The electricity situation over the weekend was the worst I can remember experiencing.
Of course, I remember the dark days when load shedding was the norm. I also remember the days when Guyana brought in a power barge that failed horribly.
Those were really dark days. Guyana had no money, there were lines for many things, including lines at the fuel stations.
Those days passed. Things began to improve. Eventually, the time came when Guyana was awash in money—oil money.
The PPP government began to pursue a course of infrastructure development. This was even before oil. New power stations were constructed. With each construction, the powers that be proclaimed that blackouts were history.
Those were hollow words.
Indeed, peak demand increased over the years as more communities came into existence. At the same time, people began to install air-conditioning units. There was a race by the power company to increase generation.
But some generating sets were beginning to fail. The distribution system also began to collapse.
On one occasion, the power company reported that crows had eaten the power cables.
Such was the situation that Guyana moved to seek help from a company based in the Dominican Republic. It even procured used generators from Trinidad and Tobago.
In the end, it opted to rent power ships from the Turkish company, Karpowership. The cost is staggering.
But the power ships are providing the bulk of the power to the national grid. There were reports of threats from the company that has leased the ships to Guyana.
But according to the head of Guyana Power and Light, that threat has been averted. Guyana entered into a new agreement.
Meanwhile, the gas-to-energy project that has attracted huge cost overruns is said to be limping along.
The first set of power is expected by the end of the year. But not much is being said about this project.
Money is being spent; there is talk about a second project given the problems at the Wales site; and the company executing the project wants more money.
The project has gone some US$2 billion over the initial cost.
There is another problem. Guyana has agreed to take in deportees from the United States. The first group has arrived.
According to reports from the United States, these deportees are not criminals. If they pose no threat to the United States with its vast resources, why is the country shipping them out to a country that has myriad social problems?
The United States is saying that these people are not good enough to be within its borders. It is paying Guyana to take these people. It could have used that same money to keep them there.
Guyana could not refuse.
This first group is from Afghanistan and from Cuba. Apparently, those countries have refused to take them. Having lived in the States, the deportees may be able to communicate in a limited way with the authorities here.
The Guyana government has said nothing. The nation does not know where these people are. They could be at the Marriott for all we know.
Of course, some in the government have apartment buildings.
Knowing how things work in this country, the government may very well get the owners to make some ready cash.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that Guyana may be asked to keep these people until their matter is determined in the United States.
These six, coupled with the influx of Venezuelans, some say more than a hundred thousand, will help change the population. With their numbers, in the years ahead they could be running the country.
They are taking Guyanese jobs. The numbers of the unemployed are growing.
One would have expected the government to say something to the nation. Guyanese were not informed about the agreement.
In fact, they have not been informed about many things.
They have been told nothing about the ExxonMobil audit. They have also been told nothing about the progress of the gas-to-energy project.
They have also been told nothing about the efforts to salvage the MV Barima; the 2022 Census; the mass recruiting of Cuban medical practitioners; and, of course, the mid-year report.
People in the Caribbean are quick to say that Guyana is the richest country in the region.
On paper, given the oil receipts, that may be the case, but the average Guyanese feels that he is no better off than before oil.
To crown the blatant disregard for the people, the government no longer briefs the nation about Cabinet deliberations.
There are also no sittings of the National Assembly.
The Public Accounts Committee that examines reports by the Auditor General has not been sitting.
So, there is no way the nation can actually assess how the government is performing.
And this is how the government wants it.
