AMAILA FALLS: A PICTURE IS INDEED WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

Oct 20, 2013 News

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By Ralph Seeram

Just when you think the controversy over the Amaila Falls has died down, another round of doubts about the feasibility of this project has erupted, creating another Public Relations nightmare for the PPP government.
The PPP spent the greater part of this week defending and justifying going forward with the project, in face of doubts created by that iconic picture published by Kaieteur News of a near dried up Amaila Falls— the same falls that the government planned to spend  US$850M. When I saw that picture of a dried up falls, it created doubts in my mind about this project.
My idea of a waterfall is water roaring ferociously over the precipice, cascading down to rocks below, in full fury, certainly not one that flows less than I can urinate figuratively speaking.
So here is the problem for the PPP government, how can you convince the public that it is still a good idea to go ahead with this location? How can you get that image out of peoples’ heads? How can you convince them that it is okay to spend US$850M on a falls that dries up at certain times of the year? You can’t. Let me use myself as an example. I am all for hydropower and like all Guyanese would like to see it come to fruition some day. But now I have my doubts about this location. I am reading about all these studies done. Suddenly Robeson Benn has studies; he has now become an expert on Hydro Falls.
Then we have the Finance Minister producing more studies justifying the project. The Finance Minister has also become an expert on Hydropower.
I am told that this guy is so brilliant, but when you look at the little details they were forced to release to the public, the way these contracts are structured and financed to favour the contractors and literally screw the Guyanese taxpayers.
I think Christopher Ram and Anand Goolsarran and others in the private sector have drawn to the attention of the public, the defects in those contracts.
In some jurisdictions Ashni Singh’s actions would have been considered a dereliction of his fiduciary responsibilities and he would have faced possible prosecution. The way those contracts are structured gives one the impression that the resources of the country are being given away.
The public and the opposition had to fight “tooth and nail” to get information from the government on these contracts. One must remember that these contracts were done secretively by Bharrat Jagdeo and his administration, when he had control of Parliament. At that time they were accustomed to pushing and passing legislation in Parliament as if no opposition party existed.  Jagdeo felt the public had no right to know of these projects.
However, all that changed in the 2011 election, when the PPP lost control of Parliament. Now that the opposition is “in the driving seat” they are demanding accountability, something the PPP was not familiar or accustomed with. Only then did the public learn in “bits and drabs” some details of the financial structure of those secretive contracts.
Some are in the open now because the government was forced to disclose them; one could also argue that Donald Ramotar, to his credit, has been more open with information than his predecessor.
Here is where the PPP created its own Public Relations nightmare.
Had the PPP been more open from the inception of those contracts they would not have been in this situation today. Had they engaged the opposition parties, and other stakeholders earlier on, matters would have been in the open, thrashed out, and done with. The opposition could not say they did not know. The PPP has to realize that it’s a different ball game in Parliament. The opposition is not opposed to the projects but is asking to be engaged.
Had that been done, the opposition would be hard pressed to oppose projects that benefit the country.
Coming back to the Amaila Falls, we are suddenly hearing about all those studies that were done years ago, but are now coming to light.
I have said it before in these columns, President Donald Ramotar inherited these problems; he has made efforts to correct some, but now has a great opportunity to show statesmanship and leadership to the nation, by engaging all stakeholders FULLY with full disclosures in an effort to get the opposition behind the projects.
All these arguments about how much reserve water is needed to continue operation of the turbines in the dry season would have been unnecessary. It would have been out in the open already. The PPP government has found itself on the defensive every time some negative disclosure surfaces.
Instead of accepting that they made blunders they go blaming everyone but themselves. Kaieteur News published a picture of a dried up Amaila Falls, and from the government reaction you could think Kaieteur News is responsible for the falls being dried up.
Kaieteur News exercised the taxpayers’ right to know how their tax dollars are being spent. It reminds me of the PNC era when if you oppose or questioned the Burnham government you were deemed an enemy of the state. The PPP is using this same strategy to those that criticize them.
I am no more an expert on hydro falls than Benn and Singh but it would take more than a thousand words to convince me that a dried up waterfall is worth US$850M.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: ralph365@hotmail.com.

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