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TROUBLE BREWING!

Dec 27, 2015 Editorial

Already reeling from the accusations surrounding the cost of the President’s inauguration, it seems that the government has been plunged into another scandal. This time the issue relates to messages purportedly made by the acting head of GPL in regard to the purchasing of 28,000 meters.

As a State agency, GPL has been criticized for its failure to reduce transmission losses, theft of electricity, its inability to complete projects on time and mismanagement of public funds. Its CEO has been under attack ever since being appointed to the position in late August.
It is now emerging that the attack against Mr Colin Welch is because he appears to be breaking up the nest of corruption that existed.
This latest incident would be one of the toughest tests yet for this government which prides itself on stamping out corruption. For one, the sole-sourcing of meters is no longer possible. Losing such a lucrative deal would be bound to cause attacks from all sources.
Guyana’s survival depends on having an efficient, corrupt-free and clean government, which means that all financial transactions utilizing state funds must be transparent before the government can be clean.
Under the PPP government, political corruption had a seismic impact on the country. It was unchecked and had metamorphosed into an almost incurable sore, decline in morals and the death knell of the PPP. It was perverse, evil and even intergenerational. The impact of corruption by commonsense deduction is deleterious on small economies like Guyana.
Today, Guyana is still perceived as being corrupt by many of those with the capital to make its economy grow. Its business climate is not yet ripe for sustainable investment; manufacturing has declined and long-term investor-confidence is like a fleeting illusion.
Corruption is still rampant at just about every level and in every sphere of society, from the politicians to the police to those in business. And it is not just foreigners who believe that Guyana is overly corrupt, about 80 per cent of Guyanese feel the same way. Naturally and unfortunately, the people who suffer the most from corruption are the poor. As a consequence, the country is in dire straits and continues to depend mostly on rice and the sugar-cane plantation type economy.
The PPP which has been in power for 23 years is primarily responsible for corruption, as the then leaders watched it descended to an almost incurable state. It is now uppermost in the minds of local and foreign investors.
Where are the principals who presided over corruption and mega losses of the taxpayers’ money? These funds could have been used to help put food on the table for the poor who suffered from themeager five percent annual salary increase.
The PPP was obsessed with power and its objective was acquiring and retaining power at all costs. Today, no significant arrest or prosecution has been made despite the billions of dollars which appear to have been cannot be accounted for at NICIL and other government departments as reported in the audits.
If Guyana is to progress, it must also seek help from qualified Guyanese overseas. But some insist that these are Guyanese who fled the country rather than stand up and fight for their deliverance. To want to come in now and be accepted as liberators would be difficult for many to swallow
The government has to put its resources, financial and human, where its mouth is and stop paying lip service to the people or making half-hearted attempts. Otherwise, the country will continue to stagnate both economically and socially.

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