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Suggestions for confronting corruption in Guyana

Jul 06, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
My friend, Peter Outar Singh is a racecar driver in the US. He has built his own racecars and won races against formidable competition. Guyana honored Peter by inviting him to “help” its racecar drivers. Peter suggested that they install heat shields to prevent the engines’ intake of hot air (heated air burns less efficiently and expands less than cooler air).
Peter’s suggestion was greeted with the Guyanese maxim: “Buddy, tha’ nuh guh wuk hey!” Translation/Subtitle – In this alternate universe that is Guyana, the laws of physics and nature are determined by the “wise ones” who embrace pride, envy, greed, sloth, etc. as their mantra. One young man who was not indoctrinated into this philosophy and clique followed Peter’s suggestion and won his races handily. I cannot be too hard on my fellow Guyanese because they are easy targets for their vices. I will thus focus on a more pressing matter that concerns all of us – the future of Guyana.
If we view the concept of National Service, it seemed feasible and beneficial for the young people who were recruited. Sadly and unfortunately, the people who headed National Service were not good generals to their recruits. Instead of doing everything to ensure the recruits’ safety and success and to accept any injuries to the recruits as their personal failings on many levels, they remain oblivious to their responsibilities and failures. This failure was also present in Nationalization.
In theory, nationalization was a good thing. However, the people who were charged with the task of overseeing nationalization were not of the mind set and too corrupt to see it to its fruition. The same thing may be said of Dr. Jagan’s worthy vision of just governance for the country.
Dr. Jagan’s eventual successor may still not see the difference between just governance and personal gain. This obsession with personal gain has plagued our country because many of our people do not see that taking what does not belong to them makes them THIEVES.
This scourge of thievery has infected all levels of society. It is being inculcated in our children and emulated by many businessmen, politicians, common thieves, police, doctors, lawyers and civil servants on all levels. People! Surprise! A person who takes a bribe is a thief. Yes, I know bribery can be defended because Guyana has its own math. Guyana’s math: two plus two equals six – four for them and two for meh pocket. But let me get to my main point – the prosperity of Guyana.
Guyana getting monetary revenue from Exxon may not be the only way to reap our just dividends. Even though I might be begging the question, we know that of the monies Guyana will have received, some of it will be squandered and misused because many of us are only concerned with ourselves. For this reason, I am proposing some of the revenue be withheld by Exxon and for Exxon to use the withheld money for building the infrastructure of Guyana – Exxon is more than an oil company for they build things. We only need to look at the oilrig and ask ourselves if we would have been able to build one like it. Good grief, we cannot even build a hotel after years of consultations and millions of lost dollars on contracts.
If Exxon withholds part of the revenue and Exxon builds, for example, a Berbice bridge where it should have been originally built, we will have opened a new area for development. Part of the condition for the building of the bridge is that Exxon employs a said number of Guyanese for the construction. If Exxon were to give Guyana that same money it would have expended on the bridge, we, my fellow Guyanese, would not be able to build the same bridge due to corruption and mismanagement. But how do we get pass: “Buddy, tha nuh guh wuk hey”?
Stanley Niamatali

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