A WORRYING TREND

Jul 01, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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One of the signs that the ruling administration is losing its grip on the affairs of government can be evidenced by its hysterical reaction to comments that expose the administration.
Just yesterday, the Minister of Labour wrote a letter in response to a contribution in this column discussing the Trafficking in Persons Report. Instead of addressing the concerns in the column, the Minister veered off to suggest that the contributor may be seeking to curry favour with the United States.
Now what does this have to do with the issue under discussion and that is whether there is a official lethargy in relation to taking action to reduce the incidence of and the circumstances that encourage exploitation of persons?
The Minister of Finance had just days earlier dabbled in irrelevancies when responding to the resident World Bank representative who indicated to the media that no approaches were made  to the World Bank in relation to the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project.
The World Bank is a major financier of such type of projects.
The World Bank also has a number of funds such as relating to clean energy development. The rates of interest on World Bank loans are very low and for large infrastructural projects, the World Bank is often seen as a source of borrowing for such projects.
Yet the local representative dropped a bombshell when he said that no approaches had been made to his institution concerning the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project. .
Instead of dealing strictly with this issue, the Minister of Finance, like his colleague in the Ministry of Labour, temporarily veered off course and dabbled in the irrelevancy about the World Bank relocating its office, and employing new staff.
Now what does that have to do with the Minister? What concern is it that the World Bank decides to hire new staff? Guyana is a member of the World Bank and this membership comes with obligations and Guyana has to fulfill those obligations. It is not for the government of Guyana to decide what should be the priorities of the World Bank and whether it should downplay increasing its visibility and raising the personal profile of Bank in Guyana. Guyana must be a good host and behave as such.
The issue, of course, that was being discussed, had nothing to do with the relocation of offices and the hiring of new staff. It had to do with the revelation that the World Bank was not approached for financing.
When he did address this issue, the Minister pointed out that the project was a private sector project and that any such approach had to come from the private investors.
But is it not the same government of Guyana that said recently that it would invest the Norway money to buy equity into the project? So how come now we are being told it is a private sector project?
How can a government buy equity into a project and it is still a private sector project?
The World Bank does not preclude private investors from borrowing from the Bank. The Minister did point out however that the project sponsors have been engaged in discussions with the private sector arm of the World Bank.
The resident representative of the World Bank should now ascertain this fact and if it is true correct himself and advise as to the state of those discussions.
If the Minister of Finance was confident that the project sponsors did make such an approach then there was no need for the comments about the relocation of offices and the hiring of staff.
This is irrelevant, but is part of a trend that is taking hold in Guyana whereby when serious questions are asked of the government, instead of dealing with the issue, there is escape into irrelevancies.
We have seen it all before from officialdom. We have seen when issues have been raised that instead of confronting the issues, the media house that asks the questions are criticized, media houses are told they can tender, they are told that they are being sensational. In other cases, names are thrown. Persons are called, sleaze ball, cassava ball, egg ball and potato ball.
This is not going to take us anywhere other than backwards. The problems of Guyana are not going to be solved in this manner. The problems of Guyana are only going to be solved if ownership of a problem is taken.
And for ownership of take place, persons have to be willing to take a stand on matters. Glenn Lall likes to remind his friends of a quote which states, “If you cannot stand up for something in this life, you will fall for anything.”
At this stage of Guyana’s development we do not need to go backwards. We need to go forward and the way forward requires the responsible exercise of power, not the careless use of it.

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