Much has been penned on government lobbying of Washington through a paid lobbyist of over US$65K monthly. I cannot comment on whether it is value for money as I have not seen the contract. I read the lobbying firm has the highest connection with the White House and the President who makes policy, including foreign policy towards Venezuela, Guyana, and the Caribbean/Latin region. And right now, Guyana needs Washington to neutralize the threat from Maduro.
America works by lobbying. Guyana needs an effective (both paid and unpaid, voluntary) lobbying movement in Washington and areas where Guyanese are concentrated as in Florida, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Texas, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, etc. Only President Ali and VP Jagdeo would know the effectiveness of the lobbyist; unpublished information privy to me suggest that the firm has been very effective in achieving their objectives. One really has to hand it to Jagdeo; he is a master politician and strategist, coming a long way since he left the Presidency in 2011.
The (PPP) government’s hiring of a lobbyist is astute, and its pursuit is a reversal of unsolicited advise proffered since the 1970s by a group of (freedom) activists based in USA. Politicians in Guyana blanked any suggestion from the diaspora on lobbying Washington which had favored the PNC until the collapse of communism in 1989. Support groups affiliated with government or opposition parties were never interested in lobbying Washington which was viewed by leftwing (socialist, communist) politicians as imperialist and exploitative; Washington was blamed for toppling the democratic Jagan government in 1964, and as such the lefties wanted nothing to do with Washington. The left never mastered concepts like American national interest or the significance of lobbying. And unless one actually studied (or read) American politics, one would not understand the critical importance of lobbying and why the US has seen the left as a threat to its national interests. As an illustration, as a 17 year old foreign student pursuing pre-medical studies (majoring in Bio-Chemistry at City College of City University) from 1977, I had no clue about lobbying or national interests, not even about American politics. But I was a pro-Jagan activist without understanding that his socialism was a threat to US interests. It was only after taking courses in American and international politics, I became familiar with the concept of socialism and how American government works and the relevance of lobbying and why USA would never allow a left-wing PPP socialist party, affiliated with the USSR and East bloc, to govern Guyana. (Jagdeo did right to remove socialism from the PPP). My colleague, Baytoram Ramharack made the transition from natural sciences to political science a few years before me as I wanted to finish my BS in Bio-Chem before making the switch to Political Science in graduate school for the Masters and Doctorate taking courses on lobbying. Both of us were influenced by Vassan and Rennie Ramracha, theoretician Indian nationalists and political science majors, to switch majors to provide us with requisite skills to champion (pioneer) a struggle for restoration of democratic governance in Guyana. Ramharack quickly mastered international relations, national interests, and how the American political system worked, and he and Vassan set the ball rolling on informally lobbying American politicians through letter writing, rallies, protests, etc. They did most of the thinking and writing of flyers and I the publishing and organizing for distribution. Ravi dev would join us around 1986. Chuck Mohan, a student senior to us by a few years, and his ACG colleagues, also did a lot of organizing and lobbying of the left for PPP. Ramharack and I wrote to politicians (Members of Congress or MoC, Jimmy Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., heads of parties, etc.) about rights violations urging that they pressure the ruler to restore democratic governance in Guyana. Mike Persaud also wrote several MoC about fraudulent elections appealing to them to demand free and fair elections in Guyana. I authored or edited several letters to President Reagan, Vice President Bush and Members of Congress (MoC) for Dr Vishnu Bandhu who made an immense contribution in the struggle for free and fair election and whose work was never recognized or rewarded. His contribution to the restoration of democracy through his letter writing, his newspaper (Caribbean Expo), organizing rallies, fundraisers for politicians, hosting events at his business and catering hall, etc., have gone unreported, un-noticed, and un-rewarded. He spent millions of dollars in USA to fund the struggle. He is deserving of Guyana’s highest honors or medal of freedom as have a few others.
The US government functions on lobbying (a process of influencing MoC and or the White House and or lawmakers around USA) on decision or policymaking that benefits the group or granting favoritism to certain organizations, businesses, foreign governments, etc. Lobbying takes a variety of forms including face to face meetings, raising funds for and campaigning for the legislator’s re-election, hiring lobbyists, paying speaker’s fees (that is restricted of late), etc. Lobbying of Washington can be voluntary (grass roots) as done by several of us (like Mike Persaud, Vishnu Bandhu, Ramharack, Ravi Dev, Vassan and Rennie Ramracha, and myself did early in the struggle and later by Chuck Mohan, Arjune Karshan, Mel Carpen, Raj Singh, among others after the collapse of communism) for Guyana during the struggle for the restoration of democracy (1977 -1992), or recently on tariff, etc. Where we failed to influence MoC, the White House, and the two major political parties, we appealed to Indian nationals for assistance. The Indian nationals had an entry into Washington and state capitals. They were most helpful in influencing MoC, President Bush Sr, and the Democratic Party, among others to take a stand on Guyana authoritarianism. It was the lobbying by Guyanese in USA and others that propelled MoC like Ted Kennedy, Stephen Solarz, Elliott Engels, Sedgwick Bill Green, etc. and President Bush Sr. to issue statements calling for free and fair elections in Guyana. Had the left joined the lobbying effort in USA long before the collapse of communism in 1989, pressure would have been mounted on the dictatorship to democratize much sooner than in 1992.
Lobbying can also be done through a paid lobbyist as currently undertaken by the government of Guyana. There has been no (formally organized) Guyanese (or Indian Caribbean) grass roots organization lobbying any level of government in America; there never was although there are African Caribbean and Indian lobbying groups. There have been organizations (like the ones I belonged to) that informally have lobbied various levels of government and lawmakers on policies that would benefit the Guyanese American community (such as to make Diwali a holiday or to have various cultural celebrations like Eid, Holi, etc. at government offices) and Guyana. We still appeal to politicians on trade tariff and on the Maduro threat without request or recognition from Georgetown.
The PPP government is commended for hiring a lobbyist. It should encourage Guyanese Americans to launch a (non-partisan, non-party affiliated) lobbying organization, even fund it with an office, to champion the interests of Guyana and the American based diaspora. It will be money well spent as both the diaspora and Guyana would be beneficiaries. The return to Guyana would likely be greater than the money spent on the office or on lobbying.
