Glenn Lall’s constant exposure of Govt. mismanagement, sellout of country’s assets riles up VP Jagdeo

Feb 20, 2023 News

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Kaieteur News – Kaieteur News Publisher, Glenn Lall has responded to claims by Vice President (VP) Bharrat Jagdeo that he and his newspaper have scuttled some developmental projects here through misleading reports. But the businessman said nothing could be further from the truth, arguing that it was the lack of transparency on the part of government that has cost the country billions of US dollars and which motivated him to shine light on some of murky deals they have entered into.

Lall said that he is happy, that his constant exposure of governmental corruption and mismanagement has rankled the VP who he said has been finding time to sit down for hours with a Facebook commentator rather than facing the legitimate media to answer critical questions about this country’s resources.

Lall made the comments during his radio show last Friday as he reacted to a recent interview by Jagdeo during which the former president sought to downplay the newspaper publisher’s campaign against corruption and his advocacy for a better oil deal. “…he called me a madman because I am calling for our fair share of our wealth in this country, something which he himself, the now President Ali and their party, while in Opposition, promised to get out of that lopsided Exxon contract. But let me be very blunt tonight, Jagdeo’s approval or disapproval of what I do or say, is not going to keep me back from my purpose in life, sorry sir, you don’t have that power,” Lall stated.

Mr. Lall said when you listen to Jagdeo and some other leaders “and see how they are selling out all of us, they are more angry than we the Guyanese people who getting shafted every day, yes, we can’t ask them anything or say anything about what’s happening with our wealth, they are more offended…” Lall noted.

He again stated that the Guyanese nation is in the dark on everything, and instead the leaders addressing the real issues, Jagdeo found the time to sit down social media personality and the self-styled ‘Guyanese Critic’ speak on policy issues and respond to public concerns on a growing number of issues.

During the interview, Jagdeo tried to refute some of the allegations of corruption leveled against his government and although he didn’t provide any factual rebuttal, he accused the Kaieteur News of “making up stories”. He also said it was very difficult for a government to deal with Mr. Lall. Speaking directly to his radio and internet audience, Lall said: “You guys believe what you heard…the Vice President in charge of the oil sector, this man got any shame; he got the gall and the belly to talk about transparency and misleading this whole nation every day with their silence, and when they do talk, you can’t trust a word that comes out of their mouth.”

Secrecy and silence
Lall said his constant criticisms of the government’s handling of the oil sector is premised on the secrecy and blatant refusal to answer key questions about some of the projects being undertaken. He cited as example, the lack of information regarding the interest rate ExxonMobil is paying back on loans it took to service its operations here. That cost is borne by Guyana through cost oil.

“Does anyone know how much we are paying on interest alone for the US$40B ExxonMobil said they spent out there to date? That’s a legitimate question every person in this country should know the answer to, after all is our oil, and remember, the President himself promised how he got all the answers for Glenn Lall, but onto now they can’t answer that one. Is that the transparency he talked about? Lall asked. The newspaper publisher observed that at a minimum of 10% interest rate on that US$40B Guyana will be paying US$4B a year, which is coming out from our oil for interest alone, “and how much Guyana getting a year? just over US$1B. Why is that question not being answered, is this transparency Mr. Jagdeo, or is this ducking and hiding? Lall queried.

Further, Mr. Lall noted that government did audits on some of Exxon’s expenses but to date, Guyanese are yet to be informed about the results. “Let me ask you guys, anybody has ever seen or heard anything about what the audit discovered during that investigation, Jagdeo haven’t said a word…” Lall asked why Jagdeo is hiding the findings of the audits. “Six times I have asked him, for the gold contracts to be released so that the people of this country can see the extent of the robbery they are getting from those foreigners in our gold and diamond fields. He pushed around me and the media like you playing bumper ball, not releasing them, because again he hiding it from us, ask yourself why, is he getting something personally out of these deals, am just asking. Is asking for these things misinformation or sensationalism, you be the judge, ask Jagdeo and the President to respond to the thousands of questions I have been asking on these programmes.”

