Nothing less than evidence-based facts will suffice

Jun 29, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Obfuscation surrounds the statement from the Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Mr. Trevor Benn who at a press conference on Friday assured the nation that he was not personally involved in any corrupt land transactions. But is that the point? Former President Bharat Jagdeo highlighted some serious issues with regards to the mad haste to transfer State Lands using the machinery of the GLSC after the passage of the No-Confidence Motion on December 21, 2018. His statements are principally against the political influence on the leadership of the GLSC and how it is being used to allow people who are using their official positions to influence personal gains for themselves. Transparency International defines such a practice as plain and simple – corruption. The person Mr. Jagdeo seems to be holding singularly accountable for the state of affairs on these shady land transfers is Mr. Granger. So, I see no reason for Mr. Benn to get hot under the collar.
At best, Mr. Benn should have come with his maps, his dates and his facts to help Mr. Granger prove Mr. Jagdeo incorrect and this he did not. Rather he totally skirts around the crux of the matter in an effort to play down and distort what Mr. Jagdeo is saying. And for dessert, he took the opportunity to inject politics into the matter which unfortunately placed Mr. Benn in a political position. Is Mr. Benn who was a former senior leader in the YSM, the youth arm of the PNC, reverting to his old role and has decided to throw professionalism to the wind?
It is extremely important to this nation that Mr. Benn refute all of these claims by Mr. Jagdeo factually, item by item in a surgical fashion. Nothing else but countering evidence-based facts will remove the perception now that the decision making process at the GLSC is corrupt. So this smokescreen of calling in the police is not helping Mr. Benn, rather it illustrates a feature in many Government of Guyana when caught in a corruption probe, they put on their battle fatigue and in the most gruesome fashion, comments a cover-up operation by blaming all and sundry but themselves for the financial and administrative skullduggery unearthed. So, if Mr. Benn wants to help Mr. Granger, he better get down to work or shut up.
In the final analysis, Mr. Benn’s press conference was nothing else but a decoy that causes the facts to be lost in a scramble to get his points over without competently addressing the issues raised by Mr. Jagdeo. It is unfortunately that Mr. Jagdeo information had to be met with disinformation by Mr. Benn since Guyana is now forced to choose sides based on the information in the public domain and from the way it is being assessed, Mr. Jagdeo’s information with his maps and dates is more authentic than Mr. Benn who came to the press conference totally unprepared.
I expected better from Mr. Benn.

Lisa Ally

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