His Excellency has been transparent in his non-transparency

Aug 06, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – National leaders are held to the same impeccable standard as leaders of religion, leaders in industry, leaders in society. They must be irrevocably and unalterably committed to immaculate truths. Truths that stand inseparably with the accuracy of facts, the record of history, and the reality of circumstances. Guyana’s President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, has been exemplary in being about much of what contradicts truth, what is the reality of transparency with the oil industry of this country. He has been defiant with mounting deceptions; and as he goes, so does the rest of his government, the government of this hopeful nation.
The President and his Vice President have hidden themselves, when the sensitive things of oil surfaced. Relevant information has been withheld (Payara report). Necessary details kept secret (audit report). Need to know developments kept close to the chest (local content report). I humbly suggest to President Ali that that is not transparency, but of someone who, having delivered an IOU on transparency to the nation during his inaugural, now does the equivalent of dodging bail. Or worse yet, pilots a successful jailbreak from the restraints of truths, facts, and accuracies.
If there has been what is believed to be transparency with those three (those three reports only), then I dare to say that his chief legal whisperer placed him on the wrong track. It is not of effusive truths and transparencies, but of the narrowest legal definition of the word; not the frankness and comprehensiveness that should have graced it. What could be so secret about local content that Guyanese have to be kept in the dark? What ominous light does it hold in store for citizens? And by the same standard, there should be not a moment of hesitation in placing before the nation, the papers of Payara and the audit, without any doctoring. I can venture into other secret areas, such as the OMAI contract, and what is really the mystery with vaccine prices. Regarding the latter, I have refrained from joining any speculations, jumping on any bandwagon, which I think looks increasingly discreditable on my part, but infinitely more so on that of President Ali and his claims-indeed, his growing record-on integrity where transparency is concerned. This is not just about oil, but also in other areas, where massive amounts of monies are involved, and billions are the norm.
One year ago, I started out by giving Guyana’s new President the benefit of the doubt. Today, I doubt myself, and with any doubt placed in the principled and prudent care of the President long since vanished. I cannot be cheerleader or worshipper or fawner for presidents or anyone. I trust to a point; thereafter, I go my own way, which is where I am with His Excellency and transparency. I detect a leader so irreversibly entangled with secrecy that he takes himself seriously; he has become his own leading sales agent for the fictions that he and his people manufacture about transparency. President Ali is of the belief that promising what he will do tomorrow should be enough to pull the wool over our eyes in what he promised, but did not deliver, for the last 365 days. It is the first of his now increasingly decaying presidency. Such is already his legacy, with more to follow. In one short year, President Ali has outdone the last occupant of the White House, who had to skulk out of town in shame and disgrace.
I regret having to break my self-imposed peace, but I close with this little sharing. When anyone says: trust me; I put on my thickest suit of armour. I don’t care whether it is President, Vice President, pandit or parson, maulana or minister; I put on my asbestos suit. Yes, I will risk that danger. I started out being generous to President Ali by assigning to him the role of Ali Baba, but now I wonder who is and who is not among the other 40. That is where the evidence of lack of transparency is, where the President finds himself. It is where I am, and now off I go.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall