CHILDREN OF BURNHAM EXILES RETURN TO GUYANA

SCORES of Guyanese exiles in Trinidad and Tobago and other countries are returning to their homeland to benefit from one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

But those going back to their former rural communities are still awaiting the gains from the billion-dollar energy windfall.

Exiled nationals are responding to the direct pleas of Guyanese President Dr. Irfaan Ali and other senior government officials.

In a typical appeal, Ali told the diaspora in Port of Spain late last year: “We can offer you better than when you left and to give you an opportunity to return home.

“I want you to come back home.”

The Guyanese leader spoke of opportunities in oil and gas, construction, agriculture, tourism, and other fields.

He touted 20,000 annual scholarships, free university education, children’s grants, and other benefits.

He told of plans to reduce the cost of energy, in order to attract further investments.

Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud said the country needs an additional 100,000 workers, both skilled and unskilled.

Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha said food production is being boosted, and there are incentives for investors.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a formal Remigration Unit that provides technical assistance to those who want to return to their homeland.

Many from the 12,000-strong Guyanese community in T&T have gone back to the South American country, and are practising their various crafts with higher returns.

A jeweller, for example, said he is doing much better, although he noted that the cost of living is steeper than he expected.

Some are making business investments or getting jobs in thriving operations.

But in a land of 83,000 square miles, those who returned to their far-flung districts are finding that progress is slow, although there are plans for new roads, schools, and other infrastructure.

Diasporas from other countries are also heading for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Many Guyanese fled their country during the brutal Forbes Burnham regime.

The hardline Burnham was President from 1980 until his death in 1985, at age 62, and was Premier or Prime Minister from 1964 to 1980.

During his lengthy tenure as national leader, there were widespread allegations of rigged elections, abuse, torture, and even murders of opponents, and destruction of farmlands.

He is said to have controlled the armed forces, which he utilised as a private militia against political foes.

His administration was found by an independent investigation to have set up the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney, a popular free-speaking historian, and critic.

Burnham’s iron rule and wanton abuse of human rights prompted many to desert their homeland, often with minimal possessions.

For a generation, Guyanese were branded the pariah of the Caribbean.

The Guyanese community in the United States is estimated at around 325,000, with about 140,000 in New York, especially in the borough of Queens.

About 85,000 Guyanese nationals are in Canada, particularly in Toronto, with around 42,000 in the United Kingdom.

Some 15,000 are in the Netherlands, around 12,000 in Suriname, 8,000 in Venezuela, and smaller numbers in Antigua-Barbuda, Barbados, St. Lucia, Spain, and Brazil.

The number of Guyanese living abroad has been estimated at between 36 per cent and 55 per cent of the current population of 805,000.

Many of the people who fled Burnham’s reign of terror for safer pastures have died over the years.

In those cases, their offspring are the ones heading back to Guyana to see the land which their fore-parents left hurriedly and to seek to put down roots and possibly forge a new life.

They are finding a bustling society, with extensive construction projects and the overall throbbing excitement of an improved quality of life and a US $39 billion economy.

They are seeing expatriates and hearing unprecedented official messages of economic growth, regulatory systems, and multinational investments.

That land is radically different from the one from which their parents hot-footed for the safety and security of their respective families.