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Give talk a try Mr. Ramotar. There’s a legacy waiting

Sep 08, 2013 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

In Marseille, gangland murders have been wreaking havoc in that part of France. The latest murder is the son of one of France’s big names in football administration. The Government of France decided it is time for crisis talks about the future of Marseille. The Interior Minister has summoned all the political parties. This is European nationalism as it was hundreds of years ago and still is. When it comes to country, European leaders don’t mess around.
Sadly one of the countries in the world where nationalism has become a hopeless victim of tribalism is Guyana. No other example is more graphic than the fiasco on hydropower. If from the beginning, Mr. Jagdeo had called in the opposition and told them that Guyana is about to embark on its most expensive State investment and if they can put politics aside and look at the project, maybe the hydropower process would have gone beyond its teething problems, and gaining pace by now.
This is the road Mr. Jagdeo did not take. This is the direction Mr. Ramotar should go in and I honestly believe a legacy is waiting for him. In all the confusion about the Amaila Falls thing, the entire nation forgot something. But first let us mention the name,  Raymond Gaskin. All, not most, Guyanese who read about the pitfalls of the hydropower investment deal would recognize that Mr. Gaskin played a huge analytical role in the debate for which no one can claim that it he was just propagandizing.
Mr. Gaskin presented an analytical critique of the Amaila Falls investment that was very impressive. I admit that I am no economist and therefore people like me would be guided by Gaskin’s skills. But the nation did not see a point by point rebuttal of Gaskin which is the work of governments. They have to use statistics to prove the statistics of their opposition are misleading.
Now the thing that most Guyanese forgot is that Raymond Gaskin undertook a study last year for the Government to examine the financial records of the Georgetown City Council. This is public knowledge. The State didn’t hide it nor did Mr. Gaskin. If he was asked by the Government to undertake an assignment and he didn’t refuse then Gaskin showed that he was not opposed to talking to the Government.
In the same vein I don’t believe any doctor, lawyer, engineer or technical person aligned to the opposition will refuse an approach by the Government if their particular skill is requested. There may want to consult their organization first but I doubt he/she will tell the Government to go to hell.
The Amaila Falls project began under Mr. Jagdeo. There is a new president and he needs to consult most stakeholders if he is going to embark on a new hydropower scheme or another investment of that magnitude. He has nothing to lose politically by such a new approach. Mr. Ramotar needs to proceed in ways that would lead the nation to believe that he is his own man.
Even if Mr. Ramotar has no new big investment project on stream, it is in the nation’s interest for him to resurrect the tripartite formula. Obviously APNU and AFC will ask for time tables and deadlines and this is commonsense. No opposition will dialogue with the Government and as months drag on and a year is reached you are still talking.
There is a plethora of issues that the tripartite framework could achieve agreement on and the country as a whole can benefit and Mr. Ramotar’s legacy can begin to take shape. One obvious beginner is the restoration of Georgetown. All stakeholders in this country, maybe one should say all of Guyana’s citizens must be ashamed of what Georgetown has become. I don’t believe there is a single Guyanese who does not know that the state and image of Georgetown are horrible.
Any foreigner who comes to Georgetown and see the ubiquity of garbage, clogged drains and alleyways and the mountains of overgrowths must wonder what kind of country is this. The Brazilians and Chinese are pouring into Guyana and you just wonder what they say about Georgetown because it is doubtful they come from cities in Brazil and China that even remotely resemble the mess that is Georgetown.
Why can’t the presidency, APNU and the AFC collaborating with important stakeholders meet and plan together the restoration of Georgetown? What can be the basis for disagreement? This is my choice for the first item because I think it is politically a non-contentious one. Donald Ramotar should begin in small ways to start the talking process.  

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