TRANSPARENCY KNOCKED OUT BY BUREAUCRATIC INERTIA

Jul 28, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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It is time Guyana calls off the deal it has with Norway. Guyana’s has earned the funds that are now locked down in the World Bank’s bureaucracy and therefore is not begging Norway or the Bank for any handouts.
The World Bank should be given an ultimatum. They either disburse the funds immediately or Guyana opts out of the deal. Guyana had the gumption to stand up to the European Union even though sanctions were threatened and Guyana should have the courage to stand up and say enough is enough with this deal and to hell with the Norwegian money.
For Guyana, such a recourse will mean a great loss of money. But that is the price sometimes you have to pay to let those imperialist organisations know that Guyana is no longer a colony or a protectorate.
The World Bank is controlled by its members. But everyone knows that it is the most powerful members who exercise the greatest influence. And the most powerful member of all is the United States of America.
The Americans may be playing politics with these funds. They may be fearful that the timely release of the funds at this time will aid the ruling party in its reelection.
That of course is none of the business of the World Bank or the powers that control it. But they like to make it their business to point to even sponsoring candidates and political parties.
The World Bank is not lending Guyana any of the sums that is presently not releasing. It is simply acting as a clearing facility for the governments of Guyana and Norway who are signatories to an agreement that has seen Guyana earn, not borrow, some US$70M so far.
As such, if the World Bank is going to stonewall on the release of these funds, if it is going to claim all manner of excuses, it should be politely told that the deal is off and that its services are no longer required.
Guyana has invested a great deal of time and resources behind the Norwegian deal. Guyana entered the negotiations with the Norwegians as if that country was doing us a favour. They were not. The Norwegians got what they wanted from the deal and Guyana got tied up with the World Bank.
This is a problem that has afflicted Guyana for some time. Guyana continues to have a dependence on these organisations. In the early days it was for funding for projects. Today it is for the skills and technical support that the bank can provide.
These services however come at a price and they support a flourishing consultant industry. No doubt some consultant has to come to conduct a review of that which can be verified by satellite technology or by a telephone call. This all costs money and puts fees into the pockets of consultants.
Guyana has been there before. It has done that. It does not need to go back there. Guyana is supposed to have a diplomatic representative at both the World Bank and the IMF.
If that person cannot loosen the bureaucratic strings, it means that nothing that is said or done in Guyana will change the situation. The funds, in short, will not come before the elections.
But the World Bank must understand that Guyana is a sovereign country and is not going to be treated like a colonial dominion.
The World Bank can keep the funds and the Norwegians should be told that regrettably Guyana is unable to continue with the rigmarole that it has to undergo because of the involvement of the World Bank.
Burnham once told the World Bank that the prescriptions they demanded of him were a recipe for riot. Guyana should now signal to the World Bank that it cannot tolerate any longer its bureaucratic procedures and should ask that the World Bank sign off of any future involvement on the Norwegian deal.
This effectively kills the Norwegian deal in the same way as Burnham’s rejection of the IMF/ World Bank conditionalities in the early eighties killed the programme that was being planned.
For Guyana, the cancellation of the deal represents a major loss. But Guyana can do without the funds.
Guyana can raise it otherwise by asking China and India to become involved in the very projects that the Norwegians funds were supposed to finance.
Guyana made a mistake when it agreed to allow the Norwegians funds to be channeled through the World Bank. And it must accept that mistake and vow for that to never happen again.
It must never go into negotiations feeling that the foreign countries and agencies are doing Guyana a favour. It signed on to the World Bank participation because of the pressure that was coming from the opposition camp calling for greater transparency.
The problem has turned out not be transparency but bureaucratic inertia, something for which the World Bank is renowned.

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