Fear sparks division in Cabinet

– Govt. Officials

The tone of Cabinet meetings has changed. In the beginning there was great freedom; freedom to criticize those on the outside, and more importantly, freedom to deliver constructive criticisms on those members within Cabinet.
However, now, some Cabinet members have to “think twice” before trying to criticize their colleagues lest they be reprimanded or made to feel like outcasts.
This situation was related to Kaieteur News recently by several Government officials.
The officials are of the impression that “fear” has made its way into Cabinet to the point where it has sparked division.
One official explained, “Based on the proceedings over the last few weeks, one gets the distinct impression that Cabinet members are not encouraged to criticize their colleagues, whether in or out of Cabinet. An environment is not being encouraged to facilitate that.
“Some colleagues, because of the nature of some of the disagreements in there, do not feel as though they can speak freely without people throwing tantrums, making them feel ostracized.”
Another government official supported this contention.
“Indeed certain persons feel that they don’t enjoy the freedom to speak about their colleague’s sloppiness. You find yourself between a rock and a hard place, especially when you expose something and no action is taken of your concerns. That has happened several times. There have been instances where members walked out of meetings because of this situation.”
Kaieteur News understands that this situation seemed to get worse since the completion of the forensic audit report on the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). The report which was conducted by Chartered Anand Goolsarran was finished for over a month and the administration had not taken any action.
Cabinet members were given the report to review. Several members of Cabinet had made it known that they were in favour of Government pursuing a case for criminal charges against NICIL’s Chief Executive Officer, Winston Brassington. They indicated that his “acts of corruption against the nation just can’t be pardoned.”
The report says that Brassington bypassed internationally recognized and credible companies only to engage criminal entities for the construction of the Marriott Hotel. It stated that he failed to justify how millions of dollars were spent on the Linden Mining Enterprise, and to properly account for their assets.
Goolsarran, with credible evidence in hand, also exposed how Brassington, on behalf of NICIL, hid $1B in a secret account. The money was intended to aid in the construction of the Marriott Hotel.
Brassington also paved the way for NICIL to illegally fund the preparation of the Pradoville Two scheme, and kept $26B from the Consolidated Fund.
One Government Minister said, “The more the people read about the NICIL corruption, the more alarmed they get and the faster they want to see justice. But the Ministry of Finance seems reluctant to act. Why is Brassington still within the confines of the Ministry of Finance?
“Brassington could and should have been sent home,” the government official opined. On Wednesday, he and his deputy, Marcia Nadir-Sharma, were ordered to proceed on immediate leave to facilitate an investigation.
The official said, “There were members who were angry because statements were made about the Finance Minister; these comments were brought to his attention before and no action was taken. It is no coincidence that since Kaieteur News published the article, among others, that action was taken.”
“It is sad that this fear of antagonizing a colleague is creeping into the Cabinet level and it needs to be removed. It is not a good sign for this coalition government.”