…on storage bond?
In one of the old Bond movies, “Dr No”, (waaaay before Daniel Craig!), we’re informed if some type of action happens once – that’s “happenstance”. A second time, that’s “coincidence” but if it then happens a third time, you better understand that’s “enemy action”, baby!! In other words what just went down on the Pharma bottom-house deal, is no innocent, coincidental series of “unfortunate events”.
Happenstance: The Guyana Health Ministry’d been getting storage of pharmaceuticals FREE OF COST at the NEW GPC’s 70,000 sq ft state-of-the-art warehouse for over ten years. Then out of the blue in March, the Ministry, on its own volition, REQUESTS rental of the full 70,000 sq ft facility – broken down into two, half for GPHC and half for the Ministry of Health. So far, so good.
Coincidence: The week after, the Health Minister gives a company a contract for a bottom house to store government’s Pharma. Now THIS isn’t the coincidence…as the goodly Minister said, he could’ve been just looking for a better deal than NEW GPC’s offer. Very laudatory if this was all. But lo and behold – the Ministry immediately paid the company (actually a one-man operation by a firearms dealer) million as DEPOSIT. The COINCIDENCE? This was the EXACT amount the arms dealer paid for the house!!
Enemy action: (well, really “actions” – plural) The third action was when the Ministry admitted it also paid rental of million for the bottom house in March – when it still isn’t ready to store some aspirins!! One would be forgiven for assuming this was a low-down, barefaced financing of the retrofitting of the bottom house to store Pharma!
Enemy action II: When caught like a startled deer in a headlight on a dark night – in Parliament – the Minister then claimed he’d paid NEW GPC two months rental at their requested rate. NEVER HAPPENED!!
Enemy action III: In all of this the Minister never mentioned the government has its own 25,000 sq foot facility – built by the US, free of cost – at Diamond. And the same Minister – then the SHADOW Minister of Health – swore if it were up to him, he’d move the government’s Pharma from the NEW GPC’s FREE facility to the Government FREE Facility. No enemy action there. But it’s darned well enemy action when he shells out taxpayers’ money to fund a private facility and then pay it a monthly rent – at a higher cost per square foot than the NEW GPC’s!
But we don’t even know the half of the cost – literally. No warehouse’s gonna stand the cost of maintenance, security, testing, shipping, etc…when they’re not getting the contract for the Pharma to amortize their costs!!
Let’s see the contract!!
…investments?
Right after the elections, some AFC bigwigs jetted up to Toronto, made some of their campaign funders honorary Ministerial Advisors (business investments?), schmoozed a bit – and then attended an “Investment Parley” – which was what the jaunt was supposed to be all about. The investments? The nation’s still holding its breath!
Falling flat in Canada, the AFC bigwigs arranged a “Guyana Means Business” investment conference in New York City. They went big time, this time – Harvard Club!! Which costs a pretty penny, let this Eyewitness tell you! Jetting up from Guyana were Vice President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan; David Patterson, Public Infrastructure; Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin; and Cathy Hughes, then Minister of Tourism and Communications.
Even though Wall Street was waaaay downtown we were told we’d have to beat American investors off with a stick. After we showed them we weren’t just country hicks who’d just come to town!
But the nation’s still holding its breath!
…on the economy
Sugar’s down. Rice’s down. Forestry’s down. Bauxite’s down. Together these employ more than half of Guyana’s workers. But not to worry, says the Finance Minister, the economy’s doing fine!
Why? Gold’s up. Never mind it’s mostly from foreign companies’ production!! And the profits end up foreign!
