Dear Editor,
The gifting of the taxpayer-funded fibre optic cable from Brazil to Dax Contracting Services should be condemned by every Guyanese. There is no limit to the extent the PPP Government would go to transfer state assets to their friends.
The transfer of the Sanata Textile Mill property to a friend of the former President for G$600M after taxpayer-funded refurbishment of a similar amount, the sale of Duke Lodge Hotel to a friend of the former President after G$90M was spent on refurbishment, an expenditure in excess of G$100m per month to cover Marriott Hotel’s expenses after spending US$58m in capital cost, the transfer of US$30m from NIS to Clico, the Trinidadian firm, a US$200M Skeldon Sugar Factory which now has Guysuco bankrupted, all fall into the same category. While telling us “show the evidence” the list of incompetence, fraud and corruption in the past 22 years is endless.
Guyanese must understand why we remain the poor?est in the region with a per capita income of less than US$4000 per annum.
In the case of the Fibre Optic cable the explanation by Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon to the local media is absurd. This apart, where was the justification to spend US$30m on such a project in the first place when current local capacity far exceeds local demand? By what process was Dax selected? Why the need to rehabilitate new, recently installed cables before they were put to use? What is the financial capability of Dax to insulate the Government of Guyana from legal liability and cover maintenance cost? Would Roger Luncheon publish Dax’s balance sheet from its last GRA filing to show its financial capability?
Would much needed legislation (delayed by the administration) to liberalise the telecommunication sector combined with fiscal incentives for private investments not been a better option? And why an entire nation has had to wait until its Government makes up its mind on the timing of such legislation when Digicel has for more than five years justified this by promising a deep reduction in current rates for local and international calls and other benefits to us and our economy? Isn’t it a shame that despite massive public spending on this sector Guyana is the only country in the region whose telecommunication system operates on 2G networks instead of 4G?
Guyanese must spare no effort in removing this corrupt Government and reviewing transactions like the one with Dax.
Yours faithfully,
Robert Badal
