Government moves to repossess lands from errant tenants- at Eccles, Coldingen, Ruimveldt
Guyana Chronicle news item. Thursday 22 May 2008
http://www.guyanachronicle.com/news.html#Anchor-38327
HEAD of the Privatisation Unit, Mr. Winston Brassington, said government is moving to repossess the lands of all tenants in Eccles, Coldingen and Ruimveldt who are not paying rentals for their leases and have failed to honour their investment commitments.
He told reporters at a recent press briefing held in the National Communication Network (NCN) studio on D’Urban Street, Homestretch Avenue, that the non-paying tenants have been issued notices last year and efforts to seek reposition are going to be made this year. Mr. Brassington clarified that would not apply to some of the tenants who have purchased the lands they occupy.
“For all the property in those areas where the tenants are not paying rent or don’t have an agreement with us, we are moving to repossession,” Mr. Brassington declared.
He pointed out that the lands were issued since in the 1960s and in some cases at ‘peppercorn rent’ of $1000 a year which was never indexed or adjusted.
In addition, the Privatisation Unit head said attempts were made to enter into a current lease at a reasonable rate just for the land based on the evaluation of the Chief Valuation Officer.
That amount he noted was put to tenants; meetings were held with them even at the level of the Officer of the President (OP) plus a slight discount was offered but they still refused to ink the new deal.
Mr. Brassington acknowledged that the Eccles and Coldingen estates have very low rental rates but explained that when those areas were developed there were very strict lease terms and rental was not a big issue since the objective was to create conditions for investment and employment.
Some 84 and 38 lots have been leased in Eccles and Coldingen Industrial estates respectively at $1 per square foot per annum compared to the $ 50 approved for Sanata.
“We have a number of legal actions on Eccles where leasees have failed to invest and do what they committed to do. We are now seeking to terminate those arrangements, take back the property deal with a claw back provision, Mr. Brassington disclosed.
The Privatisation Board and government have previously approved leasing arrangements for other operations namely:
* the old glassworks facility leased to Mr. Howard Bulkan at $ 5.3 M per annum since the mid 1990’s when GGWL was dissolved;
* the former GNIC facility leased to GNIC at $ 70 M per annum but has not been paid; and
* the former GRDB wharf leased to B.K International at $ 10 M per annum.
Meanwhile, he said that squatters behind the Sanata complex has been referred to the relevant agency for action and posited that they may have contributed to the acts of vandalism on the building because items from the building have been discovered in their possession during police searches.
The rent for the complex he said was based on evaluations done on the building when it was in a much better state. (Tajeram Mohabir)
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Two years after drug plan launched, Guyana remains cocaine transit point
Two years after drug plan launched, Guyana remains cocaine transit point
…local seizures in 2007 three times higher than previous
“Counter narcotics efforts are undermined by inadequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies, an inefficient judiciary, and a colonial-era legal system badly in need of modernization”
Kaieteur News news report., Wednesday 21 May 2008
More than two years after launching its National Drug Strategy Master Plan (NDSMP) for 2005-2009, Guyana has not effectively implemented it, and remains a transit point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
This is according to International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 2008 released by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The report notes that seizures in Guyana for 2007 were three times higher than for the previous year.
The increased seizure was, however, attributed to the improved counter narcotics measures at the working level and the quantities not being sufficient to impact the U.S. market.
To its credit, the Guyana Government was lauded for laying the groundwork for an enhanced security sector by agreeing to a reform programme sponsored by the British Government. It also arrested Terrence Sugrim, an accused drug trafficker wanted by the U.S., and initiated the extradition process. Sugrim, called Segrim, was subsequently released on bail.
The report noted that there are no reliable estimates regarding the amounts of cocaine or cannabis that transit Guyana, but US law enforcement authorities contend that Guyanese narcotics traffickers regularly move shipments of cocaine through the country. Drugs flow easily through Guyana’s uncontrolled borders and coastline.
Light aircraft land at numerous isolated airstrips, or make airdrops where operatives on the ground retrieve the drugs. Smugglers use small boats and freighters to enter Guyana’s many remote but navigable rivers.
Within the last four years two illegal airstrips have been discovered and destroyed by local law enforcement agents, while a small airplane disappeared from the Kayman Sankar airfield, which is rarely used officially.
However, residents in the surrounding areas testify to the regular usage of the airport.
The report also noted that smugglers also take direct routes, such as driving or boating across the borders with Brazil, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Inside the country, narcotics are reportedly transported to Georgetown by road, water or air, and then sent on to the Caribbean, North America, or Europe via commercial air carriers or cargo ships.
Local authorities on several occasions arrested drug mules attempting to smuggle small amounts of cocaine on virtually every northbound route out of the international airport.
One such mule was former Miss Guyana Universe, Mia Rahaman, who was nabbed in Canada with cocaine stored in a variety of cosmetics containers.
In 2007, there was a surge in law enforcement seizures of suitcases carrying drugs at the international airport. These had been added to the baggage queue after check-in, and tagged in the names of unsuspecting passengers.
There was also a notable upward trend in the use of the Guyana Post Office as an avenue for the trafficking of cocaine in small quantities, further demonstrating the malleable tactics of trafficking organizations.
To a lesser extent, Guyana was also labelled a trans-shipment point for marijuana.
Notable as it relates to Guyana over the weekend, law enforcement ranks destroyed marijuana plants estimated at millions of dollars.
“Guyana produces high-grade cannabis, and is not known to produce, trade, or transit precursor chemicals on a large scale.”
A very high-grade form of cannabis is, however, cultivated in Guyana, primarily in the intermediate savannahs, and its cultivation is reportedly increasing. In 2007, Guyanese authorities eradicated 15,280 kilogrammes of cannabis.
Marijuana is sold and consumed openly in Guyana, despite frequent arrests for possessing small amounts of cannabis.
Marijuana use has been observed among children as young as eleven years old.
“Guyana’s ability to deal with drug abusers is hampered by the modest financial resources to support rehabilitation programmes…Guyana only has two facilities that treat substance abuse—the Salvation Army and the Phoenix Recovery Centre. There are no programs to deal with substance abuse in the prisons.”
According to the report, Guyana’s vast expanse of unpopulated forest and savannahs offers ample cover for drug traffickers and smugglers, and counter narcotics efforts are undermined by inadequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies, an inefficient judiciary, and a colonial-era legal system badly in need of modernisation.
It also noted that murders, kidnappings, and other violent crimes commonly believed to be linked with narcotics trafficking are regularly reported in the local media, with the most recent kidnapping being that of Farouk Kalamadeen, who was found decapitated 28 after his disappearance.
His head surfaced two days later in a canal a few metres from his business place.
Corruption
As it relates to corruption, the report indicates that there was no evidence that the Government or senior officials of the Government encourage or facilitate the illicit production, processing, shipment or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. However, the local media routinely report on instances of corruption reaching to high levels of Government. These are not investigated and thus go unpunished, but no conclusive evidence is available to back up these claims.
One such case is that of Shaheed Roger Khan, who is currently fighting a court battle for his freedom in the US, where he is charged for shipping drugs into that country.
He, time and time again, publicised his involvement with Government officials.
Another example is that of former Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj, who was labelled as the driving force behind a notorious ‘Phantom Killing Squad,” for which he had to retire from that designation.
Gajraj is currently serving in the post of Guyana’s High Commissioner to India.
“Analysts believe drug trafficking organizations in Guyana continue to elude law enforcement agencies through bribes and coercion, but substantiating information is anecdotal at best.”
