Enjoying the good life, or riding on the backs of the poor?

Mar 01, 2015 Features / Columnists, My Column

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By Adam Harris

Someone leaked a detailed list of people who enjoyed funding from the government for medical procedures. Indeed, the nation was informed that the government would make advances or fund people to the tune of US$5,000 – those who needed medical interventions not readily offered in Guyana.
There were more than 500 names and the period stretched from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2013. The amount of money spent was a lot. Indeed, everyone knew that the government would help people, but the extent of the help and some of the people who accessed it boggled the mind.
I was aware that Government officials are entitled to funding from the public coffers if there was a need, because contrary to what many people believe, those Government officials who live by honest means do not earn a lot. That is why when one sees a Government official suddenly begin to own property in large numbers the first word out of the mouth is corruption.
There were people whom I knew had nothing before they became Government Ministers. I knew the salaries, so when I saw that these people became multi-millionaires I asked myself many questions. I saw former Ministers who are ordinary citizens and not millionaires. That nailed the lies about rampant corruption in the ranks of the former People’s National Congress administration.
Richard Van-West Charles, the son-in-law of the late Forbes Burnham had to approach the Guyana Public Service Credit Union for a loan to build his house in Meadow Brook. The announcement that he secured $250,000 caused a hue and cry nationally. Today, ordinary people sell their newly constructed houses for $100 million. There is no record of them securing any loan whatsoever and no questions are asked.
These things made me take a look at the list of people aided by the government and not surprisingly, Government Ministers and officials accounted for the bulk of the money. The talking point was the Minister who spent $2 million on her teeth.
On the same list there were people who needed $240,000 but the government only aided them with $40,000. One does not report on the ailment that one suffers, so some of the money spent to aid people could be understood. The cosmetic surgeries are another question.
One Minister secured in excess of $4 million. We appreciate that the people who benefitted were doing nothing more than enjoying an entitlement. But in the same breath, people who had certain entitlements were denied those entitlements.
People expected expenditures incurred by former President Bharrat Jagdeo, but there were no such records. This does not mean that he did not benefit from releases from Central Government. Rather, his releases came from other sources.
Another thing that people found disturbing are comments that the authorities are preparing to commission the Marriott Hotel. This is remarkable when one considers that none of the foreign funding that was supposed be invested in the hotel was forthcoming. We now question the source of funding to complete the hotel.
From the inception there was the belief that certain rich people in Guyana were putting their money into the hotel, something that the people behind the hotel construction denied. The government through NICIL spent US$20 million. We have since noticed a massive loan from Republic Bank.
The truth about the hotel construction may never be known, because the government never intended to come clean. People are talking. They are also talking about the vast sums that are floating around, and not in local banks.
On one occasion the media questioned the source of funding for the Caribbean Premier League franchise acquired by Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop. We found out that the money did not pass through the Central Bank. It must be that Dr Ramroop has sums of money in some external bank.
To his credit, Anil Nandlall proclaimed that he was a rich man before he entered the government service. He could have funded anything he wanted, but he tapped the taxpayers for in excess of $4 million.
There are many things of which people speak. There is the Bai Shan Lin arrangement. From the outset there were many questions about the concessions. Some of the most unsatisfactory answers were provided. Figures provided by the Guyana Forest Commission never matched figures provided by Bai Shan Lin.
In fact, Bai Shan Lin declared more acreage as concessions than the Guyana Foreign Commission declared. Small loggers began to complain that their limited concessions were being reposed and given to Bai Shan Lin. Questions went unanswered, but there was talk of money greasing palms to make things easy for the Chinese logging company.
One particular Minister was fingered as the major beneficiary of the Bai Shan Lin largesse and he demonstrated all the assets of one who enjoyed funding from sources other than the public treasury. Perhaps he had a fairy godmother like so many others who are featured in that list of beneficiaries of taxpayers’ money, so to do their teeth-all $2 million of them.
And while we are talking about the $2 million teeth we must also ask about the insurance on those teeth. They cost more than some cars, all of which have to be insured, if only to protect others.

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