Information drought to blame for Amaila’s uncertainty- Ramkarran

Sep 17, 2013 News

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Government did enough- Nandlall

Former Speaker of the National Assembly, Ralph Ramkarran, is saying that the major downfall of the Amaila Hydro Falls Project lies not with its technicalities; but with the lack of public relations on the part of the government.
Ramkarran is of the opinion that ways could have been found to deal with the inadequacies of the project, if any, but starving key stakeholders of what they need to know is the real issue.

The politician said that Government’s actions sent a signal that there is a reluctance to deal with certain “critical issues.”  He implied that the government cares little about how much the population knows about the project. This was reflected in Ramkarran’s latest article, published on his website—www.conversationtree.com.
On the other hand, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, said yesterday that the government did enough to educate citizens on the project. He said that during a series of consultations, the President ensured that all documents available were handed over to the opposition.
Nandlall stated that at one point, the President asked, “What else could be done and what other pieces of information were needed?” Nandlall said that he feels strongly that the government did all it could have done as it relates to public relations.
However, that is not a sentiment shared by former PPP executive member, Ramkarran. In his online article, Ramkarran noted that no structure to generate trust and confidence in the government existed by the time Amaila came around.
He pointed out too that there was no organized public information campaign or effort to supplement, expand and define—on a daily basis—what government key speaker on this project had to say. “On the other hand, the Opposition and other critics were in the media every day.”
Ramkarran said that as a result, important questions were not answered, either at all, or in a timely manner while other questions were answered only partially.
The former People Progressive Party (PPP) member said that bearing in mind the suspicions surrounding the project, the government erred by its non effort to take the offensive, to anticipate what the critics were likely to raise, and answer them beforehand.
He highlighted that the result of what the government didn’t do, was that the narrative of the Opposition and the critics gained ascendancy and enough traction to enable A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to argue in justification of its negative vote in the National Assembly.
Ramkarran said that some of the most important questions raised included: the cost of electricity to the consumer after the construction of Amaila, whether Guyana would have to go into debt, Sithe Global’s financial commitment, the rate of return, the inadequacy of Amaila by the time it comes on stream and the absence of a plan for the development of the Potaro Basin.
The former Speaker said that the first above stated question was never answered or “adequately answered”.
He opined that the second “had no relationship to the viability of the project. The third was never fully clarified. The fourth could have been defended. The fifth is no reason not to proceed with Amaila because without it the situation will be far worse. The sixth is giving up the bird in the hand for two in the bush.”
With his answers being simply put forward, Ramkarran said that answers from the government needed to be in the media every day, “not merely as a response to the critics, but as a public information activity in an effort to mobilize public support. But this was never done.
“The distinct impression created was that no seriously organized public information effort went into the promotion of Amaila and the questions were dealt with on an ad hoc basis by persons who were otherwise heavily engaged with other daily activities.”
Ramkarran noted that there was “no government website to answer, in a timely manner, all the questions which were being raised. Attractive publications arguing the case for Amaila were absent. Such publications as came out in the State press were unattractive and uninteresting. No one watched Government spokespersons on television. Credible engineers and financial experts were not engaged to promote the project and debate with the critics.”
The former speaker said that the government showed reluctance to deal with certain critical issues, even if unpalatable, such as the cost of electricity to the consumer. “Even if the cost would not have gone down initially, the public ought nevertheless to have been told. This could have been defended. Instead the Government allowed the critics’ accusation of deception to take hold. The Sithe Global website did not deal with this and other important issues.”
Ramkarran concluded that with the suspicions about corruption and accusations about inadequately negotiated deals, it is hardly a surprise that APNU said that it was not convinced. Government that public a relation is serious business and ought not to be left to politicians
The former Speaker advised, “If the lesson of Amaila is not learnt, the new airport and the specialty hospital will go the same way unless lawful extra-budgetary ways are found to contribute Government share of the finance, if this is required.”

 

 

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