The government and the dark secrets

Feb 24, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column

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Everything about Guyana seems to be a source of controversy. There was the report by Transparency International that showed how Guyana has slipped on the corruption index. As could be expected, the government was not happy and set out to condemn the local architects. The contention was that these people had political agendas and would always report negatively on the government.
I heard the criticisms and I said to myself that it would have served the government better to note the yardstick used and to address them. The international donors do not worry about the source of the information that allows for the rating, they simply look at the rating and make their decisions.
I am sure that the government recognizes that it will never be able to attract contractors from the developed countries because these contractors are accountable to their governments and the slightest taint of corruption leads to severe sanctions. No one wants to be sanctioned by a government because it could mean being barred from the contracts in that country.
Back in Guyana there seems to be no end to controversies. Serious questions were asked about the Amaila Falls road project when the contract was awarded to Makeshwar ‘Fip’ Motilall. It was widely known that he had no experience although he lied about constructing roads. The government must have known about the lie, but it proceeded to support Motilall.
Head of the Privatisation Unit that controls Government projects, Winston Brassington, was livid when reporters questioned Motilall’s capability. Later, he was to say sotto voce that Motilall will get the work done. Brassington was proven wrong before and he continued to be proven wrong. Motilall failed and the government was forced to rescind the contract.
Then there was the entry of EZjet. Like the arms of a welcoming agent, the government embraced Sonny Ramdeo. The questions about Ramdeo’s ability to provide a reliable airline continued and it came as no surprise when Ramdeo’s EZjet collapsed and Ramdeo ended up in jail.
Meanwhile, the government announced the construction of a five-star hotel. I was not aware that one can build a five-star hotel. I always thought that the rating came during the operation of the hotel when it could be judged.
The nation is still in the dark about who are the people behind the hotel. They know that the government is putting in a lot of money, enough to make people believe that it is a government project. All Brassington would say is that the identities of the private investors cannot be disclosed at this time. He says that negotiations are still in train.
People are not fools. They see a construction going up and they do not know if there is enough money to complete the project. They put two and two together and they conclude that the private investors are those Guyanese with a lot of money and that most of them are Government people.
To add insult to injury, there are no Guyanese involved in the construction. The government claimed that this was due to a demand by the Chinese contractor, Shanghai Construction Group. I am certain that in no other country would a contractor make a demand of a sovereign government, but Guyana must be the exception.
In the face of the protests the government, rather than heed what is being said by the labour leaders, puts up its hackles and offers excuses, one of which is that Guyanese are poor workers and if given a chance, even local contractors would refrain from employing local labour.
But the Marriott is more than local labour. It is more about the private investors. Former President Bharrat Jagdeo told the nation that the hotel would be a case of public/private partnership. It has even gone so far as to invite tenders for the operation of the casino and the restaurant.
We now hear that some time in the future the government would get out of the hotel business and turn everything over to the so far unnamed and unidentified private investors. Perhaps the government would point to the Berbice River Bridge. But here the names of the investors were made clear and they actually set up an umbrella body.
The Amaila Falls project will be handed over to Government but after the contractor would have recouped his money.
It would be interesting if the investors are whom the people suspect—Government people who are accused of being among the most corrupt. If the government is going to hold on until it recoups its money, then one can safely say that the hotel is desperately needed in Guyana. But this is not the case.
One is left to wonder at how a government could attract so much controversy. Some say that the government is not open to the public and if the deal with China Central Television is anything to go by, then the people are right. Nobody knew that an arrangement had been reached for the broadcast of the Chinese television on spectrum that Guyanese themselves want.
Again, the people are talking and getting nowhere. No government has been so secretive unless it happened to be a government in one of the so-called communist states. The result is that Donald Ramotar is being blamed for being inactive.
I do know that Brassington is never keen to disclose anything. It is as though everything is a state secret and that he is the custodian.
What I do know is that the Freedom of Information legislation would get into place sometime late this year or next year. I am going to ask questions and I expect that I would have to go to the courts. With the courts being as clogged up as it is now, it could be quite some time before my request is granted.

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