“Irfaan Ali will be 10 times a better President than David Granger ever was,” said People’s Progressive Party Civic’s (PPP/C) member, Charles Ramson at a public meeting held last evening in the Albertown/Queenstown area.
According to Ramson, Ali’s ability to put the country first and to implement the plan and policies of a “high-level team,” is what will make the difference in his leadership when compared to Granger.
Ramson, who is on the PPP’s list of candidates, said that in several instances, Granger has demonstrated that he is willing to allow “pettiness” to get the better of him and cause him to make decisions that are not in the best interest of Guyana.
While Ramson said that these blunders are numerous, his focus was on the many decisions the President made regarding Guyana’s oil industry.
Ramson firmly believes that one of the fundamental mistakes made by President Granger was his move to appoint Dr. Vincent Adams, an energy expert, to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) while appointing an environmentalist to head the vital Energy Department.
Ramson claimed to have been informed that back in 2018, President Granger met with Dr. Adams and told him of his intention to appoint him head of the Department of Energy.
However, Ramson said that the very weekend after, Dr. Adams gave a comment to Kaieteur News about the US$18M signing bonus to the effect that Guyana should have secured much more than the sum which can be considered mediocre in comparison. “He said that we should have collected hundreds of millions.” Ramson said that Dr. Adams’ comment “rubbed our President the wrong way and he became upset so he appointed the environmentalist, who can be schooled by Dr. Adams, to head the Department of Energy.”
Ramson said that it is obvious that the appointments should have been reversed to have Dr. Adams head the Energy Department. But, he claimed that was the punishment Dr. Adams received for not agreeing with the government’s acceptance of such a small sum, “Now the Nation suffers as we are not benefitting from his experience in his main area of expertise.”
Ramson noted that Dr. Adams possesses over 40 years of experience in both the public and private sectors for environmental, petroleum, and geological engineering, and geohydrology. Ramson also pointed out that Dr. Adams has 30 years of service in the US Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management.
He said, “but all of that was brushed aside just because the man made a comment that Granger did not like.”
Ramson expressed his opinion that Guyana would have been much better off with Dr. Adams as the head of the Energy Department as he brings a wealth of experience.
Ramson said, “Now the environmentalist has to learn things that Dr. Adams already knows. And now we are doing a lot of nonsense, oil companies are taking advantage of us.”
Ramson told listeners that Guyana needs leaders who will not put square pegs in round holes. “You need leaders who will have your back and who can stand up to oil companies for you. Granger is not going to do that.”
