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PetroCaribe money …PM details trail of missing US$$
The PetroCaribe fund is unable to pay rice farmers. US$141M from the fund was distributed to various Government agencies and projects under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic administration.
PM, Moses Nagamootoo
This revelation was shared by Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, at the 67th anniversary ceremony of the Enmore Martyrs in Enmore, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
PetroCaribe was an agreement struck between the governments of Guyana and Venezuela, where Guyana would receive concessionary prices for oil in exchange for rice. Monies received from the exchange deal would subsequently be transferred to the PetroCaribe fund, under the purview of the Ministry of Finance.
Some of the money was meant to be allocated to the payment of rice farmers and millers for rice produced to sustain the exchange.
Since coming to power A Partnership for National Unity plus Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC), revealed that upon checking the contents of the fund there was no money. Minister of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, at his post Cabinet press briefing last week, revealed that this essentially meant that the PetroCaribe fund was bankrupt.
After this piece of revelation, the PPP/C charged that it was the new administration that was responsible for emptying the PetroCaribe fund, despite being in power for less than a month. The PPP/C refuted claims that it had anything to do with missing monies, since the fund was “managed optimally and transparently” by the former administration.
The Opposition party added that funds were spent on various Government developmental projects.
However, according to Prime Minister Nagamootoo, the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) received the bulk of the allocations— US$115M while the Ministry of Housing got US$10M. US$16M was pumped into the Hope Canal project.
“We had billions of dollars in what is called the PetroCaribe Fund and we were never told that the previous government transferred US$115M to the Guyana Power and Light from the rice fund,” said the Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo said that the previous administration had further transferred US$10M to the Housing Ministry, with Irfaan Ali as the Minister, to develop land which sugar and rice workers are unable to afford.
Another revelation by the First Vice President, was that US$16M was allocated to the construction of the $3.6B Hope Canal Project. This, according to him, was contrary to where the PPP/C administration said funding came from, that is the Treasury, during their tenure.
“All along we were told that money was coming from the Treasury to build the Hope Canal,” said Nagamootoo, as members of the Enmore attendees were audibly appalled at the news.
With the news of the bankrupt PetroCaribe fund, the Prime Minister said that his administration is working assiduously to find money to pay rice farmers for their crop.
Moving forward the Prime Minister told the gathering the rice industry is faced with many problems, just like the sugar industry, but that it can be fixed with the support of workers.
“We have realised that years of bad government must come to an end and we cannot do it alone. We need your support and cooperation,” said PM Nagamootoo.
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