…sighting corruption at top level
Executive Member of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Gladwin Abdulla has resigned from the party citing corrupting as his reason for leaving.
Abdulla, who operated out of Berbice, in a release to the media on Thursday said he has officially tendered his resignation with immediate effect.
“The reason is centred mainly on the many corruption charges being levelled against officials and members of the AFC and their penchant for attacking members who are honest and hardworking,” Abdulla said in a release.
Abdulla claimed that he was a dedicated and committed member of the AFC but mistakenly thought that the coalition was the best solution to have ever happened to Guyana since ‘change’ will pervade the land and the ‘good life’ will enter the homes of the impoverished.
He also said he was of the view that with the coalition he was expecting that corruption would have become a distant memory but sadly, it has improved significantly.
“I saw through the façade of pretensions and hypocrisy peddled by the AFC Ministers and Party officials. The various Ministers who visited Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) would often compliment me for the great work I was doing both for the Party and the residents in Region Six.”
The now former AFC official in his release supported claims made in the past on several occasions that there is a high level of corruption at the Public Infrastructure Ministry involving top ranking officials.
“The proverbial straw which finally broke the camel’s back was the $120 million road slashing contract which was awarded to mostly AFC members and officials. But later I came face to face with undeniable proof of corruption. I was asked to accompany an official from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure to a well-known contractor’s home where he asked the contractor for seven per cent kickback on a contract he will get for him. When the contractor refused him, he said that the official then told the contractor that he was sent by the subject Minister. The contractor again refused and we hastily leave. I was highly embarrassed by this open display of corruption,” Abdulla said.
It was previously reported that several contractors connected to the AFC who were awarded contracts to slash the road shoulders in Region Six were issued without tenders. Nevertheless, Abdulla admitted that he was issued with one of those $15 million contracts.
“This Ministry of Public Infrastructure official had given me a contract to slash the Corentyne road sides but I gave it back since I could not afford to pay 10 per cent kickback. That official has since been doing that contractual work.”
“The AFC members who were given the $120 million road slashing contract do not even have the financial resources to do the work and I had to act as a guarantor for a line of credit for them with two businessmen to purchase slashers, gas and oil among other items…”, the angered AFC member stated.
In addition, Abdulla related that some AFC officials who are holding ministerial positions are involved in corruption and has been attacking other party members who speak out against corruption.
