The country’s main Opposition – the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) is demanding full disclosure of all the agreements signed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government, since it took Office on August 2, 2020.
In a statement on Monday, the Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon, said the Government has signed onto a number of agreements, however, to date, it has offered little to no detail.
“A case in point is the twenty- our-hour merry-go-round about an office of Taiwan to facilitate trade and investment in Guyana that, according to a release by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was “cleared” by the government of China. Curiously this was announced by the United States Government before it was announced by the Government of Guyana. Not a day had passed before it was jettisoned,” the Opposition Leader said.
The PPP/C Administration, in scrapping the agreement with Taiwan, said that miscommunication of the agreement signed had let to its termination.
“It is our considered view that this incident and a number of other announcements about investors and investments fall into two main categories – (i) promises and financial arrangements made prior to elections and (ii) those made in the interregnum before the PPP was aided by foreign powers into office,” the Opposition Leader contended.
He said increasingly Guyanese are informed of multiple deals that are touted as investment opportunities that would transform the country into the Dubai or Singapore of this region.
“All this while public servants are treated with scant courtesy, racially motivated dismissals continue apace, and the removal of personnel with the oversight competence to protect our environment and other national interests,” he said.
He said while the Government is busy signing off on agreements, the garbage situation in the capital city – Georgetown – is rapidly spiraling out of control.
“A free market approach much touted by the PPP aligned private sector and the government itself fails to recognize, much less protect, the interest of all Guyanese, especially poor Guyanese and the ‘unaligned private sector,’” Harmon said.
He made it clear that while foreign investment is welcomed, it should not be at the expense of Guyanese.
“Guyanese are told to be grateful for this frenzy of undifferentiated interest in our emerging oil economy. One is left to believe that there is no confidence in the capacity of local entrepreneurs who are, in any case, operating in far less favorable conditions,” Harmon said.
He added: “This rush in the context of the current global situation is troubling in itself and more so for a future that promises to be very different from the usual economic trends especially if one takes into account the upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic even in robust western societies.”
The Opposition Leader said the haste with which these “deals” are announced borders on the indecent and are of great concern to many Guyanese.
“What will be in place for Guyanese? Will there be bread and justice for all? For these reasons among others, the APNU+AFC Coalition is of the unequivocal view that the Guyanese people are entitled to know the details of all agreements, deals and promises entered into by the PPP regime. We repeat our call to the PPP to so disclose in full, as we had done previously following the visit of former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when such call was ignored by the PPP regime,” he reasoned.
