PLAYING out right now in Guyana is the politics of insanity. Even a million geniuses cannot write a defence of what is taking place right now in Georgetown.
The opposition and their surrogates in civil society and the private media want the government ASAP to contact a foreign salvage company and employ it to raise the MV Barima.
Notice how the goalpost has shifted. They wanted the ship to be raised rather than having it as a memorial site. The government agreed. Now they want the salvage company to be chosen right away. There must not be a tender. There must not be a search. A company must be contacted right away and let the operation begin.
However, is saying that is a political moron that should never be in politics. But suppose the person is not a fool but is laying a trap for the government? Let’s start with the exigency argument. No government around the world would pay almost a million American dollars (it may be more to raise the MV Barima) to a company whose credentials it has not researched.
The employing government has to look at competitors and their track records. No government anywhere in the world just because of urgency, is going to rush to a salvage company and say, please come and raise this ship for us right away. The country is opening up itself to financial exploitation. That company could sense that because urgency is a factor, demand more than market price.
Secondly, there are different salvage companies with varying technological capacities. The Guyana Government, as a matter of policy, has to know the capability of the operator it is employing. Commonsense would dictate that you survey the field to see which firm offers what services and the primary factor must be of utmost consideration — experience in removing wrecks from the ocean bed.
We have the world’s stupidest opposition politicians. Can one at the level of mental sanity comprehend what these people are asking for? Here is what these people are requesting of the government: time cannot be wasted, contact ASAP a salvage firm and let them raise the MV Barima. Can anyone ask a government to do such a stupid thing? Well, there are such idiots in this country.
This explains why not most, but all opposition politicians would never face an independent interviewer. They are afraid of questions that they cannot answer.
From now, until their political careers are over, they will not sit down with an independent media outfit and discuss their politics. Which interviewer would not ask how wise it is for a government to contact an operator that removes shipwrecks without surveying the firms that do such operations?
I noted in the opening paragraphs; could it be a trap? I do not think any member of the Cabinet of Guyana is so naïve not to see the gambit. There are two stratagems being worked out here by the opposition. In analysing these conspiracies, the analyst must at all times understand what is playing out here by the opposition is realpolitik and not compassion.
I remarked in two previous columns on the ferry disaster, that Guyana is inside the vortex of Adriana Younge 2.0. The immediate raising of the MV Barima is a demand to score political points.
The two stratagems are to create a national scandal that the government chose a company whose owner it knows. The cry would be there were no professional criteria in the selection.
The second plot is to blame the government for identifying a mediocre company if the salvaging goes wrongly. Anyone who studies Guyana’s crude and insensitive politics would know the shape the game will take. I know these people. Here is what will happen. Lifting the MV Barima went badly. Huge parts were not recovered.
Here is what the wolves are going to shout about: the government took a company from Malaysia. They know that Italy had more competent operators, but they ignored the Italian companies.
One letter -writer, Keith Bernard who is not a supporter of the government, quoted what one of the French divers said – the wreck may not be recoverable. Against this warning, the government should take time and choose carefully.
I end with a point that needs to be stressed over and over and I will do so on this page. If the government demands EXXON renegotiate the contract and during renegotiation difficulties, the EU, Canada, the US and the UN say that Guyana is endangering investments in the Caribbean, the first people to condemn Guyana will be the people who are clamouring for unconditional renegotiation. Some people in this country practise degenerate and insane politics.

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.