The opposition saved Guyana millions

Mar 11, 2015 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I am responding to a letter in the (March 9 edition) of the newspaper by Minister Robeson Benn.  Without once pausing to establish that the PPP government was legal in 2011 after an election in which they lost the control of the national assembly, Benn then lists some of what he perceives as major projects which were halted  by the combined opposition.
The opposition was never consulted on any matter even though it held the majority of the seats in the National Assembly. Any sensible government would understand that in such a situation the PPP must have realised that it was no longer in charge and had to consult and compromise with the opposition in order that it could get their projects done. It refused and reaped the whirlwind.
But let’s deal with a few specific projects which Benn, named as indicators of progress and even some which he did not name.
Benn alleges that we stopped the University of Guyana scholarship fund? Actually on February 13, 2015 the Guyana Times, a known PPP mouthpiece, reported the following “Opposition Leader David Granger said that if State funds to the University of Guyana (UG) are not significantly improved, the kind of changes that are needed at the institution will not be possible”. This does not sound like an opposition which wants less money to flow to the university.
He alleges that the opposition blocked the Amerindian Development Fund. Yes they did, and analyst Chris Ram told the Kaiteur News on April 24, 2014 that “the $1.1B that the parliamentary opposition did not approve, was said to be used under the Amerindian Development Fund. (It) was exposed as money for uncontrolled vote-buying in the Amerindian communities.
The money had nothing to do with capital expenditure. Ram also indicated that” “Not surprisingly, none of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) Ministers seemed in the least bit embarrassed at being caught red-handed, even as they abused some bemused Amerindians to picket the National Assembly.
“In Parliament during the debates, opposition shadow Finance Greenidge said, “We are not against AmerindianDevelopment, but we are opposed to misappropriation. When we examine the details, $798M of the money allocated was to be provided for a monthly stipend to youths. But reports from throughout the hinterland show that the money was not being spent for its intended purpose (career development) but rather used to introduce politics into the community.”
Benn then alleges that the opposition blocked the money for the CJIA development project. The opposition did use its majority to stop allocations to the Airport project since 2012 because it was not properly consulted as to the source of the money, it is encapsulated in this article “CJIA Manager Ghir has revealed that a total of $366.9 million was spent on the airport expansion project, despite the combined parliamentary opposition disapproving funds during the consideration of the 2013 – 2014 budget estimates.
“However, when quizzed by the media on Friday, January 16 on the source of the money and whether it was from the same funds that were disapproved, Public Works Minister Robeson Benn became seemingly enraged and refused to answer the question bluntly” this man vex that we are asking him where he get this money from and he is breaking the law to do so.
So notwithstanding that the funds were disapproved by the national assembly according to a recent judgement by the chief Justice, Benn continued to spend this money in violation of the national assembly’s wishes representing the majority of the tax payers in this country. He should be writing his letter from jail.
He then says that the opposition was retarding the Amaila Hydro project in fact when the site global representatives met with the opposition to explain how electricity rates will drop. Carl Greenidge’s reaction was “that the APNU party’s major concern is the cost to the consumer after Amaila comes on stream.
The government keeps purporting that the tariff will be reduced “but that has been proven not to be so.”
The opposition was right to stop this project they have nothing to apologise for, and we saved the nation’s taxpayers US$ 840 million. It would have made the Skeldon US$200 million expansion a joke by comparison. I say thanks guys.
I normally write only on sugar and broadcasting, sometimes on the law when I have had the privilege to speak to Fenton Ramsahoye, but this is election time and I will keep my promise to attack anyone who is benning  up the facts with lies.
The PPP inherited an economy which was growing at 7.7% in 1992, it never grew at that rate since, thanks to the amateurs the PPP put in place to run this country. Very shortly I will start a commentary until elections on channel 9.
Tony Vieira

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