Guyana DEBT USD $5.031 Billion, estimated from USD $3.7 Billion at end of 2022; an increase of USD $1.3 Billion in 5 months.
- Ministry of Finance Report Appendix VI, for End of December 2022 was Total External Debt USD $1,571.9 Billion; Total Domestic Debt USD $2,080.6 Billion, TOTALLING USD $3.653 Billion.
- In the Ministry of Finance report External Debt is listed for Islamic Development Bank as USD $18 Million in comparison to the IsDB website, showing USD $236 Million
- IsDB USD $18 M versus IsDB website USD $236 Million = PLUS USD $218 Million, which should include the USD $120 Million for the Soesdyke Linden Highway
- Saudi Fund for Development for Wismar Bridge USD $50 Million and 2,500 Housing Units USD $100 Million, TOTALING USD $150 Million
- The Export-Import Bank, for GAS to ENERGY USD $660 Million
- Qatar for 4 lane Crane to Parika USD $350 Million
A need for PPPC’s HUGE Projects to show, explain and convince the Nation ON the MEASURABLE IMPACTS, OUTCOMES and DELIVERABLES.
On June 12, I received a 7 paragraphs WhatsApp SMS, reportedly from “ signed members of the PPP who are concerned at the depth of corruption, with East Bank Mall; Construction Company; Lands & Survey Office; the 3 Bs’ all male, most in Guyana knows; 3 corrupt Ministers 2 males and 1 female; etc.”
HUGE Contracts to PPP/Themselves, Contracting Companies (known to many in Guyana), including 3Fs, Families, Friends, and Favorites.
Since 1966 to 2020 Guyana had a SUBSTANTIVE MINISTER OF FINANCE. From August 2020 to currently with the PPP, there is a Senior Minister in Office of the President. In effect the PRESIDENT is also MINISTER OF FINANCE. Why? afraid of fraud charges? hope for immunity protection? Questions are needed in Parliament for the HANSARD Records, for transparency.
Is the one seat majority in Parliament, PPP Government contracting loans like drunken sailors, on a wild ride with THE POTENTIAL FOR OIL Revenues? What happens when the oil price drops to USD $40 (as in one of my past VV columns) from the current average of USD $70?
Guyanese are anxiously waiting for ALL the feasibilities’ studies. What about the huge expensive projects’ paybacks? Will these be viable projects? What will be the Return on Investment ? What are the Interest rates? OR are we heading for more Skeldon, Fiber Optic, and Marriott FAILED projects under the PPP???
Will Guyana be like Sri Lanka, Suriname, AND Kenya with DEBT BURDENS, needing IMF Rescue???
- June 14, 2023, “Under the PPP/C Government, Guyana has become among the best customers of banks across the world. When the word loan comes up, Guyana’s name is frequently written all over it. The PPP/C Government is on a borrowing binge, and very proud of it. Bankers, who must be recognized for their utility, are also nothing if not successful pawnbrokers. They can always be approached for a loan, once the collateral presented possesses rich appeal for the recovery of monies lent, should there be a problem with honouring repayment obligations in the future.“
Loans, loans and more loans – Kaieteur News (kaieteurnewsonline.com)
- June 12, 2023. “And all these overpriced infrastructure projects funneling our money into the pockets of cronies, all sort of friends crawling out and getting big contracts, which they immediately subcontract ensuring a good small piece amounting to millions in their pockets. Some of these projects are necessary but others not so, not at this time. One does not borrow to decorate, especially when one is already highly indebted, one borrows to spend to get returns to pay back.” Rajendra Bisessar
https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2023/06/12/a-lot-is-happening-but-to-whose-benefit/
- June 11, 2023. GHK Lall “The great gaps existing in today’s Guyana: those economic, social, and racial gaps in Guyana that brings recoiling; sometimes, there is prompting to retreat behind my self-made barricades. In the worst of times, the bitterest of racial and social environments, Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan found a way to keep the door of communication and connection open. It might have been a side door or a backdoor, but they both rose to the occasion with what served the interests of Guyanese.”
Juneteenth June 19, 1865
Our collective Respect, Remembrance and Blessings to ALL the enslaved people, Globally.
Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the date on which enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, finally received the news they were free. On December 6, 1865. The USA, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States.
RACE RELATIONS in GUYANA
Globally, there is enormous potential for blended families of different races. Why is MANY in Guyana not on the same track? Apan Jaat, should be over, with OIL blessings to Guyana, there is enough for all to enjoy a happy, fun, and joyful life with a government, managing with Servant Leadership Principles, Practices and Ethics. A KEY to remember is that the ELECTED GOVERNMENT WORKS FOR ALL CITIZENS, not their parties’ supporters…
Seemingly unsurmountable challenges can result in opportunities with an open mind, positive attitude, and the will to succeed. The PPP Government should include, fairness, accountability, and transparency, in place of the current “GUIDED DEMOCRACY in practice with words not deeds.”
PPP keyboard warriors, social media propagandists, and lettered letters’ writers with contracts from big oil companies’ subsidiaries are in abundance in Guyana and New York. These people know who they are, and others also know with their contracts evidence. These DAILY communications’ persons are like the propagandists that existed in Germany’s history. At times some of these people are with “a little book knowledge can be very dangerous” with the passing of time, they will be unmasked, and run out of towns.
We do need OUR SHARED EXPERIENCES to enable a United, Successful and Prosperous Guyana for ALL SIX Races, never only for the party in Government, families, friends, and favorites.
With due respect, for the 2025 General Elections, VOTERS should choose the PARTY who will state in their Action Plans and Manifestos, that they will promise to advocate and practice Servant Leadership Principles, Practices and Ethics.
PRACTISING DEMOCRACY, means conversation, dialogue, and consultations with the opposition, with equity and equally with respect. There will be NO PLACE for AUTHORITARIANISM or Management by Oppression or Marginalization. History is with the FAILED results in the end, with the effluxion of time.
India’s caste system is among the world’s oldest forms of surviving social stratification.
The CASTE system in INDIA is the ethnographic example of classification of CASTES. It has its origins in ancient India, and was transformed by various RULING ELITES in medieval, early modern, and modern India, especially the Mughal Empire and the British Raj.
The hierarchy is:
- Brahmins who were mainly priests and academics
- Kshatriyas, who were warriors and Kings
- Vaishyas, who were merchants and landowners
- Sudras,who were the commoners, peasants, and servants.
The main castes were further divided into about 3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes, each based on their specific occupation.
Outside of this Hindu caste system were the achhoots – the DALITS or the UNTOUCHABLES, Outcast-Out of caste, street sweepers, latrine cleaners. 
Rural communities have long been arranged based on CASTES –
- the upper and lower castes almost always lived in segregated colonies, the water wells were not shared,
- Brahmins would not accept food or drink from the Shudras
- One could marry only within one’s caste. Violators can be killed, known as “honour killing.”
The system bestowed many privileges on the upper castes while sanctioning repression of the lower castes by the privileged groups.
https://guyanachronicle.com/2017/04/02/the-cockfight-between-the-two-legal-chatrees/
April 2, 2017, Guyana Chronicle: very unprofessional from PPP Minister
- Reportedly, in 2014, a tape surfaced on which the then Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs in the Donald Ramotar Government, was heard saying that he is from a better caste than Bharrat Jagdeo.
- According to the then AG, he is of the Chatree caste. In the Hindu caste system, he would fall in the class of nobility and is expected to be of superior moral standing.
- Transporting the characteristics of the caste system into the legal profession, it has historically been the beneficiary of people seeing it as comprising of persons of superior intellect and the crème de la crème of society.”
Guyana 1 CAST OUT EXAMPLE, with lived experiences.
My Brother from a different Mother in Berbice, 1 CAST OUT Family Experiences.
I was reliably informed that men WITHOUT JOBS would allow their wives and daughters to have sex with the white estates’ overseers, and the babies when grown, were treated as cast outs. Villages were separated by an invisible line for the cast outs. These cast outs were beaten by both the Indians and Africans in their villages.
One indentured laborer person from India, took his passage money and returned to India, and his wife, an African, who was left at the sugar estate, was deemed a cast out and beaten almost daily. The Elder Gafoors, Business Tycoon Sattaur Gafoor’s, PARENTS, am told, helped many of these cast out persons, with food, shelter, school fees, schoolbooks and living expenses.
