Push GEC deal - private sector urges amid opposition
by Michelle Elphage
THE private sector yesterday repeated strong calls for a speedy conclusion of the proposed deal to privatise the Guyana Electricity Corporation (GEC) amid further resistance to the move from opposition parties. Leader of the main opposition People's National Congress (PNC), Mr. Desmond Hoyte yesterday declared his party will not support legislation to advance the privatisation of the GEC. He told reporters at the party's Congress Place, Georgetown headquarters if they cannot see the agreement and proposed licence that will be granted to the CDC/ESBI overseas investors, the party will not support the deal. But the private sector want the deal to go through. "We think it ought to be done as quickly as possible...We think it would be a disaster if this privatisation of GEC is not done," head of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Mr. George Jardim contended. The newly elected PSC boss feels a prolonged delay will send a "bad signal" to the international community about investment in Guyana. Jardim was part of the quadripartite committee negotiating the GEC deal and said the final agreement, as far as he knew, has not changed since the preliminary documents were signed about four weeks ago. And Mr. Manniram Prashad, President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) also expressed the hope that the deal could be closed soon. "I hope the delays can be sorted out and the deal can go through as quickly as possible...We want a reliable supply of electricity. We don't want to go back to the dark days," Prashad said, referring to power cuts that plagued the country about six years ago. "The deal would see an injection of capital and management skills which GEC is lacking", he noted. Sask Power Incorporated of the Saskatchewan Canadian Province pulled out of the GEC privatisation process last year, amid PNC anti-government street demonstrations and rising tensions and violence in Georgetown last year. The firm cited political instability as its main reason for withdrawing. The three parliamentary opposition parties - the PNC, Alliance For Guyana (AFG) and The United Force (TUF) - in 1997 walked out of parliament when a Bill to reform the electricity sector to prepare for privatisation came up for debate. Only one opposition Member of Parliament, Mr. Phillip Bynoe, of the PNC, broke ranks with his colleagues to support the legislation. The bill was, however, passed with the government's support, since it only needed majority backing to carry it through. "There are so many things that we could do and we intend to do, to make sure that CDC/ESBI (Commonwealth Development Corporation/Electricity Supply Board International of Ireland) enter reservations about its involvement in this process," Hoyte declared yesterday. "They (CDC/ESBI) can go ahead. They can put their investment in and buy a bundle of political problems because we are not going to let up, and they can proceed to lose their investment", he said. "The PNC will oppose the legislation. It will oppose the privatisation deal. CDC/ESBI should assess the situation, take heed and quietly fade away, unless they want to buy a bundle of political and industrial problems and lose their investment in the process", he added. "They could serve their best interests by advising the regime that its approach to the privatisation of the GEC is unacceptable in today's world", Hoyte said. The three parties walked out from a meeting with Prime Minister Sam Hinds last weekend, to protest the withholding of key documents on the GEC privatisation. Mr. Hinds said the meeting at his Georgetown office "adjourned quite early" after representatives of the PNC, AFG and the TUF indicated they "could not effectively consider" the imminent deal without additional information. The documents detailing the agreement with the CDC/ESBI consortium will not be disclosed until the arrangement is closed, Mr. Hinds said. He said when this is accomplished, the agreements will be tabled in the National Assembly. Mr. Hinds said there are "practical reasons for doing so (and) it is more convenient to be made available at the close of the deal". The administration is cautious as it feels that releasing the documents earlier will provide critics with the chance to "misrepresent" the contents and further delay closing the agreement. "...the Government is afraid that releasing the documents will provide the possibilities for exploitation, of non-essential components of the transaction," Mr. Hinds, who holds the portfolio for the electricity sector, explained. He is confident though that the rest of the population will embrace the US$23.45M deal being brokered with CDC/ESBI. "After the transaction is closed the people will judge if it is done reasonably...this is an effective control on us." He said the administration has "no doubt that if Guyanese went through the process they will find it reasonable." The GEC privatisation blueprint contains some 60 areas of consent, and if they are released in a piecemeal manner, this will stymie the process, he said. The Order paper for tomorrow's sitting of the House includes debates for both the Electricity Sector Reform Bill and the related Public Utilities Commission Bill. The two bills to advance the privatisation process of GEC were last week postponed to tomorrow's sitting of the House, to allow opposition queries on the legislation. Leader of the House and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. Reepu Daman Persaud, told members at the meeting that he had received a letter from Hoyte the day before, requesting the postponement of the debate on the two pieces of legislation. Hoyte's letter was written on behalf of the three parliamentary opposition parties. The PNC leader, at his press conference, said the party staunchly objects to the legislation, noting that the PNC has several options available to voice their protests. "We have brought into play an array of political actions from time to time. Picketing, demonstrations, meetings, all kinds of pressure when a Government is recalcitrant...There are no limitations on what we can do or on the options open to us," Hoyte said. In response to alleged "closed door" privatisation the PNC made while it was in Government, Hoyte said these are "different" times. "We are in a new dispensation today. Everybody is talking about transparency...if we don't know what the deal is, it has to be bad," he argued. PNC front-bench parliamentarian, Mr. Winston Murray, who shared the briefing with Hoyte, said the party also has queries on how at least five Acts will affect this new legislation. He said the bill excludes the proposed Guyana Power and Light Incorporated from being governed by the Companies Act, and also allows ministerial direction for an execution under the Deeds Registry Act. Murray said while these clauses in the reformed legislation might have a reasonable explanation, the Opposition will not know if they have to be shut out of the deal. British High Commissioner, Mr. Edward Glover at the preliminary signing lauded the deal between the two sides. "There are no losers in this," Glover, in a press statement after the event. "This is good news for all consumers...the countdown to a fresh start in power supply in Guyana has begun," the statement said.
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