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Apr 04, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon
Kaieteur News – Some people say a story has more than two sides. In fact, a story can have multiple dimensions. There is now a vigorous debate about who is wrong and right in the story about Trinidad and Guyana in relation to our local content law.
The tall tale of the relationship between Trinidad and Guyana has more than two sides. But wherever the debate leads, it should not deny Trinidad’s right to inquiry about Guyana’s treaty obligations in CARICOM. Trinidad has a right to make demands on Guyana if it feels a fellow member of the integration movement is not complying with treaty obligations.
No Guyanese can be so unreasonable to say a CARICOM member state cannot condemn another for what that country sees as treaty violations. Of course the infringements may not be factual. When the CARICOM Private Sector Organisation, headed by the owner of the Massy conglomerate, noticed that our local content legislation may not be in sync with the fundamental basis of CARICOM’s existence of free trade, there were indignant responses from some influential Guyanese quarters.
Anyone over the age of 50, living in or out of Guyana, who has followed developments in Guyana would know those outbursts have Freudian underpinnings. Over the long decades, Guyanese businessmen and Guyanese travellers have nurtured a Freudian resentment of Trinidad even though the two countries are historical friends.
For the traveller, it was the undignified way Guyanese have been singled out for mistreatment not only at the airport but in Trinidad in general. For the businessman, it was the barefaced violation of CARICOM rules this business person resented but felt helpless to do anything about because his government in Guyana was not willing to confront Trinidad on the issue.
Trinidadians are right to complain. They feel our local content law is not in harmony with the underlying principles of free trade within CARICOM. What Trinidadians are lamenting in 2022, we should have been doing decades ago. Guyanese presidents from both the PNC and PPP and Guyanese business folks have not been vocal and irate about Trinidad’s treaty violations over the past decades.
Interesting to note what the Massy conglomerate itself did when it opened its supermarket at Turkeyen. I live across the road so I skip across to the supermarket almost daily. In the first few years, Massy at Turkeyen did not sell local beef, jams and spices and other Guyanese products. This is just a drop in the ocean of the trade indignities Guyana has suffered within CARICOM over the past 40 years.
If you do a meticulous check of trade violations in CARICOM, even the smaller islands are unfair to Guyana. Guyana’s presidents and its business organisations over the long decades have not protested these infringements to their fellow heads even though for decades now, there have been an annual meetings of CARICOM heads.
What accounts for this avoidance? Here are some brief notes. 1 – From Hoyte to Granger, Guyanese presidents felt that the Guyana economy could survive without the additional income from Trinidad buying more so they didn’t see raising the issue as a priority. 2 – The presidents felt that Guyana has always been the controversial member in the history of CARICOM and to fight Trinidad over trade unfairness was an unnecessary battle.
3 – All of the Guyanese presidents felt that Trinidad was the powerhouse of CARICOM and to take it on over the way it treats trade with Guyana could cause resentment among CARICOM member-states. 4 – All the presidents knew that to pick a fight with Trinidad could have brought unforeseen circumstances into play, meaning Guyanese in Trinidad both legal and illegal could face adverse situations.
5 – There was a feeling among the presidents that Guyana has such a lacerated image among CARICOM member states that once Guyana stood up to Trinidad, CARICOM nationals would react by saying who is poor Guyana to want to fight Trinidad?
6 – All the presidents were ruffled about mistreatment, first by BWIA then by CAL, of Guyanese travellers. But they never highlighted the grievance at the meetings of heads because they were fearful of the embarrassment Barbados and Trinidad would have caused by saying, “then keep your people at home.”
7 – All the presidents knew that Trinidad has had a negative impression of Guyana (most of the islands do because they see themselves as island neighbours and Guyana is South American), and just never could have been bothered with making a fuss about Trinidad’s attitude to Guyana.
What I believe President Jagdeo and subsequent presidents had done is to find alternative airlines that would cut out the in-transit nightmare in Trinidad. One hopes Dr. Ali continues that policy.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)
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