When there is an insistence on secrecy

Dec 15, 2013 Features / Columnists, My Column

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This is a time when a nation takes stock of what was during the past months of the year. This is the time when comparisons are made, when examine their gains and their mistakes. The police have been the most public when it comes to taking stock of what was and what should be done.
There have been reviews elsewhere. Guyana Sugar Corporation, for example, is reporting declining production to the extent that even adjusted performance targets are not being met. This is nothing new. Ever since the nation pinned its hopes on the new Skeldon Sugar Factory, there has been news that the factory is using more cane that any other and producing less sugar.
What the sugar company has been mum about is its foray into mechanical harvesting.  There are reports that the beds would have had to be reconfigured and that this was not done to the desired specification. There have also been reports that the correct pieces of equipment were not imported. At issue is the clay soil that abounds in the sugar plantations of East Berbice.
Then we turn to gold. Everyone is basking in the news that gold production has surpassed its target. In fact, since the withdrawal of Omai from the local gold production scene, alluvial miners have been hauling the precious stuff from the river beds and from the land in such volumes that Omai’s production is no longer so magical.
But there are many other areas that need to be reviewed and one of them is the performance of the government.  Every government tries to perform in a manner that would make the people comfortable. Each identifies developmental projects, sometimes with ideas from the very people who are to be the beneficiaries.
The largest was the Amaila Falls project. At a cost of almost US$1 billion it was to be the largest ever undertaking by the government. It was designed to reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuel which impacts climate change due to large carbon emissions.
The government was not as forthcoming about the project and a skeptical opposition declined to vote enough money for its success. In fact the opposition voted against the project leading to the loss of millions of United Stares dollars in what can be described as the project that never was.
The opposition and by extension, the nation was left to believe that the government was being too secretive, that there was something to hide. So it was that everything proposed by the government was examined with the fine-teeth comb. And despite its protestations that it was answering every question, the opposition found that this was far from the truth.
It was not really surprising that Guyana failed to pass the anti-money laundering legislation. The government concentrated on the economic impact of any blacklisting and begged that Guyana be spared this frightening outcome.
The opposition was not convinced that Guyana was in dire straits and demanded time to study the legislation. Of course it was operating from the belief that the government was trying to protect some of its friends who had amassed large sums and who wanted to launder this money. But the truth was that Guyana’s relatively small private sector did not have the room to manoeuvre.  Many of them were being kindly told by friends to get their government to get things in order.
To date the effect of the blacklisting has not really sunk in and Guyanese are going about their Christmas preparations as though nothing is happening, but the reality is something else. People are finding that it is not as easy to send money as it used to be. When the review is done, it would be found that fewer remittances would have come to Guyana this year.
It was later announced that the Bill Guyana was taking to Parliament was fashioned by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force. The government had not let this out, so it was still keeping secrets. Now more secrets are emerging.
Anyone with a modicum of intelligence would understand that at this time when the opposition controls the parliament, the government needs to take the opposition into its confidence. Secrets would not remain secrets and when the opposition finds out the fall out could be horrible.
We have seen the problems with what the government wants to keep secret. The Marriott Hotel project remains shrouded in secrecy. About two months ago the government announced that it was close to finalizing a deal with a private investor. Try as the media might, Winston Brassington maintained that he needed to keep this a secret.
It is a good thing that the money is not coming from the National Assembly. There is still no private investor and now the opposition believes that there was never any; that some of the rich people who wanted to launder money were being targeted, but that the media focus is making many of them cagey.
Now there are other deals that are being examined. There is Robert Persaud’s perceived deal with an Indian company; there is the issue with the pumps purchased from India—Some Government officials say that the pumps are here and others say that they are still to come.
Things must have been kept so secret that even people in the government are kept out of the secrets.

 

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