Guyana is party to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (IACAC), but has yet to fully implement its provisions, such as seizure of property obtained through corruption.
This would require the passage of the Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism legislation, which has been languishing in a Parliamentary select committee for one year now.
The report lauded Guyana’s effort to tackle the drug problem. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Great Britain to implement a $5 million, multi-year programme for reform of the security sector.
The Government has also requested and received $500,000 in U.S. Department of Defence funds to refurbish its only seaworthy Coast Guard vessel, to patrol its 285-mile coastline.
The country has also commenced issuance of machine-readable passports, in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) standards, that is expected to help thwart the use of identity fraud and cross-border criminal activities.
…local seizures in 2007 three times higher than previous
“Counter narcotics efforts are undermined by inadequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies, an inefficient judiciary, and a colonial-era legal system badly in need of modernization”
Kaieteur News news report., Wednesday 21 May 2008
More than two years after launching its National Drug Strategy Master Plan (NDSMP) for 2005-2009, Guyana has not effectively implemented it, and remains a transit point for cocaine destined for North America, Europe, and the Caribbean.
This is according to International Narcotics Control Strategy Report for 2008 released by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The report notes that seizures in Guyana for 2007 were three times higher than for the previous year.
The increased seizure was, however, attributed to the improved counter narcotics measures at the working level and the quantities not being sufficient to impact the U.S. market.
To its credit, the Guyana Government was lauded for laying the groundwork for an enhanced security sector by agreeing to a reform programme sponsored by the British Government. It also arrested Terrence Sugrim, an accused drug trafficker wanted by the U.S., and initiated the extradition process. Sugrim, called Segrim, was subsequently released on bail.
The report noted that there are no reliable estimates regarding the amounts of cocaine or cannabis that transit Guyana, but US law enforcement authorities contend that Guyanese narcotics traffickers regularly move shipments of cocaine through the country. Drugs flow easily through Guyana’s uncontrolled borders and coastline.
Light aircraft land at numerous isolated airstrips, or make airdrops where operatives on the ground retrieve the drugs. Smugglers use small boats and freighters to enter Guyana’s many remote but navigable rivers.
Within the last four years two illegal airstrips have been discovered and destroyed by local law enforcement agents, while a small airplane disappeared from the Kayman Sankar airfield, which is rarely used officially.
However, residents in the surrounding areas testify to the regular usage of the airport.
The report also noted that smugglers also take direct routes, such as driving or boating across the borders with Brazil, Suriname, and Venezuela.
Inside the country, narcotics are reportedly transported to Georgetown by road, water or air, and then sent on to the Caribbean, North America, or Europe via commercial air carriers or cargo ships.
Local authorities on several occasions arrested drug mules attempting to smuggle small amounts of cocaine on virtually every northbound route out of the international airport.
One such mule was former Miss Guyana Universe, Mia Rahaman, who was nabbed in Canada with cocaine stored in a variety of cosmetics containers.
In 2007, there was a surge in law enforcement seizures of suitcases carrying drugs at the international airport. These had been added to the baggage queue after check-in, and tagged in the names of unsuspecting passengers.
There was also a notable upward trend in the use of the Guyana Post Office as an avenue for the trafficking of cocaine in small quantities, further demonstrating the malleable tactics of trafficking organizations.
To a lesser extent, Guyana was also labelled a trans-shipment point for marijuana.
Notable as it relates to Guyana over the weekend, law enforcement ranks destroyed marijuana plants estimated at millions of dollars.
“Guyana produces high-grade cannabis, and is not known to produce, trade, or transit precursor chemicals on a large scale.”
A very high-grade form of cannabis is, however, cultivated in Guyana, primarily in the intermediate savannahs, and its cultivation is reportedly increasing. In 2007, Guyanese authorities eradicated 15,280 kilogrammes of cannabis.
Marijuana is sold and consumed openly in Guyana, despite frequent arrests for possessing small amounts of cannabis.
Marijuana use has been observed among children as young as eleven years old.
“Guyana’s ability to deal with drug abusers is hampered by the modest financial resources to support rehabilitation programmes…Guyana only has two facilities that treat substance abuse—the Salvation Army and the Phoenix Recovery Centre. There are no programs to deal with substance abuse in the prisons.”
According to the report, Guyana’s vast expanse of unpopulated forest and savannahs offers ample cover for drug traffickers and smugglers, and counter narcotics efforts are undermined by inadequate resources for law enforcement, poor coordination among law enforcement agencies, an inefficient judiciary, and a colonial-era legal system badly in need of modernisation.
It also noted that murders, kidnappings, and other violent crimes commonly believed to be linked with narcotics trafficking are regularly reported in the local media, with the most recent kidnapping being that of Farouk Kalamadeen, who was found decapitated 28 after his disappearance.
His head surfaced two days later in a canal a few metres from his business place.
Corruption
As it relates to corruption, the report indicates that there was no evidence that the Government or senior officials of the Government encourage or facilitate the illicit production, processing, shipment or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. However, the local media routinely report on instances of corruption reaching to high levels of Government. These are not investigated and thus go unpunished, but no conclusive evidence is available to back up these claims.
One such case is that of Shaheed Roger Khan, who is currently fighting a court battle for his freedom in the US, where he is charged for shipping drugs into that country.
He, time and time again, publicised his involvement with Government officials.
Another example is that of former Home Affairs Minister Ronald Gajraj, who was labelled as the driving force behind a notorious ‘Phantom Killing Squad,” for which he had to retire from that designation.
Gajraj is currently serving in the post of Guyana’s High Commissioner to India.
“Analysts believe drug trafficking organizations in Guyana continue to elude law enforcement agencies through bribes and coercion, but substantiating information is anecdotal at best.”
Guyana is party to the Inter-American Convention Against Corruption (IACAC), but has yet to fully implement its provisions, such as seizure of property obtained through corruption.
This would require the passage of the Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism legislation, which has been languishing in a Parliamentary select committee for one year now.
The report lauded Guyana’s effort to tackle the drug problem. It signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Great Britain to implement a $5 million, multi-year programme for reform of the security sector.
The Government has also requested and received $500,000 in U.S. Department of Defence funds to refurbish its only seaworthy Coast Guard vessel, to patrol its 285-mile coastline.
The country has also commenced issuance of machine-readable passports, in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) standards, that is expected to help thwart the use of identity fraud and cross-border criminal activities.
The return of Casino Capitalism
In the Diaspora-The return of Casino Capitalism
Stabroek News weekly column. Monday May 19, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14557
The return of Casino Capitalism
Guyanese Cary Fraser is Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and History at Penn State University
By Cary Fraser
The recent announcement that Buddy’s International Hotel is being sold to a Turkish investor, Sudi Ozkan, who plans to “upgrade” the hotel by establishing it as a franchise of the Hilton or Sheraton chain, must be an embarrassment for Guyana. It would seem that the purchase and the upgrading of the hotel would result in the establishment of a casino and that the Guyana government would support the multi-million dollar investment. The final terms are still being reviewed and Mr. Ozkan had a meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo to receive assurances of government backing for the project. The expectation seems to be that the hotel-casino project will boost tourism and Mrs. Ozkan’s comment, reported in the Stabroek News (May 13, 2008) - “This is a huge investment and we are hoping that it will open doors for many of the jobs for the locals. I think it’s a good step for Guyana especially with the crime and poverty in the country.” – suggests that there is a recognition by the investors that Guyana is a high-risk investment zone. It would seem that the lure of high returns for investors from gambling and the range of dubious services that accompany casinos, coupled with the obvious inability of the PPP government to attract investment that would stimulate both the diversification and expansion of the economy in Guyana over the long-term, have converged to drive this PPP turn to casino capitalism.
