Dr. Ramroop’s New GPC boast dishonest, designed to mislead

Jun 18, 2013 News

The boast by Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop of his company, New GPC, being in operation for the past 90 years has some wondering about the haste to mislead the nation and the level of dishonesty.

Dr. Ranjisinghi Ramroop

People now want to know whether the boast is designed to prop up his reputation as the Guyana franchise holder in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket tournament.
Announcing that he was the first person to acquire any of the six franchises in the league, the CPL bragged that New GPC has been operating for the past 90 years.
In fact, New GPC has been in existence for the past 14 years and was enriched by multi-billion dollar contracts to import and manufacture drugs for the government of Guyana under terms that were controversial.
What Ramroop acquired 14 years ago was a company that started in the 1920s as Bookers Drug Store.
The company grew and its products such as Limacol and Ferrol became household names in Guyana and among the Guyana diaspora overseas.
Overtime, the company changed owners and names and was eventually nationalised in 1976 and named Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation.
The opposition has argued that Ramroop’s best friend, former President Bharrat Jagdeo, favoured him. As a result, Ramroop was awarded contracts through sole sourcing and thus without a transparent competitive bidding process.
Jagdeo was named President in August 1999. Four months later Guyana Pharmaceutical Corporation was privatised and was acquired by Ramroop.
Dr. Ramroop stated in the wake of the purchase of the Guyana franchise, “This tournament and my companies’ investment will help to develop cricket talent and also stimulate economies throughout the region,” said Ramroop.
“We are elated to be part of this inaugural year and look forward to the growth and development of CPL which we believe will be the envy of the cricketing world.”