President Dr. Irfaan Ali has appointed a special technical team comprising Mr. Christopher ‘Kit” Nascimento, Public Communications Consultant; Mr. Christopher Ram Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-law; Mr. Nigel Hinds, Certified Public Accountant and Mr. Sasenarine Singh, Financial Consultant to immediately conduct a “Rapid Financial and Management Assessment” of the following agencies:
• Guyana Power and Light
• Guyana Water Incorporated
• Guyana Geology and Mines Commission
• Central Housing and Planning Authority
• Guyana Forestry Commission
• Guyana Gold Board
• National Industrial and Commercial Limited
• Guyana Lands and Survey Commission
• The Lotto Fund
• Guyana Energy Agency
• Guyana Rice Development Board
• Guyana Oil Company
• Guyana National Shipping Corporation
• Guyana Office of Investment (Go-Invest)
• Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)
The team will also be conducting a review of the operations, policies and programmes of the Department of Public Information (DPI), the National Communications Network Incorporated (NCN) and the Guyana National Newspaper Limited (Guyana Chronicle).
The team will further address the matter of the functions of the Guyana Broadcasting Authority (GNBA).
Despite the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), including President Ali himself, having repeatedly assured that they will not embark on any witch-hunting exercise, the APNU/AFC in a statement on Wednesday evening described the formation of the team as a “PPP Witch Hunt Squad.”
Notably, however, some of the same individuals – Nigel Hinds and Christopher Ram – were part of an audit team for the Coalition when they took office following the 2015 elections. Sasenarine Singh, another member of the team was at the time an executive member of the AFC.
