Without transparency and accountability, One Guyana will become None Guyana  

Apr 07, 2023 Letters

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Dear Editor,

In school, we were taught there was Dutch Guyana, French Guyana, and British Guyana where we Guyanese lived. Growing up, I observed, there were rich Guyana, poor Guyana, PPP Guyana, and PNC Guyana, and you can also add Exxon Guyana to this list as Exxon will have its own country within Guyana. The President has now introduced One Guyana, which we want to succeed, so the citizens and country will benefit.

When the government makes deals in secret with Guyana’s assets, refuses to hold proper consultations with all citizens for ongoing and future business projects, refuses to provide information on Guyana’s Business dealings, and when government rules as if they are the only ones entitled to make decisions for Guyana without Public input, accountability, and transparency then One Guyana is only a propaganda slogan.

The real One Guyana can only be achieved with Guyana’s rightful wealth, public input, transparency, and accountability where the government is truly engaged with its population on business affairs of the country and all Guyanese who are the real owners of Guyana’s wealth gets to have an input where critical questions and concerns get the necessary attention and resolutions.

The VP who said the contract signed under the coalition should make Guyanese sad every time there is an oil find, now he is administering the same contract with the same terms and saying Guyanese should be happy with oil finds, what kind of hypocrisy is this? And why the government’s refusal to hire competent auditors who have gladly offered their services to correct this? The president said people should focus on how oil developed other countries and not oil spill liability, Mr. President those countries you talk about got their rightful share of their oil from their royalties, profit-sharing taxes, and ring-fencing, they had accountability, transparency and yes, they have full-cover insurance which you and the VP are vehemently opposing.

The current oil contract has Guyana getting 14.5% of 11 Billion Barrels over 25 years, at the current oil price of $69.26 per barrel, this works out to 4.5 Billion US Dollars annually for Guyana, Guyana is currently getting 1.5 Billion US$ per year, so why is Guyana’s take missing two thirds currently of 3 Billion $USD annually? Countries that got good oil contracts lose out to oil companies due to bad monitoring, auditing, and bad oil law enforcement, what do you think will happen to Guyana that got a bad contract and have bad monitoring, auditing and bad oil law enforcement for oil companies?

The leaders in government, the opposition leaders, and their foreign cohorts don’t want Guyanese to talk about oil, what is wrong with all you all? Oil wealth now is the holy grail to Guyanese now and you will be hearing from all of us, as each day, Guyanese are becoming more aware of the theft of their country’s oil and resources.

The announcement from OPEC that they will be cutting oil production will create a significant rise in oil prices meaning Guyana should be entitled to more than the US$4.5B annually with the current oil contract or is there a clause too in the contract preventing Guyana from benefitting from oil price increases? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are, thanks to the agreements signed blindly by the previous government.

The Guyanese Critic and other people posting videos on the internet love to show the nice big houses in Guyana calling this economic progress as One Guyana, yet they, unlike other people don’t show the poor housing areas where Guyanese live in shacks and use dirty trench water for survival in the ‘Othered Guyana’. Fine if big houses are the gauge for economic progress, then how many of these big houses are built with foreign money? How many are built with debt? How many are built with proceeds from crime or corruption? And how many are actually built with honest earnings from money generated from Guyana’s economic boom? The last reason will tell if there is really an economic boom if the majority of the big houses are built because of this reason.

Like transparency, accountability too is non-existent in Guyana. The amount of money the army receives for 3,500 soldiers then each soldier should be getting 4 times their salaries plus equipment to do their jobs, the same can be said for the police for their budgets, same for health care workers for their budgets, same for public servants for their budgets and the money given to regions per citizen since Burnham regionalized Guyana should have eradicated poverty by now in Guyana. When last Guyanese had public consultations with their regional officials who are getting money from the government to look after their interests? Or do citizens even see regional officials in their area? So where is the accountability for the monies allocated in all of the above?

Since the elections in Guyana are now razor-thin (decided by one or two seats), governments don’t want to go after regional officials and state entities thinking this may cost them the elections, so money sent to take care of Guyanese just disappears leaving the people forgotten, frustrated and in dire straits. Almost all the complaints from citizens to media on their issues happen due to failures from state entities and regional officials. So what’s the point if the government announces billions for this and that and the life of the poor is not improved? I again urge independent media to track these monies, since this is our wealth distribution system for citizens to get their rightful wealth and services. Mr. President for your own good, you to ensure state entities and regional officials are transparent and accountable for the monies being given to them to better the lives of Guyanese which currently is not happening. The current way Guyana’s Business Deals are operating without Public Consultations, Transparency, and Accountability, leaves Guyana’s doors wide open, Parliamentarians’ legs wide open and their eyes tightly closed to foreign exploiters, and if this does not change, One Guyana will become None Guyana.

Regards,

R. David

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• British, Dutch, French, Guyana, R. David.

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