Is not prepared to compromise Guyana’s development
History records unending stories of the rape and exploitation of resources and assets of third-world countries by developed nations.

The Guyana story is redolent of very sad instances of betrayal of our country by our own leaders, for personal gains of profit in cash or kind, to those whose only intention is to extract our resources to the point of depletion, treating our citizens like third-class citizens in their own country, and taking our riches away, leaving our nation denuded and devastated.

Today, those same leaders, who brokered and pimped our national assets to the highest bidders, to the extent where our development graphs plunged to the bottom of the charts, are pretending that they care about the welfare of the Guyanese people and talking about transparency and good governance, when they do not have even a passing acquaintance with the two concepts, except in theory, or as propaganda tools.

A case in point is the divestment deal offered by the PNC administration to ATN for the sale of our formerly state-owned telecommunication company, now known as GT&T.

This transaction entailed no valuation of assets, which were many, in terms of movable and immovable properties, plus the local company also had five million dollars in the bank.

It did not go to public tender, but was offered to a small telecommunications company located in Salem, Massachusetts. This was no big, established company, because its sole subsidiary is listed as Guyana, and they acquired major state assets in an unparalleled sweetheart deal.

According to President Jagdeo, in a very secretive way a deal was struck, which gave ATN a 40-year monopoly on international calls, 15% rate of return on assets, plus a 6% advisory fee on gross revenue. The President said that no privatisation deal, no telecommunication deal in the world is this lucrative.

Eighty percent of shares in the local company, which included moveable and immovable property, were sold for $16M. If the liquid assets in the bank are put into the equation, then the sale price was actually $11M.

In the first two years the company made back more money than the purchase price.

The President explained that so far, in advisory fees paid to the parent company alone – advisory being relative and may just mean one telephone call per year to GT&T– which entitles them to 6% of gross revenue, ATN has been paid over US$80 million. This is not inclusive of returns on investment on assets.

This and many transactions whereby the PNC divested state properties, which robbed this nation of its resources, cannot stand public scrutiny. But Messrs Corbin and Trotman, both hardcore members of the PNC when these deals were being negotiated, have seemingly had an epiphany and are opposing every policy decision taken by the administration, which is inhibiting national development, because precious time and resources have to be diverted to counter these unfounded allegations, whereas the mechanisms have been put into the system to obviate and/or eliminate probability of corrupt practices, and a wide cross-section of Guyanese – across every divide, are strategically placed to monitor these systems.

The President informed the media that the Government and people of this nation are passive shareholders, because they do not have veto powers over policy decisions in GT&T.

President Jagdeo said that the company has several tax matters running into billions of dollars locked away in the courts, but because the Government is a minority shareholder, it has no say in such matters, at least, not enough to impact. This is directly robbing the nation, because such a profitable entity is denying Guyanese the taxes that would be expended in national developmental strategies.

Government has been calling for a liberalisation of the telecommunications sector. There was a contractual loophole that allowed for the liberalisation of cellphone services, which has made cellphones and services affordable to almost everyone, because Digicel’s provision of alternative services caused a plunge of cell call prices from about $40 per call, with both sides having to pay for one call, to an all-time low, with bargains to boot.

There is now a better quality of phones available at relatively cheap prices. This was only possible because GT&T did not have a monopoly of cellphone services, and the Government had to fight to enable this eventuality.

Guyana is one of the most forested countries in the world, with forests covering 16 million of its 19 million hectares. The Guiana Shield is contiguous with the Amazon Basin and constitutes one of the best-conserved parts of the region.

A letter published in the “Stabroek News” on 12th March 2006 states: “In 1991 the Government of Guyana (PNC) signed the largest sales agreement ever awarded in this country – over 1.6 million hectares of state forests to the Barama Company Ltd – an ad hoc union of two Asian multinationals – Samling Corporation of Malaysia and Sunkyong Limited (now known as SK Global) of South Korea. The Government of Guyana defended the deal as part of its strategy to infuse ‘a breath of fresh air into Guyana’s moribund forestry sector. In addition to the massive grant of forest harvesting rights, Samling and Sunkyong were given a 25-year option to renew, fixed royalties denominated in G$ and not adjustable for inflation or any other economic change, and a range of freedom from taxes and import duties. As many commentators have noted, far from level, the playing field was weighted from the start to the advantage of Samling/Sunkyong.”

