Opposition Leader warns govt. to perform only routine functions

Dec 25, 2018 News

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The government is not in a position where it should be signing any new deals for projects. Instead, it should only execute routine functions related to the running of the country.
This statement was made by former President and Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, who held a press conference yesterday at his Church Street office.
The former president stated that the routine functioning of the state must go on, including the payments of wages to public servants, services to be provided to people in the health sector, and the normal functioning of the security services.
“Anything outside of the routine functioning of the state must come to a halt, because the government has fallen. They are now in office only for the purpose of fulfilling the routine functioning of the government.”
Jagdeo stated that should the PPP/C win the election, they will be executing investigations with much scrutiny for any illegal activity, to safeguard Guyana’s future. He said, “We will be looking for anything outside of the normal routine functioning of the state, for the public servants and all those who are employed by the state.”
“So I say to the public servants now, do not be pressured unnecessarily to do anything that is illegal. You have to protect the documents and the records of the state, because my fear now is that there will be an attempt to remove documents and recordings. We already know that there has been some evidence of wrongdoing.”
The Minister of Finance and the Secretary to the Treasury should ensure that the financial laws of Guyana are observed; that the unsavoury situation of the past, where cheques from the previous year’s allocations into the National Assembly [were used] for future year’s expenditure. This is illegal so that comes to an end. You close the books on the 31st [of December] and you start the new budget.”

“If they try to proceed with large-scale contracts and all of these things now, that must come to a halt. We are very worried about the Lands and Surveys [Commission]; that there may be an attempt to give out large tracts of land. We have already received information about a few APNU people who have received large tracts of land. We saw, even the land around the Enmore estate has been divided up, but they have not issued the leases yet, because, I think, the President himself was concerned about how the leases were divided up. It wasn’t a transparent process. We have to look at these carefully; the privatization issues have to come to a halt because these are exceptional circumstances. “
He urged public servants to play a bigger role in managing the state because “the ministers are now only functioning in that routine capacity given to them by the constitution.”
He said that he assures the members of APNU that, though the PPP/C intends to highly scrutinize works done under the APNU/AFC government, if they win the election, “the PPP/C is not interested in any witch-hunt.”
He said that the government was so engaged in a witch-hunt against the PPP/C that they forgot to manage Guyana, and “they did not address many of the things that people voted for them for.”
“No PPP government will run people down and engage in a witch-hunt, at the detriment of the people of Guyana.”
The Leader of the Opposition commended both APNU and the AFC for respecting the no-confidence motion, and the President’s statement that he will respect the motion and seek to work closely with the Opposition.
However, he said that both sides need to talk about their conduct during this period, ensuring that they do nothing that polarizes the country further. He also expressed his hope for the parties to deliberate on how they will handle election proceedings and future developments related to the election.
Jagdeo condemned the APNU/AFC Coalition, whom, he said, has already started campaigning. He warned them that the Christmas season is one in which people prefer to spend time with their families and enjoy the holidays, instead of having campaigns and election chatter to take away from the spirit of the season. As a result, the PPP/C will hold off all of their campaigning until the season is over.
“I thought, in this period, that we should tone down the campaign a bit, because the campaign can be very divisive, especially if we go back to the same old arguments that we’ve been making for the past several years. I was hoping that the government would do that too, reflecting the very sober” reaction of the country to the results of the no-confidence motion.
“But I just think it’s totally inappropriate for this period [for the government to start campaigning and] repeating a lot of the lies that they have told about the People’s Progressive Party.”
Further, he expressed his dismay at the recent actions by the Venezuelan navy, who trespassed into Guyana’s territorial waters and drove Exxon’s drillship away from the area in which they were conducting a seismic survey: “We condemn this action, on behalf of the People’s Progressive Party and parliamentary opposition. We condemn it outright.”
He said that he spoke to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, and assured him that the PPP “is in full solidarity with the government on this matter.”
He wants it to be seen in Guyana and internationally, that the PPP stands with the government on Guyana’s territorial integrity.
Further, Jagdeo said that he received a letter, concerning his request to meet with the President, from Minister Harmon, who stated that the President’s departure to Cuba for medical treatment for his health condition will defer the meeting date of President Granger and Jagdeo until early January.
Jagdeo told the press that he understands it will be very difficult for the President to be away from home, in Cuba, while he undergoes treatment. He said that he hopes the president responds well to treatment, and that the government has affirmed him that President Granger will make a full recovery.

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