Economist, Dr. Clive Thomas, believes that Government’s latest “sweetheart” deal which allows a local contractor some exclusive shares in a state cable is not only disrespectful to the Guyanese people, but highly illegal.

Dax Contracting Services Faisal Mohamed

He said, too, that given the details of the contract the architects of the agreement should be made to face the court.
On March 16, last, Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon on behalf of the government, negotiated with and signed a special agreement with Dax Contracting Services Ltd. That firm is owned by Faisal Mohamed.
Under the agreement, Dax will undertake, at no cost to the government, the repair, use and maintenance of the fibre optic cable from Brazil. This contract is for an initial 25 years with an option to renew it for a further 15 years. This gives Dax a total of 40 years of cable rights.
Government has also undertaken to provide Mohamed with the necessary support to receive and transmit data by way of the cable after granting the company an operating licence. And for free, Mohamed will be able to use some of the Government-owned fibre optic cables and structures including, roads, the poles, access to repeater stations and other things. Dax Contracting Services would also be provided with tax exemptions and incentives, including but not limited to tax holidays, remissions, tax waivers and duty free concessions on equipment, spares, tools   and vehicles. The vehicles would be two SUVs, and three four-door pick-ups, renewable three years for the next 40 years. The government insists that it will retain possession and use of the bandwidth, as agreed to between Dax and the government.
As the owner of the cable, Mohamed can invite and sign with any company or entity to use the cable to transmit and receive data and information from any part of the world in the same way that today’s telephone companies operate.
To add insult to injury, the government has agreed to pay Dax for specific emergency maintenance. In exchange for the operating licence, Mohamed will accept the risks involved in accepting and using the operating licence even before the legislation is passed.
This same contracting service owned by Mohamed, was one of the five contractors hired to lay the cable from Lethem to Georgetown.
Considering the arrangements of this special deal between the two parties, Dr. Thomas said that it is a typical example of the “Jagdeo syndrome.”
“This sort of behaviour is characteristic of former President Bharrat Jagdeo who made a lot of giveaways before demitting office, as he did with the radio frequencies. Now you have President Donald Ramotar continuing along this line. His administration is showing clear symptoms of suffering from the Jagdeo syndrome,” Dr. Thomas said. The economist said that he finds the magnitude of the tax concessions and the value of the gifts to Mohamed to be “absurd”. He said that it needs to be investigated, halted and made the subject of intense legal action.
He said that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration has concocted yet again, another contract that represents a betrayal to the Guyanese people and continued loyalty to enriching just a few through the abuse of the electorate.
“This contract between the two parties is perhaps worse than the Marriott Hotel. It is illegal and needs to be stopped. The (government) is entrusted with the nation’s resources to protect it and govern it wisely.
“The clauses of that contract show that the government has disregarded its responsibility to the people and no attention was paid to due diligence. It gifted billions of dollars’ worth in tax concessions to this contracting company without any proper process being carried out in a transparent and accountable manner.
“It is negligence and disrespect of the highest order and they should be prosecuted,” Dr. Thomas stated.
Since the disclosure of the most generous contract agreement, it has attracted scorching criticisms from the political opposition, particularly from the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) financial point man, Carl Greenidge.
Earlier this week, the WPA articulated that it is appalled at Government’s recent gifting of a 40-year monopoly licence to Mohamed. Dr Roger Luncheon, the Cabinet Secretary, has since said that there is no 40-year contract.
Since then the Opposition party has threatened to ensure that the maintenance contract is cancelled.
The WPA described it as the “theft of state resources in the last days of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).” The party said, too, that those responsible for the gift to Dax Engineering will not escape prosecution.
When contacted by this newspaper on Thursday for a comment, the contractor, Faisal Dax Mohamed said, “Hey, Hey, listen. You go and  f**k youself.” He hanged up the phone immediately after.