Dear Editor,
I detect a sliver of light in the midst of the political uncertainty covering Guyana, in the statement, “the prospects of a win-win, or winner-does-not-take-all outcome is a gray area and should not be ruled out completely” in a letter to the editor, published yesterday, from Clement J. Rohee. It is a tiny opening to be sure, but one nevertheless.
First, a disclosure. Clement is one of my good friends. He was present at a talk, “Get Ready Guyana: You Are An Oilman”, which I gave two weeks ago in Georgetown. After the talk, in the Q&A, he asked me, in open session, what I saw as the next step for Guyana. My response was that the political uncertainty in Guyana needs to be eliminated for all Guyanese to harvest significant benefits from the oil find, and suggested that as a first step, some sort of joint governance involving the two major political parties in Guyana be established.
There were several other prominent and distinguished Guyanese leaders from both major political parties in the audience and as I scanned their faces for reaction, I was pleasantly surprised to see overwhelming nods of approval. In the following days, I had lunch and dinner with some of the business leaders in Guyana, and found a modest level of support there too, guarded by skepticism that while it might be a good idea in theory, it was unlikely to happen in Guyana because of the intransigence of local politics.
On the way home, I wrote the letter which you published last week under the title, `For all Guyanese to have fair chance of equitable share from Oil and Gas industry, shared governance is required’. I was happy to receive several emails to thank me for adding my support to this idea, which apparently, has had more circulation than I was previously aware.
Editor, if there is support for an idea such as this, barebones as it might be, now is the time, before the upcoming elections, for Guyanese to flesh out the details. It will not be easy but few transformative chances ever are.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Tulsi Dyal Singh
Midland, Texas
