Jagdeo to APNU+AFC: ‘Get to governing’
Saturday, October 24 2015, Citizen’s Report, Source
GOVERNMENT ought to get down to the business of governing Guyana, instead of trying to make the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) look back through the number of forensic audits being done, according to Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo. Calling attention to the fact that the audits are not being done by professionals, Jagdeo made clear that regardless is corruption is uncovered the guilty parties should be locked up.
“They have to make us look bad….find the people and deal with them…find them and lock them up,” he said emphatically, at a news conference held at Freedom House yesterday.
He also commented on brief references made by Minister David Patterson to revenues being understated by the Transport and Harbours Department, according to audits reports that were tabled in the House on Thursday.
“If you think that somebody at THD (Transport and Harbours Department) … was doing wrong and the audit proved that, call in the police tomorrow, what is the problem?” he added.
The Opposition Leader noted that the focus of the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition government in on making the PPP/C look bad, while real issues, including the challenges in the local economy, go unaddressed.
Lost jobs and lost income, as well as plummeting economic growth rates, are some of the indicators of the local economy grinding to a halt, according to him.
“I urge the Government to be careful about the signals we are sending or we can trigger the a major economic crisis,” he said.
The local economy’s growth declined some 2.5 per cent by June 2015, as compared with the same period in 2014, according to the Ministry of Finance’s mid-year report.
Jagdeo warned that the focus of the government seems to be, not only on trying to make the PPP/C look bad, but on spending instead of simultaneously trying to create wealth.
Notably, in 2014, the growth of the economy was recorded at 3.8 per cent. A World Bank report in April 2015 stated that, “Growth slowed down in 2014 (3.8 percent) reflecting the softening in global commodity prices – mainly gold and bauxite.”
However, the World Bank projected that the economic outlook for Guyana is broadly positive. “Growth is projected to remain strong, averaging about 4 percent per year over the medium.”
Guyana has recorded eight consecutive years of economic growth as at 2014.
