My government disrespects me and all Guyana
November 20, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, My Column
People elect governments to represent their interests. They know that they cannot achieve some of the things they want on their own so they elect governments to do that for them.
In the United States, George Bush presided over an economic collapse that caused every economic centre in the world to reel under the shock. Britain adopted policies that could only be described as socialist to rescue some large banks.
In the United States, the Obama administration shelled out money to help ailing banks and failing motor companies. In both cases at every step of the way the policy makers informed the people. More often than not, the very deliberations that would lead to the bailout were public knowledge. And for good reason. If there was no disclosure, the society would have descended like a ton of bricks on the government.
Guyana has to be the exception. The government tells the people nothing until after everything is completed. In short, the people of this country are always presented with a fait accompli. It is a case of total disrespect for the very people whom the government leads. It is as if to say “We are in power and you, our servants, must listen to us.”
This must be the case because when any of us bucks the system, there is a harsh reaction from the government. It is now no secret that sections of the media and people like me who criticize certain actions are called opposition elements who function inimical to the interests of the state. Such is the state of affairs that we are abused each time President Bharrat Jagdeo climbs the political platform.
I happened to be following developments in the various corners of the world when I came across an article that was published in the Jamaica Observer. There I saw that the Guyana Government had entered into a contract with a Chinese company to not only expand the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, but to also construct a new terminal.
It is now irrelevant that we have been spending millions of dollars—in fact, more than a few billion dollars—to modify the terminal building. We may now consider those expenditures wasted money because, like Six Head Lewis, we built a beautiful structure and we are going to tear it down. Money has no value.
During interviews with Works Minister, Robeson Benn, I repeatedly raised the issue of lengthening the runway. The Minister spoke of having to fill ravines but conceded that the runway needed to be lengthened if we were to accommodate some of the larger aircraft.
Lo and behold, my government went ahead, signed an agreement in Jamaica for the expansion and rehabilitation of the airport and the runway and said nothing. That indeed was a secret deal. To compound the issue, when we contacted the company in Jamaica, the spokesperson informed us that she was rash in releasing the information.
She went further. She said that she had antagonized the Guyana Government and that she was not going to release even the photographs of the signing. She was also not going to say anything more about the project because her bosses duly informed her to let the Guyana Government do the talking.
The government never saw it fit to tell us about the project in the same manner it refused to disclose details about the Marriott project. We had been asking ad infinitum about the Marriott project, ever since President Jagdeo first mentioned it during a press conference.
We got no answer about the contractor, about the source of funding and least of all, about the likely advent of this hotel.
Winston Brassington said to me that Government does not work in a manner to disclose information about any project. When some Grenadians announced, as they should to their people, that they were going to be involved in the Marriott project in Guyana and we picked up the story, the government was angry with the Grenadians for talking out of turn. We never got any more information.
It is clearly a case of the government treating the people of this country with scant disregard. Further, I am certain it is because people like me would be asking searching questions. The government does not want to talk about the money it is going to spend because again, we would question the expenditure.
We did this in the case of numerous contracts which were grossly over-priced. Somebody was making free money. Perhaps the contractors had to split the extra money with others in the system.
Just last week I noticed during the release of some tenders, that most came in lower that the Engineer’s Estimate. This meant that the contractors, aware of the scrutiny, were submitting bids with more realistic prices.
There is another angle to the manner in which the government is now operating. We notice that all major works are going to the Chinese and to the Indians. These are two countries in which corruption is the order of the day. Just last week, one Indian Minister was heading to jail for corrupt practices in relation to the dissemination of communication spectrum.
The Chinese came for the Skeldon Modernisation Project; they came for a communication cable; they are coming for the hydro project and they are actively involved in the One Laptop Peer Family project. These are all projects that cost tons of money.
Knowing how they operate, there must be kickbacks and some people must be getting filthy rich. That is the reason for the wall of silence over the manner in which the nation’s money is being spent.
There is another thing. I remember in the run up to the 1992 elections the very PPP, in the opposition at the time, protested to the world that the PNC should not undertake projects until after the elections. President Jimmy Carter endorsed that view.
Post-1992, Dr Cheddi Jagan revisited some of the contracts. He examined the Barama contract and found no flaw. He examined the Omai contract and remained silent when he found out that no one could have got a better deal.
He reviewed the Soesdyke-Linden Highway project and the Essequibo Road Project, modifying both. The Essequibo Road Project was severely scaled back to leave a most deficient road to this day.
The Soesdyke-Linden Highway should have been resurfaced. We ended up patching that roadway to this day with serious consequences for the people who traverse it.
Today, the very PPP is on a mad rush to undertake projects before the elections. Certainly what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.
