Latest update April 16th, 2025 7:21 AM
Latest News
- Oil production in Guyana to climb to 900K barrels per day… as 4th FPSO arrives
- Italian company secures contract for early works on Exxon’s 7th project yet to be approved
- Israel proposes Gaza ceasefire deal to release 10 hostages for hundreds of Palestinians, Hamas says
- Peru’s ex-president and first lady sentenced to 15 years in jail
- Brazil to auction 172 oil blocks in June
‘Our supporters are suffering too; there is no cronyism’ –Finance Minister
Many longstanding supporters of parties that form the coalition government continue to suffer
Finance Minister, Winston Jordan
the way they did over the last 23 years. They have lost the skills they once had and now have to rebuild. Therefore, they still cannot get jobs or certain contracts that they would have once qualified for.
That is according to Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, at a recent press conference.
Jordan was responding to questions about cronyism. He was asked about criticisms to the effect that several measures in the 2017 budget are geared to benefit friends of the government while opposition supporters are being victimized.
Jordan said that there is no truth in those statements. “That is such a ludicrous thing to say.”
He made reference to a section of his closing speech during the recently concluded Budget debates where he made mention of those who were given the majority of contracts in 2016. “I saw the list of contractors who were awarded jobs in 2016 up to the end of October…a large number of these firms on that list could not profess to have been supporters of the coalition.”
The Minister then turned his attention to actual supporters of the coalition reporting their state of play. “You would not have failed to have heard of the numerous accusations made against us by our supporters that the thing hasn’t changed; that they are not getting jobs and it looks like only the favoured ones of the PPP getting jobs. But at the level of the tender board we have tried our best to be open and transparent.”
Jordan said that unfortunately, a number of APNU+AFC supporters who were denied jobs under the rule of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic “have lost the capacity and might have to rebuild. It’s a learning curve for them because there were obstacles along the way for them.”
The economist went further to state that it is a hard task for those who are still trying to get back on their feet.
“For them one of the barriers is that they don’t have the money, they don’t have the equipment, they don’t have the skill set and so forth. They cannot turn up to a bank and get a bond for $100M to start doing works. Based on some of the criteria, they would never get anywhere near some of those jobs such as sea defence where you can’t take chances.
“They have lost the skill set and have to rebuild brick by brick but they are impatient and rightly so because money is not flowing to them.”
The Minister said that because he knows the reality of the situation, he is unfazed by comments to the effect that friends of the coalition are being handed jobs. “I know it is outright propaganda and that is for our propaganda to deal with. I know what they are saying is not true and they know it is not true but it makes sense to the segment of the population they want to appeal to.”
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
In praise of the Almighty Executive Order
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Democracy, as we know it, is a kind of ménage à trois — the elected, the appointed,... more
Collaborative Government–Private Sector Action Imperative for a Resilient Trade Future
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- On April 9, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 90-day suspension of the higher... more
Weekend Cartoon
