Dear Editor,
1.82 million acres. This is the amount of forest this government sold the rights to to Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc, an Indian company for logging. Could someone tell me how this savage act was allowed to be committed upon the people of this nation? How this sickening and egregious atrocity was allowed to take place? How could a man who personally sold a property on a plot of probably one acre for a handsome $120 million see nothing audaciously and frighteningly wrong about giving away control of some 1.82 million acres or about 2900 square miles of our pristine rainforest to a foreign company for around $330 Guyana dollars per acre? Particularly when that foreign company will not build a single factory in Guyana but will cut our trees and ship them abroad to their factories where they will make furniture and likely resell it to us at home in Guyana. To a company that may bring in its own labour to cut those trees.
Just to understand the sheer scale of this reckless pillage the PPP government has allowed, Guyana’s coastline is approximately 717 miles long (some claim it is only 458 kms). For this land the government gave control away for a pittance, to fit along the coast we will need to multiply our coastline from our borders with Venezuela to Suriname by four times. Better yet, even if we include all the coastlines of French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana there is still land left over. Region 4, the nation’s most populous and prosperous region, fits twice into this area that Vaitarna Holdings Private Inc obtained. Yes, this is the true measure of this chicanery. Did the Champion of the Earth disclose this deal to the Norwegians? How about voluntary disclosure to the Guyanese people? Where was the voice of Donald Ramotar when this was being executed?
This travesty saw the surrender of control of some 3.5% of Guyana’s entire land mass for some $600 million or US$3 million. At this rock bottom rate, it means this government has valued this country’s entire land mass at US$86 million. Guyana is worth US$86 million to the PPP. Yet they want the Norwegians to pay some US$250 million for a sham called the LCDS. This tells every possible foreign investor that this country is worthless and that they should demand nothing less than the unmitigated willingness of this government to sell its soul if they want to set up business here.
I’ll say this loud and clear, I detested the PNC just like I detest the PPP. They were/are the best representation of failed dictatorship and failed elected dictatorship. But Forbes Burnham and Cheddi Jagan would never have given away control of 1.82 million acres of this country’s forests. Despite their monumental flaws, these men viewed the resources of this nation with unbridled patriotism and nationalism. This insult would never have happened under their watch. It is why they, wrongly of course, pursued nationalisation. Only one small set of people benefit from these terrible wrongs. We know who they are. We will end up owning nothing but our poverty.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