It is one of the great ironies of contemporary Guyana that the PPP, which was born of the intensification of the nationalist struggle in the 1950s, and which had committed itself to a programme to improve the lives and future of the Guyanese working classes, should have become the government that seeks to institutionalize casino capitalism as a strategy of development. Given his fastidious adherence to Marxist-Leninist doctrine, one is left to wonder what Cheddi Jagan would have made of this transformation of the party to which he had dedicated much of his adult life. It is a change that has led the PPP from being an agent of working class mobilization to becoming the facilitator of the globalization of gambling – Guyana being the latest slot machine.
Undoubtedly, Cheddi Jagan would also have been dismayed by the fact that the party’s protégé who had been sent to the Soviet Union to study economics, Bharrat Jagdeo, has demonstrated a limited understanding of the political economy of transformation that would sustain Guyanese independence into the future. As a political leader who emerged out of the sugar plantation regime, Jagan threw himself into the challenge to both the colonial order and the sugar plantations that largely defined the limits of possibilities for his generation. Key to his political engagement was the search for national independence, and for strategies to make the sugar and bauxite industries provide a basis for economic expansion that would pave the way for serious economic growth. While many may have disagreed with Jagan’s embrace of Marxist-Leninist ideology, his undoubted willingness to grow beyond the profession of dentistry into a political activist, and his deep emotional commitment to improving the lives of the sugar workers and small farmers, stood as testimony to his intellectual growth and political seriousness.
The turn to casino capitalism by the current PPP government is, in effect, a repudiation of Jagan’s legacy and his vision for both the PPP and the wider society. This development suggests that the current PPP government has embarked upon a course that is marked by intellectual incoherence and political opportunism. It is striking that in the Stabroek News article about the proposed sale of Buddy’s Hotel, it is Mrs. Ozkan who offered a statement of what the investment would offer Guyana.
It would appear that the PPP leadership was unable on this occasion to rise to the challenge of articulating a strategy for foreign investment entering Guyana. Given the fact that the hotel had to receive an infusion of cash from the Guyana government to be completed, it must be disturbing that the hotel is being sold because it is not financially viable and it is not of high quality. One is left to wonder on what basis the original investment was made and approved. In effect, a government funded white elephant is being sold to an investor in the hope that it will be productive.
The sale of Buddy’s Hotel, at its best, would suggest that the PPP government lacks the basic capacity to evaluate investment proposals. Several questions immediately arise. First, how does a government headed by an economist demonstrate such intellectual poverty in matters of economic analysis? Is there any reason to believe that the government’s capacity to evaluate investment proposals has or can be improved? Has there been any serious effort to evaluate the business plan submitted by Mr. Ozkan or is this simply a fire sale? In effect, is there any confidence that the sale of Buddy’s Hotel will translate into a serious approach by the government to the development of the tourism sector, such as it is, as an engine of economic growth?
The saga of Buddy’s International Hotel from its origins to its current fate provides very powerful insights into the intellectual bankruptcy that has overtaken the PPP since the death of Cheddi Jagan. Bharrat Jagdeo will be leaving office after this current term and his legacy will be one of unrelenting failure in terms of economic development. It will also be a record tainted by the Ronald Gajraj and Roger Khan episodes which both contributed to the image of unsolved violent and barbaric crimes that have overtaken Guyanese society, and which has done much to undermine the climate for attracting serious investors. The government’s involvement in the entire Buddy’s Hotel episode – from the initial review of the project to the current sale - suggests a lack of professional competence and a failure to follow elementary fiduciary guidelines for assessing investments.
Mrs. Ozkan’s comment revealed much more than she intended – the Guyana government is led by people who cannot explain what has happened to the society which they govern. The current leadership lacks a sense of history and has little understanding of the role of their predecessors and the struggles that they led.
Their management of the state, its assets, and the country’s infrastructure is the mirror image of the political and intellectual decline that has shaped Guyana’s trajectory since the 1970s. Further, the ship of state under the captaincy of the PPP since 1997 has drifted far from its moorings, without a rudder, and is headed for the shoals. What must Cheddi Jagan be thinking?
(This is one of a series of fortnightly columns from Guyanese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related to Guy-ana and the Caribbean)
Stabroek News weekly column. Monday May 19, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14557
The return of Casino Capitalism
Guyanese Cary Fraser is Associate Professor of African and African American Studies and History at Penn State University
By Cary Fraser
The recent announcement that Buddy’s International Hotel is being sold to a Turkish investor, Sudi Ozkan, who plans to “upgrade” the hotel by establishing it as a franchise of the Hilton or Sheraton chain, must be an embarrassment for Guyana. It would seem that the purchase and the upgrading of the hotel would result in the establishment of a casino and that the Guyana government would support the multi-million dollar investment. The final terms are still being reviewed and Mr. Ozkan had a meeting with President Bharrat Jagdeo to receive assurances of government backing for the project. The expectation seems to be that the hotel-casino project will boost tourism and Mrs. Ozkan’s comment, reported in the Stabroek News (May 13, 2008) - “This is a huge investment and we are hoping that it will open doors for many of the jobs for the locals. I think it’s a good step for Guyana especially with the crime and poverty in the country.” – suggests that there is a recognition by the investors that Guyana is a high-risk investment zone. It would seem that the lure of high returns for investors from gambling and the range of dubious services that accompany casinos, coupled with the obvious inability of the PPP government to attract investment that would stimulate both the diversification and expansion of the economy in Guyana over the long-term, have converged to drive this PPP turn to casino capitalism.
It is one of the great ironies of contemporary Guyana that the PPP, which was born of the intensification of the nationalist struggle in the 1950s, and which had committed itself to a programme to improve the lives and future of the Guyanese working classes, should have become the government that seeks to institutionalize casino capitalism as a strategy of development. Given his fastidious adherence to Marxist-Leninist doctrine, one is left to wonder what Cheddi Jagan would have made of this transformation of the party to which he had dedicated much of his adult life. It is a change that has led the PPP from being an agent of working class mobilization to becoming the facilitator of the globalization of gambling – Guyana being the latest slot machine.
Undoubtedly, Cheddi Jagan would also have been dismayed by the fact that the party’s protégé who had been sent to the Soviet Union to study economics, Bharrat Jagdeo, has demonstrated a limited understanding of the political economy of transformation that would sustain Guyanese independence into the future. As a political leader who emerged out of the sugar plantation regime, Jagan threw himself into the challenge to both the colonial order and the sugar plantations that largely defined the limits of possibilities for his generation. Key to his political engagement was the search for national independence, and for strategies to make the sugar and bauxite industries provide a basis for economic expansion that would pave the way for serious economic growth. While many may have disagreed with Jagan’s embrace of Marxist-Leninist ideology, his undoubted willingness to grow beyond the profession of dentistry into a political activist, and his deep emotional commitment to improving the lives of the sugar workers and small farmers, stood as testimony to his intellectual growth and political seriousness.
The turn to casino capitalism by the current PPP government is, in effect, a repudiation of Jagan’s legacy and his vision for both the PPP and the wider society. This development suggests that the current PPP government has embarked upon a course that is marked by intellectual incoherence and political opportunism. It is striking that in the Stabroek News article about the proposed sale of Buddy’s Hotel, it is Mrs. Ozkan who offered a statement of what the investment would offer Guyana.
