DEAR EDITOR, There is a famous saying “keep quiet and let people think that you are a fool, than to open your month and remove all doubt.” Mr. Brassington’s taxpayer paid statement to Mr. Ram confirmed the statement referred to above. In his statement, Mr. Brassington states, “a 1% savings in a project this large, yields significant savings”, yet he boasts that Sithe “just earns 19% per year on their investment.” Mr. Brassington, please stop this nonsense. Are you telling us that the 1% savings is very significant, but the mere 19% that your friends will earn is a pittance? This is the essence of your fumigation. STOP raping Guyana Mr. Brassington.My question to you is simple. If we would have paid Sithe 19% per annum on their investment, what part of the principal would have been repaid in these annual payment? You ought to know, Mr. Brassington, that monthly or annual payments to these financial institutions in the early years of repayment go to interest. For a 20-year loan like the one you were about to unleash on the Guyanese public, the proportion of interest to principal would only begin to shift in the other direction after about the 14th or 15th year. SoMr. Ram is absolutely correct. If we had borrowed US$100 million, we would end up paying them US$500 million in return. If you borrow a loan (which I am sure you do not have to do Mr. Brassington), and the interest rate is 5% per annum over a 30-year period, one would end up paying almost three times the amount of the loan borrowed. Do your Math, Mr. Brassington, with a 19% interest, tell the nation how much we would have paid Sithe over the 20 years. The only good news here is that Sithe would be laughing to the bank, while the Guyanese users would be paying through their teeth for electricity. God Bless Guyana. Charles Sugrim