Jagdeo is quoted as saying, “We will never forget this.” He was speaking in relation to his arrest and that of his PPP corrupted collogues. Mr. Granger needs to not miss what Jagdeo said. Jagdeo was President during the time of Guyana’s worse homicides, murders and civil chaos. When he was asked about it, it was reported that he said that it is criminals killing criminal. Mr. Jagdeo don’t play. If he says he will not forget “this”, the Granger-led administration needs to pay attention.
Jagdeo is saying that the arrests are witch-hunting and tools that are being used by the current government to frustrate to opposition’s work. Well, Mr. Jagdeo is only trying to spin the facts. It is clear what the Granger administration is doing. The Coalition ran on the premise that if elected they will jail all the corrupt PPPites. (They might not be following through with many of their other promises, but this one seems high on their agenda).
The stench of corruption was unbearable during the Jagdeo era. The secret contracts; the hiring of Fip Motilall and other trickster contractors; the billions in kick-backs; their refusal to set up the independent Public Procurement Commission, the underpriced and undersold Pradoville housing villages, etc., were all well documented gangster schemes to bilk the Guyanese people and steal billions of dollars. Now that the chickens are coming home to rust, Jagdeo is trying to make it look like these arrests are based on current events.
Every Guyanese know that in arresting the PPP members, the Government is fulfilling a campaign promise. Let the records reflect that during the 2015 campaign, the United Republican Party (URP) also called for the investigating and incarceration the PPP members who are found guilty of the charges. No government should be allowed to thief and disburse of Guyana’s wealth the way the PPP did while in office.
All the ill-gotten possessions, from all those associated with the PPP, should be repossessed by the government. Houses, vehicles, lands and other properties must be seized and reassigned to the country’s coffers. Those found guilty of stealing from the country need to be jailed and humiliated for their actions. Guyana needs to adopt the posture of the USA, where the law is not dispensed to only a certain kind of people. The legal playing field needs to be leveled to see members of parliament, managers, Permanent Secretaries, CEO and even members of the armed services, hauled before the courts and called into account for their wrong doings.
The United Republican Party wishes to applaud the Granger administration for moving forward with questioning those suspected of embezzling tax payers’ money. This is the kinds of changes that the people voted for. However, the URP wishes to suggest that the same investigative intensity that is now focused on the PPP, be similarly dispensed among the ranks of the Coalition members. We would like to know about the Norton Bond situation. The country is also interested in the GT&T sale and the balance owed. Was it really paid, as Mr. Harmon had said? If so, where is the money?
An investigation needs to go into the Jubilee Park fiasco. How is it that we were told that the monies were donations, yet the tax payers were billed for hundreds of millions of dollars to cover the related cost? The voters would also like to know why the BK dumpsite controversy was so hurriedly awarded. There is also the case of the material from the Specialty Hospital that went missing and has not been fully accounted for.
Editor, the URP is simply sighting additional cases that the Granger-led administration needs to swiftly begin to look into, with the same amount of judicial scrutiny as that given to their political adversaries. These cases of perceived corruption from the current Government need to be quickly resolved. Because come 2020, if the Coalition loses to the PPP, the current members of parliament and those associated to the PNC-Coalition, need to know that it will be hell to play in Guyana. When Jagdeo said “We will never forget this”, it was not a suggestion. It was a promise. Maybe even a threat. The Pandora’s Box of political vendetta in Guyana has now been opened. This might not end well.