OUTRAGEOUS ABUSE OF TREASURY, CONSTITUTION BY PPP/C WILL STOP!

Mar 22, 2015 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

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The APNU/AFC Coalition from the first day in government will implement stringent measures to ensure that our people’s monies are protected and used only for their benefit.
No more will there be wasteful spending on projects that make no sense nor benefit any Guyanese.  No more will valuable time and money be wasted on frivolous court cases that put an unnecessary strain on the judiciary.
The PPP/C has abused the National Treasury for more than two decades, spending billions of the people’s dollars as if it were its own.  Its leaders continue to twist the Constitution for their own selfish gain, including trying to hog-tie the judiciary to make it answerable to them.
The Constitution of Guyana clearly defines the three arms of the state as:
1.    The Executive
2.    The Legislature (parliament)
3.    The Judiciary
Each arm is constitutionally independent of the other, so the PPP/C’s outrageous attempts to subjugate the judiciary and the parliament could only be seen as a thinly veiled move to institute a dictatorship in this Land of the Free.  The mishandling of every single aspect of the political, economic and social affairs of Guyana has gone on for too long and it will come to a halt on 12th May.
The PPP has raped and pillaged the treasury and abused the Constitution at the expense of we the people.   Party Chairman, Nigel Hughes, pointed this out in a recent televised interview.  He said that the Judiciary showed its independence when the Chief Justice ruled that the government had illegally spent $4.5B which the National Assembly had recently disapproved.
“Since the ruling the nation has not received so much as an apology from the Finance Minister who illegally spent billions of taxpayers’ dollars.  We did not see the resignation of Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, who it is strongly believed, provided the flawed legal interpretation that gave the Minister permission to spend the monies. What we got after the ruling was arrogance and stubbornness from Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon, who actually stated that (Minister Singh) was right to spend the funds.  It is clear that government is no longer interested in or bothered by the parameters of the Constitution,” the Attorney-at-Law said.
Just recently the party’s leadership had to address another product of the PPP’s propaganda mill that insinuated that the creation and signing of the historic Cummingsburg Accord was the work of a certain “gang of five” in the AFC.  They could not be more wrong!  Members were properly consulted and they gave the green light for the Coalition agreement after examining all other options and taking into consideration the overall impact of the alliance.
After the consultations, Party Leader Khemraj Ramjattan pointed out that there were three weeks of very tough negotiations with APNU.  The resulting Accord was a product of compromise for the good of every Guyanese.
During the television interview, Party Leader Ramjattan, Chairman Hughes and Executive Member Cathy Hughes, all pointed out how the PPP/C is bent on dragging Guyana into a “dangerous place”.  These infractions include:-
·    Discrimination in employment on the bases of race and party affiliation
·    Granting of contracts for infrastructure, repairs and maintenance of community structures to unqualified contractors who are connected to the party, while ignoring qualified and experienced engineers
·    Extremely high levels of bribery and kick-backs in government departments and ministries
·    Poor management of the country’s resources by granting tax-free and other concessions to certain foreign investors when local business owners have to pay excessive taxes and exorbitant fees for importing raw materials and for extending their businesses.
·    Careless distribution of the nation’s natural resources without concern for the fact that these resources are not finite and should be sustained (e.g. trees replanted) for the benefit of our children’s children
·    The Guyanese people are not benefitting from the nation’s resources, not thorough jobs or access to the end products.  The raw products – timber, stone, gold, bauxite, diamonds and other precious gems, rice and sugar are shipped overseas.
In the first year of government, the Alliance will:
·    Change the Constitution to re-arrange the responsibilities of both the President and the Prime Minister,
·    Hold Local Government Elections.
·    Ensure that the country’s resources (wealth) is evenly distributed
·    Ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the conduct of government’s business
·    Establish close relations with social groups including religious groups, unions, Non-Governmental Organizations, business owners and their support organizations in an effort to create a realistic government of national unity.

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