Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 12, 2022 Letters
Dear Editor,
So, the first haul from the Natural Resources Fund (NRF) pool is underway, all US$200M of it. By any reckoning, it is a good day at the office. The Hon. Finance czar (junior one) spoke of the withdrawal in awed, glowing terms: “to finance national development priorities.” Of course, it is. Except that this is an integral aspect of what they don’t say, the great scam, the monstrous legalised banditries that mandatory components of this exercise in redistribution of the national wealth. Only this time, it is done under the best lawful covers, with every tee crossed, and every ‘I’ dotted with delicate efficiency. One has to marvel at the organised and orchestrated plunder of this nation’s wealth.
There is an NRF, and it is all legal: parliamentary debate, passage, and sealed with presidential assent. It is as democratic and in the open as that, with records to prove. Withdrawals are allowed, and the PPP Government did signal that the NRF was going to be accessed to support budgetary outlays, which is as transparent as matters can be. Now it is actually happening and under the umbrella of “to finance national development priorities.” National speaks for itself; development is urgently needed; and priorities are what the PPP say such are. The problem is that what PPP leaders in government define as national and about development and the best priorities are not interpreted identically by many Guyanese, nor are they seen in that light, like the PPP insists.
But that is only half the issue, and a sliver of the concern, for the real story goes much deeper. The first clue is budgetary; the second is the development priorities bandied about. This is where the national killing fields (economic ones) get watered, then harvested. In a nutshell, it is the anatomy of the ugly that graces every single aspect of PPP governance. I trot out the building blocks, one at a time, and layer after layer. It is who benefits and how, and the legal and procedural machinery in place to make such happen.
The 2022 budget houses all those big dollar projects. A building there – a cool billion. A project across some river – another billion and change. Some bridge or road or port, and the billions keep rolling out of the budgetary allocations, as ably assisted by the US$200M haul from the NRF. I persist with ‘haul’ because of the criminality contemplated beforehand, and planned for later on. From the budget comes awards of billions; the right people are lined up on both sides of the deals. Those tendering, those engaging in what are supposedly reviews and approvals. From the engineers to the public servants to the contractors, it is one inseparable, indistinguishable pepperpot. Gooey with goodies for everyone. Everyone, that is, except the poor people waiting for some paltry payout (or payoff).
The tender numbers already have built-in cushions for contingencies. They are what I call political force majeures, meaning that there are these acts of local political gods that must be catered for, and taken care of (15-20% for political masters and their handpicked public workers is a start). Then, the works are what they are, cost overruns flatten the taxpayers, and the cycle of budgets and allocations and awards and money begin all over. By my count, that is three times (in the bid numbers, the actual shoddy works, and the overruns) that the oil money is gouged out and ripped off. The PPP calls this infrastructure, which 95 percent of the Guyanese have no idea what it means, other than senior PPP leaders said it, therefore, it must mean something. The big, reimported minister parrots the government line of “national development priorities” which sounds people-oriented, patriotic, and so pure.
Take it from me, it is not; it is too damn good to be true. Not with these kinds of people around the oil trough. Nigeria has them. Russia has them, (even America always had them) and they are the cream of the crop, and at the top. It is not the poor and unconnected. So, when the national development priorities man waxes lusciously about that, I know where it was heading all along. As a quick aside, a man Burnham had a whole ministry with hundreds of people (all PNC) that was called National Development, and look what Guyana got, what it ended up with, after all the money was spent, some would say squandered. I do.
For what is happening here today, with that haul from the NRF account is the visible and audible movement of billions from one foreign place to this local place; from the hands of the New York bankers to the many hands of top PPP insiders. I asked the liberty of a little fancy phrase: redistribution of wealth, the nation’s oil wealth. On this occasion, it is the other way around. Not from the top to the bottom or from the haves to the have nots; or from the superrich to the super poor. The other way around it is, with Guyana’s oil money is the NRF going to the super-elites who get their dirty, grabbing paws on it, with nothing left for the masses of poor, other than a penny or two.
The beauty about this monstrosity is that is all graced with legality (bill, law, budget, tender, award, NRF, board, Consolidated Fund, audit, transparency, blah, blah, blah). Despite all this legal-makeup, lip gloss, conditioner(s), cleansers, toners – it still is nothing but high seas and highway robbery, and right here in this dear, green land of Guyana.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
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