Latest update May 21st, 2026 12:35 AM
Latest News
- US$1B in taxes waived for Hess in 2025 – financials reveal
- Father, 4-year-old son killed after speeding car topples into Corentyne canal
- ‘Fare war on Route 32’ …Minibus drivers strike, decry govt. ‘price control’
- Former Cuban President Raul Castro charged with murder in U.S.
- Gold deal allows Australian company to hold on to 3, 500 sq kilometers mining lands
EPA – Let Him Save Face – Focus on us
Peter R. Ramsaroop, MBA
INTRODUCTION:
I have had to do it a few times, “try my best to save face” as we say in Guyana. President Jagdeo has impressed us all of being “wrong and strong” as it relates to the EPA. His failed defence strategy has twice led to Suriname invading our territory without any response by our military.
Venezuela bombed our miners and we did not even register a complaint with the United Nations; instead we took thousands of barrels of oil to keep our mouth shut. Our economy has been on a decline for the last decade with inflation rate above 13% and cost of living beyond our capacity to cope with along with the excessive 16% VAT.
EPA:
On Monday, the President chickened out from personally signing the EPA agreement and let the Ambassador in Brussels instead sign it, which by my assessment is very good for Guyana, given our current economic conditions. The benefits far outweigh the negatives as I have described in previous columns. I would recommend we do a blackout on further covering this event, so as to allow our President to save face.
The more we cover it, the Caribbean Islands will have another reason to continue to treat us bad, since our leader embarrassed the other thirteen governments by questioning their judgment on the signing and then topped it off with asking his Ambassador to sign, showing his lack in judgment on protocol.
This agreement was in discussions for over four years. All the travels by our officials outside of Guyana finally caught up with them; they were sleeping on the job.
It reminds me of when I was in the Military and one soldier was marching out of step. Suddenly we heard this lady, who was the soldier’s mother, shouting, “Look, my son is the only one doing it right, all of them marching out of step except my son”.
Trinidad has Oil, Gas, Asphalt; Barbados – World Class Tourism; Jamaica – Manufacturing and Tourism, they all signed the agreement. Don’t you think that these governments would have been looking out for their national interest and concern for their economy? These countries were actively involved over the last four years in negotiating an agreement they can live with.
Where were Guyana’s experts prior to the stakeholders’ meeting? Freddie Kissoon touched on that subject in his column on Monday. President Jagdeo and Team are travelling globally, spending huge sums of scarce monies (our VAT money) to mobilize ACP support for his anti EPA stand. The two clauses are nothing to boast about. This is a huge indictment of dereliction of duty. But please, let him save face.
CONCLUSION:
We must focus on our own economy. There is a cost of living crisis, our people need help. The sugar crisis is getting worse; many jobs are at stake. Where would these workers go if their jobs are cut?
We need to start educational programs now to retrain these workers in other skills. The new Skeldon sugar factory is fully computerized, yet we have not looked at how we will retain the skill set to keep it running, and would our climate affect these computers.
It is time that we tell our President to stay home and focus on our economy, stop being a one man show in the world. I hope he is pleased that I am asking the media to do a future blackout on the EPA agreement in order for him to save face. On Friday, I will return to discussing the solutions to improve our economy. Until next time “Roop”.
Send your comments and suggestions to peter.ramsaroop@gmail.com
Share this:
Discover more from Kaieteur News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.