Disappointed Speaker/PPP did not allow Motion on corruption allegations against VP

Jul 24, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Our World Our Country is disappointed that the Speaker of the National Assembly, a former PPP Minister, has turned down an Opposition Motion seeking to address the corruption and bribery allegations against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in relation to the recently released Vice News undercover report. The Opposition PNC said the motion was “a definite matter of urgent public importance.” While the VICE report has not named any examples of specific wrongdoing, the allegations made of generalised corruption and a “pay to play” scheme is enough to warrant a need for the VP to clear his name.

The VP himself and President Ali had both said they welcome some type of Commission of Inquiry into the allegations. It is, therefore, baffling that the ruling PPP did not support the motion or seek to advise the Speaker that they are okay with having the matter discussed in our Parliament. OWOC believes that the Parliament is a good forum to discuss such a motion. Disallowing the PNC motion smacks of disrespect for the Opposition which represents almost half of the country. In light that the PPP did not support the PNC motion, it now raises the question of what does the party have to hide, and whether it prefers to have these VICE allegations simmer and detract from its development agenda. The PPP should note that allegations of corruption were largely responsible for the PPP losing the 2015 election.

Allegations of corruption at the top level of our Government is a cause for concern and the nation would have expected that the PPP with its “One Guyana” slogan would have taken the opportunity to clear the name of one of its top leaders, and sending a signal that all allegations of corruption would be taken seriously.
In our new oil economy, Guyana has membership and is committed to the principles of the Escazu Agreement and the Extractive Industries Transparency International (EITI) requiring good governance, transparency, and accountability.
The Government side has lost a great opportunity to demonstrate to the nation that it takes allegations of corruption seriously. It’s our wealth and our country, and all Guyanese deserve to know if there is corruption at the highest levels of our Government. Without the parliamentary discussion, a question mark remains.

Our World Our Country

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