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Investments are coming to Guyana
There are times when plans do not always materialize according to schedule, and one such plan involves the Marriott Hotel arrangement.
The Government had precious little to do with this, except to make the land available and agreeing to the construction.
There were questions about the people behind Marriott, and the Government decided that this would be announced when the sod is turned. There was a reason for this.
People try to be as secretive as possible until they are ready to execute their plan, because there are always others who lurk or try to get an advantage by stealing the plans of others.
The Government made this known, and promised to make the necessary information known when the people were ready to get their project off the ground. This should have been done in June, but it was not.
The Marriott planners then promised that this would happen within a month, but the month has come and gone and there is still silence over the identity of the investors.
The press seemed to want to know in advance, and that is their job, because it is the duty of the press to inform the public.
The reporters asked President Bharrat Jagdeo about this, and quite rightly, he declined to allow the investors to make themselves known. This did not go down well, and the press decided to be critical of President Jagdeo.
They were invited to do their best, and in any country the press would have gone to work to ferret out the investor. In the end they did, and they deserve credit.
They now want to know what has delayed the sod-turning exercise, and again they are turning to the Government for answers.
They have not got any answers, because the Government has promised to remain silent until the investors opt to make any disclosure as they seek to protect their plans.
Again, an enterprising reporter managed to get information that there was a problem with the Environmental Protection Agency.
There are those who want to believe that the Government dictates to every Government agency, but this is not the case.
For all the talk about micro-managing the economy, the Government allows people to do their work, because those people are ultimately responsible for any mistake that may develop under their watch.
But it is this vacillation between wanting the Government to have hands-off approach to things and at the same time be in control that creates problems in the minds of the very critics.
Some of them are actually opposed to any investor package, because they want to boast that the Government is unable to attract any foreign investment. That was once the clarion cry.
This is no longer the case. Digicel has come and is investing millions of dollars in the communication sector. Also, there are foreign people in the hotel industry.
And while there have not been too many criticisms of these deals, there are those who sit and sulk because one platform for their criticism and blame game has collapsed.
There are the Marriott people, who have promised a lot. They have promised to invest US$52 million in the country, and this is going to see increased employment for Guyana’s skilled and semi-skilled people.
It is going to see revenue for the public treasury by way of income taxes. It is also going to see money going to the nation’s farmers, because people must eat and the farmers are the ones who have to feed them.
However, for all this, one can understand the genuine concern of those who want to see Guyana develop. But one cannot understand the pursuit of information for the sake of acquiring material which people would want to use for the purpose of criticizing.
For example, the Government is aware that someone has begun to peddle information that some illegal money may be behind the Marriott deal.
When this rumour surfaced, the Government invited the media houses to publish, but they were smart enough not to accept that invitation.
They fail to understand that any Government would investigate the credentials of an investor; but they, in pursuit of anything to criticize the Government, would try to accumulate any juicy bit of information.
This time around they are cautious, because the foreign investor would take them to the cleaners.
The advice to the press is that they should develop a working relationship with the Government, without which they would always be accused of being unpatriotic, and they, in turn, would be caught in the unending cycle of blaming the Government.
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