Support Village Voice News With a Donation of Your Choice.
Dear Editor
Former minister David Patterson was accused of receiving gifts from his departments. “Patterson received a total of $2.664 million in gifts and personal effects.” < Kaieteur News, Jan 27, 2021,>
I must categorically state that in no instance a Minister should receive gifts from anyone especially departments which he/she oversees. I understand from the news that gifts up to a certain value are allowed. It is also stated that gifts above a certain value are subject to regulations. “He further stated that he assumed that gifts presented to him during his incumbency were fully compliant with the procurement guidelines of the giving agency. The standard policy directives stipulate how such matters should be handled as directed by Cabinet decision, by a circular from the Ministry of Finance or by Board policy.” <newsroom.gy, Jan 20, 2021,> This policy should be discontinued as it is subject to abuse by greedy people. If Patterson committed a crime, he must pay the price.
I worked in three different ministries in Guyana with the latest being 1991. I never heard of ministers receiving gifts from the departments. It is either the policy was nonexistent or it was covered up. I have been an anti-corruption person and I had my informants.
Now, let us look at the people who are throwing stones. Lest we forget, the PPP is the most corrupt government that ever existed in the Caribbean. I will give some examples and the sources below.
“Irfan Ali released on self bail for GYD$174 million fraud charges.”
“Former Minister of Housing, Irfan Ali was Wednesday released on self-bail (no cash) on 18 charges of conspiring to defraud the government of a total of GYD$174 million by selling land below their valued prices.
He has to return to court on January 7, 2019.
Chief Magistrate Ann Mc Lennan released Ali in his own recognizance after Prosecutor, Attorney-at-Law Patrice Henry said he would not oppose a significant cash bail.” <https://demerarawaves.com/2018/11/28/irfan-ali-released-on-self-bail-for-gyd174-million-fraud-charges/ Dec 28, 2018, Jan 30, 2021,>
The charges were dropped because he was installed as president.
Ali claimed that selling land without having it assessed is not illegal. Now, something happened between 1992 when the PPP took over and now if that is true. I worked in Forestry as a senior officer (MSc.F) and, also at GNRA. At GNRA we were divesting government entities. I had to get 3 estimates before we could move forward with any negotiations. I got one from the government department where the late Basil Blair was the person involved. I also got two private estimates. I would like someone to explain to me how government land (peoples’ land) could be sold without any assessment. That is called corruption. Now let us look at the monetary value. Patterson got GYD$2.64 million in gifts and Ali was charged with fraud of GYD$174 million. Now, do not get me wrong. Fraud is fraud. Corruption is corruption. However, the amount of milk that can be subsidized by Ali’s money is 67 times larger. The money lost for teachers is 67 times larger. That is what is called “big-time’ fraud.
Now, let us look at Pradoville. Government land was developed to the highest standard including two transformers for one house. This land was then sold to PPP ministers and minions cheaper than the poor man’s price while the poor person’s land had little or no development. That is corruption. “Now we understand the making of Pradoville 1 and Pradoville 2”. < Kaieteur News, Sept 18, 2011,>
“The recent revelations coming out of Wikileaks continue to embarrass all law-abiding and decent Guyanese. Never mind the government’s mouthings about hearsay.
The alleged corruption, the relationship between the government of Guyana and criminal elements in the narcotics trade, the linkages between high government officials and Roger Khan, and the host of other putrefying and frightening dark activities of the government make it very clear why Guyana remains backward and the joke of the Caribbean.
Two serious questions arise, why were we, Guyanese, betrayed so bitterly by the government of Guyana and the United States of America? Why was Guyana allowed to go into moral decline during the years of the PPP Government under President Bharrat Jagdeo?
The President of this country, MPs, and other constitutional, statutory officers, including the Commissioner of Police, swore upon the Holy book, to execute their duties according to the constitution.”< https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2011/09/18/now-we-understand-the-making-of-pradoville-1-and-pradoville-2/ Jan 18, 2021, Jan 30, 2021,> They refused to do so because of greed which is satisfied by corrupt activities.
Let us look at the Amaila road. “Fip Motilall’s failure costs Guyana…Amaila Falls road will cost much more than US$15.4M” <Kaieteur News, Feb 16, 2012, Jan 30, 2021,>
The cost of building the road to the Amaila Falls will cost more than the original contract price of US$15.4 million, Dr. Roger Luncheon, the government’s chief spokesman said yesterday.
On January 12, the government cancelled the controversial contract that was won by Synergy Holdings under the Bharrat Jagdeo presidency.
