Announcement of spending on oil money and Chief Operating Officer, Vaughn
> Encouraging Events, Disrupting Developments
By GHK Lall
Kaieteur News – It is encouraging to hear that President Ali is committed to making details of spending oil money public (KN February 14). While I generally leave oil developments to other spaces, today I make an exception. His Excellency said – indeed, he is publicly committed – to sharing “how much money is earned, how much is spent, and what is spent.” Every Guyana should embrace that promise, but who has to go a little deeper to mean something and achieve what would be even more encouraging. The president and his government in telling Guyanese “how much is spent and what is spent” must be most transparent with the supporting details. He cannot be, and should not be, satisfied with the highest numbers and identification of this area or that project. The President and the government must provide, by making the public available for consumption, the small print that accompanies the appealing headlines, when the money is spent, and what happens with the selected projects. If so many millions are going to be spent improving infrastructure works or improving another sector, then all that happens with that oil money has to be open book. If that happens, then there is the encouraging, and hopefully how it will. If not, then President Ali pretends to be open and straight, while engaging in the rigors of the usual six for nine leadership. Don’t be like this.
The disturbance came early in the week, with the sudden and ceremonial dismissal of Chief Operating Officer Geoffrey Vaughn. According to the press releases, Mr. Vaughn was there, and then he was not; and without so much as a courtesy of ‘incompatibility’ or ‘professional corruption’ or ‘philosophical differences.’ Of course, if it were for skin color or suspected political affiliation, no government is so foolish as to make that mistake in public; not even one as clueless and raw at the finer points of civilized behavior as this one. It was great fun and go for it, the door. There’s the harsh falsehood of exit keys and all state property and don’t bother coming back; the guards have their orders.
I find the former Chief Operating Officer now an annoying development for several reasons. In those senior positions held against his name, incompetence can only be dealt with as long as; therefore, I disregard that. Also, I don’t remember his name being bandied about as one who was pursuing the opposition campaign anymore; hence, the kiss of the death of the automatic public service. But there is something else that speaks of this former senior public servant, who suddenly became the wrong man in the wrong job with the wrong people. The reason is that Mr. Vaughn has served this country, in the Ministry of Works (Public) for some 15 years in one senior role after another, and at higher and higher elevations. Now here is the end of my thrust: 10 of those 15 years must have been under the previous PPP government, and under a PPP minister. I am extremely skeptical that Mr. Vaughn would have lasted so long, had he been a misstatement, a fool, or a scoundrel, a leaker, and a salesman. That problem now, when all these billions move for public works projects, looks extremely dubious and I must say quite sinister in terms of objective. With this latest development, I can only call this my interpretation. It is part of the intermittent, but no less ominous, prosperity of a certain type of Guyanese out of the public service. Instead of the previous rush of numbers, there is a quiet creep at the moment. It definitely gives me the creep, and there’s nothing quiet about it. It cannot be; not with a high profile officer like Mr. Vaughn.
President Ali thrives on talking about this ‘one’ and ‘that’, which is moving forward. Then there’s this unexplained line of ugliness.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.)