Something is hiding behind the wall of silence

Jun 26, 2011 Features / Columnists, My Column

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The wall of silence that surrounds so many matters is not only astonishing, it suggests that people in this country are being taken for granted. Perhaps the reason is even worse; that the people are fools and simply would not understand; that all they are interested in would be other people’s business, the rapes and murders and arsons and the other human happenings.
The truth is that most people are keen politicians who could analyse issues that could have an impact on their future. These are the people who follow the price of gold and sugar and rice on the international market. These are the people who keep a close eye on the movement of the price for oil, because they understand that every aspect of their lives is linked to oil.
This past week the international media reported on a significant happening in the local gold industry. There was Omai Gold Mines that extracted hundreds of ounces of gold and made the national coffers healthy, although they did not pay much taxes. The reason was that they were granted a tax holiday by the previous administration.
In fact, Dr Cheddi Jagan, when he assumed the presidency in 1992, reopened an examination of the Omai contract that the late President Desmond Hoyte signed. He was certain that there was corruption in the deal and he promised to table his findings in the National Assembly. He did. But these findings were not what he expected. He learnt that the Omai contract was signed on the principle of the best deal available. In the end, he embraced Omai and reaped the benefits.
Such were the benefits that when a cyanide spill into the Essequibo River threatened the closure of the industry, Prime Minister Sam Hinds waived some measures to allow the company to restart operations.
Omai subsequently left. The price of gold soared from the US$400 an ounce that Omai got to US$1,500 today. A new company has come, having acquired the Omai assets. It is here that we see a wall of secrecy.
When Omai was coming this was made known. The issue was widely debated; every step was made public. We knew nothing of this new company until the foreign media made it known. This company, Mahdia Gold Corporation, by way of a public press release, has announced that “there is historical data which suggests that there are still significant gold deposits on the site.
“Further exploratory drilling into the bottom of the open Fennell pit suggested that there could be an additional deposit of 1.4 million ounces of gold still available for mining by the company; data which was derived from just one pit while the other areas on the mining concession still remain to be evaluated.”
It said that over a period of 13 years the mine had produced some 3.7 million ounces of gold when the gold prices were approximately US$300 per ounce.
Simple Mathematics would show that Omai walked away with more than US$ 1 billion over 13 years. Mahdia Gold Corporation says that it could walk away with almost US$3 billion from just the one pit that has 1.4 million ounces. We do not know what could be found in the other pits. Surely it could be more than the 1.4 million ounces. That is the value of this asset. Guyana has so far got US$11.4 million for the company’s two-year exploration licence.
It is here that Guyanese have a problem. They see the value of their assets, they have not been told that it is up for grabs; they know after the fact—after the foreign company made the announcement— that the government sought the best possible deal; and they do not know anything that is likely to happen.
It is this secrecy that has people talking about side deals. It is no secret that in some countries, the heads accepted ‘gifts’ on the side while the company prepares to extract its billions of dollars. I am not prepared to say that the architects of the deal with Mahdia Gold Corporation will cut a deal that could see some people walk away with tidy gifts.
Indeed the amount of money we are talking about here from one pit is about four times the national budget—four years of government spending in Guyana.
After the announcement by the foreign company, a reporter contacted Prime Minister Sam Hinds who holds responsibility for the mining sector. He could not deny the involvement of the foreign mining company, because the company itself opened its mouth.
I remember Mr Winston Brassington saying at one time that the government does not talk until deals are completed. This is surely not the case with reputable companies. They talk all the time as the issue progresses. That is the difference between the developed world and small republics like ours. This secrecy allows others to accuse us of being corrupt. They call us banana republics.
The Prime Minister said that he did not know about the actual sale. Then tell us what you know, Mr Prime Minister. He goes on to say that there has been no discussion on the issue of royalties or any such negotiations, however, an announcement by the Government of the particulars of the deal may be forthcoming.
This certainly leaves the door open for rampant speculation. There is no evidence that the US$11.4 million is reflected in the accounts of the public treasury. We know that the government is undertaking numerous projects, most of which have not been budgeted for.
President Bharrat Jagdeo himself once said that once the financial inflows are such that they are above budgetary expectations he will spend the money. Parliament and the nation are not involved in these spending excursions and this is why the cloud remains.
There was a wall of silence over the collapse of the generator at Skeldon. Kaieteur News ferreted out the information and the sugar company responded that it did not remain silent. Strange that it only announced the problem after Kaieteur News reported the problem.
There is still a wall of silence over the amount of money the government spent during the clean-up after the 2005 floods.
There is a wall of silence about the movement of the president. We hardly know when he is in or out. Barack Obama might have loved this level of privacy but the laws of his country do not allow him to. Guyana must be in a world of its own.

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