APNU/AFC rewarding campaign financiers
Payback!
– Minister’s close friend cashes in on windfarm deal
A source close to the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government on Tuesday revealed that a plan has been hatched among the coalition’s partners that would see the financers of their 2015 election campaign being rewarded significantly over the next five years.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo
“There is a deliberate plan that will see our party rewarding those who have stood by us while we were in Opposition, funded us and given us the financial encouragement to fight the PPP. I see nothing wrong with that. Though I am not intricately involved, I know that we will be giving them contracts once they qualify and would be signing certain key deals and agreements with our people,” the source said.
Vice President and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan
Guyana Times also understands that the coalition has agreed on a list of businesses and individuals who are to be treated with preference whenever public funds are to be spent and disbursed.
“The PPP did and so I guess that’s politics. I haven’t seen the list, but all Ministers know this is the general understanding,” the source explained.
Lloyd Singh
President David Granger, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and State Minister Joseph Harmon did not return calls placed by this newspaper to their mobile phones for a comment on the information received. The calls went unanswered despite several attempts on Tuesday.
‘Big-up’ for Lloyd
But comments made by Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan at the launch of one of the coalition parties’ headquarters in Kitty on Saturday appear to validate the information leaked by the source.
Vice President Ramjattan admitted to the gathering at the event that the developer of the Hope Estate Wind Farm Project with whom the new Government has quietly entered in to an agreement had in fact financed the acquisition of the multimillion-dollar AFC headquarters in Kitty, Georgetown.
Ramjattan, during the commissioning of the building on Saturday, singled out businessman Lloyd Singh, who, he said, played a major role in the acquisition and subsequent renovation of the building.
“I want to single out a personal friend of mine and from a long, long time since PPP/C days: Lloyd Singh. We were looking for a building and, of course, Lloyd indicated that “Khemraj I know y’all got to get a building, I know of something”. And of course, the advance payment on it… “Hey buddy, you don’t bother with that, we got to make this thing work”. He upped the front-up monies and today we’ve gotten that building… thank you so much, Lloyd,” Ramjattan told the gathering, which included President David Granger, diplomats and several Government Ministers.
Singh is the principal of Guyana Wind Farm Inc (GWFI), the company which is investing US$50 million in the development of a wind farm to generate electricity at Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara.
Despite no public advertisements or tender, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson in October 2015, months after the new Government took office, announced that Cabinet had given the go-ahead for the project.
He had also announced that the Public Infrastructure Ministry was to proceed with its due diligence with regard to the proposal, with a view of concretizing the deal.
Opposition response
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo took the Government to task over what many view as a clear case of “payback” to one of the AFC financiers.
He quoted Ramjattan’s admission that indeed Singh was one of the party’s financiers and a close friend of his for many years, describing it as an “incestuous relationship”.
“I have heard like you have heard and I have seen it reported that Mr Lloyd Singh is the developer of this project, I have seen that reported. I have heard the Minister of Finance in the Budget speech indicate that they are negotiating a power purchase agreement with this company to supply 25 megawatts of power costing US$50 million and that the price of the power purchase agreement will be just under half of U 28 cents per kilowatt hour, so I am assuming about US13-14 cents per kilowatt hour, so these are information we are gleaning from public statements, but look at the difference with Amaila,” he said.
The Opposition Leader said that “we have had lots of controversy around Amaila, around the road, but one thing we can claim is that it went to a public tender and the lowest bidder won the contract… the Amaila project was tendered internationally and Blackstone and International Group selected the contractor which is China Rail… look at the different approach: now we are hearing from the press that the Government is negotiating with this company – no public process,” Jagdeo said.
He explained that the Amaila project was more economical than this project, whereby power would have been generated at a cost of about 10 US cents per kilowatt.
This is not the first occasion that the Government has found itself in the midst of a conflict of interest and payback situations.
There are many cases where APNU/AFC candidates and supporters were placed in key public servant positions for which they are not qualified, replacing professionals.
Payback!
