THE PPP IS BEING TRUE TO FORM IN ATTACKING CLIVE THOMAS

Aug 08, 2015 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

For the greater part of twenty-three years, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic had no uses for Guyana’s foremost economist, Distinguished Professor Clive Thomas. Cheddi Jagan did offer a ministerial position in 1992 but after the offer was rejected by the Working People’s Alliance in the interest of negotiations on the issue, Cheddi closed the book totally on the involvement of WPA personnel in his government.
The only other involvement that Clive Thomas had with the PPP was when he was part of the National Development Strategy. Thomas also was the darling of the PPP for a short period after he had expressed support for former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s position on the Economic Partnership Agreement signed between the European Union and the CARIFORUM grouping which included the countries of Caricom.
Since the National Development Strategy never saw the light of day, one can safely conclude that Thomas had little or no involvement in the policies pursued by the PPP in its twenty-three unbroken years in power.
That was a crying shame. A person of Thomas’s talent and experience should never have been sidelined by his country. The PPP sought to isolate him rather than use his knowledge for the benefit of the country.
Other countries in the Caribbean did not gobble him up because of his ideological leanings. At one time, he was considered one of the foremost leftist economists in the region. In later years much of his analysis was devoid of any Marxist tinge.
The PPP has similar history. It should therefore have hardly had any problem in working with Thomas, especially since at one time he was in consideration for being the Prime Ministerial candidate under the Patriotic Coalition for Democracy. Thomas was in the opposition camp when the PNC was in power.
Today, Thomas is being used by the very party which his own party had so fervently opposed. Thomas is on an Economic Advisory Council. He is also in charge of the State Asset Recovery Unit that is tracking down corruption by the former administration. He is an adviser to the government on Sustainable Development. He is also the Chairman of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and is on the Commission of Inquiry into the sugar corporation, the very company of which he has been appointed Chairman. The new government is making more use of Thomas than the PPP did in its twenty-three years. History does move in mysterious ways.
The PPP, however, instead of ruing its decision not to utilize Thomas, has done what in recent years it has become quite adept at: cussing-down persons who are perceived to be aligned to APNU and the AFC. It has launched a broadside against Thomas and accused him of having been at the helm of Globe Trust when it collapsed. This may or may not be true, but the attack was not merely intended to highlight this act, but to go further and question the credibility of Thomas.
This is what the PPP has evolved into: a party that is prepared to attack the credibility of persons, instead of addressing the issues concerned.
The PPP has solid grounds to otherwise question the multitudinous involvement within the new government. It could have humanely indicated that Thomas is now retired, is aged, and therefore the many responsibilities that APNU has placed on him will stretch his physical limitations. They could have, in other words indicated that Thomas is likely to suffer from burnout because of his heavy workload. But not the PPP, they prefer to attack the man’s credibility.
The PPP could have also argued that Thomas is in a clear conflict of interest by being on the Commission of Inquiry on GuySuCo and at the same time being the corporation’s Chairman. Thomas cannot wear these two hats at the same time. It represents a clear conflict of interest and he should be asked to give up one, at least until the COI is over. He simply cannot be the Chairman of GuySuCo while he is Chairman of the Board. He should step aside.
The PPP, however, has never had any regard for conflicts of interest and therefore they do not care too much about this important concept. What they care about are scurrilous attacks on people who are asked to serve their country.

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