Delusions are bountiful in Guyana  

Mar 17, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The President, when asked by KN reporters about oil affairs, shouts how he is doing good governance for Guyana. Is the President under the delusion that Guyanese are experiencing good governance under him?, look at the plight of the poor and vulnerable in Guyana. He was once the housing minister, does he know that many people can’t afford their house lots and are rummaging through garbage for building materials while foreign companies get acres of free land concessions?

Renegotiation has changed to better contract management, parent company guarantee insurance for oil spills has changed to financial assurance, whatever this means. Instead of fighting the oil, mining, and other foreign companies in Guyana for more royalties, more profit-share, taxes,  environmental laws compliance, and training economists, bankers, investment advisors, money managers, and financial other regulators, etc. specific to Guyana’s oil and mining sectors to benefit Guyana, he is training labourers for these sectors. Instead of training environmentalists and providing them with tools to test air, soil, and water quality for healthy living, he is training agriculturists, what these people will be planting or rearing with polluted soil, air and water?, yet the President is under the delusion that masquerading as a homebuilder is good governance.

The VP is under the delusion that going to the birthplace of Cheddi Jagan and bashing the PNC and KN will give him credibility. When this man was president, he had the richest country of untapped resources and oil, instead, he signed contracts and made deals that never benefitted ordinary Guyanese, no wonder he is under the delusion hiding them from the public will protect him. This man broke his campaign promise to renegotiate the oil contract and he quashed full cover insurance when it was on the table. As President, instead of signing good deals for Guyana, he signed secret and shady deals and then resorted to begging, it was so embarrassing Jamaica’s PM had to call him out.

Now at his second stint in power, instead of using Guyana’s leverage on the oil companies for more benefits, he is again begging the oil companies to show sympathy for Guyana. Shareholders of corporations want every cent from their investments because when they suffer losses they have to bear it, that’s the game, it’s the negotiators of countries that have to fight for their people’s wealth, there is no sympathy given to anyone, it’s a mystery where the VP got this delusion. Every project The VP rants about that was completed under him is blatantly overpriced along with substandard quality that Guyanese will be paying for, everything purchased for Guyana is way over market price, anything sold for Guyana is way below market price, and any resource deal is way below market asset value of the resource to Guyana.

Afro-Guyanese were some of the best athletes in the third world, some were even touted to win medals at the Olympics, yet they supported PNC who killed their dreams with failed policies, Indo-Guyanese controlled key sectors of the economy like fishing, agriculture, transportation, forestry, GuySuCo, DDL, small business, shopkeeping, etc. and it was PPP who brought in Chinese businesses to cut them out of these sectors and still Guyanese are under the delusion the political parties are for them, no Guyanese, you may call the political parties yours but they don’t consider you to be part of them, they are the elites and have business and foreign friends, you are just numbers at voting time.

Opposition MPs now are under the delusion bashing the PPP will give them credibility, yet they have never called on their supporters to fight for Guyanese fair share of their wealth, they voted for Exxon’s tax waiver, they stayed silent when the lop-sided oil contract was signed under them, they also stay silent as pro-PNC mobs attack Indo-Guyanese and now staying silent as some of their own cannot accept the government who won the elections and are openly calling for violence on the government and its supporters.

MP’s, we don’t need you to bash each other parties, we can do that ourselves, as decades of corruption and incompetence by both of your parties make it easy.MP’s we need you to do what you were voted in to do, what you are being paid to do, what you swear on a holy book to do as you took the oath of office, which is managing Guyana for the best interest of Guyanese. Is there nothing the government and opposition can join together to work on to benefit Guyanese?, like, renegotiation, taxes, full cover insurance, royalties, profit- sharing, ring-fencing, auditing Exxon’s oil bills, environmental compliance, transparency, and accountability?, or do we need to send pastors, pandits, imams and shamans to do readings on these MP’s and emancipate them from their delusions so they can work for the best interest of Guyana and Guyanese.

Regards,

R. David.

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• delusion, governance, Guyana, R. David., reporters

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