November 20, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under Features / Columnists, My Column
People elect governments to represent their interests. They know that they cannot achieve some of the things they want on their own so they elect governments to do that for them.
In the United States, George Bush presided over an economic collapse that caused every economic centre in the world to reel under the shock. Britain adopted policies that could only be described as socialist to rescue some large banks.
In the United States, the Obama administration shelled out money to help ailing banks and failing motor companies. In both cases at every step of the way the policy makers informed the people. More often than not, the very deliberations that would lead to the bailout were public knowledge. And for good reason. If there was no disclosure, the society would have descended like a ton of bricks on the government.
Guyana has to be the exception. The government tells the people nothing until after everything is completed. In short, the people of this country are always presented with a fait accompli. It is a case of total disrespect for the very people whom the government leads. It is as if to say “We are in power and you, our servants, must listen to us.”
This must be the case because when any of us bucks the system, there is a harsh reaction from the government. It is now no secret that sections of the media and people like me who criticize certain actions are called opposition elements who function inimical to the interests of the state. Such is the state of affairs that we are abused each time President Bharrat Jagdeo climbs the political platform.
I happened to be following developments in the various corners of the world when I came across an article that was published in the Jamaica Observer. There I saw that the Guyana Government had entered into a contract with a Chinese company to not only expand the runway at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, but to also construct a new terminal.
It is now irrelevant that we have been spending millions of dollars—in fact, more than a few billion dollars—to modify the terminal building. We may now consider those expenditures wasted money because, like Six Head Lewis, we built a beautiful structure and we are going to tear it down. Money has no value.
During interviews with Works Minister, Robeson Benn, I repeatedly raised the issue of lengthening the runway. The Minister spoke of having to fill ravines but conceded that the runway needed to be lengthened if we were to accommodate some of the larger aircraft.
Lo and behold, my government went ahead, signed an agreement in Jamaica for the expansion and rehabilitation of the airport and the runway and said nothing. That indeed was a secret deal. To compound the issue, when we contacted the company in Jamaica, the spokesperson informed us that she was rash in releasing the information.
She went further. She said that she had antagonized the Guyana Government and that she was not going to release even the photographs of the signing. She was also not going to say anything more about the project because her bosses duly informed her to let the Guyana Government do the talking.
The government never saw it fit to tell us about the project in the same manner it refused to disclose details about the Marriott project. We had been asking ad infinitum about the Marriott project, ever since President Jagdeo first mentioned it during a press conference.
We got no answer about the contractor, about the source of funding and least of all, about the likely advent of this hotel.
Winston Brassington said to me that Government does not work in a manner to disclose information about any project. When some Grenadians announced, as they should to their people, that they were going to be involved in the Marriott project in Guyana and we picked up the story, the government was angry with the Grenadians for talking out of turn. We never got any more information.
It is clearly a case of the government treating the people of this country with scant disregard. Further, I am certain it is because people like me would be asking searching questions. The government does not want to talk about the money it is going to spend because again, we would question the expenditure.
We did this in the case of numerous contracts which were grossly over-priced. Somebody was making free money. Perhaps the contractors had to split the extra money with others in the system.
Just last week I noticed during the release of some tenders, that most came in lower that the Engineer’s Estimate. This meant that the contractors, aware of the scrutiny, were submitting bids with more realistic prices.
There is another angle to the manner in which the government is now operating. We notice that all major works are going to the Chinese and to the Indians. These are two countries in which corruption is the order of the day. Just last week, one Indian Minister was heading to jail for corrupt practices in relation to the dissemination of communication spectrum.
The Chinese came for the Skeldon Modernisation Project; they came for a communication cable; they are coming for the hydro project and they are actively involved in the One Laptop Peer Family project. These are all projects that cost tons of money.
Knowing how they operate, there must be kickbacks and some people must be getting filthy rich. That is the reason for the wall of silence over the manner in which the nation’s money is being spent.
There is another thing. I remember in the run up to the 1992 elections the very PPP, in the opposition at the time, protested to the world that the PNC should not undertake projects until after the elections. President Jimmy Carter endorsed that view.
Post-1992, Dr Cheddi Jagan revisited some of the contracts. He examined the Barama contract and found no flaw. He examined the Omai contract and remained silent when he found out that no one could have got a better deal.
He reviewed the Soesdyke-Linden Highway project and the Essequibo Road Project, modifying both. The Essequibo Road Project was severely scaled back to leave a most deficient road to this day.
The Soesdyke-Linden Highway should have been resurfaced. We ended up patching that roadway to this day with serious consequences for the people who traverse it.
Today, the very PPP is on a mad rush to undertake projects before the elections. Certainly what is good for the goose is not good for the gander.
