Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 24, 2010 Letters
Dear Editor,
As the hoopla over the President’s ‘Bux-con’ visit fades and gives way to another day’s news flash, it is time for the people of Buxton and elsewhere to start asking serious questions about the government’s infatuation with secrecy when dealing with the people’s finances.
The President and his Government just cannot be allowed to get away with these well-staged political photo-op community visits to make feel-good impressions while hiding harsh facts and hard figures about their dealings from the public.
Buxton was once the hot bed of criminal elements, some posing as Freedom Fighters, who used deadly violence to either send a political message as part of a demand or to literally topple the Government based on allegations of discrimination and marginalisation of Blacks.
But even though many, if not most, of these demented and misguided criminal elements are dead, mostly via extra-judicial killings, incontrovertible evidence has since emerged that the Government is engaging in racial discrimination by virtue of traditional favours to its ethnic based constituency.
Showing up for a photo-op in Buxton for a walk about or sit down talk or at Emancipation Day observances certainly does not negate the fact that there is racial discrimination, whether covert or overt.
Marginalisation of any race, on the other hand, if it does exist, does not appear as pronounced as marginalisation of anyone (regardless of race) who dares stand up to and expose the Government for its corrupt practices.
For simply challenging the Government on the illegal concessions granted to Queens Atlantic II, which illegality the government used its parliamentary majority to pass legislation to retroactively correct, one long-serving local businessman of prominent standing not only came in for a tongue-lashing from the President, but the business he has successfully run for years came under the microscope of the Guyana Revenue Authority.
Other Guyanese who dared to publicly express concern about the manner in which the Government has treated with the public and public funds/resources have also been targeted for retaliatory action by the Government.
These include a private auditor/chartered accountant/business column and the owner of Guyana’s largest hotel.
This kind of retaliatory behaviour by the Government is usually intended to keep its critics in check while they go about their daily business.
But when the Government or its allies moves to seek a legal injunction against critics, who are just ordinary, concerned Guyanese raising questions about Government’s dealings, then that’s a huge red flag that says the Government and or its allies cannot afford to enter into the public space.
This actually explains in large part why, despite the President’s promise since last year April in Trinidad to have a Freedom of Information (FOI) Law enacted in Guyana by the end of 2009, such a law is yet to see daylight.
An FOI Law would allow the private media or any private organisation or ordinary individual to access information (not of a highly sensitive or national security nature) even if the Government prefers to have it remain a secret, yet when we look at some of the public issues around which there is way too much secrecy, we find they are actually part of the people’s business or involve state resources and finances. An FOI Law could also help reveal whether the majority of government contractors are Indians, Blacks or other races.
There is so much an FOI Law can do; it can publicly humiliate or even bring down a government.
In a previous letter, and even without an FOI Law, I raised some deeply troubling points about the QAII’s acquisition of state-owned Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation and Sanata Complex, and because these were once public properties, their sale and acquisition are always subjected to public questioning.
The public also has a right to ask how QAII was running a net loss for consecutive years, yet was able to suddenly find hundreds of millions of dollars to buy both public properties and then turn around and win government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Just where QAII appeared from that it is getting ‘most favoured private sector partner’ (MFPSP) status from the government? And are there other state-related projects in the pipeline for QAII?
The Government and its allies may be upset when information that they feel should be kept top secret ends up in the public’s possession, but if deals are above board, then why should they be upset? Do they feel more comfortable dealing with the public’s business in secrecy?
Look, CLICO depositors are back in the news trying to collect their money the Government promised to give them, but while it’s not definite when they will collect, they definitely won’t know what transactions CLICO engaged in that led to its collapse, because the Government rushed to get involve in a private company and even place it under government’s main banking centre? Why the appearance of a cover-up?
Then there is the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. The ongoing debate about the road building experience of Fip Motilall apart, the focus shifted to the lengthy delay in arrival of road building equipment, but when these did arrive, the public had no idea about costs, the supplier/s of the equipment or whether they are new or refurbished, and if refurbished, what arrangement is in place for assuring availability of replacement parts.
Mind you, this is a road project involving taxpayers’ money (US$15.4M) and a government-backed loan from China of US$500M for the hydro, which implicates the Guyanese people, yet there is secrecy surrounding even the equipment for road building.
So what’s going to happen when work on the hydro project commences? Will the builders erect a steel wall?
Secrecy also surrounds the names of the private partners in the Marriott deal, which also involves use of taxpayers’ money (US$20M initially), but instead of the public being angry over all these secret deals, it is the Government (and its allies) who are angry when the public asks questions and reveals the secrets.
Enough of the political con game! Government is the people’s business! It’s time for the public to demand transparency from the Government!
Emile Mervin
***********************
The passing of time will not cause people to forget
Dear Editor,
The construction of the Supenaam Ferry Stelling that was in the making for more than 20 years has finally become a reality.
But low and behold much to the embarrassment of the Government and the inconvenience, not only to the people of the region, but to all other Guyanese travelling to Region Two, and to make matters worse the Government after many months and a lot of investigations is still not in a positron to tell the people that are paying for this bungled project, what went wrong, at what stage, and the person or persons to be blamed and how soon this stelling is going to be beneficial to them.
The SN of Monday 16th August, 2010 seems to suggest that like the Fidelity and other scams, the passing of time may cause people to forget.
I think that the thousand of us that are anxious to use the facility, which was intended to significantly reduce our travelling time will never, forget.
A. Cordis
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
Mar 28, 2024
Minister Ramson challenge athletes to better last year’s performance By Rawle Toney Kaieteur Sports – Guyana’s 23-member contingent for the CARIFTA Games in Grenada is set to depart the...B.V. Police Station Kaieteur News – The Beterverwagting Police Station, East Coast Demerara (ECD) will be reconstructed... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – In the face of escalating global environmental challenges, water scarcity and... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]