The government has tasks to fulfill

Aug 30, 2015 Features / Columnists, My Column

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It has been just over three months since the new government came into office and in that period there have been many disclosures that set tongues wagging. One had to do with the transfer of state-owned property to either private use or to people inside the previous government.
There was the case of the transfer of cars allegedly initiated by former Public Service Minister Dr Jennifer Westford. This matter is before the courts, making it the first Minister from the former government to be prosecuted.
Now we hear of more missing vehicles. Apparently, a check of the books is revealing that some of the vehicles bought during the tenure of the previous government cannot be found. There is talk that one high-end vehicle that was in the control of Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh is missing.
If it is, then I would assume that it would be found sooner or later. I don’t think that it was shipped across the Suriname border and sold. Neither do I think that it has been cannibalized.
In the run-up to the elections the then opposition party spoke about the rampant corruption taking place in Guyana. It then promised that if elected it would jail the perpetrators. The words might have rung hollow, but the public expected the prosecutions. Even now many people are wondering whether they would see more prosecutions.
During the parliamentary debate the announcement came that the former government had leased Red House to the People’s Progressive Party for 99 years at a cost of even less than a song. When this was done, the government of the day said nothing.
Since that disclosure people keep asking me whether anything could be done. I am not legally inclined, so I cannot say, but speaking from a layman’s position I would want to believe that the lease could be revoked.
But from my vantage point it became clear that even State House or Public Buildings could have been leased. Such was the casual manner that the government approached national business. The leasing of Red House might have been spurred by the fact that former President Bharrat Jagdeo had proclaimed that the PPP would never lose another election in Guyana.
With that belief he was certain that his party could do anything in perpetuity and there was nothing that the nation could have done. For example, against every sense of reasoning, the government undertook projects that were bound to be costly and most likely fail. The new Skeldon Sugar Factory is a case in point.
Constructed at a cost of nearly US$200 million, to become the most expensive project undertaken by the country, it has failed to function as it was intended to. At the same time Guyana must make repayments. Thus we have a case of pouring good money behind bad.
The Marriott Hotel is another case in point. At last count, it was losing $20 million a month. When the then Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh and head of the Privatisation Unit, Winston Brassington, announced the construction of the hotel they spoke of the facility breaking even within a few years and booming when actual work began to bring oil to the surface.
Former President Jagdeo then said that with the construction of the hotel there would be an influx of visitors to Guyana. That is still to be seen.
And in the midst of all this, the nation expects the government to perform as though it has been in office for about a year. Indeed, no government can spend all its time chasing after the indiscretions of its predecessor. It must get down to serious business. With the passage of the budget, people expect to see movement in this direction.
There must be job creating developments. The various road projects appeared to have ground to halt. Certainly, no government would ignore the fact that good money has been spent on the roads. It should not take long for tenders to be posted and contracts awarded. With speed the contractors would be scouring the country for labourers.
The housing programme is another area of employment. At the same time, this area would be moving to satisfy a promise made a long time ago by Guyana’s first executive president—a roof over the head.
There is also a need for qualified public servants. We watched the decline in the nursing profession, the falling education standards, the depletion of the Guyana Police Force, and the absence of jobs for skilled artisans. Those are things that the new government has to correct and must do so in a hurry.
At the same time there must be the continued pursuit of the recovery of money stolen from the public treasury. Just this past week I noticed a report about rampant gold smuggling. I know that people can smuggle gold across the border, but no prominent gold dealer is going to go that route. It had to be that the gold was shipped out on small boats that quietly left Port Georgetown.
I would suspect that in the same way money laundering was allowed to flourish, the gold smuggling was facilitated. I can only surmise that the new government caused the expose and probably dimmed the extent of smuggling.
And President David Granger must be prepared to meet with the press. He is still to hold a press conference. Most heads of state would have done so on the occasion of the first hundred days. In Guyana this task fell to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

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