Granger has not earned the right to call any sector a ‘curse’

Dear Editor,

Reading Christopher Ram’s letter in the Sunday Stabroek (October 1) captioned ‘What are the real curses?’ was quite refreshing, since I really thought the local thinkers were going to allow those reprehensible statements from President Granger to slide. It is shocking how strangely illinformed Mr Granger really is on the topic of the workings of the Guyanese economy both now and in the last century, although he is a historian.

The danger for Guyana is that there is someone in charge today who does not have a clue what these so-called curses mean for working families in the mining, forestry and agriculture sectors. Pulling them down is not an option if you are too incompetent to replace them with alternative economic sectors. Thus this Granger administration has not earned the right to call any sector a “curse” when their track record reveals that they are clearly unable to construct alternative economic sectors.

One hears of the “green economy”, the “digital economy”, the “good life” but I am convinced that all these phrases are an adventure in storytelling (Nancy stories in Guyanese parlance). Here we have a CEO claiming that he wants to rebuild the systems in Guyana. But rather than declare his intention to restructure the system in a fair, transparent and accountable manner, he launches into sly actions to provide coverage for his actions. One has only to reflect on the recently concluded Paul Slowe headed Commission of Inquiry. Such a course of action represents a character flaw. Millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on a Commission of Inquiry to investigate bogus charges by a clearly mentally challenged individual when the work of an experienced detective would have done adequately. But these millions had to be wasted to provide the cover for an agenda.

Current research on the regime really points to the fact that it is a really chaotic project. But to date it has manifested that one group of people has more rights and economic privileges than the ordinary people of Guyana. This government is composed mainly of elite Georgetown Africans, the ex-officer corps of the GDF and the leadership in Congress Place with a sprinkling of Indians with no power whatsoever thrown in for window dressing. When you look at this from a modern perspective, it is extremely difficult to defend.

Yours faithfully, Sase Singh