Ramsammy back in action polishing Guyana’s Putin

Jan 13, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor,

“I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it” (Voltaire, French philosopher 1694-1778). Those immortal words should be the guiding light and most principle for all leaders worldwide. Unfortunately, our leaders in Guyana have the strongest tendency to exhibit very low tolerance for those who do not share their views. The clamour by the chief honcho and de facto president and self-anointed oil expert is an accurate portrayal of the lowest of tolerances and the highest-level arrogance. Not only he is those, but is also the Putin of Guyana!

It is evident that former Minister of Health Leslie Ramsammy has become the chief apple polisher for members of the current government, especially the de facto president. Even before the ink had dried on Isobel Yeoung’s Su-gate report of the Guyana’s Vice President allegedly taking bribes from contractors for government contracts, Leslie Ramsammy was first in line to support the Vice President who was lost for words when Ms. Young revealed that Chinese businessman Su Zhirong stated that he had asked several contractors for bribes for the VP in return for government contracts.

Now the wannabe former minister of health is sucking up the VP once again. The URP Presidential hopeful states ‘A small band of the usual suspects are on a mission, not for the first time. It pains me to say that this culprit was a member of a similarly labeled movement to oust the PNC in 1992. As President Lincoln declared: It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt. As a previous Minister of Health, Ramsammy left the health sector in disarray, and Guyanese are still feeling the effects of drug shortage, infant mortality, poor sanitary conditions and a population at the receiving end of imported interns who are called doctors. It must be told that this doctor who claimed the medical system in Guyana in among the best in the world, yet he sought medical treatment overseas for a gum boil. The old adage: Physician heal thyself is worthwhile quoting, and instead of concocting with the VP to censor criticisms he should remember the colossal sums of taxpayers’ money that was wasted under Jagdeo’s presidency.

Let’s start with the Marriot Hotel. Not only did the PPP hide the contract from the public, but the Jagdeo regime failed to disclose how much of taxpayers’ funds were used for the construction of the hotel.
This is true for the estimated US$200 million spent on the white elephant Skeldon sugar factory which is yet to produce a pound of sugar.
The US$40M fiber optic cable project is another case in point. Former President Donald Ramotar’s son who was head of the project was supposed to connect Brazil to Guyana’s internet system. It did not happen.
Why the former Minister of Health remained silent when the PPP government awarded billions of dollars in medical contracts to one of Jagdeo’s close friends thus by-passing the tendering process and almost one billion to a low-class so-called podcast news man who cannot even construct a proper sentence. Before calling Cathy Hughes Jagdeo a low-class woman, Jagdeo should take a good look of himself in a mirror.
Instead of attacking the coalition government, the former Minister should explain to the public what procedures were followed by the PPP government to grant Bai Shan Lin logging rights to more than one million acres of Guyana’s forests.
Were any audits done for the huge sum of money granted to an inexperienced contractor to build the Amaila Falls road?
Again, the former Health Minister should tell the people what happened to the monies paid to Surendra Contracting to build the Specialty hospital? These are some of the billions of dollars that are unaccounted for by the Jagdeo/Ramotar regime. However, the public knows that the money went into someone’s pockets.

Yours faithfully,

Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine

French philosopher, Guyana, Leslie Ramsammy, Leyland Chitlall Roopnaraine, Voltaire

Latest News