Dear Editor,
If there was any doubt in the minds of the people of Guyana about where the country is and where it is headed, look no further than Saturday’s headlines of the self-proclaimed “The Nation’s Newspaper”, the Chronicle. The sordid and serious circumstances surrounding the cover up of the Exxon signing bonus were trumped (pun intended) by the pitiful attempt to divert attention by ridiculing the Leader of the Opposition with a story that more properly belongs in the comics section of the newspaper. The main story of the day (for any true journalist) was referenced in smaller print with the positive spin that the Exxon money was intended for ICJ legal fees and that “…Trotman sees evil intention in leaking of letter.”
The headline starkly highlights the danger of the resources of the Guyanese people funding what has historically for many decades been a propaganda arm of whichever party is in government. This situation was equally reprehensible when the PNC was in power and when the PPP was in government, and is no less so now that APNU holds the purse strings. The newspaper should be divested immediately. But to the matter at hand:
The two principal players in this tragi-comedy, Raphael Trotman and Winston Jordan continue to attempt to justify their duplicity by ridiculous deflection, semantics and obfuscation that remove any doubt that they are patently unfit for the important positions that they hold or for any government positions whatsoever. They seem unaware of the damage their breach of trust has caused not only to the institution of government but also in the international community to whom the country will no doubt be held up to ridicule.
No, Mr Trotman’s “evil intention” is all his. The person who leaked that letter deserves our thanks and did this nation a huge service displaying the courage and wonderful patriotism so lacking in many who pretend to represent us. As Mr Trotman so blithely said on Friday in Parliament: Let him or her be blamed! And as for Mr Jordan, we are not children. His pathetic remonstrations about the lack of specificity of questions on the issue and that: “Nobody asked me if the government received a signing bonus; they had a specific figure attached to it and my specific response is ‘no,’” would be laughable were it not for the damage he has done to our nation’s credibility. And by the way, the journalists did do their job in exposing this farce, the lies and the deception.
Guyanese must no longer accept the justification that their side did it so our side should not be criticized when they betray the nation’s trust. I have no dog in this political fight and may have to reimburse funds to many of my friends in the USA whom I naively convinced in 2015 that a change in government would see a new day of accountability and transparency in Guyana so sadly lacking for many decades.
Of course, I know that President Granger is extremely deliberate in his decision-making so I look forward to Monday, after he has digested all the facts over the weekend, when he announces that he cannot justify keeping in his cabinet those involved in this stain on his government and the nation
Yours faithfully,
Robert McRae
