Dear Editor,
The recent debacle of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) losing its land on which its new head office would have been built is cause for concern about how state assets are doled out, the lack of transparency, and lack of full disclosure. It was reported that when GRA Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia was contacted by Stabroek News and asked about the developments, he responded “that question is best answered by the Ministry of Finance.” Probed further, he tersely said, “Like I said, that question is best answered by the Ministry of Finance.”
The Government was not answering newspaper questions about the deal but the Vice President disclosed this week that the new GRA Headquarters will be constructed at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD) and three hotels will be built on the state land which was previously earmarked for this project at Pattensen, ECD. The state-earmarked land at Pattensen for the GRA Headquarters had been transferred to hotel developer Pasha Global of Suriname. Jagdeo revealed that the two other hotels that will occupy the state land at Pattensen belonged to Edmond Braithwaite, a Guyanese living overseas and a Barbadian company. I do not think the needs of private and foreign businesses trounces the national interest. GRA is the most important agency collecting revenue for the Government. How does private hotels have priority over Guyana’s needs? Why would the Government go out of its way to commandeer state land for private hotels by moving a national project?
This Government does not yet understand that transparency is important and when you act in a secretive manner, people think you have something to hide. It was the lack of transparency that put Guyana in a mess when the PNC signed the bad oil contracts which were kept secret. The Opposition was not consulted or involved. Never again should any one party in Government make such major unilateral action involving high value national resources – natural resources, minerals, land. Any Third Force party must promise to create a transparent mechanism for allocation and award of national assets, through a committee or board with broad representation. This will bring transparency, disclosure, and consensus, as well as preventing a situation where one Government plans projects and a new Government cancelling such plans as happened with the Amaila Project and the Specialty Hospital.
When Government gives away national assets, they must release the documents showing the terms and conditions. We have no disclosures on the GRA land about whether it’s a sale, a lease and what Guyana is getting. We also do not know what Guyana is getting from the deal in which the Enmore packaging plant was given to private interests. The Packaging Plant was supposed to help GuySuCo turn around its fortunes, yet the Government was willing to give that away to private interests. We hear of three big new foreign companies coming in to cart away our gold, but do not have full disclosures of the deals. Maybe the “Maytag Man,” the Information Commissioner, can take time from his hectic schedule to get all this information for us. It’s our wealth and our country, and we should care about how national assets are doled out. Wake up Guyana!
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
