The owners of Guyana, Karan Singh and statistics

Mar 26, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

At the time of writing, there is no proof of wrongdoing on the part of Karan Singh, the Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Water Inc.
But there is the fact that he has been sent off while an official inquiry examines procurement irregularities.
One would never believe that Mr. Singh would be asked to temporarily vacate while the Government probes alleged financial scams at GWI. On the contrary, you would think that it is the GWI boss that would have led the investigation because, after all, the GWI boss is the boss that has (or had) the backing of the Guyanese kings (we have de facto kings in Guyana that make Forbes Burnham look like a handicapped child) that have virtually claimed ownership of Guyana.
When I was involved in the struggle against the PNC government, I honestly saw Burnham as running Guyana as if it were his personal property.
I say in all seriousness, the style of ownership that we see under Jagdeo, Luncheon and others exceed the jurisdiction the Guyanese people witnessed under President Burnham.
In the history of post-colonial countries, if you want to see leadership who operates as if they literally, virtually and legally own a country, one has to come to Guyana.
Again I say with all seriousness that with each passing day, this government is in a frenetic tussle with the defunct presidency of Forbes Burnham to see which administration is bigger and more evil.
Karan Singh should not occupy a public position of importance in Guyana. His temperament is not suited for leadership position.
Jagdeo and Luncheon are old enough to know that a person can reject an interpretation but they have to accept the inevitability of science.
Science does not lie. The principle of flotation is truth. The law of gravity is truth. Statistics are truths. The statistics can be rejected but their scientific value will remain a truth. In the United States, statistics show that most Caribbean immigrants settle in New York. How can you argue with that? It is a scientific truth.
In Guyana, statistics reveal that there were less passes at CXC in 2008 than in 2007. How can you argue with that? Only fools reject science. Another set of people reject science – dictators who rule unjustly over their people.
The statistics reveal to us that under Karan Singh’s second takeover of water more GWI employees were fired within a six-month period than for the entire life of the company. Under Mr. Singh’s second term, GWI employees were falling like mangoes from a tree in a yard of a GuySuCo estate house.
When I wrote about that, I got a call from Mr. Singh one Saturday morning. It woke me from my sleep. I got a lecture on how I was silent when the company was under foreign control. I reminded him that I did criticise Severn Trent but he would not have known that because he had forsaken Guyana for Canada and would not have been familiar with my writings.
The next time I spoke to Karan Singh was in November last year.
A sewage cleaner with 35 years of service was instantly dismissed after an inquiry which saw one person making an accusation. Mr. Singh was unmoved. I saw the glee in his voice as he turned down my request to look at this case again.
I will urge the new Water Minister, someone I know well, to reexamine the inordinate dismissals of GWI employees by Karan Singh.
One of them served for twenty-five years and at the time of termination had a mortgage. Mr. Singh’s excesses had dangerous implications for ethnic stability in this society but the kings of Guyana were unmoved; after all they own the country.
God knows I have studied so much history and have read about so many obnoxious leaders but those in control here nauseate me in terrible ways.
So the water oligarch is out of action for the time being but the little bosses that the monarchs have loosed on the public sector, and by extension, the Guyanese people are still bossing the country around.
These kings should have long gone through the ballot of the Guyanese people. The owners of Guyana continue to give birth to the little bosses. The little bosses sign bogus documents, they illegally export wildlife, they molest little girls; they openly engage in corruption.
So sad the heart of Joseph O’Lall couldn’t take it! But even sadder was the heart of David de Caires that gave way under the immense frustration of seeing how the new owners of Guyana made Forbes Burnham appeared holier than Mother Teresa.

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