Adoration

We respectfully quote the entire Stabroek News' editorial of Sunday May 16, 2010.

Public adulation, extravagant receptions, congratulatory advertisements, laudatory billboards – what head of state could ask for more? If it weren’t for those pesky, geriatric critics gulping down their bitter brew in the dark recesses of their favourite cake shops, our President’s cup would have ‘runneth’ over and left him standing knee-deep in a syrup of flattery.

Certainly no president since Burnham has been the recipient of this amount of public ‘adoration’ – and no one needs to be told how popular he was with large segments of the population, especially in his later years. Both the Jagans as well as Hoyte were very unpretentious people, and while the protocols necessary for a head of state were observed, there was none of this level of glorification. While President Jagdeo has won a UN award, for which he deserves appropriate congratulations, it appears to have gone way beyond this, and been made the excuse for a major publicity campaign to exalt him in the eyes of the populus. But why, one wonders? Has he been such a failure that his spin-doctors find it necessary to try and boost his reputation to distract from his poor image? If he had a good image in the first place, then it would hardly seem necessary to go to these lengths. After all, why gild the lily?

And what about the President himself? What does he think driving around Georgetown seeing these billboards sprouting like mushrooms bearing his own face smiling back at him? Does he not feel even a tad uncomfortable? Did he ask whose genius of an idea this was? And most of all, did he ask whether the taxpayers were footing the bill for this bit of seeming narcissism? Or is this a generous donation from one (or more) of his admirers? If it is, who gave permission for the city’s parapets to be utilized for this purpose? The Mayor and City Council?

All of this may play well with the President’s support base, and perhaps even with the Amerindians who are geographically removed from the political shenanigans of the Lower East Coast, and whose dancers are brought down to perform at the adulatory functions, but surely the spin-doctors know that this kind of saturation acclaim really convinces no one else. In fact, it may succeed in alienating them further; many will see it for what it is: an example of rank propaganda. Have the architects of this campaign forgotten so soon what it was like during Burnham’s days? How the population took all the promotion of personality and the fawning by some noisy disciples with a pinch of salt? How they picked up the Chronicle every day and read between the lines? How they watched with a cynical eye as the motorcades and outriders zipped past at full throttle?

So again, what are the spin-doctors trying to accomplish? Surely they don’t think that because the foreigners have given the President an award, the local population will be overwhelmed. Can they seriously believe that Guyanese are incapable of exercising their own judgement? Despite what they think, in the end the electorate of this country is primarily concerned about what he does now and has accomplished here, and where that is concerned elements of his record are in question and will not be erased by any number of outside awards. It might be mentioned in passing that in any case the UK only last week asked for an independent inquiry into the phantom squad at the UN meeting in Geneva.

It might be said that this whole campaign is coterminous with a sudden flurry of projects, foremost among which is Amaila Falls, closely followed by a revivified Marriott Hotel. The most problematic of the two by far is the first-mentioned of these. As was asked in SN’s editorial of April 19, for a project which has been hovering around for about thirteen years, why the sudden rush now? Amaila will involve a huge undertaking and has been promoted by a small company which has absolutely no experience with hydro facilities and at best could only act as a middleman. Mysteriously it has recently been awarded the preliminary road project for Amaila although it appears to have no experience in road-building either. Despite persistent questions asked by a variety of sources, there have been no clear answers from the government.

Is this what the hagiography campaign is all about? Distracting from Amaila? Or is it for the benefit of an overseas audience which would have to provide the funding? Is the message: here is a President who has accomplished great things on the environmental front, not just abroad, but at home as well; the Amaila Falls project forms a part of this, and he has the unequivocal support of a grateful population? Even if that were what the propagandists wished to convey, it does not answer the question of why the haste to take on Amaila at this late stage?

We have, of course, a national election supposedly coming up next year. Is this campaign connected to that – in some labyrinthine way?

Muddy Road Molds Debate on the Future of Guyana

The New York times has the above headlined article.