The new Donald Ramotar government terminated the contract from Fip Motilall’s Synergy Holdings and moved to seize all of his equipment. The government further determined that the contractor will pay US$120,000 in liquidated damages.
Yesterday, Dr. Luncheon said that even if costs are recovered maximally from Synergy Holdings, the cost will still be more than the original contract.
Synergy Holdings came under the radar over its experience in building roads and its ability to carry out the project. The company’s contract is for the upgrade of approximately 85 kilometers of existing roadway and the design and construction of approximately 110 kilometers of new road.”
Now, this is also a “big-time fraud”. The PPP handed over $ 14 million US to a man who never built as much as a driveway for building a road that would carry heavy loads to the Amelia site. Eventually, they withdrew the contract. Where is the money? That money can give 10000 teachers $280000 GYD appr as a Christmas bonus or $23000 more a month for 1 year. I repeat. This is corruption. This is 1076 times the bling that Patterson is alleged to have received.
Now let us look at narcotics crime and corruption. Guyana a narco state-WikiLeaks.
“Internal American government cables on the growing drug trade in Guyana sounded alarm bells about the growing power of the narco sector on all levels of society as far back as 2006 and rebuked the Bharrat Jagdeo administration for its tolerance and indifference as well as its lukewarm approach to eliminating the scourge.
By August 2007, Charge d’ Affaires Michael Thomas expressed similar concerns and asked for funds to set up an office but complained that hardline Guyana government positions ensured all efforts were scuttled. “The project is no longer viable due to the government of Guyana’s failure to identify an acceptable location for the unit and their lack of progress in addressing drug trafficking issues,” Thomas said.
Annual State Department reports have chronicled the situation in the Caribbean trade bloc headquarters nation, noting that drugs and money laundering play a significant role in the country’s gross domestic product and that cocaine is hidden in every item exported from the country, be it noodles, timber or furniture.” <https://www.caribbeanlifenews.com/guyana-a-narco-state-wikileaks/ Sep 1, 2011, Jan 30, 2021,>
How Guyana became a narco-state:
“Guyana, under the People’s Progressive Party Civic administration has become a narco-state. It has become a national warehouse and an international emporium from which narco-traffickers export their merchandise to foreign markets. From the start of Bharrat Jagdeo’s tenure as President, the US Department of State’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report has been making increasingly critical reports of the administration’s failure to suppress the narcotics trade.
The INCSR has routinely criticized the Administration’s inability to control the country’s porous borders that allow traffickers to import and transport narcotics without resistance.
It is a well-known fact that cocaine continues to come into the country through the unpatrolled borders of the hinterland and the rivers of the coastland. Light aircraft land at any of the sixty isolated airstrips or make airdrops into rivers where the drug is retrieved by local retailers.
The administration, however, has never seen it fit to give CANU and the Police the resources or personnel to reach those places.” <https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2012/12/16/how-guyana-became-a-narco-state/ Dec 16, 2012, Jan 30, 2021,>
The above statements have shown that the PPP is the most corrupt government the western hemisphere ever produced. They stole, defrauded, and enabled narcotics trafficking. The whole world knows this. Now, they were installed by Trump, a very amoral and corrupt to the bone person who is their soulmate. They sold their souls to the devil for power and control of petrodollars. What galls me is that these
criminals are now masquerading as saints. I have news for the world and the PPP. These new saints have no new clothes. In an effort to show the world that they are some kind of clean reborn entity, they are searching for any little discrepancy they can find and blow it up like a playground balloon. This will not work. The world knows that the leopard is incapable of changing its spots. The world knows that they are corrupt to the core. Their installation in the government is also corrupt. Ask Kaieteur news. They wrote, “PPP wants clean elections, but hires US firm linked to tampering.”< https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2019/04/18/ppp-wants-clean-elections-but-hires-us-firm-linked-to-tampering/Apr 18, 2019, Jan 30, 2021,>
Finally, everyone must face the court for alleged crimes. If Patterson committed a crime, then he must pay the price. At the same time, Jagdeo, Ali, Singh, Motilall, Brassington, et al must also face the music. While the PPP is arresting persons, they perceive of wrongdoing, they are busy dropping the charges where the money value compared to the APNU/AFC is astronomical. They have done more damage to the people and the nation than 100 successive APNU/AFC governments will not accumulate. I dare anyone to find in the public domain, any information about the APNU/AFC that is so damming. I would like to leave this with the readers. This was before the elections under APNU/AFC.
“Guyana improves significantly on corruption index – Transparency Int’l.”
<https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2020/01/24/guyana-improves-significantly-on-corruption-index-transparency-intl/Jan 24, 2020, Jan 30, 2021,>
Regards
E. O. Cromwell