One must be wary of any agreement the government enters into

Feb 27, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
Thanks for your latest exposure of the secret deals of the Bharrat Jagdeo regime.
One would love to believe that all agreements entered into by the Guyana Government are entered into with the best interest of the nation in mind and that there are no under-the-table deals involving the people’s patrimony.
Regrettably, given the PPPC’s track record, marked and marred by corrupt practices and gross ineptitude, one must be wary of any agreement the government enters into.
That wariness must embrace all agreements signed – whether under the full glare of public scrutiny or shrouded in secrecy as is the agreement with the Ansa McAl Group of Companies, reportedly “for 110,000 hectares (approx. 425 square miles) of virgin land in the Canje Basin.”
I am not sure about the legal position, but the President and no handful of persons in government should be able to enter into any agreement – secret or otherwise – involving sizeable tracts of the nation’s land or other resources with any other party.
No President of Guyana and a handful of his close associates and henchpersons should be able to sign any Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or any other form of agreement with any other party without the knowledge and scrutiny of Parliament.
It is unacceptable that Members of Parliament and the public at large should learn by mere accident about the existence of agreements such that with the Ansa McAl Group.
Unfortunately, such secretive deals have become the norm with the PPPC Government. The list includes the Marriott Hotel and the new airport project to be done by the Chinese company out of Jamaica among others.
As a Guyanese living for forty two years out of Guyana, I would have thought that Guyanese have elevated themselves to higher standards after experiencing the Burnham political and economic suppression and worse yet the 19 years of Bharrat Jadgeo’s corrupt regime.
If President Ramotar is any different from President Jagdeo, and if he is interested in ensuring that the sins of the Jagdeo regime do not further tarnish his own presidency, this is his moment in history.
Not only should he distance himself from such secretive, suspect and undemocratic practices, but he should, for a start, insist that there be an inventory and public review of all agreements entered into by the Jagdeo presidency over the last five years.
Who knows what other secret deals with possible far-reaching implications, sanctioned by a President who several years ago said corruption was at an acceptable level in Guyana, remain cloistered?
Many Guyanese like myself, who left Guyana for economic benefits overseas, have been longing for the day to come when we can start to see a light of hope and a positive signal to so many of us who remember the words even today “ Oh beautiful Guyana, oh my lovely native land; more dear to me than all the world by sea wash, Sunkist strand.”
Those simple words haunt me every day, as the old saying goes where your belly string bury is where your Spirit will always hunger to return.
My greatest hope in Guyana is The Honorable Freddie Kissoon who told the people of Guyana all the wrong doings of the Bharrat Jagdeo administration. God Bless Him, watch over him and keep him safe.
Cleveland Beresford Sr.

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