The article posits the juxtaposition of building a $315-million road vs protecting the environment. What the writer of the article does not know is that the Jagdeo has already given US$15million to Fip Motilall to build a road that will have chaotic effect on the environment (and by the way to build a road that the GGMC seemed to have built already).

What is even worse is that Jagdeo is spending $47million on a fiber optic cable that will go through the Iwokrama protected area and will see work done that will severely threaten the creeks forests and ecosystem of the forest and trail.

Obviously the NICIL handled project will be top secret and the moneys paid out will be like the cat-o-nine-tails with each tail landing in a different account.

God help Guyana!

Flips, Fibs, Fling, Flassington and Flagdeo

FIP’s FIBS

Well Fip, Ashni and Winston ought to be awarded for the Best Actor and Best Supporting actors respectively in the movie Synergy or not!

Kudos to Kaieteur News for the excellent piece of journalism this week, that skin up the PPP government and their lies as they sought to give another friend more of our tax payers money!

Well Fip lied when he said that Synergy Holdings built road in the state of Georgia in the US.

The good folks in the transparent State Department in Georgia must be wondering ‘who the heck is Fip and what the hell is Synergy ?’ cause the plot thickened when We found out that poor Fip and Synergy never had any Road Building experience!

Now now, the government will have to explain why exactly it was given Fip US$15 million! Because we KNOW that Fip would not be building any roads to the Amaila Falls.

Our sources indicated that that this money could have been to bluff investors that the project is starting while helping their dear Friend Fip to get on his feet.

Fact is, Synergy Holdings has NOT done a single work anywhere in the world! NO one really knows what they are all about their webpage is just a cheap publicity stunt.

Amazingly, since 2002 when Fip presented the government with a proposal he couldn’t get this thing running??!

But we know that 2011 is closer and the PPP has to offer its supporters something for them to be returned to office, even if it’s a road in the forest.

Just be reminded that Fip claimed that he is doing windmill projects in Minnesota and Kansas also and we are still looking for those projects!

We wonder if Brassington is in his right sense when he says that ‘ this is the single most important project at this time’ He forget the fibre optic cable he and his friends are suppose to be bringing from Brazil.

Shucks! this is really a talk half left half piece!

But we will leave you with Synergy Holdings Mission Statement:

MISSION STATEMENT
To plan and develop projects that offer the greatest benefits to the most people with the least impact on our environment. We firmly believe that progress and development can be accomplished synergistically with the environment, not at its expense.

Spin! Fip! Brassnicil! Money gone!

Shameless !!
The government gives another other sweet heart deal, this time to Fip Motielall saying that Synergy Holdings was the lowest bidder for the road to Amaila Falls Hydro Project. Well, so says a NICIL source (look who opening his mouth) who told Stabroek News that the $15 million road building contract was awarded to SH since it was the lowest bidder !

Why worry about the future of Guyana when we have geniuses like these? What a combination! Lowest bidder with no experience wins contract. In this case lowest bidder, no road building experience! Wow!

NICIL (and We know damn well who got the ‘voice’ to speak on this project at NICIL) said that 4 tenders were submitted. We would like to hear names! Cause I know one big contractor who has been gunning for this project since 1999 feels cheated. Even though responded to Stabroek News last week about all these concerns, he has not uttered one word about his company’s road building capabilities.

At least two new agencies have reported on a Request for Proposals document. Stabroek News said that the documents said that the construction is based on a time of essence basis (after 15 years) and must be completed in 8 months !

But wait !!! The same document says that our Dear Fip’s company must reach various criteria!
- He must have done a similar project,
- He must list examples of previous works and
- he must submit details of the equipment he owns and human resources.

Fip must know that he has to repair an existing roadway and build a road on virgin territory. What is the default clause this time?

Sickly spin doctor Roger said last week that those who are questioning the awarding of this contract have sinister motives, So Roger put a spin on this one.

Spin! Fip! Brassnicil! Money gone!

(We have been watching the developments of this project as many would have noticed in out previous post asking FIP to flip the switch on this project. This project has been in an incubator for more than 15 years)