The people in power tell us too little and too late

Feb 24, 2020 News

What is going on is unusual, unsatisfactory and unacceptable. Why does it have to be right now, in such quantities, and with such secrecy attached? There is something that smells, that is terribly wrong about the flurry of government business arrangements being executed at this time and, which have a sense of immediacy about them: must be done NOW and nobody knows why or how or under what terms and conditions. And this is from what is acknowledged and recognised as a “caretaker” government, one with considerably reduced powers, mainly overseeing ongoing maintenance of existing operations.
A “caretaker” government has no mysteries about what its modus operandi should be. In the context of governance – good and clean and democratically observant governance – caretaker translates to very limited, largely passive, and heavily of a timekeeping nature: somebody is at the wheel to carry on existing business. There should be nothing new, nothing groundbreaking, nothing “eye-popping” or concerning.
However, from the perspective of this paper, and to its consternation, the precise opposite is what has been going on through the flurry of significant government business arrangements that are open to severe questioning, leave serious doubt, and bring a pall of disrepute over whatever is being effected.
There are those two hotels, including the internationally recognised Hilton. Under normal circumstances that would be a welcomed development by us. But there is nothing normal about the present, and everything abnormal about what this supposedly “caretaker” government is doing. If this is caretaking by some definition, we ask firstly, what is that definition? And secondly, caretaking for the benefit of whom? Is it, at the bottom of the layers of secrecy, caring for the special interests of specially included and honoured friends and family?
We do not know anything, nor does Guyana have a handle on the truth of the stories percolating in drips and drabs into the public arena. This is so whether it is this new Hilton announcement, the insider information parceled out about pending lucrative deals, and the plots of prime land that would soar in value depending on location, and who could get their greedy crooked selves inside the door before there is the equity of a fair shake to each Guyanese interested and willing and equipped to participate.
This “caretaker” government must know that the sale of public lands has to be placed in the Official Gazette, be it at Houston or along the surrounding Ogle corridor. Also, if leasing is contemplated, most are in the dark and in the cold. Said differently, once again, the people in power tell us too little and too late, leading to the usual situation where Guyanese have no say, no involvement, in the rich affairs that leave them empty-handed and angry.
We cannot continue to conduct ourselves in this untimely, secret manner. All we do is lay the table for a torrid and disputed future, where all we do is untangle webs of dark deceit, rather than take the first clean steps to a brighter tomorrow.

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