Dear Editor,
For the past month our neighbour, Suriname has started to play the Iran of South America by blocking Guyanese vessels from using the Corentyne River by applying US$ $2,500 per toll to transit the river.
Now, Guyanese people are a very peaceful people but we don’t like ‘eye pass’. The Guyana-Suriname Chamber of Commerce needs to assess how much money that Suriname companies are making here in Guyana by operating and getting equal access under the Local Content Act as if they are equally Guyanese company.
For example, one company from Suriname in Guyana is Assuria. It gets equal access to supply of insurance policies to the Government of Guyana. This is equivalent to over three billion dollars in income from Guyana’s oil and gas money. The reason why I am saying it is oil and gas money is because the oil and gas money funds the different ministry for the building of schools, roads, sea defence and other infrastructures. Yet the government of Guyana accepts Assuria Insurance policies over the locally-owned insurance companies, in breach of the local content law. So, when ‘eye pass’ starts from one breach by the government of the local content law, then foreign governments will start to do the same to Guyanese businesses. A complete boycott of all Suriname products in Guyana is what is needed, until Suriname private sector gets their act together and put pressure on the Suriname government to open up the Corentyne River for Guyanese vessels to pass freely.