The public has rejected the Amaila project

Aug 19, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
On the stage on which the politics of Guyana is being performed, one would expect at any moment to see the appearance of Habeeb Khan or Jerry Lewis to participate in the pantomime.
On the one hand, we have the minority government of Mr. Ramotar, which steadfastly refuses to accept that they are holding on to power by the skin of their teeth, due to a constitution which allows a government which does not hold a plurality of parliament to rule the country.
The is not accepting this abnormality and cooperating fully with the opposition due to a fear of losing the control of power with the inevitable consequences that must follow in view of the fact the Guyanese people on all sides, perhaps even those who voted for them, consider them to be the most corrupt and inept government in the Caribbean and are at the lowest rungs of decent government in the world.
Were there to be a proper accounting by a strong judiciary, we would see many of our highest functionaries of all levels including the judicial arm of government taking up residence in lot 12 Camp Street for various and gross misdemeanors in public office.
On the other hand, we have an Opposition, which after nearly three years with the support of 52% of the population, have not discharged their responsibility to the majority who voted for them.
Because they will not stand together, they have been largely inefficient. And time and again it has proved to be the AFC which has let us down; begging the question, why don’t they see that those who voted for them in our badly divided society said no to the PPP, and that the PPP’s popularity has declined to a stage from which it may never recover the power it once had due to the corruption which the Jagdeo administration has visited on Guyana.
And recently we see that the reaction to Mr. Ramotar calling for support of the Amelia deal was not well received by the public on any side of the fragmented political divide. The public reaction to Mr. Ramjattan’s support of this matter in Parliament gives us a glimpse of the mood of the public. They did not like it at all!
Despite the fact that the opposition benches in parliament are filled with lawyers, not one case has trickled through to the CCJ to rule on the very unique political position we find ourselves in today. Many feel that a constitution which leaves a country in this fragmented situation should not be allowed to stand. It is a flaw which was not foreseen by its crafters and it is time that we explore ways to make sure that this cannot happen again, and if it is allowed to stand, then a different interpretation of how it must work in the unique situation we find ourselves in today must be given clearly and unequivocally.
Several motions, bills etc. have been submitted to parliament and approved by a majority of the house and Mr. Ramotar and his government have refused to assent to them! So Mr. Ramotar and his government are violating our Laws. He must do as the parliament wishes or stand the consequences. It is common sense, but even common sense seems to have escaped the PPP. Now Mr. Ramotar is begging them to rubberstamp his Amelia project when it seems from all legitimate nongovernmental sources that this project is riddled with graft of every kind, making it, per megawatt cost, one of the most expensive ever built on the planet and INCREDIBLY Mr. Ramotar still does not understand why the opposition is not cooperating with him.
Overlooking the fact that he and his minority government have totally blocked the legitimate wishes of the Opposition on numerous issues, he now condemns them for not supporting him and his ridiculous Amelia project.
In the Stabroek news of 13th August, we see Mr. Ramotar appealing to the public to help him get the Sithe Global investors to stay in an article entitled “Ramotar lobbying Amaila investors to stay”.
There were 45 comments by the public living in Guyana and abroad and having read them all, not one is sympathetic to Mr. Ramotar’s call. They believe Messers Ram, Gaskin, Greenidge and Professor Clive Thomas that this is a bad deal.
We are not a nation which is overly addicted to polls as are other countries, which is a measure of our backwardness. But this response from the public in those comments about Mr Ramotar’s appeal, tells us a very important story: the public has, by a majority of almost 100 percent, rejected the Amaila project and GP&L and the PPP. It is a matter which has not come up seriously before but it should. Desmond Hoyte wanted to privatise GP&L just as he privatised GT&T but he was stopped from completing the deal after losing the 1992 elections.  The option to privatise GP&L is still before us on the table, and that is what I think that we should do. Instead of supporting these shenanigans, the Private Sector Commission should be supporting the privatisation of GP&L and not supporting Amaila, which is riddled with problems that has plagued the project from day one, starting with the Fip Motilall.
I will not dwell on the lack of accountability which the PPP has conspired to cloud all deals it is making with the Chinese for Marriot hotels, airports and sugar factories, all of which are not intended to serve the people of Guyana but the serve the inflow to the private pockets of our government officials.
Tony Vieira  

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