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President Ramotar will not stop any of Jagdeo’s projects
– regrets the one-seat minority
“Jagdeo was not a law unto himself. He has never been a law unto himself. Those were programmes of the PPP. Those were policies of the PPP/C.”
The Donald Ramotar administration is unlikely to pull back any of the major projects announced under the Presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo.
Nine months have passed since the 62-year-old economist and General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party was sworn in after Jagdeo’s two-term reign ended last year.
President Donald Ramotar
There have been criticisms that the new Ramotar government is of the same old faces, with no immediate discernible shift in policies and programmes. There have even been suggestions that Ramotar is a mere puppet while the former President remains in the background but still in control.
However, the new President made it clear Friday that the projects and policies of the present and past administrations were all consistent with those of the PPP.
During a press conference Friday at his Vlissengen Road office, the President, in responding to questions whether Guyana is likely to see him “charting his own course” instead of being in the shadow of Jagdeo, made it clear to reporters that this was far from the truth.
“I don’t think you understand how we (the PPP) operate… That is why you probably ask a question like that. Jagdeo was not a law unto himself. He has never been a law unto himself. Those were programmes of the PPP. Those were policies of the PPP/C.”
There have been a number of large scale infrastructural projects which have all come under fire for one reason or the other from opposition parties.
These include the Marriott Hotel for Kingston in which Guyana is investing over US$50M, despite calls for a scrapping of the project altogether. Government has refused to release the feasibility studies which justify the project.
There is the US$840M Amaila Fall hydro-electric project for Region Eight which will be country’s most expensive project ever. There are burning questions over details of the final costs and how Guyanese consumers will be affected.
Then there is the US$150M expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), for which no studies to justify the urgency to spend that amount at this time have been released.
Then there are still questions over the US$18M India-funded specialty hospital for Turkeyen, East Coast Demerara. There are problems with the awarding of the contract and murkiness over the management contract.
According to President Ramotar, on Friday, he has no problems with the major projects introduced by the former Head of State and which Guyana currently has on stream. “I do not disagree with the projects we have on stream. A lot of these were talked about during the campaign (and) were not at fruition… (at) beginning points. I do not know if I have to stop all of them or destroy all of them or continue with them.
“I think that they are good for the country.”
The President does not want to put a Ramotar brand. That is not his way, he insists.
“I am not looking for a brand or to say that this is Ramotar’s brand… I have not been so egotistic.”
The President was also asked to speak on the nine months that he has spent so far in the Office of the President.
He regrets that his party does not have the parliamentary majority.
“Had it not been for the shortfall in sugar, the economy would have been reflecting more than six per cent growth… (the economy) has been up and down. Some things have distracted us. Some of the political issues, including the one-seat minority… and we are trying to do the best we can.”
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