Latest update March 29th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 01, 2012 Letters
Dear Editor,
Much has been and is being said and written about the cause and effects of the Linden protest, and among those who have spoken loudly and powerfully was the seemingly inert, long-time ally of the Jagdeo regime, the Private Sector Commission (PSC).
One has to ask, if it weren’t for the Linden protest, whether the PSC would have issued an itemized must-do list to the government on behalf of Lindeners (“PSC wants government to make good on promises made to Linden,” KN, July 30), because prior to this protest, the PSC behaved like an extension of the Jagdeo regime.
For the record, here is a list of the PSC’s recommendations:
1. Liberalise television broadcasting in the Linden area in keeping with democratic norms.
2. Support trade and skill development programming.
3. Create a skilled, qualified and empowered team of civil society leaders with the vision to deal with the issue of economic development in the Linden area; a team that will work along with people of Linden and the appropriate government ministries to turn Linden into the Manaus of Guyana.
4. Re-establishment of a Micro-Finance scheme using the successful SEBRAE management and outreach model.
To facilitate this, the PSC said it is committed to working closely with the Government of Guyana and Region Ten stakeholders to help create the management structures and also to promote agricultural development in that region.
These recommendations reportedly followed meetings between the private sector and other stakeholders on the Linden matter, and since the PSC was able to get the President to: 1) set up a Commission of Inquiry, 2) opt for an independent Pathologist and 3) to personally address the nation, it is now left to be seen if the President will acquiesce to its four-point recommendations for Linden.
Meanwhile, I join most Guyanese in saying I sincerely hope the Terms of Reference for the Commission of Inquiry will not be limited to determining culpability for the fatal shooting of the three Linden protestors and injuring of several others by members of the Guyana Police Force, but will include a detailed analysis of the deal reached between the PPP regime and Bosai, the Chinese owners/operators of the bauxite company in Linden, for the supply of electricity to the community to determine whether Lindeners had a just cause when they started protesting. Call it the cause and effect clause.
This means that both the government and Bosai should avail their written agreements and their payment and receipt records to the commission, because no one knows whether any written agreement called for government to pay the subsidy or to arbitrarily terminate the subsidy or what system was used to set the rates for both Lindeners and the government, and whether the amount of money Bosai received exceeded the amount it spent to supply the electricity. In short, did Lindeners overpay, hence one report that suggested Bosai made a GY$119M profit on supplying electricity to Linden?
We must remember that the PPP government-Bosai agreement was done outside the purview of the Public Utilities Commission, the statutory body responsible for setting rates for GPL consumers, and this has be an anomaly for the executive branch of government to engage in direct negotiation with a foreign-owned entity for the supply of a utility service to a Guyanese community, thus leaving the community at the mercy of the government and the entity if or when the time came for rates to be increased.
Has anyone, other than the government and Bosai, seen details of the agreement?
And given the secretive and corrupt nature of the PPP regime, as well as the secretive nature of the Chinese, generally speaking, it is imperative that any future rate increase be determined by an independent body after a thorough assessment of Bosai’s cost of power generation and supply.
In short, Lindeners should know whether they were overpaying or will be paying a fair rate for a commodity, which was and is being generated primarily for the bauxite operations, and then secondarily for Linden consumers.
Guyanese, on the whole, also need to take careful note of how this PPP regime operates when it comes to treating Guyanese with information about secret deals struck with the Chinese. Do we know the terms and conditions for the following Chinese loans: US$30M for OLPF; US$14M for roll-on/roll-off ferries; US$138M for CJIA expansion, and the US$500M Amalia Falls Hydro Electric Project (AFHEP)?
By the way, if the AFHEP is ever built, it will be built by the Chinese, and since there is a BOOT (Build, Own, Operate and Transfer) agreement that calls for the builder to own, operate and then transfer the facility to the GPL after recouping investment costs, we have to ask ourselves if we really want to be indebted for decades to the Chinese who, like the PPP regime, have an aversion to transparency. In fact, all Guyana could one day wind up paying their electricity bills to the Chinese: Bosai in Linden and AFHEP!
Meanwhile, Guyana is still reeling from the Guyana Sugar Corporation and the China National Technology Import and Export Corporation (CNTIC) contracts signed on June 22, 2004 in Beijing, for the construction of the US$181M Chinese-built white elephant known as the Skeldon Modernization Plant, with a $110 million agreement that was partly funded by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Exim Bank of China.
This money has to be repaid, whether Skeldon eventually works or not. Pray for Linden! Pray for Guyana! Pray for genuine change in the way government does business!
Emile Mervin
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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