It would appear that the PPP leadership was unable on this occasion to rise to the challenge of articulating a strategy for foreign investment entering Guyana. Given the fact that the hotel had to receive an infusion of cash from the Guyana government to be completed, it must be disturbing that the hotel is being sold because it is not financially viable and it is not of high quality. One is left to wonder on what basis the original investment was made and approved. In effect, a government funded white elephant is being sold to an investor in the hope that it will be productive.
The sale of Buddy’s Hotel, at its best, would suggest that the PPP government lacks the basic capacity to evaluate investment proposals. Several questions immediately arise. First, how does a government headed by an economist demonstrate such intellectual poverty in matters of economic analysis? Is there any reason to believe that the government’s capacity to evaluate investment proposals has or can be improved? Has there been any serious effort to evaluate the business plan submitted by Mr. Ozkan or is this simply a fire sale? In effect, is there any confidence that the sale of Buddy’s Hotel will translate into a serious approach by the government to the development of the tourism sector, such as it is, as an engine of economic growth?
The saga of Buddy’s International Hotel from its origins to its current fate provides very powerful insights into the intellectual bankruptcy that has overtaken the PPP since the death of Cheddi Jagan. Bharrat Jagdeo will be leaving office after this current term and his legacy will be one of unrelenting failure in terms of economic development. It will also be a record tainted by the Ronald Gajraj and Roger Khan episodes which both contributed to the image of unsolved violent and barbaric crimes that have overtaken Guyanese society, and which has done much to undermine the climate for attracting serious investors. The government’s involvement in the entire Buddy’s Hotel episode – from the initial review of the project to the current sale - suggests a lack of professional competence and a failure to follow elementary fiduciary guidelines for assessing investments.
Mrs. Ozkan’s comment revealed much more than she intended – the Guyana government is led by people who cannot explain what has happened to the society which they govern. The current leadership lacks a sense of history and has little understanding of the role of their predecessors and the struggles that they led.
Their management of the state, its assets, and the country’s infrastructure is the mirror image of the political and intellectual decline that has shaped Guyana’s trajectory since the 1970s. Further, the ship of state under the captaincy of the PPP since 1997 has drifted far from its moorings, without a rudder, and is headed for the shoals. What must Cheddi Jagan be thinking?
(This is one of a series of fortnightly columns from Guyanese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related to Guy-ana and the Caribbean)
Wednesday Ramblings-Blackjack and blondes
Wednesday Ramblings-Blackjack and blondes
Stabroek News weekly column. Wednesday May 21, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14651
Blackjack and blondes
Twas, alas, a rather tawdry week for news. Tuesday morning we were accosted by a front page photo of a balding man in a polo shirt wearing a much younger woman over his knee with absurdly exaggerated painted eyebrows and a stick-on mole.
Bleary eyed, we wondered why this couple had the nerve to be grinning so happily, so confidently from the newspaper of “Gloom and Doom”?
Then we saw the headline… A Turk…a Turkmen…a Turkoman… an Ottoman had decided to buy the taxpayer-financed - with a five-year tax holiday and US$1M in concessions – Buddy’s International Hotel for a cool US$25M. Suffering scimitars! Our immediate reaction was that this was another massive investment showing a deep confidence in Guyana. If this did not confirm the wisdom of the fiscal and economic policies of the PPP government; if this did not show that crime was a figment of the media’s imagination, then what did? When would the cynics, the non-patriots admit this? Money talks; bull&*^! writes letters to the newspapers. After all that hotel had enabled Guyana to host the Cricket World Cup, and the government, having expended US$55M on infrastructure and BMWs, recouped a whopping $1.3M in ticket sales. Now that’s the kind of sensible investment this country needs.
Our second thought was that the perpetually “tight lipped” Buddy Shivraj has to be a genius salesman to fob off the most absurd hospitality establishment since John Cleese goose-stepped through the lobby of Fawlty Towers.
Then we thought some more. Oh now we got it: Euro wannabes (Turkey is not yet part of the EU) were intent on setting up a little gambling fiefdom on The East Bank. After casinos were shut down in Turkey, swilling in cash and looking for an easy country to park it, Mr Ozkan might have done a due diligence on the hotel but we wondered if the government had done any background checks on him. A cursory Google search – do it – soon found a quite public question mark that might spur one to avoid allowing him to set up his playground on state land and bring a special kind of sleaze to a country some still feel has a modicum of decency.
But what the heck, beggars can’t be choosers and given the government’s motto “Show us the money and we’ll give you all the tax holidays you need” it seems El Presidente spent a few minutes with the Turk and thought he was a man with whom he could do business.
So what can we expect? Ozkan vaguely referred to other investments in mining and petroleum. But he apparently went straight from his private jet to a couple of meetings at his two-star hotel. We wager he could not find Guyana on an unmarked map.
What instead we can safely predict is a parade of sweaty Eastern European businessmen in wide collared silk shirts, their belts hidden by “visky”-fuelled paunches waddling through the airport – there will be a separate VIP line at immigration - before being chauffeured along the East Bank road, avoiding the cows, for a few nights of throwing away their money in some dark room. Let us not kid ourselves that many, if any of these sartorially challenged “highish rollers”, will show any genuine interest in Guyana’s culture or its natural splendor. They may not even make it to the Red Dragon for Chrissakes! What a travesty!
Far likelier their presence will encourage a boom in the prostitution sector. Wherever there are gamblers, sex for sale soon follows.
But don’t worry mothers. This will be a closed shop. We predict that right behind the waddling Gucci loafers will be a gaggle of transparent high heels teetering through immigration replete with thick Slavic accents and names like Ivanna Bendova, on their way to work as “hostesses”.
So this is Nouveau Colonialism. No more about cutting cane in the midday sun; more like suntan oil and complicated cocktails by the poolside of what we are reliably informed will be called the “Princess Buddy”. As an aside Cary Fraser’s withering appraisal of this deal in this paper’s Monday edition entitled “Casino Capitalism” is a must read.
They’ll be quality jobs for the natives, cleaning toilets, and picking up condoms from under the beds, perhaps even opening doors.
Sure enough we can expect more casino related crime, likely Eastern European style which “mek Colombians look like joke”. The Russian mafia and their counterparts are a cruel set of people who wipe out your whole family and just to spite you spare your mother-in-law.
Meanwhile we will not sully these august pages with a reference to the rantings of the unmentionable Go Invest director, save to say if he had any decency he would issue an apology to Judy Fitzpatrick or else go commune at Liliendaal, at the site of the other hotel he promised the nation many moons ago. The one Jagdeo even dug the sod for.
Yes it was indeed a tawdry week for news, including the arrest of Corbin’s driver. What a non-story. Held for a few minutes on station bail. Not even Corbin’s valet, or his gardener. As for the allegations of whether police refused to teargas his protestors we can’t recall the PNC getting this upset when the Keystone Cops opened up on the Lusignan crowd, and succeeded in gassing a school.
Yer we all know the food prices have gone up but if you just read the Chronic you would know it’s simply world commodity prices and the president is doing the best he can. Goebbels does indeed remain relevant today. Hey when people start quoting Nazis you know we’re really having a bad week.
