This is simply another version of The Theory of the Dangling Carrot

Dec 02, 2017 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
A few months back there was what seemed to be an endless string of complaints against BaiShanLin and a few other Chinese companies operating in Guyana. Finally, there were innuendoes that BaiShanLin and the others are actually Chinese government operations.
The underlying feeling that came with that knowledge is that for whatever reason, the operations of these companies are here to stay. Along with that deduction came the realisation that Chinese officialdom would do everything possible to ensure that the actions of these agencies must not be seem to have injured China’s relations with the Guyanese people.
Indeed, prior to May 2015, the company to chase out of Guyana was BaiShanLin. Before the end of May 2015 the leading newspapers published photographs of a BaiShanLin Manager making a donation to the massive physical cleanup that was being undertaken in Georgetown. A gift which many I interfaced with in my walk in and around Georgetown sniggled about the manner in which they went about saving some face.
We have since learned about BaiShanLin’s attempt to evade GRA, sloppy work at Skeldon, complaints about malfunctioning pre-paid electrical meters. However there has not been enough details about the mechanisms implemented to effectively make the Guyanese people get from these Chinese (Government) companies what we expected from them.
Our expectations from these companies are varied, and should include income, generated at the individual and national level (contributions to GRA and NIS). At the least, the presence of Chinese contractors should provide employment opportunities, skill transfers, and procurement services, since these are the minimum the Chinese Government would expect from a foreign company operating in China.
In 2013 I wrote on the fact that the Chinese company engaged in the construction of the Marriott Hotel did not see it fit to employ Guyanese labour, at that time the TUC and the Government blamed it on the type of contract which the Government accepted, agreed to and signed with the Chinese contractors/government – whom we were told were also the financiers of the project, and the labour angle was a conditionality linked to the Chinese loan.
I was at Timehri last week and had occasions to pass along the East Coast Public Road, which reminded me that the Chinese are still very much involved in the construction sector and my question today would be along the same line as the one I posed in 2013. What percentage of the workforce directly engaged in these two projects are Guyanese, and are Guyanese suppliers among those from whom goods and services are procured?
Another deliverable which we the citizens of Guyana have been anticipating from these Chinese companies is satisfaction and beneficial interaction with the final physical product the projects were designed to create. Judging by any standards, one can safely state that to date we are being short changed. The Sugar Factory and the Electricity Generation plant at Skeldon are prime examples of the failed expectation the Chinese have delivered to date. To that list one can add the Pre-Paid Electrical meters and from progress reports, the expansion works at the Cheddi Jagan Airport may be another to be classified as failed. Not that it may not be of good use. But in financial terms, at what cost? Or should I ask are we getting value for our money?
In my opinion where these companies have been hitting us hardest is in the area of national income. There have been several news items highlighting under invoicing of products, which originated from the forest of Guyana. There have also been issues surrounding the final destination of items which were allowed into the country duty free, from all appearances goods granted duty free status for use by these companies, found themselves on the shelves of retailers.
They have not only misused the goodwill that Government has afforded, but have been in violation of legal stipulations/requirements with regards to employment and the National Insurance Services. Agents of the NIS are having the Devil’s job to make the many Chinese businesses in Georgetown comply.
The foregoing, Editor, was simply my way of introducing what I see as foreboding signs. I am very conscious that there are no free meals. In recent times the newspapers showed pictures and statements on the Chinese government gifts to our Security and Health sectors. These were followed by the disclosure that several Chinese Government companies are seeking prequalification for what would indeed be the largest project announced in Minister Jordan’s Budget on Monday 27th November.
In my view what is being played out is simply another version of The Theory of the Dangling Carrot.
Elton McRae

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