—maintains that ‘PR spins’ cannot change fact that Trotman was ‘stripped’ of oil and gas responsibilities
A CULTURE of secrecy is being developed under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government. And when they get caught they “circle the wagon” when they get caught, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo. “We saw a recent manifestation of this when Trotman was stripped of his responsibility…no matter how many press statements they put out to say otherwise, he was stripped of his responsibility,” he said.
Jagdeo referred to the reports from the Ministry of the Presidency, which indicated that Trotman was the one who proposed the establishment of a Department of Energy and as such he was not ‘stripped’ of his responsibilities. However, Jagdeo questioned the rationale of Trotman proposing a Department of Energy outside of the Ministry of Natural Resources and surmised that this was not the intent.
That said, the Opposition Leader charged that the “culture of secrecy” must be done away with and the Coalition Government must come clean on the real reasons for removing the responsibilities for the oil and gas sector from Trotman’s portfolio. “We need to know why these responsibilities were removed….did they find things against him that were adverse….are the reports about PNC persons saying that the AFC is ‘making all the money’ in the big ministries true? Is that the reason for the change?” he questioned.
Jagdeo declared, “It is clear that we can’t trust our government.” According to him, the lack of information and the move to have a Department of Energy is being seen for what it is – a diversion from the real issues, including the large scale corruption in the oil and gas sector and the incompetent act of the Coalition Government in this sector.
Referring to the recent publication of advertisements that talk up success in the oil and gas sector are not substantive and are being use to “create an impression” that there are positive moves being made. “They was to create the impression that Guyana is rising….how can Guyana be rising when we lost 25,000 jobs in three years, cost of living is up, you tax everything and corruption is up,” he asked.
The Opposition Leader made it clear that the public relation spins will not divert attention of all Guyanese from the real issues at hand and the Coalition Government will be held accountable for its actions by the Guyanese people.
