The electronic revolution

Oct 11, 2014 Editorial

Guyana experienced unprecedented spending in a number of areas, not least on public security. The government spent billions of dollars on information technology and on the back of that expenditure it unveiled its laptop programme.
Computers came to Guyana in the mid-1980s; twenty-five years later the computer was still not a household tool. In many developed countries the computer is an integral part of a schoolchild’s kit. They are such that they have replaced many of the bulky textbooks.
Indeed, the computer is good for storing information, for research because one no longer needs to purchase encyclopedia, and for easy dissemination and sharing of material and resources. The government decided that it was going to distribute 90,000 laptops over a three-year period by way of a programme called the One Laptop per Family programme.
This is a laudable programme except that by the time the last laptop is distributed most would have gone to the wall having been in circulation for more than a year. But the advantage is that by then the user would have been so familiar with the laptop that the poorest family would hasten to buy a replacement.
And as if to support this drive to computerize the country private individuals joined in setting up computer laboratories across the country. The advent of the communication cable would have opened up new doors in the area of communication. And this was going on even as the telephone revolution is gaining momentum.
Gone are the days when the telephone was merely an instrument to make and to receive calls. These days the telephone is a computer with all the features of a computer that has ready access to social media.
Guyana also invested in security by installing security cameras at every main location in the city. The outlay was great and initially one felt that the cameras were a waste of time, especially since they failed to record the killing of a policeman and the shooting of his colleagues in the heart of the city.
The government has spent even more money to expand the reach of these cameras. No longer are they merely to capture images which must then be collected at a later date. The images are presented to the law enforcement authorities in real time and this may be responsible for the marked decrease in the number of street crimes.
When these cameras were installed the then Head of State said that the authorities would be able to dent the spate of kidnappings and carjackings because they would know where the vehicles would be headed. This has not been the case, exactly.
More cameras are to be installed and supported by mobile patrols one could see how the law enforcement officers would be in a position to nail criminals in a hurry. But there is more to the rapid move to the world of information technology. There is the need for a revamp of the educational system at a time when the country says that it is training more teachers but it is not seeing a corresponding rise in the academic results.
The government is spending millions of dollars to transmit its Learning Channel programmes to hinterland communities but the programme is not being accessed in many communities because of the absence of electricity. Really, this was not a case of putting the cart before the horse since it was felt that the government compounds would have access to ready electricity. Because of the fuel situation the power situation is dire, to say the least.
The distribution of solar panels and the expansion of the hinterland electrification programme would lead to a boost in the information technology programme. It took foreigners to open the Rupununi to the world of communication. It will take more to make the hinterland one network zone. The government cable project has the potential to make this possible.

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The electronic revolution

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