Fip Motilall seems to have disappeared and there is no sign of any construction equipment

Aug 03, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
To come directly to the point; I, and I’m sure most Guyanese, would like to know: “What is the relationship between the Jagdeo Administration and Makeshwar Fip Motilall?
The answer may help us understand why, after defaulting on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2006 (Kaieteur News August 1) to build the entire Hydropower Plant at Amaila Falls, President Jagdeo and company still have the confidence that this Real Estate Developer can actually deliver on the US$1.6 million access road he’s contracted to build.
In today’s world of ultra high technology, every successful business has a professionally designed website that is updated daily to promote traffic.
In the construction business, especially those multi-million dollar industries, websites are the easiest and most frequently used to determine the history, experience, and solvency of a company before business is transacted.
No one that I know, except the Jagdeo Administration, would contract a Real Estate Broker to build an extension to his house. One may seek his advice to find out what permits may be required, or whether the extension is permissible by zoning laws, but ultimately, I’m sure a building contractor would be asked to do the job…someone who really knows what he is doing. If the President does not know how to use a computer, he could have directed one of his highly paid advisors to do a background check on Motilall, starting with Synergy Holdings’ website (http://synergyholdings.net/energy/hydro/amailafalls/amailafalls.htm).
There he would have discovered these disturbing facts:
1. This website was launched in 2007. This means that at the time the MoU was signed on May 23, 2006, Fip Motilall and Synergy Holdings Inc. did not even have a website.
A report by Mark Ramotar “Hydro-power scheme draws closer” was added to the website on September 25, 2008. The report, written two years earlier, covered the Presidential Press Conference held at the Tower Hotel on July 24, 2006, in which President Jagdeo, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Makeshwar Fip Motilall announced the signing of the MoU two months earlier.
The irony is that this unedited article written in 2006 is still featured prominently on Synergy’s website, deliberately giving the false impression that Synergy Holdings Inc. is the company building the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
The website was last updated July 7, 2008, and since then, no effort was made to replace this misleading information with the truth.
I suspect it is good advertising to get another naïve victim in awarding Synergy another lucrative hydroelectric project.
2. The Synergy Holdings website talks vaguely about renewable energy, but fails to mention a single project that they had worked on…no hydropower plant, no roads, no nothing.
3. Most of the information on this site is aimed at getting customers to buy house lots.
There is even a form for potential buyers to fill in their personal information. And believe it or not, there is a section under construction that asks the question: “Need a Loan?” I guess now that Motilall is in possession of a US$1.6 million advance, compliments of the President and at the expense of the Guyanese taxpayers, I expect he can now afford to pay someone to maintain the Synergy website, and so this section may soon be up and running.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what may have transpired behind closed doors, and given all we know about Fip and this Administration, it is very likely that Real Estate Broker, Makeshwar Fip Motilall, cleverly wheel and deal his way in the hierarchy of the PPP/C Administration.
A deal was struck to award Fip the Amaila Falls contract provided certain conditions were agreed to. I doubt these agreements could have been written into any contract, but let’s refer to it as a ‘gentleman’s agreement’.
After the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP) became public knowledge and Motilall was exposed, the Guyana Government, clearly embarrassed, used the pressure of the free press to take away the construction of the hydropower plant from him, but for obvious reasons (the gentleman’s agreement), awarded him the consolation prize of constructing the AFHP access road, which they hope would stop the media outburst, and pray he can bring to fruition.
The AFHP access road is now running behind schedule, or according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon, Fip Motilall is “behind the eight-ball”. He seems to have disappeared with the US$1.6 million, and there is no sign of the construction equipment that should have been in Guyana already.
I therefore, renew the call of the opposition and demand that President Jagdeo honour the promise he made to the Guyanese people at a press conference in Trinidad on April 18, 2009 when he said, “In two months’ time you will see this Bill (referring to the Freedom of Information Act) being tabled in parliament.
We’re already drafting it. That’s what we are working on….”
Mr. President, you have broken or have not lived up to most of the campaign promises the PPP/C made in its 2006 Manifesto, and if you were true to your word, we should have had a Freedom of Information Act passed over a year ago.
By now, Mr. President, you must realise there is a dire need for transparency in your Government.
You can redeem yourself by expediting this Act now, and not wait to do so on your way out the door in 2011.
Harry Gill
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Corruption and cancer are evil influences that spread dangerously

Dear Editor,
The World Bank defines “Corruption” as offering, giving, receiving, or asking for anything of value to influence the action of a public official. Cancer is defined in the Collins dictionary as: any type of malignant growth or tumour caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division which may spread through the lympathic system or blood stream to other parts of the body, or an evil influence that spreads dangerously.
Cancer can result in death but does corruption have the same results? Permit me to outline a short story so readers can decide for themselves.
My late mother, Anne Kennard Drepaul was diagnosed with stomach cancer around June 2008. Although she was not able to attend, a Cancer Awareness for Rural Education (CARE) a cricket match was held at the family cricket ground at Bush Lot Farm, on the Corentyne Coast in the County of Berbice in August 2008.
My mother passed away in October 2008 when the cancer spread to her liver. On the first anniversary of her passing in 2009, I took my mother’s ashes to be distributed at the waterside at the Bush Lot Farm. It was my intention to erect a cricket stand in her honour. Unknown to me and without my permission, two cricket stands were erected on the family cricket ground.
Both stands bore the names of a man who I later found out to be a Guyanese born American businessman on a philanthropic ‘Standfordesque’ mission to bring cricket to Berbice.
In my haste and anger with this ‘eye pass’, I painted my late mother’s name and my late Uncle Winston Kennard’s name across the stands. As it transpired, this, a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement employee was subsequently arrested in the US and charged with violating the US Conflict of Interest laws by awarding government contracts to companies controlled by himself and members of his family. The national papers in Guyana carried full details of the arrest, in particular the Kaiteur News who published my first letter on this saga titled, ‘A Principled Stand is required against Corruption’ [Kaieteur News 12 January 2010].
I have recently been informed by the US Department of Justice that the man has pleaded guilty to the charges against him and is due to be sentenced on the 14th October 2010 in New York. It would be worth those who are selling their souls abroad for a bite of the ‘Big Apple’ to attend the sentencing as the maximum penalty for these federal offences can be up to five years imprisonment.
I have informed the US Department of Justice that this man’s name will be removed from the cricket stands and they will be renamed the ‘Liberty’ and ‘Justice’ stands.
Those who believe in these principles will be allowed into the family matches without hindrance or charge as my great grandfather, Dr. Charles Poole Kennard so desired.
This is my token effort in honour of my late mother, (whose 80th birthday would be today, 4th August) to stop the cancer of corruption killing the land of our birth.
Robert S. Drepaul
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Confidence booster

Dear Editor,
No matter if one chooses to relocate to an adopted new home, it’s the national pride which that person possesses and return something to his/her roots that really matters and it also tells a lot about one’s character.
It is also inspiring and can boost the morale of others with their respective contribution.
This been said, Pilot Mike Charles deserves all the recognition in the books for his outstanding contribution over the years towards the marketing of The Golden Arrowhead with his documentary and pictorial DVD’s projects.
I believe it’s a very challenging task to undertake, especially when resources might be limited, but, just work and continue to make the best of what is available.
T. Pemberton

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