THE PNC TAKES THE CAKE
Global Witness report will assist voters in deciding their choices
This columnist is openly saying that in his activism against the Jagdeo and Ramotar presidencies, he can find no corresponding accusations against any PPP minister, the kind of which Global Witness has compiled against Raphael Trotman.
The Global Witness controversy may be a deciding factor in the rejection of the APNU+AFC coalition in the March election.
The Kaieteur News has carried an interview with PPP candidate, Charles Ramson as its lead for last Wednesday edition calling for the removal of Trotman as an election candidate. Robert Badal supports that position, so do I.
My analyses lead me in the direction of describing the Exxon deal with the APNU+AFC regime as a national scandal that should cause an incumbent to lose power. You do not have these types of suspicions in a government and the electorate ignores them and returns the same actors to power. The Trotman types of controversies normally result in election defeat.
Added to this should be the debate between Jan Mangal and Carl Greenidge. Mangal accused Greenidge of reluctance to disclose information about the Exxon deal. Greenidge replied and denied the accusation. But even with the denial, people may tend to believe Mangal for obvious reasons – we don’t trust politicians and Mangal is not one but Greenidge is.
As an analyst I would put my bet on the Mangal-Greenidge exchange and the Global Witness finger-pointing as having an effect on how persons vote. As the days go by, it looks like the APNU+AFC may suffer a one-term nightmare.
Here is one of the reasons why the Trotman thing will topple the coalition. Every instance of ministers kowtowing to Exxon conjures up memories of what Guyana experienced under the PPP. Citizens say to each other, “Oh my God, this was just like under the PPP and it looks worse.” Guyanese have said that consistently since 2015, with the almost surreptitious salary increase for ministers, including the colossal hike in the PM’s salary/pension.
The Mangal/ Greenidge debate and Global Witness’s devastating chastisement of Trotman are the kind of stuff that create anger in citizens, because the key factor at work is betrayal. Citizens of post-colonial countries have an inherent suspicion that extraordinarily rich companies from the developed world are out to exploit their resources as they did when Europe stood as colonial masters.
Let us quote a redoubtable section of the report on Trotman by Global Witness that speaks to the issue of betrayal. “Global Witness believes the Guyanese government should investigate Trotman’s role in the 2016 Stabroek negotiations. If it is determined that he or others did not represent Guyana well during these negotiations, or there is other evidence of wrongdoing or incompetence, those involved should be held accountable.”
When citizens read those lines during an election campaign, there is bound to be rejection at the ballot station. Global Witness says Guyana is expected to lose 55 billion American dollars from the horribly poor signing agreement of 2016. The government disputes that, but the fact that this figure is in the public domain is bound to influence voters.
We should not continue to see ministers as the only suspicious actors in the government’s rendezvous of self-destruction with Exxon. As the Stabroek News editorial on Monday rightfully asked – where was Granger in all of this? It is difficult if not impossible not to ask questions of Granger in one of the worst government blunders in the history of colonial and post-colonial Guyana.
Here is a reflection of mine that no one has touched on. In his almost five-year-old presidency, Granger has hosted only two press conferences. Is it possible that Granger knew the 2016 deal with Exxon was so horrible that it was the decisive factor in him not holding press conferences? Was he afraid that with each press briefing, he would have to field questions on the 2016 infamy? If that is so, he has got away with it.
All the journalistic research into the 2016 depravity centres on Cabinet ministers, and who went to this place and signed that contract, but there is no mention of Granger and his role.
With the Global Witness report into Trotman’s conduct, Granger will have to answer questions. I find Global Witness’s call for government to investigate Trotman’s deportment actually comical. Global Witness should know it is not writing about some type of democratic polity where accountability is a strong instinct in leaders.
Trotman at the 2016 local government campaign in Bartica told the crowd that when APNU+AFC won, Granger called him on the phone and said; “this is Nassau Raphael.” Both men are still to tell us what that means.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper)