– Minister’s close friend cashes in on windfarm deal
A source close to the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government on Tuesday revealed that a plan has been hatched among the coalition’s partners that would see the financers of their 2015 election campaign being rewarded significantly over the next five years.
Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo
“There is a deliberate plan that will see our party rewarding those who have stood by us while we were in Opposition, funded us and given us the financial encouragement to fight the PPP. I see nothing wrong with that. Though I am not intricately involved, I know that we will be giving them contracts once they qualify and would be signing certain key deals and agreements with our people,” the source said.
Vice President and Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan
Guyana Times also understands that the coalition has agreed on a list of businesses and individuals who are to be treated with preference whenever public funds are to be spent and disbursed.
“The PPP did and so I guess that’s politics. I haven’t seen the list, but all Ministers know this is the general understanding,” the source explained.
Lloyd Singh
President David Granger, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and State Minister Joseph Harmon did not return calls placed by this newspaper to their mobile phones for a comment on the information received. The calls went unanswered despite several attempts on Tuesday.
‘Big-up’ for Lloyd
But comments made by Vice President Khemraj Ramjattan at the launch of one of the coalition parties’ headquarters in Kitty on Saturday appear to validate the information leaked by the source.
Vice President Ramjattan admitted to the gathering at the event that the developer of the Hope Estate Wind Farm Project with whom the new Government has quietly entered in to an agreement had in fact financed the acquisition of the multimillion-dollar AFC headquarters in Kitty, Georgetown.
Ramjattan, during the commissioning of the building on Saturday, singled out businessman Lloyd Singh, who, he said, played a major role in the acquisition and subsequent renovation of the building.
“I want to single out a personal friend of mine and from a long, long time since PPP/C days: Lloyd Singh. We were looking for a building and, of course, Lloyd indicated that “Khemraj I know y’all got to get a building, I know of something”. And of course, the advance payment on it… “Hey buddy, you don’t bother with that, we got to make this thing work”. He upped the front-up monies and today we’ve gotten that building… thank you so much, Lloyd,” Ramjattan told the gathering, which included President David Granger, diplomats and several Government Ministers.
Singh is the principal of Guyana Wind Farm Inc (GWFI), the company which is investing US$50 million in the development of a wind farm to generate electricity at Hope Estate, East Coast Demerara.
Despite no public advertisements or tender, Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson in October 2015, months after the new Government took office, announced that Cabinet had given the go-ahead for the project.
He had also announced that the Public Infrastructure Ministry was to proceed with its due diligence with regard to the proposal, with a view of concretizing the deal.
Opposition response
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo took the Government to task over what many view as a clear case of “payback” to one of the AFC financiers.
He quoted Ramjattan’s admission that indeed Singh was one of the party’s financiers and a close friend of his for many years, describing it as an “incestuous relationship”.
“I have heard like you have heard and I have seen it reported that Mr Lloyd Singh is the developer of this project, I have seen that reported. I have heard the Minister of Finance in the Budget speech indicate that they are negotiating a power purchase agreement with this company to supply 25 megawatts of power costing US$50 million and that the price of the power purchase agreement will be just under half of U 28 cents per kilowatt hour, so I am assuming about US13-14 cents per kilowatt hour, so these are information we are gleaning from public statements, but look at the difference with Amaila,” he said.
The Opposition Leader said that “we have had lots of controversy around Amaila, around the road, but one thing we can claim is that it went to a public tender and the lowest bidder won the contract… the Amaila project was tendered internationally and Blackstone and International Group selected the contractor which is China Rail… look at the different approach: now we are hearing from the press that the Government is negotiating with this company – no public process,” Jagdeo said.
He explained that the Amaila project was more economical than this project, whereby power would have been generated at a cost of about 10 US cents per kilowatt.
This is not the first occasion that the Government has found itself in the midst of a conflict of interest and payback situations.
There are many cases where APNU/AFC candidates and supporters were placed in key public servant positions for which they are not qualified, replacing professionals.
