Again, is the New GPC lawsuit a cover for Govt.’s lack of transparency on QAII deals?

Sep 30, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
Regarding your September 28 news article, “New GPC sues Kaieteur News twice in eight days,” (or should that be twice in eight weeks?), in which I was named as a defendant, I hope this letter, as well as previous related ones that were published, could stand in my stead before the Honourable Justice Dawn Gregory on October 5, because I will not be in Guyana on that date.
It is amazing to watch the speed at which this lawsuit is moving given that there are very serious criminal cases on the waiting list in the court system, and raises the pertinent question: Is this lawsuit politically motivated from the highest level and with the deepest anger?
Your news item, mentioned above, pretty much recapped the highlights of my earlier letters, which focused attention on the Guyana Government.
My August 4 letter, which triggered the suit, actually mentioned two Memoranda of Understanding signed by the government; one with Synergy in 2006 and the other with Queens Atlantic II in March 2008.
Ironically, the 2006 MOU was dismissed by PM Sam Hinds as something he could not remember signing even though a photocopy of the MOU with his signature was published in Kaieteur News. How do you not recognise your own signature on a piece of document that contains agreement on a major economic venture?
Where was the public outrage on that troubling discovery that exposed the Government for lying to the people when it agreed to award Fip Motilall US$15.4M to build a road to the hydro project under some kind of public bidding when Motilall was already in on the deal since 2006?
While details of the MOU with QAII was never made public, so that no one knew what exactly it covered, the New GPC suit explained that it was limited to QAII’s acquisition of the state-owned Sanata Complex, and did not encompass the New GPC.
Yes, I inadvertently stated that the New GPC was doing business with the Government even before the 2008 MOU was signed and take full responsibility for that error.
However, if that single error was the real reason for the New GPC’s suit, then the company’s leaders lack sensitivity to the public’s right to ask tough questions of their government regarding Government’s use of public funds or even disposal of public properties.
Again, my letter was about getting Government to open up about deals it entered into involving public funds and properties. Mention of QAII and the 2008 MOU was incidental to this end.
Whether the New GPC suit is designed to deflect attention from Government’s responsibility here to answer questions and bare details of its deals with QAII is not clear, but I won’t be surprised if the ‘government’ has an influential role in this lawsuit to either silence me or to deflect attention from its responsibility to be accountable to the people.
Still, the records are there for all to see that PNCR MP, Mr. Winston Murray, and AFC MP, Mr. David Patterson, did raise troubling questions about the Government’s choice of the New GPC to source drugs to Government.
Cabinet granted waivers circumventing the 2003 Procurement Act thus allowing Government to purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of drugs from the New GPC, acquired by QAII from the Government. Government also relied on Parliament to retroactively correct illegal concessions granted another QAII entity acquired from the Government: Sanata Complex.
It is for the Government, therefore, to answer questions about its highly favoured treatment of QAII and not for the New GPC to appear to be covering for the Government by filing a suit over a correctable error.
President Bharrat Jagdeo recently told a gathering of world dignitaries at the UN that the organisation needs to establish accountability indicators for its projects and programmes, but I think that he should be doing the same thing for his government. It’s like he lost his accountability/transparency compass.
Hopefully, Justice George will see the context and content of my letters through the prism of a Guyanese seeking to get the Government to come clean on deals that involved public funds and properties, and not seeking to libel a private company.
Emile Mervin

Latest News

Again, is the New GPC lawsuit a cover for Govt.’s lack of transparency on QAII deals?

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

No time for referendum before 2025 elections – GECOM CEO

Nandlall slaps ‘Melly Mel’ with $100M libel...

Brutus now on $17.25M bail for 252 charges

Truck driver in deadly Sheriff St. accident on...

Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival...

Louis 97, Athanaze 90 give West Indies slight...

Features/Columnists

No time for referendum before 2025 elections – GECOM CEO

No time for referendum before 2025 elections – GECOM CEO

Welcome, Mr. PM

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Again, is the New GPC lawsuit a cover for Govt.’s lack of transparency on QAII deals?

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]