Growing up, the Soviet Union was called the Iron Curtain. One could see nothing beyond the borders. At the same time, little news was forthcoming from inside the country. The countries outside the Iron Curtain resorted to placing spies within the country. Some were caught, but then again, everyone was spying on each other. At present the focus is on North Korea, the country that is officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The West contends that North Korea is so secretive that not much is said or known about the daily happenings.
Just the other day there was speculation about the health of the leader, Kim Jung Un. Reports began to circulate about his whereabouts. Then Kim Jung Un surfaced and ended the speculation. In the absence of reports there were fabrications attributed to sources inside the country. And these reports all shed the country in an extremely negative light. People were said to be starving and had resorted to eating grass. And the stories continued. Suffice it to say that I had visited the country many years ago.
Kim Vilayet Sung was alive. The capital looked immaculate. And there was a massive construction of a hydroelectric dam at a location named Nampo Loc. One can read about this and understand the feat and the result.
When people talk about secrecy they think about other countries. Guyana is another very secretive country. There was the helicopter crash that claimed the lives of top army soldiers.
Since that crash not even the relatives are being told of the developments. The government had stated that it was launching an investigation into the crash. The nation heard that the helicopter encountered bad weather and crashed. In the wake of the crash there were reports that the helicopter had problems even before it took off. The government never said so. We know that there were two survivors and nothing further. One of the survivors lived at Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara.
Surprisingly, no reporter has even attempted to speak with the survivors. Gone are the days when some of us were active reporters. Those soldiers would have been tracked down. One can assume that they were sworn to silence but even then, there would have been relatives who would have said something. To add insult to injury, a road was built and named in honour of the five soldiers who died. That road was called Heroes Highway. The plaque bore the names of the five. Immediately, people queried whether the survivors were not considered heroes.
The government then announced that the black box was sent overseas to determine the cause of the accident. Months have passed but there is no word about the fate of the helicopter. The findings of the black box remain a secret. Not even the relatives of those who died have been told anything. It is as if the crash never happened. The government is saying nothing and we are asking nothing. This is not surprising in a secretive society.
Then there is the issue of the operations of ExxonMobil. The nation has been told of the oil reserves but nothing else. There is no word on the audit that found that Exxon had overcharged Guyana by some US$214 million. The nation is aware that attempts were made to fiddle with the figure. One account claimed that the extent of the overcharge was a mere US$14 million. Another audit has been undertaken but secrecy surrounds this latest audit.
In fact, the details of the oil production are secret. Recently, a group attempted to ascertain whether there were meters to measure the oil extracted. The oil company will not allow verification. The location of these meters remains a secret when the government should have made such details available to the people of Guyana.
There are other secrets. The nation is not aware of the manner in which contractors are selected. There was a time when bids were made known. Today, the nation only hears that a contract has been awarded and to whom.
The fate of many of these contracts remains a secret. Because of the determination of people in Linden, the nation became aware that the nearly $400 million contract for the school at Bamia remains a stalled project. That project has gone way beyond the deadline, in fact, by as much as a year, yet the nation is hearing nothing about it. There are other contracts. Some pump station contracts were awarded, without a public tender process.
Recently, the Public Procurement Commission found that the contract was awarded despite the contractor had failed every condition for the award pf the contract. The government has remained tight-lipped. And these are not the only secretive contracts.
There is another secret that no one seems to be paying attention to. We know that Mohamed Enterprise, if that is the correct name of the contractor, fashioned and constructed the new Fire Service headquarters on Homestretch Avenue. That building has been in use for months but there has been no official opening. Perhaps the opening was done in secret although such an event would be hard to hide. There is some speculation about why there has been no public formal opening but I leave that to the reporters.
Another secret surrounded the detention by the United States Immigration Department of the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. To this day, there has been no report by the government. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo was due for a meeting in the United States. It is a secret why he did not attend.
When people talk about secretive countries, let it be known that very few can hold a candle to Guyana.