Updating the Diaspora on government's "corrupt practices"

Updating the Diaspora on government’s “corrupt practices”

Dec 06, 2009 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

The following is an abridged reproduction from a report carried in the Indo-Caribbean World on the 25th November 2009.

By Adit Kumar

Former Central Executive member of Guyana’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and now Chairman and Co-Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) in Guyana, Khemraj Ramjattan, was in Toronto over the past week meeting and updating the Diaspora here on “corrupt practices” of the PPP government.
In an interview with Indo Caribbean World, Ramjattan said that the purpose of his visit to Toronto was twofold: firstly, to internationalize the dossier compiled by the joint opposition parliamentary parties in Guyana and secondly, to resuscitate the AFC Toronto chapter.
On the latter mission, Ramjattan said that the AFC core group in Toronto will soon be launching itself into an executive committee comprising leading members of the Diaspora here and will be establishing a larger base of membership.
The former President of the Guyana Bar Association said he was here principally “to internationalize the corrupt governance practices of the PPP government, the ‘narco’ connections of senior government officials, extra judicial killings and other unsolved killings which have gone uninvestigated, and the incidence of torture whilst in police detention, all of which have been given broad account in the dossier.”
Ramjattan said the AFC is requesting the various chapters in Canada and the United States to take the dossier to their various parliamentarians and congressmen to bring to their attention what has been happening in Guyana.
He mentioned that a group has already met with two State Department Officials in Washington DC last Friday (November 20th) where the dossier was discussed. He said that the response was good and an official report on that meeting will be released shortly. Ramjattan added that the US officials said they were well aware of some of the negative happenings in Guyana and of special concern to them was the narcotics transit route out of Guyana and the information that came out in the Simels/Roger Khan trials in the US.
The AFC Parliamentarian stated that the US government officials admitted they knew of what was taking place, and that their knowledge was confirmed from the Simels/Khan trials that Guyana is indeed a major transit point for the drug trade from Colombia to Venezuela to Guyana and then either to Canada or America.
He said just as Dr Cheddi Jagan internationalized rigged elections in Guyana, the AFC is internationalizing these issues which are now relevant for Guyana, including the suspected covert moves to have President Bharrat Jagdeo run for office for a third term. He said that the AFC considers a third term for Jagdeo as totally unconstitutional and unacceptable. Ramjattan opined that it is just “greed and power hungriness on the part of Jagdeo” and noted that even though the President has said he does not desire nor want to participate in a third term, he has never unequivocally stated that he will not run for a third term. Ramjattan said there is an element of feeling and justification that Jagdeo wants a third term and a group of people has been advocating for this by distributing flyers, T-shirts and pins and have now shifted to TV ads.
On the question of what kind of support the AFC enjoys at home, Ramjattan said that their base has been growing all across the country even in Amerindian areas and areas noted as PPP strongholds such Port Mourant, Whim and Tain. The party presently holds five seats in Parliament with claims for one disputed seat being held up in the courts since after the 2006 elections.
He said the AFC has been spreading a message of racial harmony as against the racism that the PPP has been preaching especially at the bottom houses; and that his party has been picking up a lot of support because they have been telling people not to use race but to use reason in making judgments on more national issues. One of Guyana’s major stumbling blocks to progress is on account of endemic racism which the politicians exploit, especially at elections time.
The former Leader of the PYO (the PPP’s youth arm) described the state of affairs in Guyana today as being very bad primarily because of the economic downturn. He said that remittances from the Diaspora in England, USA, Canada and the Caribbean countries which help to keep the economy afloat have dropped and will continue to drop due to the economic crises overseas. In addition to this he said there are also crises with the sugar and rice industries.
Ramjattan said that the insecurity and unabated crimes in the country have created stress and tensions in the society which lead to a lessening of creativity and productivity at all levels and that the government is showing total disregard for this. He condemned the government for losing the British Government’s offer of $1.6B to enhance the security sector and said that the AFC is of the view that the administration likes the crime situation as it is, because it allows for a playing up the racial card at elections time, to the advantage of the PPP. Racial voting is an entrenched phenomenon in Guyana’s politics.
He added that the government has not taken any steps towards ethnic balancing of the army and the police force nor its professionalizing.
On the question of the LCDS, Ramjattan said that the AFC is happy that advanced countries can pour money into the country for keeping its emission rate at a certain level. However, he said the AFC strongly felt that the money will be abused by the Jagdeo Government. Concerning the $30M per year from Norway, he said the AFC has had meetings with the Norwegian authorities and are happy with the controls that Government has indicated will be in place such as scrutiny by Parliament with the Ministry of Finance being the executing agency, rather that the Office of the President.
On the question of Canadians who have returned from holidays in Guyana saying that they have seen signs of progress there, Ramjattan said that there have been some infrastructural works done. He noted that roads have been built and the Berbice River has been bridged. He added that the IDB has largely been funding infrastructural development as they want to see South America connected by roadways. He went on to say that there is no denying that housing schemes have been developed and buildings are going up but beyond that there is no job creation, nor sustained growth which can lift the country from its impoverished state. He said the government is not allowing entrepreneurs to get into economic activities to create jobs; only a set of its parasitic cronies are favoured. The climate is not being set with general standards for all.
With regard to the 2011 elections, Ramjattan said the AFC will carry its message passionately of reconciling ethnicities and about good governance. “That’s primarily our platform”, he noted. He said that the AFC also wants to tell the Diaspora that they are the epicenter of knowledge and skills outside of Guyana and that’s why the AFC has developed this novel approach that if there is going to be an AFC Government then three cabinet ministerial positions should go to members of the Diaspora who could be suitably qualified therefor. He pointed out that residence status does not affect technocrat positions it only affects the presidential position which requires seven years of residency.