Government finally concedes State paid for extravaganza

President’s Big Bash Inauguration

…Speaker hushes up Opposition questions

The grand and flamboyant inauguration ceremony hosted for President David Granger on May 26, which the

President David Granger’s birthday bash

Government continuously denied was  paid for by the State, actually saw millions of taxpayers’ dollars being pumped into making the celebration as spectacular as it was. Not only did the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Administration mislead the Guyanese public on this early dipping into public coffers for ostentatious public splurging, it continues to backpedal on the promises made that it would put an end to the “abuse” of taxpayers’ monies and lead a “lean and clean” Government. During the final day of the consideration of the Budget Estimates late Wednesday evening, Junior Education Minister Nicolette Henry succumbed to pressure from the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Members of Parliament (MPs) and belatedly conceded that millions of dollars were indeed expended on this event. Since the extravagant event which saw the National Stadium filled with exuberant partisan triumphant party supporters, the APNU/AFC Government has stonewalled on the cost encountered, dismissing reporters whenever they made any inquiries into the matter. Minister of State, Joseph Harmon finally told media operatives that the Government hardly contributed to this event

President David Granger’s inauguration ceremony

and that most of the expenses were covered by “donations”. However, in the Budget Estimates 2015, there were no accounts made for the inflow of donations claimed for this purpose. PPP/C MP Charles Ramson Jr asked the Minister about a particular allocation under “subsidies and contributions to local organisations” under “Cultural Preservation and Conservation” within the Education Ministry and she disclosed that the $35.69 million was spent on the inauguration and the T20 matches recently held in Guyana. The revelation took the House by surprise, but when Ramson further probed into the matter, House Speaker, Dr Barton Scotland prohibited any other questions. Ramson Jr had asked the Minister to reveal how much money was actually spent on the inauguration ceremony and to clarify why the Government had lied about the expenses. However, he was interrupted by the Speaker, who exclaimed, “There must be a time when you should call it quits and focus on the issue at hand.” He then asked Ramson Jr to proceed, but after Ramson Jr repeated his questions to the Minister, the Speaker brusquely declared that it was “out of order” and maintained that he would not permit such a question. Another extravagant event undertaken by the new Government was the massive birthday celebrations for the President Granger, which the Administration claimed was covered by “donations”. However, the startling disclosure that the APNU/AFC misled the nation about the financing for the inauguration gave PPP/C MPs strong reasons not to believe that the Government was also not prevaricating about these other ostentatious self-congratulatory events. But as ominous as this was for national trust, observers said the partisanship showed by the new Speaker was even more dangerous.