After the PPP’s choice of Jagdeo and treatment of the Civic arm, who can trust the PPP in any partnership?

Aug 15, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
PPP General Secretary, Mr. Donald Ramotar said that the “PPP is open to power-sharing with partners it could trust,” (Kaieteur News, August 13), but the stark truth is, since Dr. Cheddi Jagan died in 1997 and his wife took over, the PPP government accelerated the downward spiral of it and the country while the party stood watching almost helplessly, perhaps hoping other PPP leaders will at least have an opportunity to enjoy their turn at the government’s money tree before it dies.
So, the question now is: Who could trust the PPP after 1) foisting President Bharrat Jagdeo on the nation in 1999, 2) failing to do or say anything to correct the myriad wrongs of his administration in the last decade, and 3) rendering the Civic component irrelevant to the process of governance?
I don’t know if Mr. Ramotar read where House Speaker Mr. Ralph Ramkarran said that corruption (in government) would be one of three areas he wants to tackle if he becomes the next President, but if Mr. Ramotar did, he would have used the word ‘trust’ in a much more guarded manner, because ‘trust’, which has been a problem since the days of the PNC in power, has worsened under the Jagdeo-led PPP government.
If Mr. Ramotar wants to win people’s confidence and support for his presidential bid, he should be telling the nation what he plans on doing to restore public confidence and trust in any PPP-run government. And it is not just about restoring people’s confidence and trust, but also people’s concern about an outright abuse of power at the presidential level that makes resolving the corruption issue seem all the more complicated.
According to the news account being cited here, Mr. Ramotar said ‘it would be to the detriment of the nation should his party place power in the hands of people who abuse it’, and while I am confident he was actually referring to the PNC, which abused power while in office and has been clamouring for shared governance with the PPP after 1992, the reality today shows that the PPP did place power in the hand of a man who has been openly abusing it, thanks to the PPP’s support in 1999 for retaining the constitutional clause that protects the President from indictments and lawsuits.
I would really like to know what the General Secretary’s position is on the manner in which the President has handled the CLICO mystery, the Queens Atlantic II conundrum, the Amaila Falls hydro project calamity, and the Marriott Hotel ‘hustle’. On every one of these, as well as others not mentioned, the President’s political fingerprints can be found, and they all have one common denominator: they lack transparency.
But more than that, given the President and his government’s indifferent reactions to public calls for clarification, the lack of transparency seems deliberate rather than accidental, and that may only be so because the President knows that even if he broke the law with respect to these deals that lack transparency and may eventually benefit a chosen few with taxpayers’ money, he still cannot be held criminally responsible. This is so deeply troubling that even if the President cannot be held criminally responsible or accountable, at least the PPP should be held accountable for his behaviour, because he became President based on the PPP’s decision in 1997 that was fulfilled in 1999.
I know Mr. Ramotar said he wants to be Guyana’s next President, but regardless who becomes the next President, as long as the incumbent does not get a third term, I strongly believe that the next government, if it is serious about tacking corruption, should revisit with a view to rescinding several of the deals struck under the Jagdeo presidency. And the first two deals that need to be revisited are the acquisitions by Queens Atlantic II of the state-owned Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation and Sanata Complex.
As General Secretary of the party that produced President Jagdeo, does Mr. Ramotar know anything about the government-Queens Atlantic II deals involving Dr. Ramsinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop? In fact, prior to the year 2000, did Mr. Ramotar know who Dr. Ramroop was in the context of any type of business operations, whether in Guyana or overseas, that allowed him to generate any significant type of financial wealth to invest in Guyana?
For four consecutive years, 2000 – 2003, QAII had a share capital of $50,000 for each of those years, yet for the corresponding period, it also had accounted losses of $37.3M (2000), $82.7M (2001), $239.4M (2002), and $292.0M (2003). However, QAII was still able to invest $460M for a 60% stake in the GPC, followed by an additional $200M for an additional 30% stake (the other 10% was supposed to be reserved as employees’ stake, but…).

That’s $660M for majority control of the GPC from a holding company that recorded net losses for four consecutive years. From where did money losing QAII manage to secure hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for the GPC acquisition?
Who put up the collateral for this loan? And what’s mind-boggling is that that money-losing QAII was suddenly in a financial position in 2006 to make a $140M investment in the Berbice Bridge Company, of which amount $50M was said to be in the form of a loan earning interest at the rate of about 16% (before interest).
Also in an apparent attempt to help it stand up early on its own two feet, as early as 2003, Cabinet waivers that sidestepped the Procurement Act allowed the government to contract the NGPC as major a supplier of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, and so in 2005, NGPC got paid between $550M and $600M for supplies. Today, QAII has two subsidiaries that are in the running for contracts to supply the government with pharmaceuticals and medical items.
Column space will not allow me to go more in-depth on the NGPC or even touch on the Sanata Complex deal, but suffice to say that the issue of public-private sector partnerships may not have started mere months ago in which a chosen few will benefit from government deals, and so I will close by saying I believe the manner in which the state disposed of the GPC (as well as Sanata Complex) seriously deserves to be revisited, even if no one can be held accountable for abusing their authority.
The only thing worse that all this is that we may witness the unfolding of more abuse of power and authority as this government’s time in office runs out, but the PPP just cannot escape blame.
Emile Mervin

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Entertainment is good for the soul

Dear Editor,
In a time when news headlines of all different kinds of violence and political squabbles bombard our lives daily, any form of entertainment that brings a getaway, even temporarily, is welcomed.
Especially when it comes in the form of recreation, where people from all parts of Guyana come together to relax, celebrate and have good, clean fun.
The Miss Jamzone pageant and India’s Lil Champs provide this entertainment for us, and also, significantly boost our tourism industry.
Entertainment is good for the soul. And in the month of August, when schools are closed, these events allow families to enjoy quality time together, while at the same time creating fun-filled memories that last forever.
The organisers of the Miss Jamzone pageant have without doubt, created the event that Guyanese as well as foreigners will highly anticipate every year. Hundreds of persons attend Jamzone each year and with Neyo’s debut in Guyana, this year’s Jamzone experience will undoubtedly be memorable.
Because of Jamzone, we now own an international pageant that will bring contestants and supporters from all over the world to Guyana.
The anticipation of who will win boggles our minds, and excitement about the Neyo and chutney concert, as well as the Movado show coupled with what to wear and who will be there, help us to forget, even for a little time, our every day circumstances, as we enjoy these activities.
Nigel Green

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