Then came Friday evening’s channa bombing. Shameful. As the news wafted along Main St on the delightful evening breeze and the cellphones chirped at the Peg Poolside we were informed by an expert that the reason the building did not catch alight is that the channa was not sufficiently soaked. Apparently the optimum recipe is that it must be immersed in gasoline for a minimum of four days so that when the nutritious pellets are scattered into buildings they stay alight. “But doesn’t that make the channa mushy?” Apparently mushy is good.
Guyana must be the only country where food is used as a weapon. What next? Boulanger mortars? Bunker busting pumpkin bombs? And why in this food crisis waste valuable high protein legumes on the Ministry of Misspent Youth, corporate sponsored Sport and Kulture?
However this attack had a strangely comforting and retro feel to it. An event from the late 1990s. No one was injured, no buildings burnt down. A little excitement, a last minute rearranging of headlines, and something to talk about over drinks. Perhaps with the recent massacres we need more tawdry weeks like this, after all.
Stabroek News weekly column. Wednesday May 21, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14651
Blackjack and blondes
Twas, alas, a rather tawdry week for news. Tuesday morning we were accosted by a front page photo of a balding man in a polo shirt wearing a much younger woman over his knee with absurdly exaggerated painted eyebrows and a stick-on mole.
Bleary eyed, we wondered why this couple had the nerve to be grinning so happily, so confidently from the newspaper of “Gloom and Doom”?
Then we saw the headline… A Turk…a Turkmen…a Turkoman… an Ottoman had decided to buy the taxpayer-financed - with a five-year tax holiday and US$1M in concessions – Buddy’s International Hotel for a cool US$25M. Suffering scimitars! Our immediate reaction was that this was another massive investment showing a deep confidence in Guyana. If this did not confirm the wisdom of the fiscal and economic policies of the PPP government; if this did not show that crime was a figment of the media’s imagination, then what did? When would the cynics, the non-patriots admit this? Money talks; bull&*^! writes letters to the newspapers. After all that hotel had enabled Guyana to host the Cricket World Cup, and the government, having expended US$55M on infrastructure and BMWs, recouped a whopping $1.3M in ticket sales. Now that’s the kind of sensible investment this country needs.
Our second thought was that the perpetually “tight lipped” Buddy Shivraj has to be a genius salesman to fob off the most absurd hospitality establishment since John Cleese goose-stepped through the lobby of Fawlty Towers.
Then we thought some more. Oh now we got it: Euro wannabes (Turkey is not yet part of the EU) were intent on setting up a little gambling fiefdom on The East Bank. After casinos were shut down in Turkey, swilling in cash and looking for an easy country to park it, Mr Ozkan might have done a due diligence on the hotel but we wondered if the government had done any background checks on him. A cursory Google search – do it – soon found a quite public question mark that might spur one to avoid allowing him to set up his playground on state land and bring a special kind of sleaze to a country some still feel has a modicum of decency.
But what the heck, beggars can’t be choosers and given the government’s motto “Show us the money and we’ll give you all the tax holidays you need” it seems El Presidente spent a few minutes with the Turk and thought he was a man with whom he could do business.
So what can we expect? Ozkan vaguely referred to other investments in mining and petroleum. But he apparently went straight from his private jet to a couple of meetings at his two-star hotel. We wager he could not find Guyana on an unmarked map.
What instead we can safely predict is a parade of sweaty Eastern European businessmen in wide collared silk shirts, their belts hidden by “visky”-fuelled paunches waddling through the airport – there will be a separate VIP line at immigration - before being chauffeured along the East Bank road, avoiding the cows, for a few nights of throwing away their money in some dark room. Let us not kid ourselves that many, if any of these sartorially challenged “highish rollers”, will show any genuine interest in Guyana’s culture or its natural splendor. They may not even make it to the Red Dragon for Chrissakes! What a travesty!
Far likelier their presence will encourage a boom in the prostitution sector. Wherever there are gamblers, sex for sale soon follows.
But don’t worry mothers. This will be a closed shop. We predict that right behind the waddling Gucci loafers will be a gaggle of transparent high heels teetering through immigration replete with thick Slavic accents and names like Ivanna Bendova, on their way to work as “hostesses”.
So this is Nouveau Colonialism. No more about cutting cane in the midday sun; more like suntan oil and complicated cocktails by the poolside of what we are reliably informed will be called the “Princess Buddy”. As an aside Cary Fraser’s withering appraisal of this deal in this paper’s Monday edition entitled “Casino Capitalism” is a must read.
They’ll be quality jobs for the natives, cleaning toilets, and picking up condoms from under the beds, perhaps even opening doors.
Sure enough we can expect more casino related crime, likely Eastern European style which “mek Colombians look like joke”. The Russian mafia and their counterparts are a cruel set of people who wipe out your whole family and just to spite you spare your mother-in-law.
Meanwhile we will not sully these august pages with a reference to the rantings of the unmentionable Go Invest director, save to say if he had any decency he would issue an apology to Judy Fitzpatrick or else go commune at Liliendaal, at the site of the other hotel he promised the nation many moons ago. The one Jagdeo even dug the sod for.
Yes it was indeed a tawdry week for news, including the arrest of Corbin’s driver. What a non-story. Held for a few minutes on station bail. Not even Corbin’s valet, or his gardener. As for the allegations of whether police refused to teargas his protestors we can’t recall the PNC getting this upset when the Keystone Cops opened up on the Lusignan crowd, and succeeded in gassing a school.
Yer we all know the food prices have gone up but if you just read the Chronic you would know it’s simply world commodity prices and the president is doing the best he can. Goebbels does indeed remain relevant today. Hey when people start quoting Nazis you know we’re really having a bad week.
Then came Friday evening’s channa bombing. Shameful. As the news wafted along Main St on the delightful evening breeze and the cellphones chirped at the Peg Poolside we were informed by an expert that the reason the building did not catch alight is that the channa was not sufficiently soaked. Apparently the optimum recipe is that it must be immersed in gasoline for a minimum of four days so that when the nutritious pellets are scattered into buildings they stay alight. “But doesn’t that make the channa mushy?” Apparently mushy is good.
Guyana must be the only country where food is used as a weapon. What next? Boulanger mortars? Bunker busting pumpkin bombs? And why in this food crisis waste valuable high protein legumes on the Ministry of Misspent Youth, corporate sponsored Sport and Kulture?
However this attack had a strangely comforting and retro feel to it. An event from the late 1990s. No one was injured, no buildings burnt down. A little excitement, a last minute rearranging of headlines, and something to talk about over drinks. Perhaps with the recent massacres we need more tawdry weeks like this, after all.
Guyana has none of the checks and balances limiting the scope of executive power found in the US, UK and Canada
Guyana has none of the checks and balances limiting the scope of executive power found in the US, UK and Canada
Stabroek News letter. Wednesday May 21, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14644
Dear Editor,
With regards to the discussion on executive immunity, Guyana versus the rest of the world, it should be noted that the US president is not immune from legal sanctions for acts that violate his oath of office and the US constitution. The difference is that he or she will be held accountable in a trial in the Senate, rather than in a judicial court of law. The whole charade of attempting to justify alleged and perceived abuse of executive privilege in Guyana by drawing comparisons with first world democracies is both facetious and disingenuous. Guyana has none of the checks and balances limiting the scope of executive powers that is alive and kicking in places like the US, the UK and Canada. In addition, the independent press in pursuit of scrutinizing the performance of the government in those nations does not labour under the kind of political, legal and ethnic duress as obtains in Guyana. As a budding democracy we have a very far way to go before we should, with a straight face and settled conscience, engage in the kind of convenient comparative analysis that triggered this train of discussion.
