Money is King
Kaieteur News – The government’s COVID-19 cash relief provision of $ 25,000 per family has meant a lot to many families who faced many hardships during the ongoing pandemic. It was a very welcome gesture, a helping hand from the state that made a difference to those who were past the stage of making ends meet, which they could no longer do. The numbers are mouthwatering, and we look at them, and share some thoughts.
First, the amount of “$ 4.5 billion was allocated for the first phase of the grant” (KN April 11) which started last September. Added to this, when “in December, the National Assembly approved an additional $ 2.5 billion to continue the cash grant relief efforts” (also KN April 11). That totals $ 7 billion local dollars, which at $ 25,000 per family, includes 280,000 families. This is all useful, with families in every community, from far and wide, participating in the cash grant relief program. Perhaps it was not much for those on the middle and upper steps of this country’s economic school. But it meant a world to the many families and individual citizens who were closed at the bottom of that same economic ladder.
After a very long and stormy election season, it is worth noting that the new government at the time had moved with speed and determination to extend that hand with a little cash to all citizens and their families. The PPP / C government and its leaders are expected to gain approval. Many more goals can be given, but the grounds that deserve it must be provided. We in this paper have been waiting to give the approving goals, but our necks are far from the wait and the hope. When it comes to the big things in this country, we seem to be frozen in exactly the same places where we have always been forced to be.
Little is said, less than we know about the COVID-19 cash relief program, and the prosperity in which the government is basking in sunshine, and reminding the nation of how well it did with that . We agree to some extent at this point, (more will follow later in this writing); but we want to know more, and know more, about those significant things that shape the hopes and dreams of the citizens of this society. We want to know a lot more about oil. And when we talk about oil, the vast expanse of darkness that surrounds and saturates what PPP / C government leaders do (actually do) with the nation’s oil wealth. Tell us a little more, much more than we currently know.
We know much about the COVID-19 cash release, the praise of His Excellency, President, Irfaan Ali, and Hon. The Minister for Local Government, Nigel Dharamlall, for which we are saying thank you. By Minister Dharamlall, we know so much about who has received, who else will be beneficiaries now, and which communities will be part of the second phase of the forthcoming cash grant distribution program. Likewise, we would like to know, and would be grateful to know, about Payara (by fraudulently delivering the promised report, but having been held back for many months now). We want to know more about the proposed gas-to-shore project to be located in Wales (through the bare pre-population installation, from all the details of comprehensive and reliable studies on its financial viability, by ethical people). We want to know more about what Exxon does out there, 125 miles from our shoreline. We want to know what Guyana’s EPA is all about in sound defense of local interests, and why the unreasonable insistence and urgency to increase oil production. There is so much more we want to know about this oil treasure of ours, but we are leaving things alone with those few areas for the time being.
PPP / C leaders have been loud in their numerous self-congratulations for the COVID-19 cash grant, to which they owe a bow. But with a total of $ 7 billion being distributed, and in cash, we would hope that someone is keeping a close eye on that cash register. It is a cash settlement, which would be tempting even saints, and we know from a long bitter experience that many of our political people, and our professional public servants, have helpless cash weaknesses. To reiterate, a program that includes $ 7 billion dollars in real cash (no checks and money orders etc) is one that gives many ideas.
Our belief in this publication is that the many billions of barrels of oil and oil equivalents, and the many more billions in any currency is more than enough to make men better off making fools of themselves. Silence cannot overshadow that, not even the thickest, longest of darkness. For all these reasons, we say these simple things: if this blessing and oil business is done right, then tell us how high. Just as it does with COVID-19 cash.