Importation of labour not a new phenomenon – AG Nandlall

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, SC, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, on Tuesday, defended the government’s decision to import labour from Bangladesh and Cuba to supplement skills shortage in the health sector.
Speaking on his weekly televised programme ‘Issues in the News’, the attorney general said this issue of skills shortage is not a new one.
“We have had this issue with us for a long time. Guyana has suffered from a migratory drain dating back decades. Guyana has one of the largest diasporas per capita in the world. Don’t you think that will have an impact on our ability to provide or supply labour to meet the demands of a growing and expanding economy?” he reasoned.
The AG made these statements in light of the recent concerns surrounding the authorisation granted to Sigma Engineers Limited to recruit some 500 nurses from Bangladesh.
In a public statement issued last week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation explained that this decision was made to address concerns raised by both the public and private sectors, regarding severe skills shortage.
AG Nandlall echoed this position, adding that the country’s rapidly expanding economy has heralded the need for more skilled workers, which cannot be solely supplied through in-house capacity.
He also called out the opposition for their criticisms against the move, saying that it is driven by fairness and racism.
“It is not surprising that the opposition takes this position because the opposition politics has always been based upon racism, some degree of xenophobia and paranoia, and it dates back again two decades,” he said.
Minister Nandlall continued, “About 20 years or 25 years ago, when there was a large influx of Brazilians into Guyana, they went into a mode of pandemonium. They started to publicly criticise the PPP Government for allowing Brazilians to infiltrate the economy, and [said that] Brazilians would take over the country. That was the argument. Twenty-five years after, the Brazilians have come, they have gone, and I don’t see any drastic change in the country.”
The legal affairs minister repeated the assurance given by Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo at a recent press conference, that the imported workers will receive the same salaries as Guyanese workers, based on their qualifications.
To combat the labour shortage, the government is also pursuing an aggressive upskilling agenda for Guyanese workers.
In the health sector, nurses are being trained and upskilled by the hundreds to meet the growing demand.
Recently, the Guyana-Coursera platform was launched, with 1,000 nurses already enrolled in the registered nursing programme, while 800 nursing assistants will be trained.