Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill and Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Amanza Walton-Desir clashed in the Committee of Supply this afternoon over the dismal financial state of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) in 2020.
Edghill attributed the apparent bankruptcy of the agency to mismanagement and the payment of “super salaries” to appointees, one of whom he alleges was his parliament colleague, Walton-Desir.
The Opposition Parliamentarian was indeed the “General Counsel” of the organization but was fired in 2020 when the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) won the elections that year. She was fired for alleged “non-performance”. Notably, Walton-Desir was hired in 2013 – two years prior to the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) winning the May 2015 elections. She was in fact, hired under the previous PPP/C government.
The opposition MP, in response to Edghill’s comment about the shaky financial state of GCAA, suggested that the lack of income to the regulator was as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Admitting this was might have been one of the factors, Edghill said that had the agency been prudently managed, it would not have been in that precarious position. He noted that the “coffers” were empty, and the government was forced to seek supplementary provisions to keep the agency from going belly-up.
