The PPP refused to set up the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) without leaving in the section for their Cabinet’s “No Objection”. In other words, the PPP wanted the Commission to function but they must be allowed, as the Government, to steal billions of dollars by being able to object to contractors who will not agree to give them kick-backs on the contracts. The PNC just as crookish.
The PNC-Coalition have moved ahead with the setting up of the PPC but like their greedy and corrupt counter and partner in crime, (the PPP), they continue to retain the “no objection” clause, so that they could receive their billions in kick-backs from the contractors of their choosing. But Nandalall and the PPP will have none of it. The PPP knows full well that their massive houses, fat bank accounts, vehicles and their political campaigns were all financed from monies obtained in questionable ways, including through the handing out of contracts.
In fact, the contractual awards are the easiest of ways to make your billions. All the politician has to do is get the contractor to agree to charge the Government 4 or 5 times more than the work will cost and then when the contractor get the “no objection”, the contractor gives the puppet master his cut. This way there is no track record of any kind of thieving or embezzlement. All that happens is the country and the tax payers get shafted.
The PPP has practice this form of skullduggery for years. They built massive houses and sent their children to the best schools; they fattened their bank accounts and are living lavishly, simply my following this uncanny process of raping the country. But the PNC-Coalition has caught up with them. The current administration has caught sight of the realities of the billions that they can now embezzle for their own personal enrichment. So it’s game on!
Mr. Jadgeo knows well that the PNC-Coalition can find nothing on him and his team. For all the wickedness that went on under him. In spite of the fact that they lost the government largely because of their corrupt ways, the Coalition can amass nothing on the former President. And if the current government does find anything on Jagdeo and his followers, the fingers will point right back to Granger and his followers. They are all just as guilty. Only that one is guiltier for a longer period.
If they were not billions to be stolen through this “no objection” clause in the Commission’s rules, why are the PPP so antsy? Why are they calling every day for the “no objection” clause to be removed, or for the Commission to begin functioning as an independent body? The Guyanese people are not as stupid as you PPP and PNC leaders think. We know that you are both to set of dishonest leaders; like two peas in a pod.
Does Nandalall really think that the citizens of this country are so daft to believe that he is magnanimously concerned about fairness and equity in the awarding of multi-billions in contract? Does the PPP really think that we are foolish to not know that they are only calling for the removal of the “no objection” because PNC is tricking the system the same way they tricked the system? Fellow Guyanese, if you believe that these two parties are any different, here’s another proof that they are not.
The United Republican Party (URP) is again convinced that allowing any of these parties to govern by themselves is protractedly detrimental to this nation. There needs to be a third party to interrupt these autocratic and corrupt behaviours of these two parties. If they will ever be significant changes in Guyana; if we will ever stop or significantly reduce corruption within the Government, we will need to put a third party in the parliament. Some objective body needs to be there to move another “No Confidence” motion or to institute motions and articles to eliminate this oft repeated financial vandalism that these two political parties are subjecting the country to. They think we are not noticing their shell games. We are very aware!
The United Republican Party (URP) wishes to congratulate the Alliance For Change (AFC) for their decisive and unmovable stance in relation to the parking meter fiasco and more particularly their forthright objection to the treatment of Mr. Sherod Duncan. The URP also wishes that the AFC would get back to representing the people and be more unhinged from the PNC.
This parking meter deal was a PPP-styled, crookish, and secretive undertaking. The beneficiaries are no doubt the PNCite and members of their cabal. It is therefore noteworthy that the AFC top brass in the parliament and cabinet took over a year to put a stop to this illicit venture. Maybe it is that they were finding their footing. Maybe it is because they were busy with other stuff. Nonetheless, the voters took note of their attitude and they have lost considerable ground on this front. They did not regain any credibility for their late objection to this parking meter failure. However, what their input did was validate Mr. Duncan and further catapult him as a political force to be reckoned with.
The PNC-Coalition should see the sizable objection to this unhealthy parking meter deal as a warning sign that the Guyanese populace is unto to them. This clarion cry for the overturn of the parking meter covenant and the oft-repeated protests should show the current administration that the sleeping giant of the Guyanese working-class is gradually awaking out of its slumber. As the saying goes, You can trick some of the people some of the time: You can trick most of the people some of the time: You can trick most of the people most of the time: But you can’t trick all of the people all of the time. Technology, access to current global information and a humanistic desire for a good life (the kind the politicians now live), are making it to where acceptable change is becoming a prerequisite for civil obedience.
The masses have seen and are seeing the protests around the world as humans stand up and demand what is rightfully theirs. The Guyanese citizenry fastly understands that in Guyana nothing comes easy and without a fight. From the days of President Burnham, all through the PPP years to now, Guyanese have never gotten what is theirs. The politicians live like gods but the ordinary man has never gotten his due. From reasonable land ownership, to earning a living wage, everything in Guyana has got to be obtained by blood, sweat, tears and protest. And the Guyana residents are slowly realizing this fact.
The teachers had to march and protest to have the Smart City Solutions agree not to charge them for parking. The city businesses have had to protest to have the contract of the parking meter reviewed. The drivers have had to come out and picket the Mayor and City Council to get the rates reduced. All this happened but never without a battle.
Now the URP joins with those who are calling for the complete revocation of the parking meter contract. We are now convinced that this matter was illegal from its conception and therefore should not be allowed to remain. During the days of Jagdeo we had several secretive, crooked and scampish deals, which included the Marriott, the Berbice Bridge, the Ameila Falls, the Sanata Textile Mill, the Cheddi Jagan Airport, the Skeldon Sugar Factory, the Petro Caribi agreement and dozens of others undertakings that the audits have since revealed. We will not stand by and allow the PNC-Coalition to mount up their own crookish deals. Already they are several questionable transactions attracting the attention of the country, that even Jadgeo wants to bring criminal charges against the government. When Jagdeo can say that someone is a scamp; when Jagdeo says he smells a rat, it speaks volumes!
So the URP is going on the records in asking the M&CC to scrap this pending parking meter deal. We agree with all the stake holders that Georgetown can do with some kind of traffic regulation, however, a contract which is illegal, oppressive and otherwise detrimental to the City of Georgetown, is not the way to go. We also would like to ask the AFC cabinet members and parliamentarians to use their Cummingsberg bargaining powers to bring a halt to this travesty. If one AFC man can bring the job this far, the host of the other ACF leaders can complete the task.