We must not forget that in this contemporary era impeachment proceedings were initiated against two presidents of the United States of America, one a Republican and the other a Democrat. In the first one, many members of the President’s political organization prioritized their fealty to the US constitution over fealty to their shared political party and political interests.
Not even the most cockeyed pattern of reasoning can bring anyone to conclude that such a choice would be made in Guyana today. It requires an evolution in thought processes and reasoning to bring a collective to that state of being. We have not even begun the kindergarten level of enlightenment that precedes the hard lessons in such educational transformation.
The really sad thing about our situation is the apparent lack of moral and ethical wherewithal in civil society, in the opposition, in the government, to be unconditional advocates and activists in their positions on everything, from crime, to freedom of speech, to transparency in government, to an ethnic security dilemma that rises up with every random event and slaps us squarely in the face. Peter Ramsaroop ruminated in a recent column on our aversion to face up to and engage in a frank discussion about race relations. The reason for this aversion is obvious. Accepting the existence of this factor in our social and political dismemberment will entail its abandonment as an engine upon which political, social and economic aspirations can be realized. And we can’t have that, can we?
Mr Editor, our laws are unambiguous on what amounts to a crime, on the powers and duties of law enforcement, and on the rights of citizens to due process and the presumption of innocence. In no place in our laws is there a phrase or statement that applies the word ‘kill’ as a verb in explaining the powers of law enforcement to use force to apprehend suspects. While citizens have a duty to assist law enforcement in the apprehension of suspects if required so to do, there is absolutely no statute or proviso that gives us the authority to play God with the laws of the land. No government in the world is capable of creating zero crime conditions in the nations they govern. But regardless of how difficult or strenuous it becomes, no government should allow its integrity to be compromised by reacting justifiably stridently in response to one set of atrocious happenings, while giving the Nelson’s eye to others. When that becomes obvious, as it is in Guyana, large segments of the population, of sound mind and discretion I might add, will justifiably conclude that we are a society divided between the equal, and the more equal.
A government is like a parent in a household of competing and rambunctious siblings. It must be absolutely balanced and fair in terms of how it dispenses discipline. It is not enough for a parent or government to rely on its subjective judgement that it is being fair and balanced.
Its actions must manifestly convince those over whom it exercises authority that it is indeed being fair and balanced, and does not practise favouritism in its dispensation of discipline, and concern for the brood.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
Stabroek News letter. Wednesday May 21, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14644
Dear Editor,
With regards to the discussion on executive immunity, Guyana versus the rest of the world, it should be noted that the US president is not immune from legal sanctions for acts that violate his oath of office and the US constitution. The difference is that he or she will be held accountable in a trial in the Senate, rather than in a judicial court of law. The whole charade of attempting to justify alleged and perceived abuse of executive privilege in Guyana by drawing comparisons with first world democracies is both facetious and disingenuous. Guyana has none of the checks and balances limiting the scope of executive powers that is alive and kicking in places like the US, the UK and Canada. In addition, the independent press in pursuit of scrutinizing the performance of the government in those nations does not labour under the kind of political, legal and ethnic duress as obtains in Guyana. As a budding democracy we have a very far way to go before we should, with a straight face and settled conscience, engage in the kind of convenient comparative analysis that triggered this train of discussion.
We must not forget that in this contemporary era impeachment proceedings were initiated against two presidents of the United States of America, one a Republican and the other a Democrat. In the first one, many members of the President’s political organization prioritized their fealty to the US constitution over fealty to their shared political party and political interests.
Not even the most cockeyed pattern of reasoning can bring anyone to conclude that such a choice would be made in Guyana today. It requires an evolution in thought processes and reasoning to bring a collective to that state of being. We have not even begun the kindergarten level of enlightenment that precedes the hard lessons in such educational transformation.
The really sad thing about our situation is the apparent lack of moral and ethical wherewithal in civil society, in the opposition, in the government, to be unconditional advocates and activists in their positions on everything, from crime, to freedom of speech, to transparency in government, to an ethnic security dilemma that rises up with every random event and slaps us squarely in the face. Peter Ramsaroop ruminated in a recent column on our aversion to face up to and engage in a frank discussion about race relations. The reason for this aversion is obvious. Accepting the existence of this factor in our social and political dismemberment will entail its abandonment as an engine upon which political, social and economic aspirations can be realized. And we can’t have that, can we?
Mr Editor, our laws are unambiguous on what amounts to a crime, on the powers and duties of law enforcement, and on the rights of citizens to due process and the presumption of innocence. In no place in our laws is there a phrase or statement that applies the word ‘kill’ as a verb in explaining the powers of law enforcement to use force to apprehend suspects. While citizens have a duty to assist law enforcement in the apprehension of suspects if required so to do, there is absolutely no statute or proviso that gives us the authority to play God with the laws of the land. No government in the world is capable of creating zero crime conditions in the nations they govern. But regardless of how difficult or strenuous it becomes, no government should allow its integrity to be compromised by reacting justifiably stridently in response to one set of atrocious happenings, while giving the Nelson’s eye to others. When that becomes obvious, as it is in Guyana, large segments of the population, of sound mind and discretion I might add, will justifiably conclude that we are a society divided between the equal, and the more equal.
A government is like a parent in a household of competing and rambunctious siblings. It must be absolutely balanced and fair in terms of how it dispenses discipline. It is not enough for a parent or government to rely on its subjective judgement that it is being fair and balanced.
Its actions must manifestly convince those over whom it exercises authority that it is indeed being fair and balanced, and does not practise favouritism in its dispensation of discipline, and concern for the brood.
Yours faithfully,
Robin Williams
Presidential immunities are a relatively small part of the executive and institutional framework
Presidential immunities are a relatively small part of the executive and institutional framework
Stabroek News letter. Wednesday May 21, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14646
Dear Editor,
Mr Donald Ramotar in his letter ‘A Goebbels culture held aloft by the opposition’ (KN, May 18) makes the important point that the PNC missed an earlier opportunity to reform the Constitution of Guyana. In the light of the devastation being inflicted on the country by the narcotics economy, and by the promise of the erasure of social decency by proposed investments in two casino hotels, that missed opportunity by the PNC has turned out to be a major disaster.
In fact, the PNC really erred, not after 1992 as Mr Ramotar suggests, but during the period when Mr Hoyte was president between 1985 and 1990. The authoritarian state required democratisation just as much as markets needed liberalisation. The counterpart change was necessary especially as the society was changing course from 30 years of racially polarised efforts at self determination.
The reduced immunities of the president that Mr Ramotar hails as a liberalising measure were promptly absorbed by an authoritarian PPP. The dynamics of autocracy changed. In the context of the PPP, more individuals determined the course of events – Dr Jagan was afraid of another Duncan Sandys mistake – but the authoritarian state was by no means liberalised.
The institutions – the courts, the civil service, the public services – were not democratised. A culture of public service independence was not put in place. Dr Jagan, who was the originator of the party paramountcy concept in his 1957 to 1964 regime, insisted on favoured candidates for positions as senior functionaries. Public service independence is not to be confused with autonomy. Public service independence derives from the ability to provide, without fear or favour, unbiased data and theoretically sound analyses for guidance to the executive in decision-making. However, for as long as the president has to give final approval to the appointment of the public service commissions, that independence will always be compromised.
