WHERE DID THE MONEY COME FROM?

Apr 14, 2016 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The government was always asking for problems when it only allocated $300M for the hosting of Guyana’s 50th. Three hundred million dollars is ‘chicken feed’ to host such a major event.
The PPP administration spent over one billion dollars to host Carifesta a few years back. The PNC likes to outdo everybody else when it comes to putting on a show and therefore the hosting of Guyana’s 50th is likely to cost a fortune. Yet the government in its wisdom only allocated $300M
So where is the rest of the money going to come from?
One answer is the private sector. One report is that the government has been begging private business owners for money to host the event. No evidence has been presented to establish that this is happening. The allegation has also been denied by the government. The government should be believed.
Even if the government had wanted to ask the private sector to assist, it would be unfair to do so. Business activity has slowed down. Money is not circulating as it should, even though production is not badly affected.
The business community was asked to help with the cleanup of the city. We have had no account as to the total private donations for this project. There is no reason to spell out who gave what, just the total amount donated needs to be provided in the interest of transparency.
The works at Durban Park are estimated to have cost at least 500 million dollars. So where did the money come from? The government also needs to issue a statement on this issue, in the interest of transparency.
The Georgetown City Council would have also spent a large sum on its sprucing up of the city. The works were extensive and were likely to have run in excess of one billion dollars. So where did the money come from and did private businessmen make any contributions?
The government should organize the events for Guyana’s 50th in a way that would allow the events to pay for themselves. Why should 15,000 persons have been packed into the National Stadium to watch the inauguration of the President and not have to pay? If each were asked to pay $5000 to witness the inauguration, it would have raised $75M alone. This would have covered all the expenses and provided a handsome profit. Instead we are told that the event was funded by supporters of the government.
A great many people are coming home for Guyana’s 50th. The hotels are fully booked and the airlines are sold out. There should be about 5,000 persons coming home for the celebrations. The government should charge persons for the big events. This is the model that should be used.
People are going to drink millions in beer and liquor. They will pay for that stuff, so why cannot they be asked to pay to attend the various events that are going to be held.
There are many confidence tricksters around. It would not be surprising if some scamp is going around asking business people for money to finance the celebrations. The government should issue a statement advising the business community that no funds are being solicited and therefore no one is to be given any money.
The government is not poor. It has billions of dollars at its disposal. It does not need any private businessmen to be donating any buses, boats or bicycles to the government. The government is the richest enterprise in Guyana. It has the money to do the things that it is doing. It should, as a rule, not accept any donation from businesses or private citizens.

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