…from oil?
Starting today, the PPP/C Government has decided that each Guyanese will be receiving US$5000 monthly from our oil revenues. That’s right…not just the US$5000 annually that Clive Thomas and the WPA floated, but US$5000 MONTHLY!! In case you can’t calculate what that amounts to quickly enough…that’s $12 million EVERY year!! Think about it! Isn’t that great?? Even the best the great US of A could do was US$1400 three times.
Happy days are here again – or at least till the oil lasts. But even under our “Drill baby drill!!” policy that’ll still be thirty years!!
Well, your Eyewitness hopes you didn’t max out your credit cards over Amazon when you read the above announcement. Cause, dear reader, today is APRIL 1st…and as such, your Eyewitness hopes he’s allowed one April Fool’s joke!! And that he wasn’t too mean for getting your hopes up momentarily. He hopes not – because there’s still hope for getting a piece of the action coming from our black gold gurgling out from under the Atlantic.
So where will that be coming from, you ask? The Local Content Policy (LCP) – that’s where!! It looks like that baby will be finally ready like a Cecil B. de Mille blockbuster!
Remember him? Was the most famous Hollywood film maker, notorious for taking years to complete his blockbusters. “Ten years in the making!” he boasted about “The Ten Commandments”. Well, the LCP only took SIX YEARS and THREE drafts, but we’re being assured we’ll be rolling in the aisles in money!
Now, your Eyewitness doesn’t mean to be a party pooper, but it ain’t gonna be as easy as some of our businesses think. And it all has to do with the fact that the train servicing the oil production has already left the station. And anyone wanting to take advantage of the oily opportunities have to be ready here and now. Time, tide and oil production wait for no man!! So basically, those who had the knowhow and funding would’ve already gotten their toe into the door. Which is being followed by their foot, and then their whole body.
From where your Eyewitness stands, the best bet for ordinary folks to get a piece of the action is for the Government to insist that every foreign company coming in have local partners who’ll provide the “Local Content”. Our bodies should be all we need to bring to the table. And that’s nothing to scoff about, once the law says Guyanese must get, say, 20% of each company!
Everybody comes out okay. The foreigners get to make money, the oil companies get their operations serviced, and we get our cut!
And that’s no April Fool’s Joke!
…more from Public Works
Of all the Ministers in the new PPP Government, your Eyewitness is most impressed by the fella they put in charge of Public Works (or “infrastructure”, if you will) – Juan Edghill. For a guy who was presumably trained in theology, he’s demonstrated not just a tremendous grasp of the economics of governance, but also the need for managerial supervision in his present portfolio. The man is like that old hero of yours – the Scarlet Pimpernel – who was here, there and everywhere, rescuing those in danger.
In Guyana today, the dangers are posed by our dilapidated infrastructure – fragile kokers, threatened sea walls, overtopping rivers, washed-away roads and bridges, and that way-past-its-due-date DHB floating bridge etc. And the Minister’s always there IN PERSON. Obviously not actually fixing things personally, but, even more importantly, letting the GOVERNMENT WORKERS know that somebody in authority is watching them.
We all know their notion of a “day’s work”, don’t we? A hat tip to the Minister!
…more from CWI
There are some cricket fans who just won’t take off their rose-coloured glasses. Bluntly, cricket administration is a jungle.
Just look at what goes on at the BCCI etc. And CWI!
