Clive Thomas’ suggestion could aid corruption

Aug 08, 2018 Letters

Dear Editor,
The suggestion by Professor Clive Thomas to distribute a portion of net Oil revenues to households throughout Guyana was startling. Here is one of our foremost Economists making a suggestion more suited to a politician desperate for votes or an inebriated fantasist waxing lyrically at a Guinness Bar.
Were such a suggestion to come from anyone other than Professor Thomas, it would be dismissed out of hand. However, given his plethora of prominent roles in the current administration of our nation’s Government, it must be examined seriously.
There is no doubt that the idea is seductive to a large portion of the population, US$5000 per household annually would indeed be difficult to refuse. But, alas, any such programme would undoubtedly prove fertile ground for corrupt practice.
What or who would constitute a ‘household’ raises immediate questions of fairness of such criteria. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine any criteria that would be adjudged fair by all segments of the populace. The second issue would be the logistic capability of any current government agency to administer the distribution of more than $150,000,000,000 annually.
Any pragmatic examination of Professor Thomas’s suggestion leads one to the conclusion that the good professor has lost faith in the APNU administration to deliver prosperity to the masses. Any layman can see the anti-business policy blunders; the inability to negotiate a beneficial contract with ExxonMobil; the fruitless crack down on foreign currency transactions; the effects of massive budgets on our nation’s financial reserves; the desperate grasping of the GRA to keep us from going deeper into debt – a battle that we are losing daily.
Guyana has plummeted downwards on International indices, down nine positions on the Global Human Capital Index, down nineteen positions on the Global Competitive Index Report, the only thing rising is Unemployment.
Professor Thomas must know that by ‘first Oil’, our nation will be indebted to the tune of three years Oil revenue, I believe that this good man holds no belief that the APNU+AFC Coalition can deliver anything other than mismanagement, corruption and bankruptcy; it in this context that Professor Thomas is making a last plea for the people of this nation in the hope that some tangible benefit will accrue from the exploitation of its resources.
We would all like to get US$5,000 annually. However, we and our future generations would be much better served with a Government of Guyana that is guided by vision and administered with competence. No intelligent person can continue to accuse the PPP of maladministration, given what we are currently witnessing. No one can honestly talk of ethnic discrimination when the PPP distributed tens of thousands of house lots throughout the country.
The APNU+AFC were good at making accusations, pointing fingers and making budget cuts. Now, given an opportunity to administer, they have been an abject failure, with a minimal number of new houses delivered in three years. Our nation is about to add a pillar to our economy, and the APNU+AFC plan to put the entire weight onto that pillar.
Any sensible administration would have to be engaged in bolstering the previous foundation pillars. I admire Professor Thomas for his attempt to get citizens a piece of the pie, but our only real hope, as a Nation, is to place the APNU+AFC back in opposition seats where they do their best work.
Respectfully,
Robin Singh

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News