By GHK Lall- This is shaping up to be crab on the half shell. Half-price electricity, that is. I’m beginning to think of this promised half-price electricity as half-baked, half-packed, and half-assed (if that’s allowed). If it isn’t, then half-price electricity must qualify to be half-pregnant. Forget about whether that’s possible or not. This is what Guyanese get for believing in the authorities. Half-price electricity will come to pass. Eventually. The concern is that Guyanese may not like how it came about; the half-convincing manner in which it is put in the books, and the light bill that results. The question is when….
Take it out from the new half profit share (while that lasts) and subsidize the Wales Gas-to-Energy distribution program. Who could be so crass as to complain? Half price is 50 percent off, so where’s the trouble? My trouble is when the half price for light is going to be? First, it was December 2024, then 2025, then some time in 2026. Now, it’s midyear 2027, before rolling to a slow full stop in December 2027. Is that really the finish line for the calendar busting Wales GtE? I have got to see that to believe. Maybe even touch a livewire to see if the shock is real. Don’t hold me to that one.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Now, tell me, why should I allow any damn fool to try a third time? Not happening, folks. Not in this lifetime. I will now make a bold prediction. Half-price electricity is not going to go live in 2027. Sorry, but that’s how the cards read. I play the hand the PPP Govt has given me. Not on the Wales GtE alone, but on many other matters of national importance.
Recall Pres Ali first inaugural address from six Augusts ago. Guyanese are still waiting for his promised PPP holy trinity of transparency, accountability, and unity. There have been signs of the latter. People crossing the floor. People coming out of the churches and expounding on ‘excellence in leadership.’ On the same unity, there was the One Guyana scheme in slow motion and technicolor in Linden. Things got out of hand.
Apparently, I am in sync with Vice President Jagdeo who would have none of it and left a vacuum in his wake. If that is the promised unity six years later, then some screw went slack, some connecting rod got warped. As for transparency and accountability, don’t get me started. Let’s say that having spoken so brightly, Pres Ali picked up his bat, collected his ball, yanked out the stumps and sent everybody scattering. Proof of the PPP Govt dedication to sworn commitments. Thus, what fate something as cheap, low, and negligible as half-price light?
Recall, Pres Ali’s second victorious address. Ah, why go over the litany of failed promises. Like the first one, bombastic rhetoric overpowered by ugly reality. In two phrases, promise Guyanese the world, then give them a basket to bathe ducks. It seems that the president thrives in these situations. Apparently, he delights in talking large, then diminishing to a lump, disappearing through side doors.
Poor General Phillips, it was never so tough in the barracks. His gift is dirty jobs. MV Barima descending, carrying many mysteries with it. Get the prime minister urgently. There’s none better for the job. Take charge, Prime Minister. Wales Gas-to-Energy encountered turbulence, time-consuming detour mandatory, it’s time for General Phillips to saddle up and spearhead rescue ops.
No documents to lay in parliament (GtE). No half price electricity for another year and a half (GtE), Mr. Mark is the man. When will half price be? A year from now is too close. Eighteen months look iffy. Two years may see the project finally completed. Then the bureaucracy has to get cranking. Another six months. Guess what, fellow citizens: It’s awfully close to the next elections. If there’s one thing that matters to the PPP, it’s elections. There goes half-price, and all these half-assed assessments flying about. May this day gleam continuously with light. Naturally.
