Dear Editor,
The rampant corruption that occurred under the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change administration was brought to an end in 2020. Through the democratic process, the Guyanese people removed the former administration after a five-month delay. They had attempted to pervert the true will of the people of Guyana.
Since the People’s Progressive Party Civic Government entered office in August of 2020, numerous acts of corruption, nepotism and cronyism have been unearthed. The APNU+AFC, who did little to nothing for Guyana and Guyanese, grossly mismanaged this country and its resources. Their many acts of deliberate misappropriation of taxpayers’ money have seen many of them being brought before the courts on charges, and rightly so.
These acts, along with their many other indiscretions, resulted in the APNU/AFC facing a no-confidence motion three years into their tenure. The behaviour of those political leaders subsequent to the successful passage of the no-confidence motion in December 2018 left much to be desired. From 2020 to now, the revelations of corruption have not astonished this letter writer.
Recently, during the examination of the Auditor General’s Report for 2017, another example of rampant corruption surfaced. This time, the Ministry of Education came onto the radar involving a fuel scandal.
Only last month, tension erupted between Jermaine Figueira, Chairman of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), and the Senior Minister of Public Works, Hon Bishop Edghill. The Senior Minister was at that time seeking clarification in regard to the sale of some derelict vehicles by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, also back in 2017. The Minister’s inquiry saw direct attempts to suppress information into the highly irregular sale that occurred when the APNU/AFC was in power. It appears that, thus far, 2017 was another corrupt year under the failed coalition.
Incidentally, in December last year, Chairman of the PAC, Jermaine Figueira, manufactured a bizarre idea. He suggested that the Public Accounts Committee fast-track the reviewing of the Auditor General’s Reports of the APNU/AFC coalition’s spending for the years 2016, 2017, and 2018. This absurdity was vehemently rejected by the Government members of the PAC. It was obvious that the APNU/AFC coalition did not want the PAC examining their spending.
The Chairman of the PAC, Jermaine Figueira, who was an official in the previous administration and a Member of Parliament, is fully cognisant of the APNU/AFC’s misappropriation and corrupt practices. If he had been successful, many of the revelations we are now seeing coming out of the PAC meetings would have been sidelined or suppressed altogether.
The work of the PAC is important, it is for this reason that it shouldn’t be rushed or fast-tracked. It should be able to conduct a thorough examination of the AG’s Reports, and the appropriate actions should be taken.
Sincerely,
Alvin Hamilton
