Bargaining away Guyana’s territory and natural resources

 
Dear Editor,
What does developing Guyana mean? It seems to be a commonly held position by this regime, doing or saying anything to portray that all is well, even when it is not. Wasn’t that the widespread practice that led to the building of the now white elephant Skeldon Sugar Factory and the unfinished Marriott Hotel among others?  Wasn’t it at the heart of the construction of the Berbice Bridge five years ago when the nation was told that it would be cheaper and faster than the ferry to cross the Berbice River.
Well this minister has done it again. Since appointed a minister, everything he has touched has collapsed and folded. His lack of managerial skills coupled with his inept policies have completely destroyed the sugar industry thus making “KING SUGAR”  into a shadow of what it was. Today, the sugar workers are much poorer than they were a decade ago. The classical example is the white elephant Skeldon sugar factory which the taxpayers have already paid over US$250 MILLION for its construction and endless amount in repairs and still the factory is not functioning properly. It is considered the largest assembly of scrap metal in Guyana.
This is the same minister who according to Kaieteur News is living in one of GUYSUCO houses on Lamaha Street and that GUYSUCO is paying four security guards to protect his premises. Everyone knows that GUYSUCO is short of funds and is paying the poor sugar workers slave-like wages, yet this minister is living off of the funds of the bankrupt GUYSUCO. The minister’s action is like taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Only in the PPP the reverse of Robin Hood’s philosophy seems to occur.
One would have thought that the current President would have recognized his poor management skills and the alleged corrupt practices and dump him as a minister, but we were wrong. Rather, this presidential nephew-in-law was given the more prestigious ministry of Natural Resources, where only after a year, he secretly bargained away a quarter of Guyana’s territory to one of their friends who is a foreigner and then told a completely different story to APNU’s MP, Joseph Harmon. This minister is not only corrupt but his continues to do whatever he wants with the country’s resources as if it was given to him by his parents.  May be, it was given to him by his uncle-in-law president, who also believes that Guyana belongs to them. Where did these gangsters originated from.  We do not know of any Guyanese who is as greedy, selfish, corrupt, scampish and crooked as this bunch. They want the whole country for themselves.
This PPP cabal has abandoned all fidelity to best practices and good governance and has indulged in cunning games and blatant corrupt practices aimed at exploiting public trust and fattening their pockets with the state funds and resources. Whenever cracks about these ill-conceived projects become public, their instinct is constant denials, cover-ups and barefaced lies. They are hell bent on deceiving the people and protecting themselves. But even their supporters have become wary of their lies, propaganda, distortions and corrupt practices.
Good leaders are constantly faced with challenges regarding the types of decisions they have made and have to make.  Strong leaders develop and give primacy to following their missions, goals and core values—nurturing cultures and live by the codes of good behavior and good governance. Weak leaders like the current one in Guyana treat them as documents to be cited in press releases; meaningless in practice, but useful as propaganda and distortion exercises.
We want our brothers and sisters in Guyana to know that as head of the government, our current leader has not done anything to protect their interest when something as fundamental as public trust has been patently breached? He has not fired or even disciplined the rogue elements in his minority regime who have and continue to hijack and ignored government policies and regulations and use the state resources to fatten their pockets and those of their relatives and friends. As a weak leader, he continues to lurk in the shadows of his predecessor and allow the loudmouths and bullies within the regime to dictate  to him the course of action or inaction.
Sadly but true, our leader has chosen the cover-up route, because for the past two years, he has refused to believe that corruption even exists on a large scale basis and that there are kleptocrats in his regime. He has refused to admit that infractions and gross misconduct are occurring almost daily in his administration by the cabal. He has not and will never accept the truth about corruption as a feasible way forward because his primary concern is the protection of his ministers and his party and not the protection of the interest of the people.
We now call on the combined majority opposition to stand with the people and mobilize them to take massive action against this bunch of thieves and force this corrupt and uncaring regime to rescind all secret deals. Guyana is badly wounded and is bleeding profusely and the opposition must use their power to its maximum to stop the bleeding before the country is bled to death. For those in the regime who shower praise on the late Nelson Mandela and not take up his mantle and follow in his footsteps is phony. Now is the time for the opposition to act on behalf of the majority of people who elected them.
Dr. Asquith Rose and Harish S. Singh.