Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony

Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony says the no-confidence motions filed by the APNU+AFC against him and Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn is an opportunity to remind the Parliamentary Opposition of their many shortcomings while in Government from 2015 to 2020.

Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon yesterday filed two no-confidence motions with the Clerk of the National Assembly against Benn and Dr Anthony.

“It doesn’t affect me at all. Mr. Harmon has given us a unique opportunity for us to debate this matter in the Parliament, and of course, we welcome this opportunity to remind Mr. Harmon and the APNU+AFC of the many shortcomings that they have had over the last five years that they were in Government,” Dr Anthony said.

He was at the time being interviewed by a social media commentator.

“We recall the damage and the destruction they have done to the health sector and I have no problem reminding them of all of that. And they themselves, as you would’ve recalled in just that short period of time, would’ve have three Ministers of Health because they had so many challenges in the health sector. You would recall also that they had some of the biggest scandals that happened in health which include…the Sussex Street bond, they had the scandal as it relates to drug shortages where they’ve spent close to $35B in drugs and medical supplies, but across this country there were massive shortages of medicines, and then just recently when we took over we discovered that they had more than $10B dollars’ worth of medicine that had expired at the Diamond Bond and just recently we had to throw another $4B worth because they procured things that was expiring,” Dr Anthony reminded.

“So, we’ll be happy to deal with them in Parliament and we’ll be happy to expose them once again to the Guyanese public so that people can see the incompetence and what they have done, and be reminded of what they have done to this country. How much money they have squandered and how they have squandered it and how many lives they have put at risk. So we’ll have an opportunity to deal with them,” the Health Minister added.

Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn says the no-confidence motion filed against him by the APNU+AFC Opposition is nothing but a “stunt”.

Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn

Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon yesterday filed two no-confidence motions with the Clerk of the National Assembly against Benn and Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony.

During an interview with a social media commentator today, Benn contended that “this no-confidence motion against Frank and myself, it’s a stunt, I see it as a stunt. It is intended to deflect, to make oblique attacks, to not have persons, the public pay attention to the security issues, in our case which we’ve been taking condign action on.”

Minister Benn made it clear that he is not adverse of criticism and he welcomes to opportunity to defend himself in the National Assembly.

“I am not adverse of criticism, in fact, I welcome it. It gives me the opportunity to review my actions, the actions undertaken by the Ministry’s policy and even down to the individual misdemeanors and sometimes very bad things which happens in relation to some Units of the Services which fall under the Ministry. So I have no difficulty in being criticised,” he expressed.

However, he admitted that he could improve on his communication. “In respect of the issue of being more communicative…I would admit that I’ve been fairly averse to coming out and saying things which will invoke irrational responses and I think even now, the fact that we’re talking, perhaps relates to a recent statement I made in respect of things Mr Harmon himself said.”

But the Minister contended that his record so far as head of the country’s security sector has been successful.

“In terms of our records here in the Ministry, we have repeatedly said…serious crime in Guyana has gone down by 22%, that’s a fact, it’s a fact that cannot be set aside. Road deaths have gone down by 30%…most of the other statistics have shown reduction,” the Minister said.

The Minister also confessed that “perhaps we didn’t pay enough attention to what was going on last year and the previous year in terms of crime. But now and rightfully so, we can focus on the real and proper issues which affect the daily lives of our Guyanese.”

“Is it of crime, insecurity, upsets in the community, even misdemeanors, traffic safety, we can focus on these things now, and I’m glad otherwise that we are going to have this debate because it brings us properly into focus on what we should have been doing all the time, not attempting to steal the elections in case of the Opposition last year.”

The Home Affairs Minister explained that he along with other security leaders are aware of the issues affecting the sector, many of which are not new matters. He assured that the government is continuously working to improve the security sector.

“I think we are having success. We know where we are having serious gaps and deficiencies, we know what we have in respect of our Forces…the lack of mobility, the lack of integrity, the question of corruption, we know what we are dealing with and we are working on those issues,” he assured.