Ministers and business ownership

Jan 24, 2025 Features / Columnists, The GHK Lall Column

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Hard Truths…

By GHK Lall

 Kaieteur News- Ministers can own businesses.  So said Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.  Ministers of the government, not ministers of religion, though for some the government is their religion, their god.  Forgive me.  Where does Jagdeo get these things from, come up with these positions that fly in the face of common sense?  As long as there is no conflict of interest, he doesn’t have a problem.  This is a sorry state of affairs, indeed.

Let me paint this in red, white, and blue: many ministers in the PPP Government are scoundrels.  The consensus out there in the street is that most of them are not to be trusted to be around a dime, much less a dollar.  But Jagdeo’s position is that they can be in business, so long as they keep their noses clean and their hands in their own pockets.  Fat chance of either of the two happening.

My question and concern is why do they have to be in business, any business at all, other than the business of government.  From the last news, ministers of the government are the fattest of fat cats.  They enjoy more milk and cream than the best kept cats in this country, and that includes the growing foreign contingent with their baskets of adorable pets.  Kitty, Kitty, Kitty, come to mama!  Look at the numbers because they don’t lie.

Look at a minister’s pay, senior or junior.  Forget about going so far as pay, start with their slew of allowances.  Why, they could live very nicely on those alone.  So, what is this slick business from Big Bass Bharrat that he doesn’t have a problem with ministers having businesses, as long as there is no conflict of interest.  This is where me and the vice president part company, and I get to fill another page in his bad book.  How stupid does Mr. Jagdeo think Guyanese are?

I zero in on conflict of interest.  Who in Guyana is going to say that a minister has a conflict of interest?  Who, when almost all the people in the key places are PPP cronies, part of the rich action?  And when ministers come up with their versions of a street con by recusing themselves or perform one of their rope-a-dope tricks by employing fronts (family, friends, flunkeys, and assorted felons), then who is going to do the tracking and then the objecting?

For Dr. Jagdeo’s information, his Integrity Commission doesn’t have much of a reputation.  I am pulling punches here, taking the soft route.  Neither do his boards and all those other watchdog areas that are busy watching and listening for how and where the wind blows than to do a halfway decent job of principled representation of the Guyanese people.  So, straight off the bat, that sleight of hand and twist of tongue from Jagdeo about conflict of interest has no standing.  It is not just because he said it, but because of the subservient machinery that he has setup with the right kind of people.

Those who see no conflict of interest in anything from one of their own political brethren.  Businesses take off with the award of lucrative contracts.  When a minister is known to be involved (shareholder, principal, interested party), the whole process becomes tainted, tilted.  It is more than unfair advantage; it is a damn felony.  Ways and words are always going to be found to slide out of conflicts of interest situation.  Plus, there are those standing as referees, who will find grounds to justify whatever is being reviewed for approval.  It is just the way things work in chronically corrupt countries like Guyana.  Here is a teaser: after over four years in government and trillions in government business, how many “problem” situations have been uncovered?  Is this a clean city and clean governance, or what?

The more convincing policy has to be that ministers must focus on the business of the people, given so much is going on in Guyana today.  If they are truly committed to serving the people, there would be no time, not even the interest, to think about getting involved in business opportunities.  Ministers are free to participate in business once they are not in the government.  The choice is clear to me: stay in government and work for the people.  Or step away from government and look after own interests.

For the edification of Mr. Jagdeo, there was a PNC minister whose name came up about a probable conflict of interest involving some real estate transaction.  Everything I say today, I wrote back then, including that she be fired, and that ministers should not have any business connection or involvement when holding office.  Why should they?  Why does it have to be that a minister is competing with citizens for government dollars (or foreign vendor ones, which comes back to the same place) when they are holding office?  The same must also apply to public servants.

No business involvement means no conflict of interest.  No business interests mean taking care of portfolio and citizen interests.  If ministers are so greedy, so money oriented, then leave office.  Mr. Jagdeo should know better than present this patented farce in public.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of this newspaper.)

(Ministers and business ownership)

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• business ownership, hard truths, Ministers of the government, scoundrels, Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo

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