APNU+AFC hoping to get favourable results through trial and error

Aug 10, 2015 Letters

---

Dear Editor,
Every day in the press there is allegation of corruption levied against the former PPP/C Administration by the Granger Administration. Guyanese are being led to believe that the economy is in critical shape because of massive corruption and the raping of the treasury by former PPP/C Ministers.
Let me make this emphatically clear: Anyone who knowingly and willfully conspire to defraud the Government of Guyana and rob the treasury of taxpayers’ money, should be placed before the courts, have their assets seized and locked up for a very long time if found guilty of the offense. I will not condone this criminal behavior, neither will I have sympathy for the culprit.
In a recent statement, the PPP/C Opposition Whip, Gail Teixeira, also made it quite clear that where there is a determination of wrongdoing against former PPP/C Members of Parliament the law must run its course. “Can we go to the Police Commissioner and say, don’t you dare do that? If the law is upheld and it is found that any of the individuals has committed an offence, then the law must take its course.”
To date, the only person brought before the court, is former Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford… once for the alleged illegal transfer of six government vehicles to private ownership.
Dr. Westford has adamantly denied any wrongdoing. The facts as presented in court, will determine the outcome of this case. The vehicles mentioned have all been returned to the State within the limited amnesty period offered for the return of State Assets by Minister Joseph Harmon, so there is no legal justification now to have her prosecuted for this.
But if corruption during the 23 years of PPP/C rule was so widespread and massive, where are all the billions of dollars we’re led to believe were stolen from the treasury? Surely there should be no need for a State Asset Recovery Unit to locate this massive amount of money.
Finance Minister, Winston Jordan once worked under Dr. Ashni Singh at the Ministry of Finance and was privy to all the financial transactions that occurred there during the former PPP/C Administration. He was well positioned to see any disparity in the accounting system to cover-up these fraudulent transactions if in fact they had occurred. And if there were evidence of corruption, did Jordan ever reported this to the Finance Minister? Has he ever reported this fraud to the police? Alternatively, if he felt uncomfortable working for a ‘corrupted’ Administration, he should have done the decent thing and resign from the Ministry of Finance in protest, and called a press conference to expose the corruption. Instead, he stayed on and kept his mouth shut. Or is it more likely that the corruption he’s now talking about never exist. The Minister of Finance can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, if he saw evidence of corruption at the Ministry of Finance under Dr. Ashni Singh and did nothing about it because he wanted to protect his lucrative job, he’s weak and is likely to buckle under pressure now from those wishing to misuse taxpayers’ dollars. On the other hand, if Minister Jordan has no evidence of fraudulent financial transactions that took place while he was employed there under the PPP/C, he should be man enough to make this fact known publicly and not bend to pressure to spearhead a costly political witch hunt that is unlikely to yield more than it would cost to pay the two “State Auditors” employed to find the loot.
Either way, it would appear that our Finance Minister has a serious credibility problem that needs to be addressed. The APNU-AFC can no longer use the cover of PPP corruption to hide their incompetence and inability to govern the nation. Show us evidence of this massive corruption you’ve uncovered and put those responsible behind bars. It is time that the Granger Administration put up or shut up and get on with the business of nation building. Time is running out.
It is rapidly approaching the 100-day mark since the APNU-AFC collation has been in office. The economy is rapidly spiraling downwards; violent crime and the murder rate are out of control; consumer confidence is on the decline and private sector investment is at a standstill. But why should this come as a surprise to anyone, after all, the PPP/C predicted this would have happened.
The APNU-AFC took a thriving economy, gave it to bunch of amateurs for on-the-job training, and hastily fired most of the people with the skills that knew how to run the Ministries. Now they’re running the country like a cake shop, hoping to get a favourable result through trial and error. Had the Granger Administration spend more time creating jobs and growing the economy as opposed to traveling around the world; being obsessed with firing PPP supporters; and going after government assets in an effort to prove the Ramotar Administration was corrupt, they may have been able to fulfill the campaign promises made to their supporters and the rest of the population. Sadly, people are easily deceived and fall for all sorts of campaign rhetoric during an election campaign. VAT is still 16% and unlikely to be reduced; we now know that the military and police can kiss the 20% wage increase goodbye. The Berbice Bridge toll, if lowered at all, will be done at the expense of taxpayers in every region, including Georgetown, Essequibo and Linden. Most of the people there may never have need to cross the Berbice Bridge yet their tax-dollars will be used to lower the Berbice Bridge toll as part of a government subsidy, so that the APNU-AFC can fulfill a campaign promise made to the residence of Berbice.
The PPP/C Members of Parliament are expected to take up their seats in the National Assembly to participate in the Budget Debate. I’m hoping that civility and productive dialogue from Members across the floor will set the tone needed to advance the people’s business, but from what I’ve been hearing, I’m not setting my expectations too high.
Harry Gill

---

---