President’s decision to buy Computers is ludicrous

Aug 24, 2009 News

…why not use the dividends instead and keep revenue flow – AFC

Govt. sale of shares at GT&T…

Alliance for Change Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, lashed out at the recent comments by Head of State, Bharrat Jagdeo, that he would prefer to use the US$20 million from the proposed sale of government’s shares in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) to purchase computers.

President Bharrat Jagdeo

According to Ramjattan, it is ludicrous to make such a statement given that it is a revenue earner, and if the President is so interested in purchasing computers for children then he could use the dividends earned instead of using the lump sum whilst cutting off a revenue flow.
He posited that the announcement revealed that there is a sinister motive behind the sale, adding further that he was of the opinion that the President wanted, “his friends,” to acquire the shares.
President Jagdeo made the announcement during a recent Cabinet Outreach held at the International Conference Centre.
The computers he said would be given to Guyanese who do not have access to a computer system.
According to President Jagdeo, this would all be in an effort to ensure that a better quality of modern type of education is delivered to children.
“We need to ensure that every person in this country has access to university education through, first of all, getting as much as 80 per cent of our households connected to the internet even if it means the state has to provide the instruments, computers, for the households to make that investment, when I spoke about selling out shares in GT&T, and we sell it for US$20 million. I would prefer doing that and taking the US$20 million and buying a hundred thousand computers, so that 100,000 of the 200,000 households in Guyana can have access to a computer,” the Head of State told a large gathering.
Jagdeo explained that once this objective is achieved then it would automatically improve the quality of life of people, as according to him, “housewives can do online courses and qualify themselves right at home.”
The Head of State added that the administration needed to start training people to become part of a bigger workforce and to ensure that every able-bodied person and even those who are physically challenged are educated with a skill in order to expand the size of the labour force.

AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan

The President admitted that the country still has a lot of people who are living in poverty. He suggested that the best way to alleviate this situation is to ensure that opportunities are available for these persons.