Money is a gift if used wisely. Guyana has been gifted a lot of money, courtesy of the oil found off its shores. In fact, the country has never had so much money, so much so that the government has undertaken numerous infrastructure projects.
Sadly, many of these projects are nothing but pipe dreams. Some of them are just intended to make a few wealthy. Others are intended to attract the friends of the ruling party. There are those who like the dog that sits at its master’s table waiting for the scraps.
This situation is reminiscent of the story told about the Russian leader, Josef Stalin. It is said that Stalin once caught a chicken and plucked out all its feathers. He then let the chicken go, bleeding. According to the story the chicken was suffering immensely.
He then tossed some grain to the chicken and the bird followed him round. The report stated that Stalin then told those in his inner circle that such is the way to lead stupid people.
They do get the scraps and they become eternally grateful, not realising that while they get the scraps they had to endure so much even as their neighbours get so much more. The result is that the gap between the haves and the have nots widen.
As has been noted, there have been people who got ridiculously minuscule contracts which are then subcontracted to some of the haves. The original contractor gets a paltry sum but he is so happy at receiving the crumbs so much so that he feels eternally grateful.
These are the stupid people that Stalin spoke of. The ruling party knows the lessons of Stalin all too well and it applies them to the sick and bleeding in Guyana.
Money has been doled out to people for road construction. The supervisor or the engineer ensures that he collects a share of the money to approve the amount of work done. The road deteriorates within a few month and more money is allocated to another contractor to undertake what was done a few months earlier for millions of dollars.
The money comes from the public treasury so no individual in the hierarchy feels it. After all, it is a case of easy come. Schools are started and left incomplete. There are boasts of new hospitals being constructed.
When the plan for these hospitals was fashioned there was no thought of staffing them. The result is that people have to be shunted to the older hospitals for the kind of treatment that should have been offered at the new facility.
When COVID hit Guyana a new hospital was constructed at Liliendaal, Greater Georgetown. Two years ago that hospital was said to be offering other services pertaining to infectious diseases. It was also said to be offering dialysis services.
However, it is not being operated at its capacity, again because there are not enough people to staff it. Diamond, East Bank Demerara, has two large hospitals but the services offered by both do not match the capability of the Georgetown Public Hospital.
There was a report of an individual going to one of these hospitals with a broken hand only to be referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Amazingly, these hospitals are being built even as doctors and nurses are leaving in droves. There is now talk of recruiting nurses from India at a salary that is more than twice what is paid to the locals.
Water wells have gone out to tender and money paid to the contractors. More than three years later none of these is complete. That tells a story of mismanagement of the national resources.
Nothing has escaped the machinations of the government. Even the judiciary is under the dictates of the government although it is expected to be independent. For three years the government has been approached by local and international bodies to appoint a substantive Chancellor and a Chief Justice.
The Opposition Leader whose concurrence is needed for such appointments agreed three years ago. The appointments have been ignored. However, lesser appointments have been made, none more controversial that the appointment of a police Commissioner who was said to be the least qualified among his peers. And he was appointed long after his age of retirement.
The Chancellor has proceeded on leave. In every instance, the person next in line is appointed to act. Guyana has to be a different place. The acting Chief Justice is being promoted to act as the Chancellor. However, a junior puisne judge is being promoted to act as Chief Justice, superseding judges senior to him.
There are reports that this puisne judge is closely affiliated to the government. A similar thing happened when Justice Claudette Singh was to have been appointed Chief Justice. The government decided on Justice Carl Singh, her junior.
Justice Claudette Singh was told that she would receive the same pay as the Chief Justice and enjoy the same tax free conditions. She later said that she never got the tax benefits.
The political opposition is accusing the government of disregarding the rule of law. There were examples of this in many instances. A lawyer was arrested for advising her client not to answer certain questions.
A public outcry and the forced intervention of the Attorney General brought an end to that charade. A retired Assistant Police Commissioner appeared in court with respect to a charge that was subsequently tossed.
While in the courtyard, ranks from the Special Organised Crime Unit moved to arrest the retired officer. He refused. He later filed assault charges but nothing came of his approach to the police. His complaint was ignored.
He is not the only one to have a complaint against the police ignored. The rule of law simply does not apply.
