Opposition failing the people – former APNU MP

- AFC still to lodge official police complaint against Finance Minister

By Abena Rockcliffe, July 16, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under News, Source

Former Member of Parliament,

Jaipaul Sharma

Even as the Opposition kicks up a proverbial storm about the “obvious” wrongdoing of the government, public opinion has it that all avenues to bring errant officials to their senses are not being explored.

The fact that Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh went ahead and spent monies not approved by the House, concretizes all speculations that even the government sees the Opposition as a “big bluff”. That is essentially the general opinion expressed by several citizens interviewed by this newspaper.

More specifically, former Member of Parliament, Jaipaul Sharma has pointed out that the Opposition has good intentions, but simply is not disciplined enough to follow through with their promises.

Since July, 6 the Alliance for Change (AFC) told Kaieteur News that it was finalizing its statement to be submitted to the Guyana Police Force for action to be taken against Dr. Singh for allegedly spending $4.5B illegally.

The party had, since late last month, told the media that it would have lodged the complaint a few days later.

Also, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had earlier this month signaled its intention to approach the Courts over the very expenditure.

This view was made known when Shadow Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge, appeared on the ‘Nation Watch’ television programme and objected to Dr Singh’s reliance on Article 218 (3B) of the Constitution to spend in excess of $4.5B.

Neither of the two courses of action has been taken. But APNU made moves last week to take Dr. Singh before the Committee of Privilege.

Last week Kaieteur News contacted AFC’s Khemraj Ramjattan to know the status of the report and he said he was too busy to talk.  Yesterday the newspaper sought to contact him but this was to no avail. However, this publication was lucky to make contact with AFC vice chairman, Moses Nagamootoo.  He said that the complaint is still to be lodged, but it is at its “final stage” of preparation.

He pointed Kaieteur News to Ramjattan, whom he said was directly responsible for this.

The AFC is contending that Dr. Singh committed a crime when he spent $4.5B from the coffers, despite the fact that the National Assembly had expressly denied approval for such expenditure when it was considered in April last.

According to Ramjattan, despite the matter being in the public domain, he will be preparing a formal complaint to be submitted to the Guyana Police Force.

He explained that he will be taking this course of action since in previous times when illegalities were uncovered and made public, the police would in response say that no formal complaint was lodged with them.

According to Ramjattan, approval to spend monies from the coffers can only come through authorization from Parliament. He said that while the FMAA allows the Minister to spend monies from the Contingencies Fund prior to receiving parliamentary approval, this is only for emergencies and unforeseen circumstances.

In a recent interview, Sharma, the former, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament, said that the Opposition has a strategy to expose the government, but is doing the same thing as the government.

“It (the Opposition) is failing to follow through on its policies and things it says it will do and is as a result failing the people.”

“The Opposition spoke about the no confidence motion and should follow through with it. It should forge ahead and stop holding it up. It seems to me that the Alliance For Change went ahead and announced its intention to bring a no confidence motion against the government without thinking it through.”