This morning, Minister of Public Service Tabitha Sarabo-Halley essentially labelled Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo as someone who is in the habit of misleading the public in order to further his agenda.
The minister held a press conference at her Waterloo Street Office where she focused on disclosing scholarships but fielded questions on all matters relating to her ministry.
Guyana Standard asked Sarabo-Halley to respond to Jagdeo’s statement to the effect that she fired several persons from her ministry to protect the many more “secrets” at that ministry. Jagdeo had said, “They have much more to hide.”
He said that disclosures about $20M being sent to the bank accounts to two children of Minister Simona Broomes were just the tip of the iceberg. It was later disclosed that the money was for scholarships.
At the press conference, Sarabo-Halley said that her Ministry has nothing to hide.
She said that Jagdeo, “says a lot of things; most of them, if not all, are untrue and are just things he takes from the sky.”
She further said that it is clear Jagdeo just hopes the media will run with his claims to continue the misrepresentation.
“It is inaccurate that the reason that I took the action that I took is because I have anything to hide. You would remember what happened when it was obvious that the APNU+AFC government would be in office. A lot of things were removed. A lot of things disappeared; even in this department there are files that cannot be found,” the Minister said.
She continued, “I don’t want to get too much into it but there are files that still cannot be found. I am not in the business of hiding. I am not in the business of not being truthful and honest and transparent. Jagdeo can say whatever he wants [but] I know that the reason I took that decision had nothing to do with hiding anything and it had nothing to do with Minister Broomes.”
