Guyana is already in its ‘darkest days’ with PPP/C

Apr 20, 2015 News

---

– APNU+AFC

While the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has been trying to convince the electorate that Guyana would return to dark days under A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change rule (APNU+AFC), the coalition insists that the nation is already in its darkest days under the current administration.

Its members cited the dismal state of the sugar sector, the abuse of the country’s finances, high scales of corruption, high crime rates over the last decade, gifting of Guyana’s prime lands and mineral properties to friends and cronies of the PPP/C, abuses of the Parliament, a series of problem-plagued development projects, and the poor health sector.
AFC’s co-founder, Raphael Trotman said that Guyana has perhaps seen some of the most horrible instances of abuses of the National Assembly under the PPP/C. He spoke specifically to the fact that the PPP/C in an effort to avoid the debate of the No-Confidence Motion, prorogued Parliament thereby stifling democracy.
Trotman said that prior to the 2011 elections, there have been several cases where the functions of the National Assembly were hindered and said that this played out even more when the Opposition secured the majority of the seats after the 2011 polls. He said that there were instances too, when the government clearly tried to undermine the power of the National Assembly by approaching the courts.
But he said that APNU+AFC is not the least bit bothered by the actions of the PPP/C in trying to paint a fabricated image of what kind of government it would be to the citizenry. He said that he is quite positive, based on his feedback, that the electorate is rejecting the PPP/C’s perverted message.

According to Trotman, the people have been subjected to the worst kind of abuses and poor governance by the PPP/C and reiterated that no one can doubt that Guyanese are already living in its darkest days.
And APNU’s Shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge said he has never seen such levels of unaccountability in Guyana. He stated that another term under the PPP/C would mean a most unfortunate and bleak future for the nation’s next generation.
“There is no hope for the young, the old, the poor and the working class in our society anymore. We are hopeless with this government. National interest is never paramount for this government… In fact, the nation is saddled with debt until 2032 because of the PPP/C’s selfish, arrogant and wicked ways.
“Never in this country’s history have we seen such levels of financial abuses and monuments of corruption such as the Marriott Hotel. It is unprecedented. What is even more shameful is that when the government robs you and your children of a future and bleeds the nation of resources needed to take the country forward, they just expect you to watch on and shut up. We can’t allow ourselves to be subjected to this kind of brutality any longer,” Greenidge passionately iterated.
The APNU Shadow Minister of Finance also said that Guyana’s sugar industry is at its all time worst and this is compounded by the fact that government cannot find new markets for the rice industry.

He also spoke to the fact that Guyana has seen the most mismanaged developmental projects in all its history.
Elaborating on this observation, APNU’s General Secretary, Joseph Harmon said that Guyana is a victim of the most “corrupt and greedy” government of its time. He alluded to the gifting away of prime lands to foreign companies by the PPP/C as well as the handing over of radio licenses by former President Bharrat Jagdeo to his friends and family, “something which has never taken place under any other administration.”
As he highlighted the high crime rate and lack of security in Guyana, Harmon then mentioned several developmental projects which all prove that government continues to siphon off tax payers dollars while mismanaging what it uses for certain projects.
“Everything this government claims it pursues for the betterment of the people always turns out to be a scheme to fill their pockets and weaken the nation. They all want to increase their wealth at the expense of our hardworking Guyanese. Everything they touch reeks of corruption and this can be justified by simply looking at the Skeldon Sugar factor that can’t work properly up to know.

In fact the sugar industry has gotten worse because when they ask for money it does not go where it is supposed to. We also see this kind of contempt for taxpayers when we remember the Berbice River Bridge and its high tolls, the controversial Cheddi Jagan International Airport Expansion Project, the $60M tax funded Marriott Hotel, the failed Fibre Optic Cable Project that will now cost us another $2B to rehabilitate, and I can go on and on and on,” Harmon expressed.
Greenidge had said along the same lines that even the $3B Hope Canal Project is plagued by technical glitches as its completion is more than two years behind its original deadline.
The opposition, among other critics, believes that the channel, which is being constructed to ease the pressure of water on the East Demerara Water Conservancy, is not necessary. However, Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy had told Kaieteur News that the defaulting contractors will not come in for any punishment for being late with the completion of the project. Instead they have been granted another deadline.
He also spoke to the fact that an Indian company, Surendra Engineering Company Limited (SECL), had no experience in building hospitals, but government still gave it its blessings for the construction of a Specialty hospital. Unfortunately, SECL walked away with millions of taxpayers’ dollars without providing its services. Government had paid the company US$4.2M with US$3.6M being mobilization fees. Government then accused SECL of fraud, and filed legal action for a full refund, which was granted. But the company could not be located at its local office and never made an appearance in court, thereby clouding the enforcement of the judgment.
Endorsing the “darkest days” theme, AFC’s Executive Member Cathy Hughes added that attention must also be paid to the country’s poor health sector.
Over the years, Hughes has highlighted various aspects of this sector, particularly, the sole sourcing of drugs and supplies for the nation from Jagdeo’s best friend, Bobby Ramroop, who owns New GPC. Other health related matters such as the increasing number of maternal deaths nationwide, specifically at the Georgetown Public Hospital, have been among some of the concerns raised by Hughes on the opposition’s election campaign trail.

---

---