Dear Editor, Bharat Jagdeo, Winston Brassington and Amaila Hydro: Whos going to jail for this?

How Guyanas Champion of the Earth became a Champion of Deception and Misinformation

Whos going to jail for this? I refer to the chaos and criminal effrontery in Guyana circumscribed by the following online articles: 1. SNs editorial Beijings Money (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/opinion/editorial/09/02/beijingsmoney/ ), 2. KN/Christopher Rams Brassington Embarrassed over Amaila Revelations (http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/09/01/brassington-embarrassed-over-amaila-revelations/ ), 3. KN/Ramon Gaskins Other than the romantic notion of hydro, there is nothing redeeming about this particular project (http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/09/02/other-than-the-romantic-notion-of-hydro-there-is-nothingredeeming-about-this-particular-project/ ); 4. Demerara Waves Not a single cent of debt- Jagdeo; Greenidge calls for independent Assessment (http://www.caribnewsdesk.com/news/6396-amaila-hydro-not-a-single-cent-of-debt-jagdeo-greenidge-calls-forindependent-assessment ), and 5. Ram/Gaskins Response to Questions Posed by Gouveia (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/opinion/letters/08/18/response-to-questions-posed-by-gouveia/ ) Taken together, they represent the latest in a series of astonishingly detailed indictments of the crisis of leadership, credibility and governance in Guyana. We thought we had addressed the outlines of the issues in the online article Greed, Genocide and now Green: Corruption and Underdevelopment in Guyana (http://www.scribd.com/doc/17958657/Greed-Genocide-and-nowGreen-Corruption-and-Underdevelopment-in-Guyana ), but it is clear that the rot is deeper, and more deep-seated, than any of us imagined. In particular, No. 2 in the list above is an astonishing document Ram ... politely, one believes ... refers everywhere to Winston Brassington, but it is evident that he believes that a "chief negotiator" CANNOT be this uninformed, and it is equally obvious that his laser is pointed squarely at an administration that carefully concocted this criminal debacle over 11 long years. Given his damning comments of just a few days ago (see 4 above), the dearth of intellect, honesty and stewardship exhibited by former President Bharat Jagdeo, and the studied callousness with which he and his accomplices apparently manipulated and misinformed the entire population and its parliament, must now be sending shockwaves throughout CARICOM and the world. We must now face the inevitable! Our "Champion of the Earth" is now going to populate textbooks on Development Theory/Economics as the Third World's best example ever of how NOT to trust one's leaders.

And Captain Jerry Gouveia must now consider that his unfortunately inept letter, and his pending answers to the 10 questions posed by Ram and Gaskin in response (see 5 above), will now feature just as eminently. Feigning ignorance ... or a reckless and fawning gullibility ... has its consequences! What additional evidence does Guyanas Minister of Home Affairs, its Commissioner of Police and the Attorney-General now need to move vigorously and determinedly to the courts? Is it feasible that these persons can suddenly remember their oaths of office, and save whatever dregs of decency and professionalism are left in their positions? If only for their children's sake? Who's going to jail for this? For being the voices who spoke out, continuously, over the years, the entire nation owes Kaieteur News, Stabroek News, Christopher Ram, Ramon Gaskin, Ronald Austin, Lincoln Lewis, Frederick Kissoon ... and countless others too numerous to mention here a sincere debt of gratitude. Can it get any worse than this? Who is going to jail for this? It is/was impossible that a chief negotiator, and all his staff, could be this uninformed about a Billion-dollar hydropower deal! Ramon Gaskins words in (3) above summarize the situation eloquently: Many see this as a gigantic rip- off in the making and the colonial mechanism of placing an agent in the GPL to take control of its revenues and its receivables (pledged to the project) is particularly offensive. Who's going to jail for this? Yours faithfully, Roger Williams September 2, 2013

End-notes: Readers should note that, one day after this letter was sent to the press on September 2, 2013, Stabroek News published the following letter from Carl Greenidge. The letter effectively summarizes the case the Attorney-General of Guyana, and its Commissioner of Police, must now be called upon to bring to bear against Bharat Jagdeo, Winston Brassington and their accomplices: The Government is Applying Faulty Economics to the Case of Amaila (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/opinion/letters/09/03/the-government-is-applying-faulty-economics-in-the-caseof-amaila/ ) As a purely academic exercise, readers should, after reading Greenidges dispassionate treatment of this horrible state of affairs, compare and contrast it with the previous news article of July 19, 2013: Opposition Defeat of Amaila Bill, Motion an act of terrorism against development President Ramotar (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/news/stories/07/19/opposition-defeat-of-amaila-bill-motion-an-act-of-terrorismagainst-development-president-ramotar/ )

