Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 26, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
Just before the 2001 General and Regional Elections in Guyana, Mr. Desmond Hoyte, then Opposition Leader in Guyana, issued a public statement discouraging a foreign company from taking over the management of the local electricity company.
Hoyte was taken to task for this statement because it amounted to a virtual threat against a foreign investor wishing to do business in Guyana. His statement was condemned as sending a bad signal to foreign investors.
There was however one aspect that was overlooked. Hoyte did not wish to be bound by such a major decision so close to a General Election. While an elected government has a right and should be afforded the right to pursue policies right until its final day in office, it ought to restrain itself from entering into major deals just before an election, since to do so would be to bind a future government to an agreement of which it had no part in negotiating.
Obviously any future government will be bound by agreements signed by previous governments, but they should never be bound by major agreements signed on the eve of elections. There is a convention that provides for a government about to face the polls to refrain from engaging in major deals or agreements.
In Trinidad at present, the head of the United National Congress has signaled her disapproval of the decision of the Trinidad government, about to face the polls in one month, to sign a treaty with Grenada. The Opposition Leader has said that since parliament has been dissolved in preparation of elections, the proposed treaties should not be signed.
On the point of principle she is on solid ground. While all treaties have to be ratified by the country’s National Assembly before becoming law, the higher principle that a government should not be signing major agreements when parliament has been dissolved and election campaigning is underway.
In the case of Guyana, we are not in an election season nor has parliament been dissolved. However, the hydroelectric deal is a major project that has serious implications for Guyana. This is not just any deal. It involves the construction of hydroelectric facility that will satisfy Guyana’s total power needs. According to reports in the media, a power-sales agreement is involved at an undisclosed price. Thus, the future price for energy is bound up in this agreement. This is how critical this deal is. It decides what price we can expect to pay for electricity in the future. Further, the project involves major environmental risks and a threat to existing eco-systems. Against this background, this is not just any deal but a major deal for Guyana and for the future of the country.
The government cannot be expected to rein in development with just over a year to go before General and Regional Elections. Also, this project was in the pipeline since 1997 and therefore the government cannot be accused of a sudden decision to build the facility. Thus, it may be asking too much for the government to defer this development until after the elections.
However, since this deal binds future governments, it is important that before any work proceeds further that the support of the National Assembly is invoked. Those investing in the hydroelectric project would no doubt have their own anxieties as to how any future government would treat with this project, and they may be tempted to wait until the outcome of the elections.
However, waiting can mean losing an important opportunity, and thus it is important that works proceed, providing there is sufficient national support for this project. The government cannot simply expect the people of this country to support a project of which so little is known.
As such, the government should lay immediately before the National Assembly, all the agreements it has signed in relation to this project so that these can be endorsed. If everything is above board, if a good agreement has been negotiated for the building of the hydroelectric dam, the government should have no objection to laying the requisite documents in the National Assembly. They should also have no fear in having this project scrutinised by the Economic Services Commission of Parliament.
The money has to be found to build the dam, and all those who have an interest in putting their money into this project should insist that it receive national endorsement in the form of parliamentary approval. That would be a sign of confidence in the project and would equally allow for a full and open debate on the project and also for a vote of confidence in the negotiations that led to this deal.
Please share this to every Guyanese including your house cats.
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