Dear Editor,

Let me express my thanks to you and your investigative staff for not 'dropping the ball' on the conservancy report. From the outset, my gut instinct was that there may be much more than meets the eye and the report and subsequent actions of government, strengthens the feeling.

A pattern is evolving, where large sums of money, borrowed at the taxpayer's expense, are being flushed down the drain through highly suspect, and obviously, poorly executed projects. A quick flight from Charity to the Correntyne would serve to highlight this fact. One could appreciate the occurrence of maybe one or two incidents and pass them off as youthful incompetence on the part of the new government, but it has been ten years, and this behaviour still persists. It either smacks of a wanton disregard for the duty entrusted to it, or it reflects an entrenched system of institutional corruption.

In this instance, the government has for some time now been privy to the details of the report that they had commissioned, yet after it has been submitted to the public they are 'buying time' to 'review' the technical findings, lamenting 'a lack of technical expertise' within the cabinet. Didn't they appoint technical persons to the commission to advise them on culpability with supporting technical facts? We already know this to be true so this can only be 'politricks' on their part and another attempt to have the issue fade from the public's consciousness. The untethered media houses need to continue to hold this issue up for public scrutiny and demand that the taxpaying public be treated with much more respect.

The bottom line is that another contract has been mishandled resulting in significant damage, both physically and indeed, to the public trust. Following on the heels of the 'Law Volumes' contract fiasco and the less than forthcoming attitude of the government, one could reasonably speculate almost anything. The international financial institutions are not asleep and thus this trend will not go unnoticed; all to the detriment of the people of Guyana who appear unwilling to say 'No' to low or non-existent standards.

Yours faithfully,

Merrill Hyman Sr