement officers and consequently, more prison officers. And the vicious cycle continues until the society implodes.
Could the nation develop its resource base? Could it halt this drive toward implosion? The key rests with spending already scarce financial resources to recruit those resources that we do not have. It is unfortunate that we never tried to halt the decline.
We cannot stop migration without running the risk of being ostracized but surely, we can do something to slow it down. It may not be a bad thing for the administration to bite the bullet and make salaries more attractive.