Dear Editor,
There are times in life when we have to make declarations in order to move to the next desired stage. Declarations of insolvency or of bankruptcy, and of assets come to mind. However, our intrepid Vice-President volunteered a declaration of incompetence – and he doesn’t even seem to realize it! Here is someone, who was President of our Cooperative Republic for 12 years, who has worked in the Ministry of Finance, and who has signed many agreements on behalf of Guyana and legislations in Guyana, telling all to hear that he cannot say if the 2% royalty comes out of costs. If he needs lawyers and economists at this stage to say what the Petroleum Agreement with the oil companies allows, then he is no longer the bright fellow we thought he was. How can we ever after believe it when his Government makes definitive statements and exudes confidence in allaying our fears that the country will make enough money out of oil for all our development needs while escaping the Dutch disease?
I can never remember Mr. Burnham ever making such a self-declaration on matters he was supposed to know. And I can only imagine the harsh rebuke Dr. Jagan would mete out to an underling that made such a brazen gaffe. There are consequences to this unforced declaration of incompetence. A competent Cabinet has to vote no confidence in such a member, otherwise they will be saying that such people run the country. The general suspicion that the ruling party favours less than competent yes-people for Government jobs now has public proof. As a retired teacher, I cannot compete for influence with those who have money, but I can register my disapproval when I see incompetence, in order to let functionaries in charge of our civilization know that we are not all asleep or stupid. But the rot has already spread. To my embarrassment an international colleague pointed out a recent public extravagance where it is claimed that Guyana’s forests store 18% of the world’s carbon (https://dpi.gov.gy/guyana-signs-agreement-with-norway-idb-to-leapfrog-countrys-solar-energy-future/). Current world figures prove that figure is at least 40 times inflated. Obviously the underlings feel they have to exaggerate to make Guyana look good to their leaders.
The Vice-President also recently increased the country’s repertoire of official ignorance when he said that solar power even without batteries will cost 8.8 US cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), but as usual, he does not let us in on the calculations. He just expects people to have faith in him. On the other hand, I, unfunded by taxpayers, have shared information with the Guyana Energy Agency, presented publicly that it can be done with batteries and all for 3 US cents per kWh, and demonstrated that the alternatives like Amaila Falls and the Gas-to-Energy projects are far more expensive.
Sincerely,
Alfred Bhulai