Granger needs to find the people’s money

Jun 07, 2015 Features / Columnists, My Column

---

It seems as though there is no end to the disclosures. There was the discovery of a multi-million-dollar payday to a Canada-based Guyanese for work on the Rodney Commission-of-Inquiry. Needless to say, this created a shock, since the nation was not aware that the government had reached out to someone to do something in relation to the commission.
What this signaled was that the government chose to reach out although it has a well-appointed state media apparatus. This seemed to suggest that there was no one capable of doing what the government hired Shaun Samaroo to do. And whatever he did was surely not outstanding enough to warrant attention.
The end result is that I concluded that the government was doling out money to its supporters. And this can only happen when there seems to be no checks and balances. In other countries, such a venture to recruit Shaun Samaroo would have been made public. The various governments would have made an announcement, almost in the same way that there are announcements when contracts are awarded.
The disclosures did not end there. We found out that the government had recruited some young men to sit and monitor Facebook, ghost-write letters using the names of non-existent people, and to attempt to hack into people’s computers. Hacking is criminal and if the government did approve of the actions of these young people, that was also criminal.
But what about the expenditure on other things? The nation needs to know, so there will be forensic audits. This will provide a look into every nook and cranny. But why should this be?
All my life I believed that Governments were to govern a country in a manner that everyone felt the benefits. Now I find out otherwise. I still remember 23 years ago when the PPP government came in with claims that corruption was rampant during the tenure of the PNC. I failed to recall one incident of undisclosed spending.
More than that, I could not find one case of any Minister gaining so much from the treasury that he could build a mansion and own property all over the country. I saw what was considered the purging of the political types, none of whom were open advocates of the ruling party.
There was access by all, even to employment. Once a person was qualified that person gained the job. For national projects the tenders went out. No one can point to a failed project. Constructions were sturdy and designed to last. It was a case of money well spent.
So once again the nation is preparing to go back to national development rather than development for a few. President David Granger spoke of professionalizing the public service and the process has begun. But of course, there are the few who believe that disruption is the order of the day.
Take the case of Khemraj Ramjattan’s action against two policemen who were dragged before the courts for torturing a suspect. The government, perhaps rightly, contended that since they were not convicted they should continue. But a decent government would have parted company with the tainted. This is always the case.
Now I took a look to the road ahead. The government must prepare its budget. I want to see development continue. We already have projects in the pipeline. The government is within its right to review these. President Cheddi Jagan did this.
Of course it was so long ago that most people around today would not even know this. He reviewed the deal that saw Omai Gold Mines coming to Guyana. He got international help and despite the promise that he would make the findings possible, he never did. Then he reviewed the Barama deal.
In each case he found that these were the best the country could have got. There was no under-the-table exercise. There was no sharing of timber concessions for money in personal pockets. This is going to continue to be the order of the day.
Woe betide if the administration should find that there were corrupt transactions in some of the deals. The people know that if they do something wrong they would have to pay the price. They expect the same thing for the high and mighty, because no one is bigger than the law.
I would like to see what happened to the lotto funds. There were billions of dollars there. The Lotto Company, when last it declared how much should have been in the fund, said that the amount should have been more than $6 billion. That money could have built the Olympic swimming pool without taxing the taxpayer. It could have also built the track and field facility.
I would like to know how much is there and where the rest went. I want to know about the 20 per cent shares in Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company that was sold, they say, for US$30 million. I want to know where that money went.
I want to see the inside of the deal to construct the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project. At last count the nation was expected to pay US$850 million. I thought that it was exorbitant, so I want to see what the real cost will be.
I saw how the radio frequencies were distributed. I don’t expect them to be revoked, but some of the people who got the best frequencies would have to lose a few. There was no tender for the frequencies, when that should have been the case and when the nation could have made money.
There is work to be done, not only at cleaning up, but also at pushing Guyana forward. The foreign missions have all pledged their help and support. They knew what was going on and I get the impression that they wanted to see the back of the past Government.
The people have spoken. It is now for the government to deliver.

---

---