Latest update January 7th, 2025 12:43 AM
Aug 03, 2010 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
The presidential hopefuls within the PPP, along with those like Donald Ramotar and Ralph Ramkarran who have expressed a willingness to serve as President if so chosen, will have to consider if any of them succeeds, where they are going to live, because from the way things are going it may only be a matter of time before State House is placed on the auction block.
Guyana is up for sale. The latest advertised privatization is the sale of the government’s share in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, a sale that makes no sense, especially considering that for a long time, the government had not enjoyed a dividend on these shares and during this period there was rationale for selling. Why now?
It is almost certain that these shares will end up in the hands of the powerful, stinking rich and politically influential oligarchy that is enjoying the benefits of doing business with the present administration.
No amount of criticism is going to change anything. The groundwork for neutralizing the criticisms of this sale has already been laid. There has been a promise to provide ninety thousand households or almost half of Guyana with computers.
With this announcement there is not going to be any public outcry over the disposal of these shares since the public will be told that the monies from this sale will go towards ensuring that free computers are given to the masses.
The critics of this sale will then be exposed to the wrath of the people who will view the opposition to the sale as denying them the right to get a free computer.
The critics will be accused, as the telephone company was a few years back, of impeding progress in the telecommunication industry.
But who will benefit from this progress and specifically from the sale of these shares? The oligarchy that will win this bid will end up making a windfall or at least having a safe investment for the billions that they have at their disposal. And everything will be above board and transparent.
Things are so transparent that when you go to purchase the bidding documents, you will be supplied with a copy of the advertisement. It is comical but interesting.
The only reason why someone would in the first place go to purchase the bid documents is because they would have read the advertisement of the proposed sale. So why do they have to be given a copy?
This is so to show how great the commitment to transparency is, for despite inviting bids for the shares through public advertisement, all the bidders would receive a copy of the advertisement.
This is by no means an accident for there was a controversy over the Sanata bid when one thing was advertised and another thing was sold.
There was an invitation for parts of the complex, but when the contract was awarded, the entire facility was leased.
This time around there is not likely to be that sort of controversy, because when you pay for the bid documents you will receive a copy of the advertisement.
It should be carefully read for it clearly states that the government is not bound to accept the highest bidder. Now this is the same government which when the Amaila Falls Road Project was announced and concerns were raised about the experience of the contractor, the government justified the award by claiming that the successful bidder came in the lowest.
If you are buying, you want to buy at the lowest price and if you are selling, you want to sell at the highest price. If the sale of these shares is to raise revenues to provide computers in 90,000 homes and to improve communication, then why the caveat that the authorities are not bound to accept the highest bid.
This is a sale. There should in this instance be no worry about the experience of the bidder. He is buying what the government is selling. He is not building a road. Why not accept the highest bidder?
The government also does not have to worry who gets these shares, unlike what happened when Omai sold its interest in its bauxite firm to Bosai.
These are minority shares and the new owners will not have any great say in the company. So why the proviso about not necessarily selling to the highest bidder?
Will the Godsends within the Privatization Unit and the government be willing to inform the public why this statement about not being bound to accept the highest bid? What is the reason?
TO BE CONTINUED
Jan 06, 2025
Kaieteur Sports- Guyanese Mixed Martial Arts international star fighter, Carlston Harris is set for a return to the Octagon this coming Saturday against Argentina’s Santiago Ponzinibbio. Having...Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Bharrat Jagdeo has long represented an unsettling paradox in Guyana’s politics. He... more
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- It has long been evident that the world’s richest nations, especially those responsible... more
Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.
Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]