By GHK Lall- Will all agitated Guyanese calm down, please? Slow down, shift gears, and take stock amid this furor over the remarks made by former president, former prime minister, and current prime time Guyana Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Samuel A.A. Hinds. Though he sounded recently more like Samuel All American (AA) Hinds than all about Guyana, let us all please give this great Guyanese some breathing space. After all, it must be remembered that he is pushing close to a hundred years old.
Guyanese continue with their outrage at his slip involving troubles with US$10 billion and there is the distinct risk of justified allegations of elder abuse. There is some respect due, some space and peace to this Guyanese stalwart overdue. As much as many wish to flay Ambassador Hinds, the plea is to spare the rod, even if this means that the son will be spoiled.
Those who seek to rain blows on Uncle Sam for his lapse in judgment (even senior moment) are best advised to channel their fury on those younger ones in office who are so cowardly that they put an older gent to do the heavy lifting for them. It should be clear that Ambassador Hinds is not responsible for his actions, as expressed so pitifully defectively in his epistle to the Guyana media.
The belated hope is that he did not circulate his missive to the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. Another prayer is that the well-meaning Guyanese ambassador did not carbon copy his letter to any media house in Texas. His contribution to oil literature could end up replacing the constitution of the Lone Star State and Exxon’s mission statement. The company’s new one would read like this: the less we give, the better colored people live; at least, Guyanese do.
Guyanese critical of Ambassador Hinds need to sober up: he simply did what he had to do to keep his flame going. It is called job security. Recall how former president Donald Ramotar got himself into hot water with his own people. He said what he would do if he had the power: the ‘r’ word was used. It was not race but renegotiate the 2016 Exxon contract.
No way that Sam Hinds was riding that donkey. So, against his better judgment, he swallowed the hemlock and wrote what he wrote. Guyanese would not know what to do with themselves with US$10 billion in their hands. Courageous, Excellency Hinds was, and he should be, er, recognized for it. Relative to how patriotic or conscientious he was or still is, well, that’s a conversation for a more tranquil time.
Notwithstanding his age, it is helpful to peer beneath the surface of Mr. Hinds’s pronouncement which caused such a ruckus. Guyana has endured a world of trouble-at least, the PPP Government has-considering what has resulted from this country’s receipt of US$4.4 billion from oil. He is right. Take President Ali, as one example, a leader with a worldclass PhD. He had US$4.4 billion in his hands, and he could not count to 10% or beyond in the opening rounds for teachers.
Then, there was former president Jagdeo who studied at a Russian financial terrorism school called Patrice Lumumba and he has the greatest trouble considering a $10,000 Guyana increase for 76,000 Guyanese pensioners in any of the past four years. When both President Ali and former president Jagdeo encountered so much trouble dealing with the humungous US$4.4 billion from oil, then Excellency Hinds’s logic stands on its own feet: if they had so much trouble offering wat was acceptable to teachers and pensioners, then they could be more tight-fisted, more bent out of shape to do justice by all Guyanese, and not just teachers and pensioners.
PNC supporters could be further battered by governance inequity when US$10 billion is in hand, given what has occurred with US$4.4 billion. Whether he had any of this in mind or not, it seems that Ambassador Hinds has unwittingly delivered a backhanded broadside at his own political fellows in arms. Since the stewardship of oil billions has been all in the hands of his PPP Government comrades, the trouble (as he politely sums up matters) experienced to date can be sourced to their limitations.
His people have had trouble managing expectations. His PPP brethren have encountered no end of trouble making good on their commitments. His boys have had trouble managing corruption, especially when the PPP Government went to the trouble of setting aside over half of the national budget for infrastructure projects. When his people find themselves backed into a corner, they resort to cherry-picking and propagandising with what makes them look good, and Guyanese limping terribly.
For all these reasons, the call is for Guyanese to go easy on Ambassador Hinds. He had it right with the US$4.4 billion -a world of trouble. Considering his own people only, and their lack of prudent financial and management savvy so far, they would be at a total loss about what to do with US$10 billion. His tag team of Irfaan Ali, Bharat Jagdeo, and Ashi Singh would if their record is used as the foundation for projection into the future. Troubles they have had, but that doesn’t mean other Guyanese would.
