These allegations against me are unfounded

Jul 23, 2008 Letters

Dear Editor,
This letter is in regard to a letter appearing in Kaieteur News (20-07-08) by Anthony Vieira captioned “Winston Murray, not David Patterson, deserves credit”.

First, let me express my disappointment with Kaieteur News for allowing a letter to be published without checking whether the allegations contained are factual.

Mr. Vieira previously attempted to level some of these allegations against me; however, to their credit, SN sought to confirm the allegations before publication.

Having determined that they were incorrect, they declined to publish the inaccuracies. Of course, my opinion of the writer remains unchanged. I consider the statements made against me to be libellous.

Mr. Vieira’s understanding that as a quantity surveyor I am “doing Government valuation contracts on an ongoing basis”, which in his opinion places me in a position of conflict of interest while serving on the Public Accounts Committee, (PAC) is totally incorrect.

Despite being one of only two chartered quantity surveyors presently operating in Guyana, I have been unable to secure a contract with the Government for over 10 years and counting.

Where is the conflict of interest, Tony, if I do no work at all for the Government of Guyana? This is a blatant lie being peddled by Mr. Vieira, and it is remarkable that a man who claims to be a great researcher would not even have the common sense to lean over at one of our Parliamentary meetings and ask me frontally if this is true.

I have to say that I am surprised that, as a television news publisher and Member of Parliament, this is the type of loose and irresponsible reporting that Mr. Vieira produces.

This is the type of utter rubbish that jeopardises the good work of all media practitioners and causes “eye pass” to come to them.

Maybe Mr. Vieira may want to resuscitate his now defunct commentary programme to inquire why important quantity surveying services are being performed by unqualified technicians, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars being squandered from the Government’s coffers annually.

Mr. Vieira omitted to mention that as a member of the PAC he has not, up to the time of writing this letter, attended a single meeting for this current sitting of Parliament (October 2007 to present), maybe that would explain his total lack of understanding of the working of the PAC; a great pity, after being a Parliamentarian for two years.

There is no Hansard produced of these meetings, but only minutes, and these minutes will nail Vieira’s lies being peddled against me.

In this committee we examine the Auditor General’s Report for all the Government departments.
The information relating to the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation’s exclusive procurement policy with New GPC was contained in both the 2004 and 2005 reports, so any credit for unearthing this illegal practice should go to that AG’s department.

If he is upset that I, via SN, brought this matter to the public domain, I can only recommend that he attends PAC meetings (for which he continues to receive a monthly allowance), then use his unfettered access to the media to highlight any corrupt or illegal practices.

The AFC remains the only party perfectly placed “to condemn the numerous and flagrant conflicts of interest situations existing in this country” since, unlike at least one member of the opposition, we continue to be guided by the rule of law and a higher moral code.

None of our members have turned our backs, compromised themselves, and entered into secret deals for cable TV permits, etc…

It is important that lies and half-truths be exposed, and I make no apology for my response, and consider this attack to be a part of some bigger sinister programme being hatched against me and the party which I proudly represent, the AFC. Try again, but someplace else.

David Patterson, MP

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