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Jagdeo’s 12-year reign a maze – Granger
Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo’s 12-year reign at the helm of the Administration, has been “a commercial and industrial maze” that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is still attempting to unravel.
This was the comment by Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger yesterday during a party briefing to mark the coalition’s one year anniversary.
Bharrat Jagdeo
Granger was asked to weigh in on the completed review by the Ministry of Public Works, over allegations of corruption surrounding China Harbour Engineering Corporation (CHEC).
That Chinese Company has secured the US$150M expansion project for the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA).
Granger said that with Jagdeo at the helm, the commercial transactions have been a maze and APNU is using whatever mechanisms available, to garner the relevant information on the several Chinese projects in Guyana.
He said that the dealings involving Guyana, Jagdeo and the Chinese have been heavily shrouded, hence the reason for Jagdeo to still be present at Office of the President, chairing meetings.
“Several things happened during the 12-year Jagdeo regime which is obscure and which we are still to discover…I cannot weigh in on them, I don’t know of the full implications at this time.”
Granger said that he is positive that as the work of the 10th Parliament continues, the mystery will be unraveled. “We will know what happened at NICIL, what’s happening with the Chinese, what’s happening with lands, gold mining royalties.”
The Brigadier was adamant that “there is a lot that Mr Jagdeo has to answer for.”
The leader of the Parliamentary opposition expressed confidence in his technical team. “We will be looking at that Jagdeo regime through a microscope over the coming months.”
The Opposition Leader conceded that he did not know enough about the China deals.
He speculated also that he is unsure if there are persons in the ruling People’s Progressive Party Civic that can speak “authoritatively on all of those deals…the cables and the ferries and everything else…It is really a commercial and industrial maze.”
Desmond Trotman of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) who holds a seat under the APNU banner also weighed in on the issue and sought to castigate the media.
“While I applaud the media for some of its reporting, I think it leaves a lot to be desired on occasion.”
He said that there are times when Government Ministers speak of investigations of serious wrongdoing “and these investigations are taking place by themselves.”
He posited that it is the role of the media to point out the jeopardies associated with the investigations.
Leader of the Parliamentary Opposition David Granger
Leader of the Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR), Robert Corbin reminded that the current political climate has not blue print.
“We are traversing the two branches of government; one is in the Executive and one in the Legislative.”
Corbin said that there is power in the legislative branch through the sector committees.
The work of the committees in the House has been stymied as a result of the court challenged to the makeup of the Parliamentary Committees by Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
Corbin added that through those Parliamentary Sector Committees, “all have power to summon officials of the government to report.”
He conceded that in the previous Parliament Ministers were reluctant to appear before the Committees when summoned. “I think the precedent has been established in the previous Parliament so that as the Parliament gets going, more scope will be available to the Parliamentarians.”
Corbin suggested that this is one of the reasons that Nandlall has gone to the court, “because to the extent that they stymie these committees it frustrates the further investigative work that the Parliament could do.”
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