The Parliamentary debates are over and for me there are more questions than answers. The government side has not answered the many questions surrounding projects that are supposed to be underway and on which billions of dollars have been spent. But the government side keeps justifying the expenditures and the approach to the House for increases.
There were increased allocations for the Guyana Sugar Corporation that keeps underperforming. The justification was that Guysuco would increase its production by 105 percent this year. The opposition contends that this is impossible given the persistent decline in production.
Guyana Power and Light has become the most abused electricity producer. Everyone knows that blackouts have been present in this country for decades. Some people who are now in their forties were reported to have said ‘blackout’ as their first word.
However, never has so much money been spent on electricity and to no avail. During the debate on the presentation of Budget 2025, the nation learnt that during the tenure of the coalition, the power company actually became self-reliant.
Former Minister David Patterson told the National Assembly that during the tenure of the Coalition administration the power company had actually begun to repay its debt to international lenders. As he put it, GPL was repaying as much as US$5 million a year.
Today, that has changed. GPL is being subsidised to the tune of millions of dollars each year. But that is not helping the situation. The nation had been promised that the cost of electricity would have been slashed in half this year.
The major gas to energy project was to have been completed this year. That will not be possible.
The cost reduction was premised on the gas to energy project now underway. Now, the completion date for this project is uncertain. The cost has gone up by more than 200 per cent and climbing.
And even as this is going on, the government continues to lie. It kept telling the nation that the situation would have been so much better had the Coalition government not scuttled the Amaila Falls hydroelectric project.
Once, and hopefully for all, this matter should now be put to rest. The Inter-American Development Bank, through its released report, after four years of investigation at the invitation of the PPP government, described the project as the second worst project it was asked to fund.
Today there has been the rental of nearly three dozen third hand generators, and two power ships for which the government has to provide fuel, yet the situation is no different.
House lots are being distributed to the ordinary man, most of whom do not have the wherewithal to even erect a marker on the land. Some complain that they do not even know where the land is.
Now a horrendous story has emerged—one of massive land distribution to a wealthy supporter of the government. So horrendous is the story that a major player in the Housing Ministry has resigned with immediate effect.
That is the story of Sherwyn Greaves, the now former Chief Executive Officer of the Housing Ministry. According to reports, New York Court documents show that CEO of Guyana’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) Sherwyn Greaves, allegedly purchased several properties in New York including luxury properties.
These transactions are allegedly now under federal investigation as a suspected money laundering scheme, sources confirmed.
Federal law enforcement sources say they believe Greaves made purchases while also acting as a front for a very senior Government of Guyana official. It appears that US authorities may have intercepted telephone and audio conversations to prove their suspicions.
One local newspaper reported that Chief Executive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, Sherwyn Greaves, resigned with immediate effect days after he was named in a land sale scandal involving convicted fraudster, Edul Ahmad.
Ed Ahmad is under scrutiny for the suspicious purchase of 30 acres of Prime State Lands at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD) from the government.
The purchase agreement for the lands was made between CH&PA, with Greaves at the helm, and Global Investment Inc., a company with which Ahmad is associated.
A document was circulated across social media platforms showing Greaves as the beneficiary of property in New York, USA, worth some US$750,000.
According to the document Greaves purchased the New York property from Reliable Custom Builder Inc., a company that might be also linked to Ahmad.
Since this revelation, one of the largest businesses and owner of large swaths of land along the newly opened Heroes Highway, Sheriff Construction Company, has sought to divorce itself from Ahmad. There have been reports that the head of Sheriff Construction Company is related to Ed Ahmad.
Sheriff is now a household name. It owns hospitals, apartment buildings, a security service, a construction company and pretty soon it would be the owner of a funeral parlour. At one time it was a mere Jewellery store on Brickdam.
I am in no position to question how it came by the lands it owns but such holdings are substantial.
The lands under question have not been rescinded. Anyone can bet that any attempt to recover those lands would lead to the biggest blow up in the country.
