Yo want a banana?

You can tell its a slow day when bird offering banana.

GR was last seen by the Stadium with Barrels of Snakeoil. Poor Chap nobody bought any.

You made me come in to read that shyte, you makin joke or wuh?

Friday, 23 September 2011 02:11

It seems as if the political opposition is running out of steam, as it is finding it increasingly difficult to find issues to criticise the government and as such is frantically trying to paint a negative picture by resorting to distortions and inventing problems which do not exist.
This is expected from the opposition and would probably intensify as the election fever builds up.

Against this backdrop, one opposition party has alleged that since its statement about “a potentially surreptitious deal concerning the Skeldon Factory, there has been a deafening silence by GUYSUCO and the Minister of Agriculture.”

However, what is the reality?
The company’s top officials insist that the company continues to be managed by GUYSUCO’s personnel. CEO Paul Bhim was among those addressing the AFC statements.
“The Chinese are there and we have a technical service agreement with the Chinese which runs until June, 2012. They provide about 12 engineers supervised by GUYSUCO personnel. Our people are working along with the Chinese engineers in order for them to obtain training. This will continue until June of next year,” Bhim said.

“We do anticipate that by the end of June, most of the staff would be up to speed. The Chinese have given us an option of actually carrying on for another six months after June of 2012. So if we feel we need further assistance on a technical level, we will certainly consider that,” Bhim said.

Based on the explanations given by GUYSUCO’s top officials, it is therefore clear that the situation is much different from the picture this political party is attempting to paint, and as such the logical conclusion as regards the motive behind creating an impression that there is a “surreptitious deal” is to score cheap political points in an election season.
In a democracy nothing is wrong with any party trying to score political points over its opponent or opponents. This comes with the political territory, but politicians and political parties should desist from deliberately distorting the factual situation and creating mischief in an attempt to desecrate the party in government.

The role of an opposition in any democratic country is to keep the government on its toes and ensure there is transparency and accountability and the constitution is not violated, but this should be done in a fair, objective manner supported by genuine evidence and facts.

With respect to the Skeldon factory, the opposition party did not abide by the above principles. Instead, it has based its case on mere speculation without any concrete evidence or facts which prompted GUYSUCO to hold a press conference to set the records straight.
“This press conference has been called in response to a statement released by the Alliance for Change this afternoon, entitled ‘Let the sunshine prevail in Skeldon factory deal’. Let me say right up front that a number of proposals were received from various entities for the management of the Skeldon sugar factory, in addition to financing to fix some of the problems we have been having with the factory.

These proposals have all been assessed by the Board of Directors. We have not taken up any of those offers,” Bhim said.
So the CEO has made it categorically clear that none of the offers made has been accepted and therefore the least this party could do is desist from spreading misinformation about the corporation if it wants to maintain any credibility and convince the Guyanese populace that it is a viable alternative to the current ruling party.

Unfortunately, it has already seriously hurt itself with its mischievous propaganda about some secret “surreptitious deal”.
If this party thinks that Guyanese are stupid and will succumb to such misinformation, then it is certainly wrong and will have a rude awakening at the appropriate time.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 24 September 2011 03:13 )

Fact is that the PPP cannot campaign on the Skeldon factory! Can they present this to sugar workers and the people of Berbice as making a positivre tangible betterment in the here and now? It just the same as arguing that the Providence Stadium is an economic success story!