I ran into a highly placed person who is also a top second-tier PPP leader. He is quite known in Guyana though he is not in the core leadership of the PPP. He said to me that there is a problem on his mind that he is reluctant to raise as a matter of priority within the PPP.
He did say that at the PPP’s congress last month, he had mentioned his vexation to three of the PPP policy-makers and they did concede that what he is talking about needs the exigent attention of the Government.
He suggested that I run a column on this predicament. “Freddie after all Guyana is your country so it is not a favour you are doing the government.†I agreed with his point but I did warn him that if I wrote the column I would lay the blame on his party which has been in charge the past twenty-one years.
This gentleman told me that the past President, Mr. Jagdeo, the current President and the entire leadership of the PPP and Government have the statistics on gold declaration and they all know that more than seventy percent of gold taken from the earth of Guyana is not declared and Guyana loses tremendously.
He intoned; “Freddie I am telling you what I know; the figure is seventy percent.†He went on to say that the average Guyanese would find it unbelievable, the yearly amount Guyana loses in conspiratorial gold smuggling out of the country. He puts it at dozens of billions every year.
I liked his reasoning when he brought in the Trinidadian comparison. He described Trinidad as a first world country and according to him they reached there because they got a golden industry which they took possession of and carefully watches over – oil. He looked at me and declared, “Freddie, we could be like Trinidad because we got what Trinidad has but we are throwing it away.†He meant the gold industry.
Two things I could see clearly when he spoke; he has inside information on the vast amount of money Guyana loses to gold smuggling and he is frustrated that the party he belongs to does not care. I shifted the argument away from the gold industry and went into the direction of politics. I queried why a political party that literally is in control of the gold fields of Guyana and could use that money to make us become like Trinidad is not interested. He didn’t have an answer and I suggested one to him.
I looked him in the eyes and told him that we are getting poorer in Guyana, we will not become like Trinidad in a million years and our misery will continue because the PPP lacks the nationalist spirit that so permeates the poor Third World countries that have become developed states like Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Trinidad etc.
I was bold enough to tell him that once President Burnham had come to the knowledge that such vast amounts of gold were illegally leaving Guyana he would have thrown all the resources he had at his disposal to stop it. I made it clear that my statement on Burnham came deep from within my heart.
My advice to him is to use his position in the PPP leadership to get them to see that the gold industry is Guyana’s version of Trinidad’s oil reserves and we could make Guyana better by stopping those billions from leaving.
He did say that at the PPP’s congress last month, he had mentioned his vexation to three of the PPP policy-makers and they did concede that what he is talking about needs the exigent attention of the Government.
He suggested that I run a column on this predicament. “Freddie after all Guyana is your country so it is not a favour you are doing the government.†I agreed with his point but I did warn him that if I wrote the column I would lay the blame on his party which has been in charge the past twenty-one years.
This gentleman told me that the past President, Mr. Jagdeo, the current President and the entire leadership of the PPP and Government have the statistics on gold declaration and they all know that more than seventy percent of gold taken from the earth of Guyana is not declared and Guyana loses tremendously.
He intoned; “Freddie I am telling you what I know; the figure is seventy percent.†He went on to say that the average Guyanese would find it unbelievable, the yearly amount Guyana loses in conspiratorial gold smuggling out of the country. He puts it at dozens of billions every year.
I liked his reasoning when he brought in the Trinidadian comparison. He described Trinidad as a first world country and according to him they reached there because they got a golden industry which they took possession of and carefully watches over – oil. He looked at me and declared, “Freddie, we could be like Trinidad because we got what Trinidad has but we are throwing it away.†He meant the gold industry.
Two things I could see clearly when he spoke; he has inside information on the vast amount of money Guyana loses to gold smuggling and he is frustrated that the party he belongs to does not care. I shifted the argument away from the gold industry and went into the direction of politics. I queried why a political party that literally is in control of the gold fields of Guyana and could use that money to make us become like Trinidad is not interested. He didn’t have an answer and I suggested one to him.
I looked him in the eyes and told him that we are getting poorer in Guyana, we will not become like Trinidad in a million years and our misery will continue because the PPP lacks the nationalist spirit that so permeates the poor Third World countries that have become developed states like Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Trinidad etc.
I was bold enough to tell him that once President Burnham had come to the knowledge that such vast amounts of gold were illegally leaving Guyana he would have thrown all the resources he had at his disposal to stop it. I made it clear that my statement on Burnham came deep from within my heart.
My advice to him is to use his position in the PPP leadership to get them to see that the gold industry is Guyana’s version of Trinidad’s oil reserves and we could make Guyana better by stopping those billions from leaving.
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