The letter continued: “In 1989 the Government of Guyana (PNC) had sold Guyana Timbers Ltd to CLICO of Trinidad for the low price of US$2.7M.

With the acquisition of internal logging concessions, Barama now has rights to a total of two million hectares of Guyana’s forests.

A study of OMAI will also prove enlightening.
In 1996, then President Hoyte had unilaterally, without involving stakeholders in the process, committed a whopping 360,000 hectares of Guyana’s rainforest to the international community to establish a research centre for biodiversity studies.

This centre was named Iwokrama and authenticated by Act No.7 of 1996.
Mr. Dharamkumar Seeraj, RPA General-Secretary, writing in the RPA organ, “The Farmer”, reports: “In December of 2007, Iwokrama reported that it had entered into a 10-year contractual arrangement with Tigerwood Guyana Inc. (TGI) to conduct sustainable (sic!) timber harvesting. Director of TGI, Mr. Ronald Saunders, said that from January to October the company harvested 3000 cubic metres of wood at a recovery rate of 40%, which meant that some 1200 cubic metres had been obtained after processing: so how could this be considered sustainable forest management? Is the remaining 1800 cubic metres utilised in any meaningful way – providing value-added material, for instance, or is it left to go to waste? This does not take into consideration the many saplings that are crushed beneath falling timber. While everyone applauded the Iwokrama initiative, they did not consider the implications to Guyana’s economic and environmental welfare.”

Mr. Seeraj continued: “Iwokrama also reported receiving from TGI US$90,000 in royalties for the fiscal year 2007. Do the maths. How much did TGI rake in? And does Guyana benefit from this windfall? Is Iwokrama exempted from paying taxes from earnings accrued through exploitation of Guyana’s rainforest? What about its earnings from eco-tourism? Is there any accountability in its operations? Is this organisation accountable to the Government and people of Guyana for the exploitation of such a large tract of its forest reserves?

“Mr. Edward Glover, Chairman of the Iwokrama Board of Trustees, elucidated in the “Stabroek News” of 14th May, 2006, that it was never the intention that Iwokrama should be non-extractive and that the Iwokrama Act provides for that. So the real intention behind all the high-sounding rhetoric for the huge forest concession to the Iwokrama grouping was pre-planned and is not made manifest by the arrangement with TGI.”

Mr. Seeraj posits: “Presidents are guardians of this nation’s patrimony and should not make unilateral decisions that may redound detrimentally to this nation’s welfare, but wisely invest its bounties so that future generations could reap the consequential windfall and that posterity will adjudge and laud their leadership merits.

“This nation does not need pirates, but investors genuinely committed to partnership where win-win arrangements prevail.”

President Jagdeo’s unique Low Carbon Development Strategy unapologetically focuses primarily on the utilisation of Guyana’s resources for the development of this country and this nation.

Introduced at a public forum during the Commonwealth Finance Ministers’ Meeting in October 2007, then again at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Business Convention in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2007, President Jagdeo is calling on developed countries to give market-based incentives to developing countries, which can in turn offer their rainforests in service to the world’s fight against climate change.

President Jagdeo has contended that earnings from climate change services utilising the avoided deforestation strategy could bring in more in value than Guyana’s total exports.

The key question that Guyana’s Head-of-state has posed is: “As our country embarks on a second generation of economic reform and infrastructural development, how can we do this in a manner which aligns our national development needs with the global need to combat climate change?”

Guyana’s President has provided a unique and unprecedented strategy for rainforest countries across the globe and, in so doing, has placed tiny Guyana on the front burner of global considerations on a critical issue as climate change imperatives.

But while he is prepared to offer the services of Guyana’s rainforests to avert, or mitigate, catastrophic climate changes across the globe, he is only prepared to do so if compensatory mechanisms are put in place that will promote Guyana’s developmental imperatives.

Our President is not compromising with Guyana’s development paradigm, and he is unapologetically determined to broker the best deal for the nation.

This is the patrimony of Guyanese; and the President of Guyana has invited all stakeholders, including the AFC and the PNC, as well as all the other doomsayers and naysayers, to come on board the LCDS train and let our nation develop and prosper through openly brokered deals that will only redound to the benefit of our country and our people.