President Granger says….I intend to stamp corruption out of Govt.

Jun 17, 2016 News

By Kiana Wilburg

President David Granger is determined to run the economic affairs of the country in an accountable

President, David Granger

and transparent manner. He insists that there is simply no room for corruption. In fact, the Head of State said that he intends to stamp it out of Government.
He made these remarks, among others, on the show, “The Public Interest,” during which he discussed the engagement of the Diaspora in Guyana’s economic advancement.
Granger said that his Government would be encouraged to offer some form of concession or incentive package to members of the Diaspora in order to encourage them to be part of plans for economic progression. He noted, however, that the shape and form the package might take has not been determined as yet.
“I have not committed myself to any concessions. But usually people search or ask for tax holidays; waivers on equipment and of course, the ability to repatriate their profits. I have no objections to those packages or to those items in packages, and we have offered those before to new companies.”
The Head of State said that he wants to give the potential investors from the Diaspora, a level playing field. In this regard, he asserted, “So nothing that is being offered to any foreign company would be denied to any Guyanese investor. At this point, no package is confirmed, but the Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, is in negotiations with potential investors, and let us see what they are asking for.”
Granger suspects that the potential investors will obviously want access to land and other resources. He noted however that the investors must be committed to bringing items from the Diaspora such as transportation and of course, capital.
Kaieteur News asked the President whether the high crime rate and Guyana’s “third world systems of doing business” would serve as hindrances to his plans in this regard.
He responded, “I don’t know what you mean by high crime rate. Maybe it is too high for some people, but it has actually been lowered. It is 16 percent lower than what it was last year. There are some spectacular crimes like the grenade which was thrown at your publisher’s vehicle, but serious crime has actually reduced.”
The President noted that several measures have been taken by his administration over the last 12 months to bring down the crime rates. He said that these include the deployment of more police, ‘operation dragnet’ and the speed at which persons are being arrested after offences have been committed.
Granger contended that Guyanese are safer now than they were two years ago. The President said that he would agree, however, that more can be done.
When it comes to how business is being conducted in Guyana, Granger said he is interested in transparency and the lawful conduct of transactions, particularly between the Government and the private sector as well as other investors.
He recalled that a few weeks ago, he spoke with the private sector and made it clear that one must be careful when it comes to criticizing the Government excessively “because sometimes corruption comes from private business persons…”
The President said that he is interested in stamping out criminalities among rogue businessmen. He added, “But I intend to stamp corruption out of Government.”
The Head of State said that equally important is the need for private investors to obey the law.
“That’s the way I do business, above board and transparently.”

5 thoughts on “President Granger says….I intend to stamp corruption out of Govt.”

RLSG June 17, 2016 at 9:17 am

President Granger, with all due respect, when people see real change begin to take place in Guyana, only then would you raise their interest. Start with simple things like working traffic lights, a monthly billing system from the utility companies, no more blackouts, policemen who do not take bribes, a functioning criminal justice system, police stations that do not barricade themselves behind high fences after dark, change in the high-handed attitude of some of your government ministers .. just some of the simple things that people take for granted in overseas countries.
rs dasai June 17, 2016 at 9:38 am

Emile
While you are at it, can you get Mr. Goolsaran to provide evidence that the $$$ was outstanding at the time of the ‘Forensic Audit? However, please stay ‘KOOL’ my friend. Remember, Gvt can only do so much.
1. Emile_Mervin June 17, 2016 at 1:32 pm
  
  RSD,
  
  It was not Golsarran’s job to provide evidence that the shares money was outstanding; that was supposed to be provided by NICIL, as per copies of its own shares sale agreement.
  
  It was Minister Harmon who took it on himself to appoint Brian Tiwaire as Business Advisor in January, obviously in preparation for the April trip to China, with the primary objective of collecting the outstanding shares money. And that trip should have been under taken by either Greenidge, Jordan or Gaskin.
  
  It turned out to be extremely comical, to put it mildly, for Harmon to travel all the way to China only to be given documents showing the money was either paid or waived, when he could have gotten the same documents faxed or e-mailed to him in Georgetown. But comedy may well morph to crime because we still don’t know the full facts of the shares money.
cuffy June 17, 2016 at 2:36 pm

Can you all do an audit on hammie when he was running the city council?Why no forensic audit.
1. Kassee June 17, 2016 at 3:33 pm
  
  That will not happen.Obvious reasons.