Was also told that Mrs. Sheila, Esq, Attorney at Law, WIFE of Hon. Justice Donald Trotman Esq, CCH, and MOM of Former Speaker of Parliament, Former Minister of State and Former Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman Esq, PAID THE SCHOOL FEES of $25: per week, for the poor children in the villages.
I am told at Ithaca, Cumberland and Blairmont villages, persons of mixed marriages were considered CAST OUTS, and could not mix. Their own families will throw hot and cold water on them daily. These CAST OUTS were afraid and would hide for most of the day.
THE DAM, was the dividing line which MEANT DO NOT CROSS for the CAST OUTS. Children could not play among themselves, freely, and will often be met with CLOSED GATES at the houses. Honor killing was rampant as was chopping to heads. At James Harlequin Settlement, a man had his penis cut off.
Am told when Dr. Cheddi Jagan, who married the American WHITE LADY in Chicago, USA and returned to Berbice, their presence in the area, assisted for a short while for the CAST OUTS to be treated LESS HARSHLY.
Rice planting was done by the women, with a bag of rice plantings at their waist, and bending, all day, walking in the mud fields, to plant 1 or 2 rice plant in a hole, from sunrise to sunset, barefoot, and with little food and water, with labor intensive, back breaking work with many injuries daily.
Many workers by working barefoot had to use soft grease, or a “fine” pin, to get the very small particles, stuck at the bottom of their feet, which were very painful and will often bleed, for long periods, until a piece of old cloth could be secured to tie the bleeding area.
Many Berbecians of all races and classes worked at Linden and was A CAUSE for the racial riots and violence which are part of Guyana’s history of racial riots, burning, looting, destruction, and raping.
My Experiences in Kuwait with Indians from India.
Kuwait is with over one million Indian expatriates, legally, and about 200,000 illegally, and daily I saw ON SITE the CASTE difference, among and with the population of Indian descent.
Guyana’s Ambassador, Dr. Shamir, was considered and often referred to as the “ UNOFFICIAL INDIAN AMBASSADOR IN KUWAIT”. We were regularly told this, up to the time of writing this column, and being told that we are greatly missed by ALL of them, as attendance at their activities by the Indian Embassy, improved just a little, but they are carrying on.
Our standard operating procedure, for BRAND GUYANA, is that WE attended ALL the Invitations we received for Palaces, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassies, schools, Universities, culture and businesses activities, for at least 15 to 20 minutes, as a minimum, from among the 7 to 10 invitations each day, Sunday to Saturday, 7 days a week. The day before we will set out our clothes for the next day on 3 clothes racks, depending on who was going where. One rack EACH for our individual attendances and ONE RACK for COLOUR coordinated clothing for our JOINT attendances.
At each event, when we did not see the Ambassador of India or someone from the Indian Embassy, we will promptly inquire, for the protocols, to be told, “they ( the organizer) did not receive a response OR the Ambassador from India, was busy.” I met over 100 persons from India, at their Embassy, and always felt, at least ONE PERSON from the Indian Embassy to the activity, was better than ZERO. So much for relationships within one Nationality in Kuwait. There may be other reasons, but I will not speculate in print.
Do believe that the non-attendance may be attributable to the high and low caste system, in practice, as approximately 90% of the Indians in Kuwait, were employed in maintenance, service and cleaning jobs.
We saw at the Kuwait Historic Museum, that Kuwait’s FIRST CURRENCY was the INDIAN RUPEE and Kuwait and India had very heavy trading among themselves, and with the neighboring countries, especially BASRA, IRAQ, the main source for Kuwaitis drinking water, to be transported in special water carrying dhows (boats).
Ambassadors GUYANA and INDIA at the Indian Embassy in Kuwait.
“To the middle of the 20th century, the Indian rupee was also used as the official currency in the emirates on the eastern Arabian Peninsula, namely Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the Trucial States, and Oman. That meant, in effect, that the Indian rupee was the common currency in those territories as well as in India. The Indian rupee was pegged to the British pound at a rate of 131⁄3 Indian rupees = 1 pound. “
