Following inquiries from the parliamentary opposition, it turns out that a total of $209.4M has been spent by the coalition government since it came to office in 2015 for the traveling expenses of President David Granger and his entourage.
According to information seen by this publication, Granger completed a total of 37 official trips overseas between May 16, 2015 and November of this year. This includes almost a dozen trips overseas in 2015, costing some $57.5 Million.
In 2016, Granger made eight trips at a total cost of $44.7 Million. In 2017, he made a similar number of trips for marginally less- $42.7 Million.
For the year 2018, the President completed 10 overseas trips, costing 64.4 Million.
Opposition Chief Whip Gail Texieira, in whose name the questions were originally posed, had also questioned what short and long term benefits Guyana gained from those trips.
In his reply, Minister of State Joseph Harmon related that the trips were for advancing Guyana’s foreign policy objectives.
The benefits include, according to Harmon, having Guyana’s territorial case referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