“I don’t know where this country is heading with these types of leaders but I will tell you guys one thing for sure, Guyana faces the greatest danger it has ever faced in its history. When Guyana’s VP can swing around everything that they are not doing to protect and safeguard this country and then blame Glenn Lall and the media for just asking simple questions and for exposing them, then you people are in the greatest danger. To say Kaieteur News and Stabroek News are misleading the nation, and calling me madman, let me repeat what that wise man said, the most beautiful thing in God’s creation is an educated person, not an educated fool, a smart person fights with passion, a fool becomes his own slave, anyone who makes you angry will become your master. Well, it looks like I have become his master, because everything I say and do, gets him angry, very angry,” Lall told his audience.

Controversial projects
Meanwhile, during his interview, Jagdeo listed several mega projects conceptulised under his presidency and blamed Mr. Lall for blackmailing or helping to scuttle some of them. He spoke of the Amaila Falls Project. Here, Mr. Lall said since 2007, Jagdeo had tried to shove this project down the throats of Guyanese at a cost five times the world price. “When Glenn Lall exposed that, they run and left it.

When that project started, Jagdeo first told the nation it was going to cost US350M then suddenly it moved up to US450M, within weeks it jumped to US$600M, then to US$850M, within a few months, all this information is in black and white, you just got to Google Kaieteur News,” Lall revealed. “By now US$1.2B and more would have been hanging around our necks, like a hangman’s noose, had that project gone through. Guys, the cost per MW around the world for projects like these was less than US$1M, but Jagdeo was telling us we were going to pay five times that price.”

Mr. Lall noted that they did not get through with that project 16 years ago, now they are trying to bring it back. “President Ali just announced they bringing back the project, this time cheaper, this time the price them saying for the new project went down to US$700M for the same 165MW.” “You guys know of anything in this world that the price has dropped, this is the game Jagdeo has been playing all along. Is control they want to be in control of all the money-making business in this land.”

Marriott Hotel
Turning his attention to another controversial project – the Marriott Hotel, which the government recently advertised for sale, Mr. Lall spoke of the role he played in shining light of that project. Lall said Jagdeo should tell the nation who he Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington installed secretly through Republic Bank, Trinidad into the Marriott Hotel, “collecting the fat fat cash for their 2 cents they put in, when is the Guyanese tax dollars fund the hog of the money to build the hotel.”

“Guys, let me remind you, when that hotel opened, built by Jagdeo, it was not even making money to pay the light bills, much less make a profit, but guess what, the secret investors them installed through the bank had to be paid every month, you know where that money was coming from, the treasury, and that’s how they designed it, to rape me, you and the nation.”

The newspaper publisher disclosed that at one point, he had contacted the then Finance Minister, Ashni Singh to invest US$1,000 in the hotel, when at the time the government said they were looking for investors for the hotel. “I even texted the then President Donald Ramotar and told him to ensure my name is there with US$1,000. You don’t want to hear what Ashni Singh told me. All I wanted to do was to see the deal and the books, but they didn’t allow me.”

Mr. Lall said when the APNU+AFC Coalition assumed office, they made contact with the bank to sit down with the investors, but the bank told them, “no we don’t give out private information, that’s how the coalition told them we can’t pay your clients, we will take over the loan and kick them out because it was a burden on the state.” “Jagdeo didn’t tell the nation that the hotel cost over US$80M and still incomplete, when a hotel of that size could have been built for less than US$25M.”

Restating that Jagdeo’s approval or disapproval of what he says and does is not going to deter him, Lall said two things define a person; their patience when they had nothing and their attitude when they have everything. “50,000 plus dead, 100,000+ homes and apartment buildings collapse in 45 seconds in Turkey and Syria, there is an unknown figure as to how much persons still buried under the rubble, yet to be found. That is a major lesson for all of us. 45 seconds, yes 45 seconds, turn home owners to homeless. 45 seconds turn kids with parents into orphans. 45 seconds turn parents with kids, children less. 45 seconds made husbands and wives into widows, 45 seconds turn people who own businesses to jobless,” Mr. Lall told his listeners.

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• Amaila Falls Project, Bharrat Jagdeo, country’s assets, ExxonMobil, Glenn Lall, Kaieteur News, Marriott hotel

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