December 5 ,2021
Dear Editor,
Kaieteur News – Guyana was under pall of darkness last year. For five months, this country was exposed to the naked ambition of a handful of men and women who wickedly wielded their powers to delay handing over power after an embarrassing elections’ loss.There was a sigh of relief, despite the pandemic, that some level of normalcy and stability could shadow our lands once again.
Alas, 16 months into President Irfaan Ali’s presidency, there are deeply troubling signs that speak to cronyism and a clear path of sidelining Guyanese who are perceived to be of a different political inclination.
It is the foregone conclusion that a few powerful business persons and families have dug in their heels and believe it is their time, come what may. Leading the pack is a prominent businessman who appears to be the golden child of this administration. Let us not mistake the issue that is on the table here. The issue about our oil deals has to do with the arrangements and the benefits that Guyana relinquished in signing so quickly with ExxonMobil.The devil is in the details. Guyana could have been so far ahead of the game and its people assured of at least something good had our politicians been more honest. There can be no explanation or excuse that would do away with the travesty of the ExxonMobil oil deals.
This government has done little to reverse the sentiments but has preferred to join the now Opposition in defending the indefensible.I raise the oil deals analogy as it is applicable in the case how this administration is wantonly, nay, blatantly and barefacedly allowing itself to be bullied by a number of businesses.One of them leading the pack has been receiving so many contracts and concessions and privileges that Guyana has been stunned into silence.Forget the smiling faces who pose for the photos, handing over a few dollars. Pay attention to the billions that are slipping out the backdoor because the procurement systems have been manipulated or just blatantly cast aside and unilateral awards taken.
Surely, President Ali and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who has an iron-fisted control of the PPP, cannot be oblivious of the deep concerns of our people. It has been placed out there time and again. Surely, they are not so blind.This situation is not about giving a local a few contracts. It speaks to other less well-resourced contractors who are being sidelined. These contractors lost because they lack connections and money to pass under the table. They dare not speak or else face blacklisting. Shut up and sit in the corner, our contractors are being told.We cannot argue it is jobs and businesses for our locals when one set of people is getting it.
Some have thrown in their hands knowing they are holding the aces. How else after knowing even the US has blacklisted you from travelling that you can sit pretty?
The disguise and protection of our Muslim community is being used shamefully.
Our people are facing a different kind of evil. This time, a new government, one that jerks the puppet strings of politicians, is sitting in a business office. Who is the real president or prince or sheikh you may ask? We are clearly in a dictator mode.
The people would not be wrong to conclude that politics in Guyana is organised crime. It is simply. How do you explain our leaders mingling under mosques and mandirs with smugglers, money launderers, and murderers and not doing anything, at the very least, to maintain an arm’s length approach?
Surely, the ABC and EU countries, with their intelligence arm, cannot be blind to what is happening?Surely, they must be told that corruption, cronyism and illegalities have been manifesting itself under the PPP and that it is being nurtured. Editor, this is not the Guyana, which the people signed up for. This is not what President Ali and VP Jagdeo promised.
They must know 2025 is tearing at the reins and the voting population will not be that forgiving.The voting patterns have changed.We placed the PPP out in 2015 and rejected APNU+AFC in 2020.We demand a government that does not represent one set of rich people but that of the interests of all Guyanese.
Yours sincerely,
A. Khan