Jagdeo’s trips in past 2½ years nearing $1B - AFC

Jagdeo’s trips in past 2½ years nearing $1B – AFC

Feb 03, 2010 News

…opposition to raise issue in Parliament

Mere hours after President Bharrat Jagdeo set out for Russia, Alliance For Change leader Raphael Trotman is questioning the cost/benefit ratio for the Head of State’s numerous trips overseas.

Trotman expressed these views during a party press briefing yesterday at the Sidewalk Café where he also announced that he was reliably informed that the cost of Jagdeo’s overseas trips in the two and half years is nearing $1B.

The AFC leader also pointed out that the issue will be dealt with in the National Assembly and the party is currently fine tuning its strategy.

The foreign policy of the President also came in for scrutiny, with Trotman pointing out that his party, in the past, called into question the murky foreign policy agenda being pursued by President Jagdeo, “as he seems to be forming an axis with nations that have not been our traditional friends and trading partners.”

According to the party leader, “the President is yet to articulate his vision that informs this strange shift in foreign policy which, we believe, can jeopardise our relations within the Region, and further afield.”

Trotman said that Guyana has long been seen as being in the backyard of the US and Canada, two partners that have long assisted this country over the years, particularly in times of need.

“So far, he and his Foreign Minister have failed to be honest with the Guyanese people and give an explanation for what is really happening…The latest visit to the Middle East has been described by him as successful. But in what context, we ask?”

The AFC leader stressed that if one does a cost/benefit analysis of the visits, one would quickly realize that Guyana’s economy is not recording any net gains.

“Instead, from all accounts and based on information from reliable sources, the President’s jet-setting trips over the past two and a half years have cost this country close to G$1B. And the rates of return have not been showing.”

According to Trotman, that is a horrendous cost to bear only to learn, “for example, that we will receive a US$1M medical grant, and a “promise” to help develop our research capabilities in the mining sector.”

Trotman pointed out also that it has not escaped the attention of the party, and that of many, that Iran is undertaking a similar exercise in Venezuela looking for uranium; an indispensible ingredient for the development of nuclear capacities.

He said that the aid promised to Guyana by Iran, though welcome, is too small and insignificant to justify a major shift in our foreign policy.

“We warn that the high wire act being performed by Jagdeo could lead to our becoming embroiled in a dangerous game being played out in a larger arena and one in which we could find ourselves impaled on the horns of an axis of death and destruction.”

According to Trotman, it must be noted that in light of Jagdeo’s criticism of the U.S. whilst in Iran, they chose to keep a press briefing here in Guyana and not any other country in the region.

In recent times, President Jagdeo has been to Iran, Kuwait, Dubai and Libya among numerous other state visits.