It is not borrowing that hurts, but squandering

Nov 11, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – I was highly bemused when I read an article in the media where the former Minister of Finance Minister “has expressed grave concerns over Guyana’s borrowing spree and he questioned the legality of a letter sent to the Chinese Ambassador regarding a loan request of US$1.5B”. According to him the latter is ‘rumour’, but I will say that the former is just one of his outlandish assumptions.
Not so long ago, the Coalition under his watch as the Finance Minister went on a real borrowing and squandering binge, which depleted the reserves and ran an excessive overdraft on the Consolidated Fund. In addition, I have written exhaustively on the $30 billion Bond, which was not used for the purpose intended. According to an article in 2019, $7.4 billion was disbursed to GuySuCo since 2018 but there were no records concerning how the money was utilized. This Government has in January this year paid a total of $606 million in just interest. This is wasteful spending!
On top of all of this, they ‘negotiated’ an Oil Production Sharing Contract and a royalty rate which they now want this Government to correct. This is so barefaced.
This Government was placed with such a huge burden to right the wrongs done by the Coalition that borrowing at this point is a necessity. The devastating flood and the deadly pandemic must also be brought into this scenario. What I would like to see Mr. Jordan do, is to provide evidence that monies borrowed were squandered in a manner in which they did during their tenure in office. I refer the former Finance Minister to the countless ‘anomalies and irregularities’ and breaches (euphemism again) of the Procurement Act and Fiscal Management Act, which occurred is a most brazen manner under his watch. The evidence is glaring for all to see.
The Coalition even used the pandemic to squander, whilst Guyanese were dying for lack of a proper COVID-19 facility. Just think about the Infectious Disease Hospital at Liliendaal and the hundreds of millions mismanaged and wasted.
The list of squandering under the Coalition is endless. It is not the borrowing ‘binge’ which hurts, but the squandering binge which was the Coalition’s trademark.

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf

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