There was no direction from central government nor the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration to evict the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) from the building it illegally occupied for party purposes in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
This was made clear by Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who emphasised on Friday, that the PNC/R ignored letters previously sent regarding its unlawful stay at the State-owned facility.
The Vice President was speaking to journalists during a media conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
“So let me make it clear at the beginning, there was no direction on the part of the People’s Progressive Party to have APNU evicted from the building that they were illegally occupying. There was no direction from the central government to have this done,” Dr Jagdeo stated.
Several members of the opposition party have since expressed their dissatisfaction, over the decision taken by the regional authority to retrieve the building for official use.
The Vice President said letters were previously written, including one to former coalition government minister, Amna Ally back in 2021, and two others were addressed to the party’s former General Secretary, Geeta Chandan-Edmond.
“Since 2021, three notices from the REO pursuant to the auditor general’s report… I have here the inventory of Region Nine and the building is listed as belonging to the region. This property is the property of the region.”
These letters were sent after the Auditor General’s recommendations were made, which required accounting officers for ministries and regions to take action.
The PPP/C Government has made it clear that it fully supports the auditor general’s recommendations and committed to ensuring that accounting officers take appropriate action.
“We have insisted that the Auditor General’s recommendations have to be pursued. When the accounting officers for a ministry and the region go to the Public Accounts Committee, they are hammered by both sides about not taking action. The accounting officers are the REOs (Regional Executive Officers) of the region,” the Vice President added.
Dr Jagdeo stated that if the PNC/R wishes to have an office, it can apply for a piece of land and the government may be willing to provide same.
“We’ve seen this impunity from the PNC forever. It’s impunity, they occupy literally tens of valuable state properties across the country for many years that…I’m sure they don’t have any record for ownership there.”
The VP said the PNC/R has now gone back to its “old play book” but that will in no way hinder the progress of the PPP/C Administration. [DPI]
