Why was Pegasus sold?

Jul 12, 2009 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Last week, one of my pieces (“President Jagdeo does it again,” July 7) looked at the consistent failures of Mr. Jagdeo’s presidency since he assumed the mantle of power almost ten years ago. I made the opinion that in democratic countries, with open competition for leadership, Mr. Jagdeo would have faced formidable and consistent challenges. In that essay, I offered some short notes on Mr. Jagdeo’s failures. It would have taken up several articles to enumerate these failings.

I looked at four situations in that assessment – his handling of the GPSU strike in 1999; his bold announcement in Trinidad that in May of this year, Guyana would have the Freedom of Information Act; his citing of the report of an international organization that Guyana is number 30 among countries that observe press freedom and his accusation of criminal impropriety by Khemraj Ramjattan. These are just a drop in the ocean of the President’s relentless drive into the river of failure. Let us look at some more vacancies in the exercise of power by Mr. Jagdeo. We can start with the sale of the Pegasus.
Important to note that investors all over the world, in all countries have one salient thing in common with each other – if profits are pouring in, they will not sell. Why would you sell if your enterprise is working for you? Isn’t this commonsense? Isn’t this why a person invests? You put your money in a venture so it can earn you more money. If it brings you much, much more, then you have a goldmine. The Jamaica Pegasus and the Guyana Pegasus (before the latter was sold) had the same type of ownership – partly foreign, partly government.

Why was the Guyana operation sold by its foreign owners and not Jamaica’s? Jamaica Pegasus is owned by Superclubs International, Middle East Ventures and the Jamaican Government which has 59.8 percent of the shares. The Jamaican Government has announced its intention to sells its shares; foreign investors have formed a long line. Here is the interesting part. The two present foreign owners are prevented by the Articles of Incorporation from bidding for the Government’s part. John Issa, Chairman of Superclubs International and who also sits on the board of Middle East Ventures, is currently in talks with the Jamaican Government to change the Articles of Incorporation.
So while foreign investors are shying away from Guyana and offloading their investments here, in Jamaica, the situation is the opposite. Yet the Jamaica Government said it didn’t have money to spend on hosting the ICC’s Twenty/20 tournament. Poor Guyana, though, is happy to spend its scarce dollars on the tournament next year.

Before it was sold last month, the Guyana Pegasus was owner by Starman Hotels. It would only deepen the pessimism of this nation if it is reported what Mr. Jose Alvarez of the New York-based firm, Molinaro Kroger, said about his company’s facilitation of the sale of Guyana Pegasus on behalf of Starman Hotels. But more than this were the words of the spokesperson for Starman Hotels, Felicity Black-Roberts. She was virtually ecstatic and literally relieved that Starman Hotels found a buyer. Starman Hotels was in fact desperate to get rid of the Guyana Pegasus. Now brace yourself for the shock of your life. Starman Hotels is one of the bidders for the Jamaican Government’s shares in the Jamaica Pegasus. So the picture, if you didn’t get it, is that Starman Hotels sees Jamaica as a better prospect than Guyana.

How do you rate the presidency of Mr. Jagdeo when you think of situations like these? I say “like these” because the venture of a lifetime in Guyana which Mr. Jagdeo put so much energy and hope in went away with the tide in the Kingston Atlantic. Where is the Marriott Hotel? Space has run out to enumerate the other missing parts of Mr. Jagdeo’s tenure. But mention should be made of the solemn promises EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson gave the Guyana Government about slow and small cuts in the Sugar Protocol in 2005. After he left Guyana, the cuts were deep. Did he have so much contempt for our leaders?
What about Mr. Jagdeo’s ignominious defeat over the signing of the EPA. Finally, what happened to Lawrence Duprey, the Trinidadian billionaire owner of CLICO? Didn’t someone put their fate in him? DDL had to take the Government to court over its allocation of molasses which was to be reduced to make way for Mr. Duprey’s firm, Angostura Holdings. Angostura is a concentrate of bitters used in beverages. What a bitter end to Mr. Duprey’s friendship in Guyana with, YOU KNOW WHO.

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Why was Pegasus sold?

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