The evidence that independence is compromised is to be seen clearly in the operations of the police force. The prevention and eradication of crime is a police function which members of the police force should pursue as professionals in the context of the policies set out by the Minister of Home Affairs. For example, if the minister determines that vigilante groups are appropriate, the police force has to accept that policy even though the police may disagree with it. If, however, the police are requested to mow down the backlands of Buxton, a police force, with a culture of independence, should refuse because that amounts to breaking the law. The present Guyana Police Force will, however, obey the Minister, because appointment and promotion arrangements are no different from what they were under Mr Burnham, notwithstanding the protestations of Mr Ramotar.
In this respect, Mr Ramjattan is correct in concluding that the authority of President Jagdeo is now just as absolute as it was under Mr Burnham and Mr Hoyte. Mr Ramotar is focusing on presidential immunities, which are a means of avoiding civil and criminal law suits, and which, although reduced, leave the President with considerable power to command the executive and to appoint the public service commissions. Domination over the public service commissions provides the leverage for determining the careers of public servants. Were that factor not important, we would not be faced with an Acting Commissioner of Police for more than a year.
It is perhaps simplistic, as Mr Ramotar is arguing, to say that the President of Guyana has excessive power. But there is little doubt than when his present powers are combined with those of his party, that the state is just as authoritarian as it was under Mr Burnham. Mr Ramotar, who in the referenced letter, appears as kinder and gentler, is an enforcer of party discipline who does not tolerate dissent within party strongholds. If he is concerned about greater democracy, he should switch his analysis to the inappropriateness of having to crush dissent in party strongholds because of his party’s commitment to uni-race rule in a multi-racial country.
It is dishonest to cast a smokescreen over that inappropriateness in governance by focusing on immunities relating to the President. Governance consists of an ideological direction that is pursued by the executive and an institutional framework by which the ideology is achieved. Presidential immunities constitute a relatively small part of the total framework.
Yours faithfully,
Clarence F. Ellis
Stabroek News letter. Wednesday May 21, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14646
Dear Editor,
Mr Donald Ramotar in his letter ‘A Goebbels culture held aloft by the opposition’ (KN, May 18) makes the important point that the PNC missed an earlier opportunity to reform the Constitution of Guyana. In the light of the devastation being inflicted on the country by the narcotics economy, and by the promise of the erasure of social decency by proposed investments in two casino hotels, that missed opportunity by the PNC has turned out to be a major disaster.
In fact, the PNC really erred, not after 1992 as Mr Ramotar suggests, but during the period when Mr Hoyte was president between 1985 and 1990. The authoritarian state required democratisation just as much as markets needed liberalisation. The counterpart change was necessary especially as the society was changing course from 30 years of racially polarised efforts at self determination.
The reduced immunities of the president that Mr Ramotar hails as a liberalising measure were promptly absorbed by an authoritarian PPP. The dynamics of autocracy changed. In the context of the PPP, more individuals determined the course of events – Dr Jagan was afraid of another Duncan Sandys mistake – but the authoritarian state was by no means liberalised.
The institutions – the courts, the civil service, the public services – were not democratised. A culture of public service independence was not put in place. Dr Jagan, who was the originator of the party paramountcy concept in his 1957 to 1964 regime, insisted on favoured candidates for positions as senior functionaries. Public service independence is not to be confused with autonomy. Public service independence derives from the ability to provide, without fear or favour, unbiased data and theoretically sound analyses for guidance to the executive in decision-making. However, for as long as the president has to give final approval to the appointment of the public service commissions, that independence will always be compromised.
The evidence that independence is compromised is to be seen clearly in the operations of the police force. The prevention and eradication of crime is a police function which members of the police force should pursue as professionals in the context of the policies set out by the Minister of Home Affairs. For example, if the minister determines that vigilante groups are appropriate, the police force has to accept that policy even though the police may disagree with it. If, however, the police are requested to mow down the backlands of Buxton, a police force, with a culture of independence, should refuse because that amounts to breaking the law. The present Guyana Police Force will, however, obey the Minister, because appointment and promotion arrangements are no different from what they were under Mr Burnham, notwithstanding the protestations of Mr Ramotar.
In this respect, Mr Ramjattan is correct in concluding that the authority of President Jagdeo is now just as absolute as it was under Mr Burnham and Mr Hoyte. Mr Ramotar is focusing on presidential immunities, which are a means of avoiding civil and criminal law suits, and which, although reduced, leave the President with considerable power to command the executive and to appoint the public service commissions. Domination over the public service commissions provides the leverage for determining the careers of public servants. Were that factor not important, we would not be faced with an Acting Commissioner of Police for more than a year.
It is perhaps simplistic, as Mr Ramotar is arguing, to say that the President of Guyana has excessive power. But there is little doubt than when his present powers are combined with those of his party, that the state is just as authoritarian as it was under Mr Burnham. Mr Ramotar, who in the referenced letter, appears as kinder and gentler, is an enforcer of party discipline who does not tolerate dissent within party strongholds. If he is concerned about greater democracy, he should switch his analysis to the inappropriateness of having to crush dissent in party strongholds because of his party’s commitment to uni-race rule in a multi-racial country.
It is dishonest to cast a smokescreen over that inappropriateness in governance by focusing on immunities relating to the President. Governance consists of an ideological direction that is pursued by the executive and an institutional framework by which the ideology is achieved. Presidential immunities constitute a relatively small part of the total framework.
Yours faithfully,
Clarence F. Ellis
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Several tax holidays granted for Sanata complex ventures– Indian, Chinese investors on board
Several tax holidays granted for Sanata complex ventures– Indian, Chinese investors on board
Stabroek News news item. Tuesday May 20, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14637
Several tax holidays and concessions have been extended to Queens Atlantic Investment Inc (QAII) covering the five different ventures it will undertake at the Sanata Textile complex.
Speaking at a press conference called at the NCN Studios yesterday by the Privatisation Unit, Head of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) Geoffrey Da Silva said the tax holidays and concessions fall under the Fiscal Enactments Amendment Act, Customs, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Tax, the Income Tax In Aid of Industry and the Investment Act.
Meanwhile, Da Silva said too that investors from India and China were on board with the projects, in partnership with QAII.
He said the biotechnology project – a first in Guyana – would benefit from a five-year tax holiday. And based on the performance of this venture, government may award another five-year tax holiday at the expiry of the first. The same holds for the textile venture.
Customs duty, Excise Tax and VAT have been waived for all of the projects, Da Silva said. Government is also granting a waiver of withholding tax on the repayment of loans taken to finance the projects. Da Silva said Go-Invest was also examining how government could help with fuel costs since this was what brought down G&C Sanata.
He said the concessions granted included provision for unlimited losses carried forward and the repatriation of capital overseas. The investors are also allowed to open foreign currency bank accounts.
Head of the Privatisation Unit Winston Brassington said yesterday that the government got the best possible deal that could have been achieved – one that was not envisaged at the time the tender was put out.
He noted that QAII was engaged to pursue its US$30 million investment after no bids came in for the Sanata Textile Mills complex and other investors wanted only part of the facility and not the whole thing. The QAII investment includes a modern multifunctional printing press, new textile milling equipment and a research and development facility for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
Brassington said the fact that no tenders came in for the Sanata complex had indicated a lack of interest, leading to the decision to negotiate with QAII. Insisting that the deal was no giveaway, Brassington called the deal the best of both words – maximum returns for government and giant investment and job creation. The lease rental is $50 million per annum – far higher than what government leases properties for at its other industrial estates.
