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Jagdeo refusing the opposition a seat on procurement boards is a defence for corruption to continue -Mahipaul
Kaieteur News- Executive Member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Member of Parliament (MP) Ganesh Mahipaul told reporters on Friday that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s stating that the opposition will not have a seat on the procurement boards is his way of making a defence for corruption to continue in Guyana’s procurement system.
At a recent press conference Vice President Jagdeo had told reporters that opposition representation on the procurement board is something the government would never consider, unless they changed their disruptive culture.
Mahipaul in response said that “Jagdeo has to find a defence. Why he must continue to allow corruption to grow in his organization? He has to find a defence as to why he has to protect his friends, families, and favorites.”
Executive Member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Member of Parliament (MP) Ganesh Mahipaul. (Jagdeo refusing the opposition a seat on procurement boards )
The MP accused the VP of finding a defence so as to “the course of corruption” as he believes that Jagdeo is fully aware that 2025 may very well be the last of him in political power.
“So, he has to find a defence and that is the defence he has found. We continue to maintain that in order for us to build a better Guyana, in order for us to build a stronger Guyana, and in order for there to be a Guyana where this generation, and through sustainable development the future generation can enjoy a comfortable life here, it requires checks and balances,” Mahipaul said.
Mahipaul is of the view that in order for the country to move forward, there needs to be real democracy and therefore it requires transparency, good governance and accountability.
However he highlighted that his party has “established over a long period of time and again here today that there is no good governance, no accountability, no transparency under the Irfaan Ali-led administration and the Bharrat Jagdeo who wants to believe that he is the Godfather of Guyana.”
Speaking further on the issue Advisor to the party on Oil and Gas and Economist, Elson Low said that, “It is not for Vice President Jagdeo to determine when, and which, and how institutions of this country, especially those enshrined by law should function. If that is the law, that is the way the institution should function.”
On December 3 last, Kaieteur News reported that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has blanked the possibility of the Opposition having representation on the national and regional procurement and tender boards, saying that their culture of obstruction needs to change first.
At a recent news conference, Jagdeo was asked whether government would consider amending the legislation to provide for Opposition, and probably civil society participation on the boards, so as to remove suspicion of corruption within the system.
Jagdeo, in response, said, “You know we live in a democracy; you think President Trump will put anyone in charge of his executive function…that he has to answer to the people of the country? That he’d put someone there who has a track record of being negative and disruptive and try to slow things down rather than be supportive in any of his agenda?”
He stressed that it is something that the government will never contemplate until there is a change of culture in the political opposition, as they have a history of focusing on disruption.
“If they’re in government, they stay in power through trying to steal elections, not through the respect of the right of individual voters. And when they’re out of government, they try to disrupt everything. A seemingly normal thing would now take forever,” Jagdeo said.
(Jagdeo refusing the opposition a seat on procurement boards is a defence for corruption to continue -Mahipaul)
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