Dear Editor,
Politics in Guyana regularly throws up a cluster of Orwellian tropes. Within the space of a week, we have had the National Toshaos Conference where the agenda was initially set by government officials (as opposed to the Toshaos). And then the utterly bizarre spectacle of the Head of State dressed as a Saudi sheik impulsively announcing the setting up a Saudi desk at the Finance Ministry. It is one thing to welcome investment through official channels and institutions and with due process (Is Go-Invest still operating?). It is quite another to assiduously court investment from a country engaged in a longstanding war with and blockade of its poorer neighbour (Yemen), a country that accords fewer rights to half of its population (women) and a country recently implicated in the brutal murder of a journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. As allegations of corruption linked to another outsize actor on the world stage swirl in the wake of the Vice Media programmes, Guyana needs to pause and assess its options and its approach to seeking investment. Have we completely lost the plot?
Sincerely,
Isabelle de Caires
