It has taken just 11 months for the APNU+AFC administration to stumble badly on accountability and good governance and, importantly, in relation to two of its senior officials: the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon and the Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence. For a young administration and one that entered office with great expectations and even greater promise of a transformation in political culture, the damage to its standing is incalculable. President Granger is not unscathed. In neither case has he shown a willingness to hold the ministers accountable for their words and actions. Instead, he has sought to excuse both on flimsy grounds.
As it pertains to Minister Lawrence and the role she played in relation to accused child molester, Mr Winston Harding getting onto an APNU+AFC list of candidates for the city, the President said there was no question of her arbitrary dismissal from her ministerial portfolio and any disciplinary action would have to come from her party, the PNCR.
This ignored completely Minister Lawrence’s full awareness of Mr Harding’s background at that point and the activist role she played in coddling his candidacy by trying to get his sister to desist from pursuing action against him on the grounds that he had worked hard for the party and needed to be rewarded. It also ignored her contention to this newspaper that the allegations against Mr Harding were a “family matter”.
Neither of those interventions by Minister Lawrence can be reconciled with her role as the pre-eminent defender of child rights in this country, particularly in the circumstances where so many children have been abused and are at risk of such. It is therefore the President’s responsibility and obligation to determine whether under the circumstances, Ms Lawrence’s standing in the Cabinet as the Minister of Social Protection has been grievously injured and if as a result she should no longer be accommodated in that role lest it convey the view that child protection can be readily relegated.
Of course, the misstep may have much older antecedents i.e. the tendency of victorious political parties to award their senior most politicos with plumb Cabinet positions even those which should be completely stripped of political influence. Being one of the PNCR’s prime and most experienced organisers in Georgetown, Minister Lawrence found herself in the thick of the local government electoral fray.
One would have thought that she would have been fully concentrated and taken up with her challenging portfolios at the Ministry of Social Protection. That wasn’t to be and Minister Lawrence played a full role in shepherding the APNU+AFC constituency candidates through the campaign for Local Government Elections. When she faced the dilemma posed by Mr Harding’s exposure in his community, the Minister did not unequivocally come down on the side of championing the concerns of the complainants; she rationalised the matter in the context of her role as a political organiser and tried to mitigate the risks. That is not the behaviour of a child rights defender and the President has ignored all of this even as Ms Lawrence’s importance as a PNCR functionary continues to loom large.
What further weakens the President on these two matters is that he has become their prime defender as opposed to requiring them to be accountable for their word to the public in a transparent manner and then making a decision. In what must rank as one of the grossest mockeries of openness and open government in this country, neither Minister Lawrence nor Minister Harmon has seen it fit to defend themselves before the press or public. Save for fleeting mutterings both Ministers have gone underground. Will this continue for the next month? The rest of the year maybe?
As for Minister Harmon, there are numerous questions that the President should have elicited answers to and shared with the public before deciding as he did on Thursday to condemn the criticisms by Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc (TIGI) of the minister and his government as “outrageous”.
First, on what basis did Minister Harmon arrogate to himself the authority to appoint Mr Brian Tiwari as a business adviser, honorific or not, to the multi-party government? Where is his explanation and was he disciplined for this? Did Mr Tiwari provide any advice to the government and was there any consideration, monetary or otherwise for this? Did Mr Harmon appoint other advisers? If so when will these names be published?
Did Minister Harmon intervene with the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Special Organised Crime Unit to prevent them from seizing vehicles from the Chinese logging company, Baishanlin? On what authority was this done? If without presidential authority was Mr Harmon sanctioned for this? Was Minister Harmon’s intervention at the behest of Baishanlin and if so how could this be justified?
What was the full purpose of Minister Harmon’s recent visit to China? What was the cost of the trip and who paid for it? Did Mr Tiwari discharge any functions in his role of advisor to the government during this trip? Did Minister Harmon and Mr Tiwari have joint business meetings in China? If so did these meetings pertain to the government’s business or Mr Tiwari’s business? Did Minister Harmon have meetings, formal or informal, in China with any principal of Baishanlin or its related companies? Were any agreements struck as a result of these meetings and can the details be provided?
Without the answers to these questions the public would certainly not agree with the President that TIGI’s criticisms were “outrageous”. Here again, other factors are no doubt influencing the manner in which this issue is being handled. Mr Harmon is a senior member of APNU and also has a longstanding relationship with President Granger stretching all the way back to their days in the Guyana Defence Force and highlighted by the fact that Mr Harmon was put in charge of the transition between governments and later became the Minister in the President’s office.
One thing is clear. The silence, fumbling, half-answers and dodging on these issues have done serious damage to the standing of both Ministers Harmon and Lawrence and relatedly to the government. Their word and trustworthiness – particularly with the stakeholders they are accustomed to interacting with – would have clearly suffered and they will struggle to retake the high ground. It may require an early Cabinet reshuffle to right the disequilibrium that presently exists. The hypocrisy barometer is also now off the charts particularly in relation to Minister Harmon.
While in opposition and even after entering office, Minister Harmon spoke vehemently and uncompromisingly about the perceived excesses of the former administration and what would be done to bring the culpable to justice. Yet, he has now gone to ground. In December 2013, after this newspaper exposed shenanigans relating to possible mineral prospecting by a Brazilian company, Muri Brasil Ventures in the south of Guyana, Mr Harmon went on the offensive calling for the resignation of then Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud and issuing questions to be asked in Parliament. He also accused the then government of gathering campaign financing from these companies in return for assets like the Permission for Geological and Geophysical Survey. The shoe is now on the other foot and the questions won’t just die away.
And what of the AFC and the WPA? Will they as members of the governing coalition maintain a stony silence on these matters comfortable with the positions they now occupy?