“We have worked with the investors in sourcing other investors,” Brassington said, reiterating what Da Silva had said about partnerships.
Brassington also said that job creation was key in the decision to go with QAII. He said the previously identified employment number of 1,200 could increase significantly once the other investors got on board.
“If anyone was interested…, we would have worked with that investor to obtain a position that sought investment, employment and a net return on assets, this was sought here and obtained,” Brassington said.
He said the privatisation of the complex to QAII was fully endorsed by the Priva-tisation Board. Additionally, QAII undertook to handle rates and taxes and pay rent based on square footage of the land. It was recognised that most of the buildings had to be rebuilt or demolished given the condition and the presence of asbestos.
“In practice [like with Linmine] once you have advertised and no bids are received, the final deal is a negotiated deal. In this deal, we have benefited from securing a much larger investment and greater employment than that associated with textile alone. We have sought and maintained the textile operations but we now have additional operations – this helps to ensure viability and sustainability,” Brassington said.
“What we have in our arrangements with QAII are far better than what we would have achieved with our advertisement and there is no-one who has said that they were capable and willing to offer a better arrangement last year or any other year.”
He explained that the privatisation of the entity started with an advertisement in the last quarter of 2006 for the former G&C Sanata operations but no bids were received on the extended closing date of February 28, 2007. “The tender was re-advertised over 20 times. It had an original closing date of January 2007 but was extended to the end of February to encourage interest from both local and overseas investors. As usual the bid box was opened on February 28, 2007 in the presence of a representative of the Auditor General at which time the non-receipt of bids was recorded,” he said.
He said that in accordance with the Privatisation Policy Framework Paper of July 1993, where an entity has been advertised and no bids received, direct negotiations can be held. “Indeed, this was the case with the privatisation of Linmine to Omai in 2003 following the non-receipt of bids to the privatisation offers,” he said.
Brassington said that in mid 2007, a proposal to lease the complex was received from QAII and following detailed discussions and negotiations, which he called tough, a paper submitted by the Privatisation Unit to the Privatisation Board on May 9, 2007 unanimously recommended approval of the proposal. Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Board in May of 2007, Brassington said.
On the deplorable condition of the equipment on the complex, Brassington said security was an issue and much of the items have been pilfered. He said there have been instances where security guards in the Sanata complex had to fight tooth and nail with thieves who would not let go of cut cables and other items taken from the complex. He said there have also been reports of gunfire between security guards and thieves.
“Like any lease arrangement, we have standard claw-back clauses that allow us to terminate the lease if the investment and construction [are] not implemented within the stipulated time frames. We have option to buy clauses based on independent valuations of the complex prior to the privatisation – this can only be exercised after the business plan has been implemented. This deal is good for Guyana – employment, investment and income for government,” said Brassington.
Stabroek News news item. Tuesday May 20, 2008
http://www.stabroeknews.com/?p=14637
Several tax holidays and concessions have been extended to Queens Atlantic Investment Inc (QAII) covering the five different ventures it will undertake at the Sanata Textile complex.
Speaking at a press conference called at the NCN Studios yesterday by the Privatisation Unit, Head of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) Geoffrey Da Silva said the tax holidays and concessions fall under the Fiscal Enactments Amendment Act, Customs, Value Added Tax (VAT) and Excise Tax, the Income Tax In Aid of Industry and the Investment Act.
Meanwhile, Da Silva said too that investors from India and China were on board with the projects, in partnership with QAII.
He said the biotechnology project – a first in Guyana – would benefit from a five-year tax holiday. And based on the performance of this venture, government may award another five-year tax holiday at the expiry of the first. The same holds for the textile venture.
Customs duty, Excise Tax and VAT have been waived for all of the projects, Da Silva said. Government is also granting a waiver of withholding tax on the repayment of loans taken to finance the projects. Da Silva said Go-Invest was also examining how government could help with fuel costs since this was what brought down G&C Sanata.
He said the concessions granted included provision for unlimited losses carried forward and the repatriation of capital overseas. The investors are also allowed to open foreign currency bank accounts.
Head of the Privatisation Unit Winston Brassington said yesterday that the government got the best possible deal that could have been achieved – one that was not envisaged at the time the tender was put out.
He noted that QAII was engaged to pursue its US$30 million investment after no bids came in for the Sanata Textile Mills complex and other investors wanted only part of the facility and not the whole thing. The QAII investment includes a modern multifunctional printing press, new textile milling equipment and a research and development facility for the manufacture of pharmaceuticals.
Brassington said the fact that no tenders came in for the Sanata complex had indicated a lack of interest, leading to the decision to negotiate with QAII. Insisting that the deal was no giveaway, Brassington called the deal the best of both words – maximum returns for government and giant investment and job creation. The lease rental is $50 million per annum – far higher than what government leases properties for at its other industrial estates.
“We have worked with the investors in sourcing other investors,” Brassington said, reiterating what Da Silva had said about partnerships.
Brassington also said that job creation was key in the decision to go with QAII. He said the previously identified employment number of 1,200 could increase significantly once the other investors got on board.
“If anyone was interested…, we would have worked with that investor to obtain a position that sought investment, employment and a net return on assets, this was sought here and obtained,” Brassington said.
He said the privatisation of the complex to QAII was fully endorsed by the Priva-tisation Board. Additionally, QAII undertook to handle rates and taxes and pay rent based on square footage of the land. It was recognised that most of the buildings had to be rebuilt or demolished given the condition and the presence of asbestos.
“In practice [like with Linmine] once you have advertised and no bids are received, the final deal is a negotiated deal. In this deal, we have benefited from securing a much larger investment and greater employment than that associated with textile alone. We have sought and maintained the textile operations but we now have additional operations – this helps to ensure viability and sustainability,” Brassington said.
“What we have in our arrangements with QAII are far better than what we would have achieved with our advertisement and there is no-one who has said that they were capable and willing to offer a better arrangement last year or any other year.”
He explained that the privatisation of the entity started with an advertisement in the last quarter of 2006 for the former G&C Sanata operations but no bids were received on the extended closing date of February 28, 2007. “The tender was re-advertised over 20 times. It had an original closing date of January 2007 but was extended to the end of February to encourage interest from both local and overseas investors. As usual the bid box was opened on February 28, 2007 in the presence of a representative of the Auditor General at which time the non-receipt of bids was recorded,” he said.
He said that in accordance with the Privatisation Policy Framework Paper of July 1993, where an entity has been advertised and no bids received, direct negotiations can be held. “Indeed, this was the case with the privatisation of Linmine to Omai in 2003 following the non-receipt of bids to the privatisation offers,” he said.
Brassington said that in mid 2007, a proposal to lease the complex was received from QAII and following detailed discussions and negotiations, which he called tough, a paper submitted by the Privatisation Unit to the Privatisation Board on May 9, 2007 unanimously recommended approval of the proposal. Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Board in May of 2007, Brassington said.
On the deplorable condition of the equipment on the complex, Brassington said security was an issue and much of the items have been pilfered. He said there have been instances where security guards in the Sanata complex had to fight tooth and nail with thieves who would not let go of cut cables and other items taken from the complex. He said there have also been reports of gunfire between security guards and thieves.
“Like any lease arrangement, we have standard claw-back clauses that allow us to terminate the lease if the investment and construction [are] not implemented within the stipulated time frames. We have option to buy clauses based on independent valuations of the complex prior to the privatisation – this can only be exercised after the business plan has been implemented. This deal is good for Guyana – employment, investment and income for government,” said Brassington.
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