Those unused accounting modules…Jagdeo deceived the nation - Ramjattan

Those unused accounting modules…Jagdeo deceived the nation – Ramjattan

Jun 09, 2014 News

“The analogy on point here is like the lawyer who is asked to draft a law to provide for certain offences, but who knowing that those provisions will sooner catch him, then proceeds to complete that law without any penalty provisions.”

The fact that after 10 years, two accounting modules responsible for tracking the assets and consumables for which millions of taxpayers’ dollars are expended have not been used, was not a mere mistake. “It was a deliberate act by the architects of our existing financial framework: Winston Brassington, head of NICIL; Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh; and Former President Bharrat Jagdeo.”

Khemraj Ramjattan, Leader of the AFC

This view was expressed by leader of the political opposition party, the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan.
In light of the revelation that the two most important of the seven modules belonging to the Integrated Financial Management and Accounting System (IFMAS) have not been used for 10 years, Ramjattan said that it is tantamount to deceiving the nation.
He said, “That is grand deception and what is worse is the obvious and serious deliberation that went into that deception. The then President, Bharrat Jagdeo, certainly deceived the nation. He had told the nation then that the IFMAS system, which we all understood to be the complete system, inclusive of those vital two modules, which we now learnt were excluded, will be implemented under him. But from all appearances, he never wanted the two modules from the very inception. Why? Because these two excluded modules of the system would have traced all the transactions. Now what do you want me to think but that the exclusion is the intentional action of one who wants to erase his illicit track and traces of that track?
“Indeed, I feel that Dr.Singh, Brassington, and Jagdeo are the three persons in the upper echelons of government who know the financial and monetary system the most and they can be the grand manipulators of that system because of their total knowledge. This knowledge is even to the exclusion of everyone else, including the President (Donald Ramotar). That trio’s non-transparent attitude and control-freakism leaves them in absolute control to the exclusion of even those within the opposition who know a thing or two about finance and monetary matters. I want to even put into the basket of items that the fact they don’t want a qualified Auditor General is part of their scheme…”
The Parliamentarian insisted that the only way to change this manner of behavior with Guyana’s financial system is for increased public pressure. This, he said, is necessary to change the status quo, for the whole scheming is beyond sometimes the comprehension of ordinary members of the public. There must also be pressure from the Private Sector and the Diplomatic community, and those international financial institutions who lend monies to this Government, the politician added.
When asked whether he would be able to say why anyone would buy an important accounting system and not use two of the modules responsible for ensuring accountability and value for money, Ramjattan said, “It is fair comment I believe in the context of all the circumstances that this was a grand deception to fool Guyanese into thinking that a foolproof system will be implemented. And that it was deliberately not implemented on the pretext that Guyana did not or does not have the human resource to work those two modules. This is even further deception. And from all the indications, it was Jagdeo, Ashni Singh and definitely Brassington behind that exclusion.”
He then said that what happened here is “like the lawyer who is asked to draft a law to provide for certain offences, but who, knowing that those provisions will sooner catch him, then proceeds to complete that law without any penalty provisions.”