Foreigners know how to do business

Dec 09, 2021 Editorial

Kaieteur News – We say a public ‘thank you’ to Dr. Janette Bulkan, a Guyanese attached to British Columbia University’s Department of Forest Resources Management. Dr. Bulkan is one of those in the thin ranks of knowledgeable and outspoken Guyanese, who lets the facts and figures tell their own story. It is the usual sickening one in Guyana, where our natural resources are concerned, as she made clear in a headline article for us: “Guyana loses $$$M annually while Chinese manufacturers gain -as GFC misrepresents data to disguise overharvesting -Dr. Bulkan” (KN November 27).

As we commend this frank speaking Guyanese, we also must recognise that the foreigners who come here to do business in our rich natural resources sector know how to do business. And when talking about knowing and doing business, there are none better than Chinese companies. They get things done their way, on their terms. It is as if they own the natural resources of nations, wherever they go and setup shop. Look at the record of Africa, another resource-rich place, a whole continent of such vital game changing resources. The latest is how the Chinese have gained the advantage over America in Africa for a resource called cobalt, which is essential for electric-car batteries, and is mainly found in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where two-thirds of the world’s cobalt is produced (New York Times, November 24).

But we are more concerned about Guyana, and what is happening in our timber industry. The numbers are there in our story, as provided by Dr. Bulkan, of the slick “transfer pricing” mechanism, involving port insurance charges utilised by the Chinese that bring many gains, as in millions, for them, while we are left with crumbs. To make matters worse, when Guyanese agencies and Guyanese citizens leading them and working in them should be looking out for the interests of this nation and its poor peoples, they are going in the opposite direction, as in betraying and selling us out.

This is what Dr. Bulkan placed square in the lap of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). We ask our fellow citizens to take note: it is the Guyana Forestry Commission, and not a Chinese Forestry Commission that is misleading us. What the Guyanese Forestry professor said was that the GFC was fudging the numbers in its reports to misinform the nation. Also, the GFC was delaying its reports to make them lose their relevancy because regular people have moved on and lack the interest to focus, sometimes even care. Further, the GFC was making these scarcer and scarcer reports less informative. And that the GFC allows overharvesting of certain species, which Guyanese have to do without, or obtain at great cost.

Without a doubt, the foreigners, with the Chinese standing as kings of the heap, know how to do business. But look at us: from successive corrupted, weakened and failed governments to leashed and compromised state agencies that, not only join in foreigners to swindle us, but also actually are so barefaced and callous that they play tricky games with what they document and present to us publicly. That is, when they do put things in the public domain.

We know that our governments have been crooked, and we at this paper have not letup on that, because the facts are there, and the slinking, concealing behaviours of our leaders confirm their many malpractices. But it is asking too much for us(at this publication and Guyanese, in general) to have to deal with public servant professionals who stoop low to engage in what we would call obscene conduct. To get it right, and register sharply the point, we restate that as the shady world of their many misconducts. We go on like this, where nobody is standing up and speaking out, then we will not only live in poverty, with foreigners from all over robbing us, but we will die in wretched poverty, too. When there are no ethical and credible whistleblowers, then all that we have are lies and coverups.
The foreigners are making hay, while the Guyanese people are eating it, thanks to their criminal governments and their long line of willing conspirators in the public service.

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