ROBERT Badal’s tirade against the President and the impending construction of the Marriot Hotel is not unusual given his obvious dislike for competition. What is unusual though is his rant about Guyana being in possession of a narrow economic base,  poor infrastructure of roads, unreliable electricity, poor drainage, rising crime, and uncontrollable migration. This sounds political! And Badal upon entering the realm of politics should expect a fitting political response. Despite his protestations  I’m sure that Badal is aware  of the challenges Guyana faced when the PNC left office in 1992 and I’m sure he’s appreciative, as well as cognisant of, the efforts made to widen an ‘inherited’ narrow economic base, as well as to fix ‘inherited’ poor or non-existent infrastructure, unreliable electricity, rising crime and uncontrollable migration.
Being a businessman, Badal must surely be aware of the efforts it took to create the conditions necessary for his company to invest “$4b in the last 12 years”. Such efforts must be measured against the destructive actions of those who repeatedly refused to accept the will of the electorate and also despite the fact that we only reached the stage of financial viability in 2001. It took and enormous amount of lobbying for debt relief whilst prudently managing the little that was available.
Badal made an investment and suddenly he wants to dictate what government must or must not invest in when he learnt about the Marriott. What if Badal had invested in the Guyana Power & Light….… he could’ve very well ended up leading the anti- Amalia Falls Hydro Project bandwagon.
Badal needs to understand that every investment involves risk. He gambled with Pegasus and now he has to compete with the Marriott. When many of the investors lose their investment on Wall Street who do they blame? Congress?  You invest…you gain or you loose…It is part of the game…
Mr. Jagdeo seems like an easy target for all the “wanna be“ run Guyana” individuals. They all have bright ideas about how Guyana should be run.