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This nation is suffering from forensic audit fatigue
The man who rivaled the President for the nation’s curiosity during the Jagdeo regime was Winston Brassington. There was a point in Jagdeo’s tenure when Brassington was more sought after than the President himself. There was a time in the politics of the opposition when Brassington was more the villain of the day than President Jagdeo himself.
The PPP regime lost power; Brassington took up residence in the US where he always had immigration papers, and has completely, not partially, disappeared from radar surveillance.
So the Government has charged a deputy GPL manager with a criminal offence and has sought Interpol’s help in returning him to Guyana. The Government has charged a former PPP Minister and has her before the courts but there isn’t even any conversation in the corridors of power about Winston Brassington. This was a man, who during the rule of Jagdeo, had immeasurable power and a man that both the AFC and APNU rallied against for unaccountable financial styles during his tenure at NICIL.
The inescapable question is, did the AFC and APNU during its time in opposition lie to the Guyanese people about all the accusations they made against Winston Brassington? Did Brassington violate laws governing the spending of state funds which carry criminal charges? Did Brassington commit depraved acts of mal-administration when he held a plethora of powerful state positions? Is there any basis for starting a high level investigation into the tenure of Brassington?
The answer would be yes if we believe the obsessions the opposition had with Brassington between 2006 and 2015. The answer would be no, given the fact that there is absolutely no interest shown by the Government in Mr. Brassington. I don’t know if it is true and I can’t recall if it was in the press but the story was all over the place that Minister Harmon had met with Brassington in Florida. If it is true then the nation was not told what the discussion was all about.
Brassington’s name features whenever there is a report of a forensic audit, the latest being the National Frequency Management Unit. It has been revealed that there have been serious irregularities. Minister Cathy Hughes told this newspaper that she cannot make pronouncements on criminal charges for she is not a lawyer or the police. Fair enough. But she did receive a letter of explanation as a response to the forensic audit from the agency’s head, Mr. Valmiki Singh.
My question is; why an explanation from Singh a man whose authority was extremely narrow in comparison to Brassinghton’s but no actor in the hierarchy of government has asked Brassington for a statement? Minister Cathy Hughes met with Singh. The forensic audit found that Singh had breached final laws. Based on the Minister’s response to the audit, there are large indications that Singh might lose his office or even face prosecution. If that is so then let the law take its course.
But what about the application of the law to Brassington? A forensic audit has landed the CEO of the Georgetown Public Hospital on thin ice. His retention is not guaranteed. The Minister of Health, based on the forensic audit, appears to favour the replacement of the CEO. In the context of Brassington’s invisibility, it leaves one to question how much more stomach this nation has for further findings of those forensic audits? So it was the Georgetown Hospital yesterday. Today, it is the National Management Frequency Unit. Tomorrow it will be another state institution. But no one in government talks about Brassington.
If Brassington as one of the most powerful men in power during the administration of Jagdeo did not break any financial law therefore no charges are pending against him, then two things come into sharp focus. One is that there was a smear campaign to ruin Brassington by the opposition during the rule of Jagdeo and Ramotar.
The other thing is that if in fact there is overwhelming evidence of legal violations by Brassington, then curiosity become rampant. Why go after the GPL guy, Carvil Duncan and others and not Brassington?
My position is that this newspaper discovered serious violations of the financial laws of this country by Brassington. The other question I cannot answer. Why pick on Singh, and Michael Khan of the hospital and people like Jennifer Westford and not Brassington. I think a person or persons high up the pyramid do not want to prosecute Brassington. I don’t know why but I know they want to leave Brassington untouched. Such a person or persons do not deserve to be in power.
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” My position is that this newspaper discovered serious violations of the financial laws of this country by Brassington.”
Frederick, if your newspaper stands firm, then he is Guyana’s version of Robert Lee Vesco, a fugitive criminal United States financier who croaked in Cuba.