End Notes II: The state of affairs in Guyana is deteriorating rapidly. On September 5, 2013, in response to a full-page advertisement by Winston Brassington addressing only ONE aspect of the contentious issues raised about his and Bharat Jagdeos stewardship to gross acts of financial impropriety as outlined in (5) above, Christopher Ram outlines what is by far the most telling evidence of corruption that is ruinous to the state in the online article Brassington dodged the many unanswered questions on controversial Amaila Project (http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/09/05/brassington-dodged-the-many-unanswered-questions-oncontroversial-amaila-project/ ) And yet the countrys Attorney-General, Commissioner of Police, Home Affairs Minister, Director of Public Prosecution, and CARICOM Heads stay silent! In considering no less than 37 pointed accusations and revelations directed at Brassington and Jagdeo, he is forced to come to the inevitable conclusion: As egregious as any one of the above is, the Amaila deal which Brassington was secretly spearheading under the guise of confidentiality, would have had untold financial consequences for Guyana. Even in countries with only modest embrace of good corporate governance and laws, the best Winston Brassington could hope for would be to be classified as unfit to be a director of any company. In better ones, society would be protected from him. But in Guyana, Mr. Jagdeo encouraged and protected him . This follows hard on the heels of yet another accusation about what Mr. jagdeo encouraged in the online article Shaheed Roger Khan: drugs, dirty money and the death squad (http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/guyanareview/08/20/shaheed-%E2%80%98roger%E2%80%99-khan-drugs-dirty-money-and-the-death-squad/ ) The following comment in that disturbing article speaks volumes: Shaheed Roger Khan was one of the most complete criminals in Guyanas history. He acquired vast properties, recruited serving police officers, ordered executions, imported and exported cocaine, laundered millions of dollars, possessed specialised intercept equipment and armed himself with a wide assortment of handguns and ammunition. All of this was possible only because of his special relationship with the Guyana Government. He enjoyed immunity from an indulgent administration and compliant law enforcement agencies. Even now, the administration has made no attempt to conduct official inquiries nor has the police force attempted to bring Khan and his well-known accomplices to justice. Altogether, the inability of these gentlemen to respond in any sane manner to these accusations, represents a solid piece of evidence for: (1) Multiple and multi-tiered independent forensic examinations into the countrys financial/social/political affairs over the past 20 years. We have suggested that CARICOM, Scotland Yard and Canada lead these independent examinations. The fact of the matter is that the situation pre-1992 has been investigated, dissected, analyzed and summarized in hundreds of ways, but there remains a stupendous reluctance to treat post-1992 Guyana on the basis of its own merits/demerits. We have yet to explain the deaths of hundreds of young Guyanese during Mr. Jagdeos tenure, or the distribution of 30,012 gun licences between 1992 and 1999 to ethnic enclaves of the population (the amount may have doubled or tripled by now, and is in comprehensive violation of the Firearms Act). (2) A parliamentary vote to suspend the constitutional protections against former Presidents being liable to prosecution; (3) A vote of impeachment if the current President does not condemn and forcefully prosecute, or is found to be complicit in, any or all of these endeavors outlined in the documents proffered above; (4) A vote on the indictment of Messrs Jagdeo, Brassington and their accomplices on criminal charges; and (5) The calling of new elections or the appointment of an interim administration to oversee same.

We had long advocated, and reiterated in Greed, Genocide and now Green: Corruption and Underdevelopment in Guyana (http://www.scribd.com/doc/17958657/Greed-Genocide-and-now-Green-Corruption-and-Underdevelopmentin-Guyana ) that it was clear that brightest and best among us should find their voices. Courtesy of the compelling testimony of Christopher Ram, Ramon Gaskin, Carl Greenidge, Frederick Kissoon, Janet Bulkan, David Granger, Kean Gibson and many others, that time may well have come to pass