Guyana for sale

Jun 20, 2022 Editorial

Kaieteur News – The much-anticipated undercover investigation from VICE news finally aired. Countless citizens of this country may exhale slowly, but it is with agony, because their worst fears are confirmed. Undoubtedly, Guyana has a big “For Sale” sign plastered across its face, and no one really knows the full extent of the financial crimes happening here.
The VICE News production of Guyana for Sale speaks of webs of intrigue, dens of thieves, and interlocking bands of conspirators, of both local and foreign origins. The foreigners are extremely skilled at navigating the corrupt waters of Guyana because they have access to the heart of Government, are a handshake away from the most powerful local leaders. The foreigners know how to get things done, because they know which buttons to push, and which leaders can make good things happen. They know what it takes to move men in influential leadership positions to see their objectives, and respond to their bids. The currency of such conversations is cash, and lots of it.
Mr. Su has plenty of it, and he is familiar with Guyana’s own Vice President, who is his landlord and, more tellingly, his ‘boss.’ We ponder about the meanings that could be attached to that very useful word ‘boss.’ Vice President Jagdeo has not denied knowing Mr. Su, who is one clever operator, given his large holdings of Guyana’s lands. Ordinary Guyanese can line up and wait, file many applications, quarrel, and object. But they will not move an inch towards getting a small plot of land, if the ones in power do not smile upon them, after considering what they, the supplicants, have to barter (cash). It is just the way the system works, as became clear from the VICE News programme.
This is not news to Guyanese, for they have lived with such a culture under government after government. The problem is that today, there is nothing equivalent to the corruptions that now rage in every aspect of the government-people partnership. For the foreigners, it is called a consultation fee, except that there is nobody doing anything remotely resembling real consultancy work. But bargains are struck, and when the government and political people collect, there is both assurance and the experience that bottlenecks disappear, hurdles are overcome, and obstacles are cleared away. It is a world where cash is king, and it has the advantage of being untraceable from giver to receiver, if the people are savvy enough.
Again, it is the way that business is done under the PPP/C Government in the Guyana of today. On his own behalf, Vice President Jagdeo, the leader that the Chinese identify as the ‘go to man’ is recorded on tape as saying that he knows Mr. Su, “Su is my friend, he gets all the support…” There are two ways to interpret those two most important words uttered by Guyana’s Vice President in his exchange with his strange, new visitor. They are “friend” and “support.” As in “my friend” and “he gets all the support.”
The first interpretation is routine and the essence of innocence itself. Friend could mean just that, only that, and nothing more; everything stops right there. The same goes for support, which is usually employed in run of the mill things in daily life. However, and this is the key and this is the danger: when “friend” and “support” function” as carefully and deliberately chosen code words, then they take on a whole new life by themselves, with a world of new meaning accompanying. It could be a signal that this man is one of us, because he is spoken for, therefore, he is good for whatever he comes for, be it a contract, land, stone, or mineral resources.
We cannot say with authority that we know which meaning the Vice President had in mind in Mr. Su’s context. Despite numerous other concerns about similar practices in this PPP/C Government, this storm passes for now. But it is not forgotten, and it does have a lingering taste, a heavy odour, a deep reach. We are certain that the Vice President understands the damage to him. He may wish for this to disappear, but that is easier said than done.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News

Guyana for sale

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Similar Articles

Listen to the The Glenn Lall Show

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Guyana shatters CARIFTA Games mixed relay record; Springer, Austin...

VIEW ALL SPORTS

Features/Columnists

Has the world lost its conscience?

Sir. Ronald Sanders

The Caribbean Is Being Forced to Reconsider Trade Dependence on the...

The GHK Lall Column

U.S. Ambassador Theriot’s selective seeing

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

> Berbice Bridge […]