THE SCANDAL THAT REFUSES TO DIE

Sep 12, 2016 Editorial

This government has had several scandals of its own doing, but none is worse than the drug bond scandal.
The government had believed that as time passes by, the scandal would have gone away just like the one involving a trip to China or contacts with Bai Shan Lin by a senior official, but it did not. So the government made the right decision to rescind the contract. Even though the Minister of Health had apologized and has asked for forgiveness, the opposition continued its attacks against him and has called for his resignation.
The sole sourcing of the contract to Linden Holdings Inc. has violated the Procurement Act. It is known that the principal owner of Linden Holdings is an associate of the government which examined the contract, but found nothing wrong and approved it.
That being the case, how can the people trust the government to handle their affairs when no one in the cabinet did the arithmetic to know the monthly rental cost per square foot. Our calculations show that the monthly rental cost of $12.5 million for 10,000 square feet charged by Linden Holdings amounts to $1200.00 per square foot, compared to $242.00 a square foot for the monthly rental fee of $19.2 million for 70,000 square foot as charged by New GPC.
As pressure mounted on the government, the President ordered a sub-committee of three ministers to investigate the bond contract. Although the sub-committee members have conceded that the government bond at Diamond is large enough to store all the drugs, yet they insisted that a second bond is needed in case of fire or that traffic could prevent the drugs at Diamond from reaching the hospitals on time. This suggests that the average citizen should have two houses in case one is destroyed by fire or two cars in case one breaks down. It seems that the government has fallen into a state of coma and has become oblivious to wrongdoings.
The government is behaving as if it does not care about the misconduct of ministers, and it seems that it is not embarrassed to be lectured by the leader of the opposition. It has shattered its own promise of good governance it made to the people prior to the last election. In accepting full responsibility for the bond deal, the Minister promised that it will not happen again under his watch. He admitted that he misled the nation in his answers to Parliament some of which he claimed were based on his personal knowledge and others were based on the information and advice presented to him.
In support of the Minister, the Minister of Public Security has defended the sole sourcing of the contract to Linden Holdings, but while in opposition, he had criticized the PPP for doing the same thing. One can only surmise that power changes the character of people.
While it is true that they are humans, not a Cabinet of Angels; and will make mistakes, the Minister of Public Security comparison of the drug bond scandal to a dropped catch in a cricket match is outrageous. The comparison is not only revolting, but is an atrocious attack on the intelligence of the citizens. It is a new low reached by the Minister which could probably erode his little credibility that remains.
The fact is there are many reasons why a player could drop a catch in a cricket match. It could be that the player misjudged the speed and angle of the ball due to the wind or that the sun could have blinded his sight. But Minister of Public Health who is experienced in medicine is expected to be competent and make decisions based on facts. This clearly was not the case and for his colleague to claim that it was a mistake is an insult to all Guyanese.

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