– exposes their betrayal of the Guyanese people

BY DEVINA SAMAROO

It was high drama in the National Assembly on Friday night when Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo unleashed a thunderous

Former President and Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

verbal attack on the Government; exposing various elements of untrustworthiness, lack of transparency and its inclination for corruption already evident after only three months of governing the nation. Jagdeo also brought attention to the Government’s tarnished track record of backpedalling on most of its promises it made to the Guyanese people; a clear and ominous sign that the coalition Administration has no coherent vision for the country, the former President said. Focusing on the many broken promises in the Cummingsburg Accord- the binding agreement which brought the A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance For Change together, Jagdeo explained that a Government that cannot even be faithful to its own partners, simply cannot possibly be faithful to the people of the country. “The key thing is trust; do people trust the new Government? Let’s look at the creditworthiness of the new Government. The Cummingsburg Accord says the Prime Minister (Moses Nagamootoo) should have responsibility for domestic affairs and chairing the Cabinet; recommending ministerial appointments and providing the organisational structures for Ministries for approval of the President (David Granger); appointing Heads of Agencies and Constitutional Commissions; and domestic security.

President David Granger

I don’t need to tell you what the reality is,” Jagdeo ridiculed. The reality is, he elaborated is that Prime Minister Nagamootoo’s responsibility in Government has been diminished to being in charge of the information sector; his portfolio is the National Communications Network, the Government Information Agency and the Chronicle Newspaper, Jagdeo noted. “If you can’t be faithful to your partner, if this Government cannot be faithful to their partner in government, how are they going to fulfil the promises to the people of this country,” he posited. More interestingly, Jagdeo pointed out that the Prime Minister is going to cost taxpayers some $90 million a year, while the other Vice Presidents will cost them some $60 million a year. With them earning these exorbitant figures, their pensions, should they retire now, will equal the pension the former President is receiving. “I served this country for 12 years…as President and my pension is a pint of what the others get. Frankly speaking, three months the Prime Minister serves the country and his pension, if he retires today, will be close to mine, almost I think, bigger than mine and guess what portfolio he has. I had to manage the entire country as President; he has a portfolio that Kwame McCoy had from our side. There must be some justice in this world,” Jagdeo challenged, pointedly referring to all those who ever so often criticise him for receiving a comfortable pension. Jagdeo also highlighted that the Government, after accusing the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration of pocketing too high salaries, were guilty of considering the possibility of raising theirs, in less than a year in Executive Office.

Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo

“Then they say they were not even considering it and I perfectly understand if that is true. So will the Minister of Finance give us the assurance that Ministers are not going to get an increase above that of public servants in the five years of them being in office,” the Parliamentarian challenged. The Government has become completely notorious for continuously backtracking on its promises and forever changing its mind of policies and strategies it has initially implemented, Jagdeo highlighted. “When we pointed out that the increases for public servants were paltry in this budget, the Honourable Mr Harmon said the wages are temporary so we are waiting on the final payments to the public servants since the Honourable Member Joe Harmon said that the increases given in this budget are temporary,” he listed. Then, Jagdeo highlighted that the Government backpedalled again with regards to the firing of the 1972 Community Support Officers (CSOs) in the hinterland; after having Ministers justifying the firing, they are now claiming that they did not do the firing but rather, the PPP/C did. On this topic, Jagdeo chastised the Government for depriving those vulnerable people of a decent job which allowed them to provide food and other essentials for their families, noting that the Administration clearly does not care about the wellbeing for all of Guyana. He also pointed out that the Government, after receiving heavy criticisms from various sectors about the selection of members on the State Boards, they are now “backpedalling” and the Board’s composition may very well be changed. He also mentioned the Cheddi Jagan Airport Expansion Project, noting that this is another prime example of the Government not having a clear vision for Guyana. “The airport project they said they were against, now they are for and then they were against and suddenly I saw they were for again.” Moreover, Jagdeo said the recent declarations by the Finance Minister, which claimed that Guyana is bankrupt, could do severe harm to the economy as it will deter investments from investing in Guyana.

“Let me tell you, do not underestimate what that signals, when you say something like that what it means to the rest of the world. If investors hear you are bankrupted as a country, they will start thinking well the Government will raise taxes, if the insurance companies will start pushing the premium up, the cost of loans and interest rates go up. One little statement of that nature can make a huge difference and this country is not bankrupted by any stretch of the imagination,” he posited. Jagdeo also made reference to statements from Business Minister Dominic Gaskin regarding having a change in the framework in order to attract reputable investors. “Is he saying ExxonMobil is not reputable…CGX Energy is not reputable…Guyana Goldfields is not reputable,” he asked, noting that the framework of the country under the PPP/C was already attracting reputable investments. At the end of his presentation the Government side was clearly reeling from the facts that Former President and now Opposition Leader Jagdeo was able to marshal against their claims made earlier. Because the Government insisted on violating Parliamentary norms and conventions and preventing Jagdeo from being the penultimate speaker, the PPP/C walked out of the National Assembly after his presentation.