OAI strictly adheres to the provisions of its Lease Agreement DEAR EDITOR, I have known Annette Arjoon, now Arjoon-Martins, from the time she was a young girl under the tutelage of her father, Yacoob Ally, and have always admired her tenacious commitment to the environment. However, of recent years, I have often wondered by what stretch of her imagination does she really believe that she has a monopoly on the truth and her spin that the truth shall be her shield. What truth is she referring to? In her letter published by the Kaieteur News (4th May, 2019), she prefers to attack me personally on the grounds that I am “a Public Relations Consultant for Ogle Airport Inc. (OAI)” and, therefore, “typically one sided with several deliberate omissions”, but without being able to define or address them. In my long career as a professional Public Communications Consultant, I have never once advised a client to dissimulate or be dishonest, in fact, quite the opposite, because it never pays and, indeed, the truth will always be exposed. By her own admission in
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Kaieteur News
Friday May 10, 2019
her letter, she has been feeding the media “stories”, but which were not once investigated by Kaieteur News who chose to publish them, prompted by her family’s company’s neverending anti-competitive behaviour at Ogle. Annette Arjoon-Martins started working for Air Services Ltd. (ASL) in 2009 and during that time succeeded in dividing the aviation industry by withdrawing ASL from the Aircraft Owners Association, notwithstanding the many attempts by several Senior Members to discourage this. Annette Arjoon-Martins then used the National Air Transport Association (NATA), of which she was once President, to pursue her own agenda, but knows full well that her efforts to continue to divide the aviation industry has little or no support today. Air Services Ltd. has a long standing lawsuit before the Courts on the subject of Ogle Airport Inc’s administration of the Eugene F. Correia International Airport (EFCIA), the matters of which are sub judice, yet, Annette Arjoon-
Martins continues to prejudice this lawsuit by surreptitiously feeding its allegations to a willing media house whose appetite for publishing sensational material exceeds its obligation for fair and balanced reporting of the facts. Annette Arjoon-Martins will be exposed in court when nothing but the truth will be revealed, but, in the meantime, her underhand attempts to exploit the media, and influence the administration, have been anything but transparent or honest. Let me repeat that OAI strictly adheres to the provisions of its Lease Agreement with the Government and “is implementing a fully transparent process for land distribution” at EFCIA “which provides access for all aircraft operators regardless of whether deemed to be small or large, on a fair, equitable and equal basis” and continues to do so. Yours sincerely, Kit Nascimento Public Communications Consultant On behalf of Ogle Airport Inc.
Motorists should not have to visit a station for a ticketable offence DEAR EDITOR, I was recently on the phone with a friend in Guyana, while talking with him, he was pulled over by the police, so we hung-up. Two hours later, he called me back and told me he was pulled over for running a red light and had to follow the police officer to Kitty Police Station where he was charged and put on $10k bail, but with a bribery of $5k, he was able to walk out of the station with no further action. I don’t blame my friend for taking this option; the system in place makes no sense. Why not just issue a ticket and let the offender have the option to pay or go to court. I have
never heard of this before, where just for a traffic violation you have to make a trip to the station to be charged like a criminal. This system will always encourage bribery and when an officer leaves his post to accompany a person to the station, he misses many opportunities to issue tickets to other traffic violators. I’m sure that I’m not the first person to bring this up, but the government needs to change this rule. Maybe bringing this up in your newspaper will hopefully make some of the governing body do some thinking. Roy Doobay
Unified governance needed to help reap positives from oil sector DEAR EDITOR, Over the past few days, I have attended the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, Texas with its expansive display by hundreds of companies and countries including Guyana as well as conference sessions and collateral events. Guyana is well represented at this conference and must be a fascinating reality check for many of us, I would think. I have always been aware that our oil and gas industry would be a boost to our economy but must admit that what I have learnt during this conference has really opened my eyes to the enormity of the positive impact this sector can have on quality of life of the Guyanese people if we manage it well and confront some of the challenges, including social ills such as human trafficking, which are likely to intensify as our level of prosperity is heightened. I really hope that all Guyanese, especially our politicians can come to grips with the reality that if they do what is right they could chart a course that would provide for every Guyanese to enjoy a quality of life about which they never dreamt. On Wednesday, there was a session on Guyana, which focused on sustainable development of Guyana’s oil and gas industry. It was a good panel discussion. While much of the information was not new, what made it useful were the perspectives offered
about the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (swot), which the sector must analyse and address. One panelist spoke of the “complex political structure” in Guyana, which I interpreted to be among the challenges which must be addressed if the sector is to realize its full potential to be of benefit to each and every Guyanese. I would hope that in quick time the political structure of Guyana would change via constitutional reform. In the meantime, however, it is my fervent wish that the political culture in Guyana could change even sooner thereby providing for heightened collaboration among the major political parties and drastic reduction in the real and/or perceived animosity which exist among them. Guyana has to have a predictable environment to facilitate investment, private sector and economic development and job creation. This requires consultation and collaboration among the parties, which would provide for continuity of policies when there are changes in government. In short, what I am proposing is that the major political parties refrain from
their “jingoistic” approaches to governance and work toward some form of unified governance which would not negate a reasonable plurality of outlook, but presuppose it. Seeking to eschew corruption in all its forms and at every level must be the pillar of their collaborative efforts along with putting an end to political favoritism/ loyalty in the appointments to key positions. Perhaps it is time that the major political parties seek to attract to its ranks and leadership persons with a greater commitment to Putting Guyana First. Failure to so do could torpedo the good life the cusp of which the country is now positioned. I attended a business meeting sometime ago in Curacao at which Paul Keens Douglas was the keynote speaker at one of the luncheon sessions. In referring to “group think” of regional politicians, he said these guys “feel their countries are at the precipice of great developments and all they have to do is take one great step forward.” Let’s hope this is not the current thinking of our Guyanese politicians. Regards Wesley Kirton