[www.inewsguyana.com] – The Working Peoples Alliance (WPA) says that the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is continuing to show disrespect for Guyanese as the institution recently approved two loans totaling some US$32.16M despite Parliament being prorogued and scheduled for dissolution this Saturday.
The approval for the two separate loans to the Government of Guyana took place at the fourth IDB Caribbean IDB Governors Regional Meeting held in Freeport, Bahamas.
On February 26, the WPA led by Dr Rupert Roopnaraine said that even though concerns were raised about a previous loan agreement with the government in the last month, the bank has approved another loan, this time for a larger amount of money.
“The WPA further noted the “coincidence” of the approval of the loans by the IDB, the announcement by His Excellency President Donald Ramotar on February 24th, 2015 on the planned dissolution of Parliament, and the announcement of the Government’ plan to distribute 6,000 solar panels to Amerindian Communities out of the IDB funds. The only thing not done so far is for the IDB to endorse the PPP/Civic,” the statement read.
The Party has now questioned the integrity of the IDB and its commitment to transparency with its recent acts.
“The WPA must now question the IDB’s commitment to transparency, accountability, ethics and the rule of law which the IDB so self-righteously claims for itself. It hopes that the Bank will now accept this offer of self-redemption by openly declaring if any of the above-mentioned loans were disbursed, and if either was, or both of were, its timing and destination.”
The statement said that the IDB must be remain cognizant of the fact that loans must be deposited into the Consolidated Fund and can only be withdrawn via an Appropriation Act.
“The Bank’s collusion with the Government at this stage would leave the WPA, in consultation with the members of the joint opposition, no choice but to re-examine the validity of the loans, and by extension its repayment. We are appalled that the IDB could assume arrogantly that it could ignore the legitimate calls by the WPA and indeed the entire parliamentary Opposition to show some restraint in its dealings with the PPP/C Government on the eve of general elections,” the statement emphasized.
The release also detailed that these acts serve to severely tarnish the reputation of the IDB and it must now consider whether it wants to be seen as linked to the ruling PPP/C.
“The only thing not done so far is for the IDB to endorse the PPP/Civic” the statement concluded.
