WHY are people spinning hypotheses as if they are facts and speculation as if it is reality? Please indicate where Minister Broomes has “abused her office for private gain.” Don’t speculate.
Now the Minister of Health is a doctor with private interest in an eye clinic. The Minister of Tourism has a private interest in a Sidewalk Café; the Minister of Business has a private interest in a jewellery store; the Minister of Public Infrastructure has private interest in an engineering consultancy, and the Attorney General has private interest in a law firm. Additionally, several other ministers have business interests in areas unrelated to their ministries. All these ministers were successful in their private lives and have chosen to now serve their country with the stated intent of also making Guyana a success.
Now study this: many of Minister Broomes’s relatives are miners or work in the mining industry. Should they give up their mining interests as well? And what about her friends and neighbours? She is from Bartica; the majority of her associates are miners. Should they also quit the industry? And what of the other ministers, should they also quit their ministry? Absolutely absurd!
It is a fact that whatever decisions a minister makes will affect persons they know. This is not corruption. Corruption occurs when an official accepts a reward to influence his/her decision or action. Any minister can be corrupt because they have the authority of the State. Conflict of interest can be imagined in any ministry as well, but that is only speculation. A minister would have to decide to violate the public trust and accept a reward for his or her actions. Then and only then can the accusation of corruption arise. It is therefore not the office that the minister holds that causes corruption; it is the action that the minister takes. This is why democracies try to choose leaders with integrity so as to minimise the possibility that they will abuse their positions for personal gains. Those are the actions that should be scrutinised. The rest is speculation and fiction, not fact.
A “permission to operate,” is not a gift, it is a contract between a claim- holder and a miner, whereby the miner is given permission to work on the claim-holder’s land. The miner is required to pay a percentage on every ounce of gold produced to the claim-holder. It is the law in Guyana that you receive such permission before you operate a dredge. Every gold-miner knows that mining a piece of land guarantees you nothing. It is an investment in which you lose more times than you gain.
Now there is a gentleman named Donald Trump; he is the Republican candidate for president of the United States of America who has substantial business interests. Mr. Trump is a multi-billionaire, he has transferred control of his vast business interests to his kids, yes, his kids I say. So we see that using the logic of Minister Broomes’s accusers, this man could not run for president of the United States, because in theory, we can speculate that anything he does as President could potentially benefit his children, relatives, friends and associates. But theory and speculation are not facts. It might be wise for us therefore to keep our imagination to ourselves and discuss facts.

Allan Blackett