Even their staunchest supporters are disappointed with the performance of the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government, in office now for three years. One of the fierce supporters of the coalition, a person that vigorously campaigned in 2015 on behalf of the coalition, Dr David Hinds, this past week expressed his unequivocal disappointment in APNU/AFC, accusing them of being painfully visionless. Indeed, not only has APNU/AFC been visionless, they have been utterly clueless. They have no plans and yet they opted at the beginning to abandon major projects simply because these projects were either started by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) or planned by the PPP. The APNU/AFC’s rejection of these projects had nothing to do with the soundness of the projects, but everything to do with the projects being too deeply-rooted in the PPP’s DNA.
Minister Raphael Trotman this past week informed the Natural Resources Sector Committee in Parliament that the Amaila Hydroelectric Project is very much back on the table. This is in spite of the fact that in October 2017, Minister Joseph Harmon had announced that the Amaila was “dead”. On several occasions, Minister Jordan had announced that APNU/AFC has totally rejected this project and that to continue it would be a “downright criminal act”. Since taking office, Amaila has been on and off. In the three years since APNU/AFC took control of the Government, they have treated one of the most transformative projects for Guyana as a game of yo-yo. There is only one reason – they cannot stand the thought of yet another major PPP project being made into reality.
The handling of Amaila by APNU/AFC is a prime example of the character of this Government. Unfortunately, it is not just lack of vision, it is also spite and incompetency. From the start, they wanted to deny Guyana the benefits of the transformative impact that Amaila would have on the social, economic and infrastructural trajectory of our country and our people. The only reason for this vile decision was that Amaila is “too PPP” and too much rooted in Jagdeo’s footprints. They knew that Amaila was critical, but they simply could not stomach the fact that the PPP developed the Amaila project. This is the genesis of their confusion, not wanting to complete a PPP project, but recognising the tremendous possibility of Amaila. To make matters worse, the only success this Government genuinely can talk about are all deeply-rooted in the PPP footprints – the new CJIA, the East Coast and East bank four lane roads, the East Bank Berbice Road, rice, and oil.
The Amaila Hydroelectricity Project, one of the premier infrastructural development projects, is partly funded by the Norway Agreement. It is intended to help Guyana reduce and eliminate our dependency on fossil fuel. There is, in fact, US$80 million at stake. If Guyana does not use it for Amaila, we lose it. Importantly, with the initial scuttling of the Amaila Hydroelectric Project, APNU/AFC gave clear signals that its talk of a green economy is a smokescreen to weaken Guyana’s carbon footprint and carbon credit equity. Guyana’s commitment at the Paris Climate Change Agreement in November 2015 to significantly reduced its dependence on fossil fuel and derive 90 per cent of its energy from clean fuel by 2025 cannot be achieved without Amaila. Norway has indicated that Amaila is the best way to achieve a fossil fuel-free energy architecture. APNU/AFC’s stubborn refusal to embrace Amaila, therefore, jeopardises the Norwegian Agreement and in the process has caused an interruption of carbon credit funding. In fact, not only has replenishment of the US$200 million replenishment been interrupted, but APNU/AFC’s recklessness is aborting Guyana’s chances of earning more than US$250 million annually in carbon credit.
APNU/AFC has been downright ambivalent in their approach to the Norway Carbon Credit Agreement. APNU/AFC’s commitment to the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) has been lukewarm, if not a posture of outright rejection. Instead of embracing the LCDS and consolidating our pathway towards a carbon credit payment of US$250 million annually, APNU/AFC seems more interested in erasing the PPP footprints from this innovative and global best practice, one that earned Bharrat Jagdeo the UN Global award of Champion of the Earth. The consequence is severe, chief among them, is we are not certain that Amaila will ever happen. Had they continued the project, Amaila would have been producing electricity right now, our cost would have been reduced by at least 50 per cent and over the next 20 years we would have saved over $400 billion. The ambivalence shown towards Amaila, therefore, is a prime example of political malfeasance and misconduct in office.
