Isn’t the Private Sector Commission tired of spouting ignorance and nonsense?

Jul 15, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

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I would like to see a survey done among young people to ascertain their attitude on the Private Sector Commission (PSC). How can any decent citizen in this land respect and admire the Private Sector Commission? For fifteen years, Bharrat Jagdeo dominated this country, three of which was through the surrogate role of Donald Ramotar. It was a sad period of oligarchic rule where Jagdeo and his cabals literally used state money as if it was their own personal fortune.
During these Draculean moments, the PSC had an ongoing intimacy with the Jagdeo oligarchy that made it into an obnoxious, fetid rubberstamp. This miasmic organism suddenly discovered that it had life after 2015. It miraculously found out that there is a concept and process titled, “good governance.” So from 2015 onwards, the PSC has practised “mouth open” exercises. But when it opens its mouth, ignorance and nonsense pollute the air Guyanese breath.
The PSC wants the police to monitor prisoners charged with non-violent offences and were recently granted bail or freed because of erasure of their remaining time. You have to be ashamed at being Guyanese when you hear such ignorance.
Of course it should not daunt the spirit when such idiocy is spouted in society from certain quarters because the recent PSC leaders going back the past ten years were an uninspiring bunch. This country hardly produces innovative business people. A few decades ago, our business community was cynically referred to as invoice capitalists.
Where are the police going to get the resources to monitor prisoners who were temporarily placed at Lusignan and given bail this week for the following offences – failure to pay child support, stealing from the company, uttering a forged cheque, fighting at the place of work, possession of a marijuana cigarette, selling stolen meat etc.
Maybe the police could monitor them if the PSC big wigs would start paying taxes. The containers of one of those ignorant ones in the PSC mouthing off since the APNU+AFC government was formed were exempted from customs’ examination on the wharves.
This columnist has indisputable evidence of this. He is one of the personal friends of Bharrat Jagdeo. No GRA officer dared to examine his containers on arrival at the wharf. This was how Bharrat Jagdeo ran this country. Where was the voice of the GRA when Bobby Ramroop was given concession that was outside the law?
When Yesu Persaud raised this depravity at the launching ceremony of Ramroop’s newspaper, then President, Jagdeo referred to him as ignorant. Persaud had the last laugh because the violation became public knowledge. GOINVEST’s head at the time, Geoff DaSilva, at a press conference apologised for the illegality.
Jagdeo never did the decent thing like Da Silva. Instead he got Parliament to amend the law making it retroactive to cover his illegal concession to Ramroop.
I know the present administration is making egregious mistakes due to the absence of leadership skills (which I thought Nagamootoo possessed) but the PSC should be ashamed for any type of criticism of the Coalition because it wallowed in abysmal ignorance and morbid silence when Jagdeo’s runaway train was rampaging all over this country.
The PSC should be ashamed to let the Guyanese people know about its belated discovery of knowledge of what goes on in Guyana. During Jagdeo’s hegemony, it acted as if governance and power were normal. They were anything but under Jagdeo. No analyst is worth reading if he/she cannot write about the hypocrisy of the PSC during Jagdeo’s reign.
Have we seen any press release from the PSC on the findings of the forensic audits? I have a suggestion for the PSC. Why it does not finance a monthly evening time lecture series in alfresco style as when David De Caires landscaped the Camp Street Avenue between Quamina Street and Church Street for that very purpose?
Academics should be invited to elaborate on topics like corruption, tax evasion, privatisation, ethnicity and state employment, party intrusion in governance, state suppression of the media and a host of other subjects.
At the end of each lecture, the listener no doubt would want to ask where was civil society, especially the PSC, when Jagdeo and Ramotar deformed the sacred pillars of governance. Just a few examples should suffice. At present, not one Permanent Secretary in the Government belongs to any political party. Under Jagdeo and Ramotar, there were four.
There isn’t one member of the University of Guyana Council that is a sitting parliamentarian for the APNU or AFC. Under Jagdeo and Ramotar, there were six. These deformities the PSC was silent on.

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