Dear Editor,
I had a chance to examine the ‘evidence of racial discrimination in government hiring practices’ as presented by GHK Lall in a letter in Stabroek News `There could only be one reason behind the dismissal of these two senior Gold Board employees’ (June 6th, 2021) and have found that of the two cases outlined do not pass muster. One person is seventy-three years old and I would rather not discuss his present performance and attributes so as not to disparage a man at the end of his working life, the second mounted a political platform and campaigned for a political party during the last election in direct contravention of his contractual obligations. There is no evidence here of anything other than desperation and political mischief on GHK Lall’s part. The question then arose of GHK Lall’s motivation; why would Lall clutch at straws and label it ‘evidence’ of racial discrimination?
Is it that GHK knows that when the workings of the Gold Board are examined, real evidence of his (Lall’s) poor decisions will be laid bare? During GHK’s tenure as Chairman of the Gold Board his direct responsibility was to assess the world gold market and (if necessary) sell portions of Guyana’s gold reserves to a maximum benefit of her people. GHK Lall’s large-scale sell-off of Guyana’s gold reserves for a USD 1150- 1363 per ounce was foolhardy and premature; today’s Gold price is USD 1899.50 per ounce. GHK Lall advised on the sale of over two and a half million ounces of Gold that would be worth USD 536.50 more than the peak price received, a loss to our nation totaling well over USD 1.3 Billion; this occurred at a time when there was no need for hard currency as our reserves stood at over USD 500 Million.
Faithfully,
Robin Singh
