EVEN THE LONGEST ROPE HAS AN END

Mar 29, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

When you listen to the explanations given by the President of Guyana for the retention of a former top official of CLICO on the Board of Directors of the Guyana Sugar Corporation, and when you hear also the reasons why the President feels it makes no sense to launch an inquiry into the collapse of CLICO (Guyana), it is obvious even to the blind that Guyana will have to wait until the President demits office for any investigation to be launched.
When it comes to certain things, such investigations into things that have occurred in this country, when it comes to finding answers to unexplained developments, these inquiries and answers are not going to take place under the Jagdeo presidency.
The government seems to have little stomach for such an inquiry. But such an inquiry will eventually have to take place because there are far too many serious questions which need to be answered and for accountability to be enforced in a number of cases of which CLICO is just one of them.
In the case of CLICO (Guyana), there are serious questions about issues which preceded the application for judicial management. There is whole swirl of questions concerning the investments made by the National Insurance Scheme and the possible connections with the subsequent investment by that company in the Berbice River Bridge consortium.
There is also the question as to who had knowledge as to whether the law was broken in relation to the movement of funds from CLICO (Guyana) to the Bahamas. Our insurance laws are quite explicit on what percentage of funds could be invested and from all accounts, the problems that led to the application for judicial administration of CLICO (Guyana) were as a result of the investment of these funds which subsequently found its way into a failed investment in the United States of America.
These investments have caused great uncertainty among CLICO (Guyana)’s policyholders in Guyana. It has caused many to worry about their pensions and annuities.
The government has assured that everyone will get back their monies. The Trinidad government has provided some funding for this purpose. Right now the winding up of the company is awaiting the outcome of legal challenges.
The government has guaranteed that no one will lose money, and this guarantee is no doubt backed up by the resources of the State, resources that ultimately belong to the people of Guyana. Surely it cannot be asking too much for the public to demand in return for the guarantee, an inquiry into the circumstances that led to the collapse of CLICO.
This is however being stoutly resisted. There must be some reasons for this resistance. On top of this, the public is told that the retention of a former top official of CLICO (Guyana) on the Board of Directors of the Guyana Sugar Corporation is because of the person’s skills.
Well that is a most bizarre explanation. Any responsible government would have, regardless of the unquestionable talents and abilities of any individual, acted differently. It would have found a nice way to ask the person to step aside.
The retention is however not a judgment on the individual concerned. It is a judgment against the government which ought to have acted differently. It has not and it is not likely to act differently in relation to CLICO and in relation to a host of other controversies in Guyana.
But as the saying goes in Guyana, “Even the longest rope has an end.” There is not likely during this presidency to be an investigation into the collapse of CLICO. There is not likely to be an inquiry as to whether certain investors and policyholders were able to get their monies out before the application for judicial administration. It should be crystal clear to even the most casual observer that this is not going to happen under this presidency.
However, Guyana will have a new President in the next eighteen months and it is left to be seen whether that person will be willing to finally ensure some degree of responsible government and whether that person would finally yield to the voices that have been calling for inquiry into CLICO (Guyana).
It is hardly likely that such an inquiry can be avoided since the main opposition is going to make the controversies surrounding CLICO (Guyana) and particularly the NIS investments, a campaign issue.

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