Jagdeo’s challenge to Greenidge… ‘Guyanese people need more than allegations, bring the evidence’

A QUESTIONABLE property acquisition in 1993 and the equally “questionable” record of Carl Greenidge as a former finance minister were brought into the spotlight by former President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, yesterday.

He was responding to allegations of corruption, which the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) executive charged were facilitated by him and others in the leadership of the ruling party.

Former President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo produces a copy of a Transport that questions a less-than- transparent property acquisition by APNU executive, Carl Greenidge

Speaking at a news conference held at Freedom House, Dr Jagdeo said Greenidge owes the Guyanese people more than allegations and ought to substantiate these with evidence.
“Greenidge is contesting to be the minister of finance if they win power…if you are coming to the people and asking for their votes, then you cannot run from your record,” the former President posited.
Dr Jagdeo was adamant that Greenidge owes the Guyanese people, whose votes he is asking for, more than allegations.
LESS THAN TRANSPARENT
This challenge is what influenced Dr Jagdeo’s production of a Transport dated January 25, 1993, which details the acquisition of a house at Bel Air Gardens for $4M, as well as references to the lack of accountability and transparency during Greenidge’s tenure as finance minister.
“Here is factual basis. I am not just making allegations. I would love if they do the same when they make allegations of corruption against us (the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic),” he said.
The former President stated too that according to the Transport, a property owned by Guyana Stores Limited (GSL) was transferred to Greenidge as Minister of Finance, months after he had demitted office.
“The transport, it is dated January 25, 1993. Four months after the Government had changed. The transport was issued to Minister Carl Greenidge for a house in Bel Air Gardens for $4M….he had long ceased to be Minister of Finance.”
Greenidge was finance minister under the People’s National Congress (PNC) administration up to October, 1992 when the ruling People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) came to power.
Dr Jagdeo called the presidential candidate for APNU+AFC, Brigadier (rtd) David Granger, to use the evidence provided as the starting point to address the corruption he frequently accuses the current administration of.
“Granger talks about investigating corruption, maybe he should start with this…I am not just making an allegation. I am giving you a document,” he told reporters.
ECONOMIC RUIN
The former President turned his attention to what was essentially a period that resulted in Guyana’s “economic ruin.”
“You can’t run from your record…the recession he presided over, the economic recession he presided over, the growth in the debt, the worst economic strategy, making the country not credit-worthy…you cannot run from your record,” Dr Jagdeo stressed.
He pointed out that as a result of not being credit-worthy, Guyana faced the imposition of an economic structural adjustment initiative.
According to him, Guyana had also racked up the largest external debt in the country’s history, under Greenidge’s tenure as finance minister.
This, he noted, was in addition to the fact that there had been no auditing of public accounts and accounting for public finances and even prevented the then Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, via letter from not auditing privatisation proceeds.
“Greenidge was the most unaccountable minister of finance in our history,” Dr Jagdeo said.
He also addressed Greenidge’s defence of his tenure as minister of finance, dismissing it as a failed attempt.
“He did not respond to the key issues…he said that he made some changes in processes that allowed the PPP to start producing the accounts from 1992, but that those changes, which he made, could not have been implemented before…you would believe that he left us a wonderful economy the way Carl Greenidge and the others speak about it,” Jagdeo said.
The former President was emphatic in stressing that real change was advanced by the PPP/C and continues to be advanced by the party, as is evidenced in policy initiatives, programmes and legislation.

‘Greenidge is contesting to be the minister of finance if they win power…if you are coming to the people and asking for their votes, then you cannot run from your record’ – Dr Bharrat Jagdeo

 

‘You can’t run from your record…the recession he presided over, the economic recession he presided over, the growth in the debt, the worst economic strategy, making the country not credit-worthy…you cannot run from your record’ – Dr Bharrat Jagdeo