Dear Editor,
The combined opposition, the Alliance For Change (AFC) and the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) which is dominated by the People’s National Congress (PNC), is trying very hard to create and sustain a false narrative that the PPP/C Government doesn’t have credibility.
But what are the facts? The facts are to the contrary. Let’s compare and contrast the two governments in this regard, starting with the APNU/AFC’s tenure in office during the period of 2015-2020.
APNU/AFC Credibility Fact Check
i. They made a number of campaign promises, all of which they failed to deliver. Some of the notable promises worthy of highlighting are:
· That they will not destroy the sugar industry, that they will invite technical experts from Brazil or India with core competences in sugar technology to help with turnaround plan for sugar, sugar factories rehabilitation programme, etc.,
· That they will increase the income tax threshold to $100k,
· That they will support an economy driven by private sector,
· Good governance, etc.
· Claimed the treasury was empty etc., etc.,
What Actually Happened?
They failed to deliver on 90% of their promises, and instead did the inverse:
i. The income tax threshold was never increased to $100k, instead they introduced over 200 new taxes and fees, thereby significantly increasing the cost of doing business, and increasing the taxpayer’s burden…an additional $60 billion in tax revenues was earned owing to this. VAT was placed on electricity, water, private education, and a long list of items that never attracted VAT previously.
ii. Instead of bringing in experts from Brazil or India, a COI was set up headed by Dr. Clive Thomas, which cost the taxpayers $50 million to diagnose GuySuCo. The findings did not recommend the closure of any estates. Yet, APNU government went ahead, disregarded its own advice, and close the estates, effectively severing over 7,000 jobs in the industry, which had a knock-on effect that impacted another 40,000 households indirectly, and cost the economy of over $40 billion annually.
iii. The private sector became their enemy, lack of engagement with the private sector, unfriendly policies to the private sector were vigorously pursued despite the opposition of the private sector to such policies, that were detrimental to growth and development of the private sector.
iv. Claimed the treasury was empty, but they actually inherited $81 billion in liquid cash in the Bank (Bank of Guyana gov’t deposits + commercial banks deposits).
v. Claimed that there were billions in procurement fraud but never found any such evidence, despite spending millions of dollars to Chris Ram and Anand Goolsaran to conduct “forensic audits”. Waste of taxpayers’ money.
vi. Received a signing bonus of US$18 million, violated the financial laws by not reporting same to the National Assembly, and when uncovered, they denied receiving any such bonus on multiple occasions.
vii. The former President is cited for multiple constitutional breaches, such as the unilateral appointment of the GECOM Chair in the night.
viii. Violated the constitution by not holding elections when it was constitutionally due, following the successful passage of the NCM in December 2018.
ix. Transparently attempted to rig the elections on national television and in the view of the world at large but denied such egregious act.
x. Continue to peddle false narratives to their support base.
xi. The former finance minister perpetrated the most breaches and blatant violation of the country’s financial laws more than any other finance minister. In fact, I couldn’t find any evidence, via the annual reports, that evidenced the scale and extent of financial breaches by any other finance minister. According to the annual reports, the former minister is culpable for the misappropriation of $200 billion.
xii. The APNU/AFC government never accepts responsibility for any wrongdoing or genuine mistakes/shortcomings. An executive member of the PNC, while in government, under the influence of alcohol hit down and killed a prominent cyclist. Never took responsibility, and he was never disciplined. Other PNC members were the subject of other inappropriate behavior as public officials, never took responsibility or condemn such behavior…
The PPP Government on the other hand:
i. Restored financial integrity in public finance,
ii. Reversed all the draconian taxes and fees,
iii. Restored democracy
iv. Fulfilled all of its manifesto promises so far (still have 2 years remaining)
v. Turn around the economy in record time,
vi. Inherited a bankrupt treasury, the government deposit accounts at the Bank of Guyana was $92 billion on an overdraft balance (which was a violation of the FMAA).
vii. One of its ministers was the subject of PNC engineered controversy, who was bold enough to resign from his position, and the govt also took a stance…the PNC never did such a thing.
viii. In relation to the audit, the govt position has been consistent throughout the, they’ve taken responsibility, there is no controversy… they’ve maintained the audit is a technical matter and the technical people need to deal with it. There is absolutely no controversy.
ix. The PNC never acknowledged corruption and took a stance to take action on corruption within government systems. The PPP has done that (reference to the VP press conference last week).
x. The PNC also never worked with any PPP executives when they were in government in 2015-2020…the PPP has recruited two top PNC executives in government, who remains PNC executives.
xi. The PPP always acknowledges its limitations in government, the challenges etc., and how it intends to deal with those…the PNC never did such a thing.
xii. The PPP has never lied/denied anything. They’ve subjected themselves to the highest degree of scrutiny, be it to the public, the media, or the opposition.
Anybody ever saw former President Granger, or any former Minister took impromptu questions from the media, and make decisions on the spot in outreaches? Never.
So, the APNU/PNC/AFC has absolutely no moral authority to speak on credibility. They have none. They cannot be compared to the incumbent government.
The PPP Government has proven that it has the highest level of credibility and accountability. Just look at how they dealt with controversial matters and contrast that with the APNU/AFC/PNC.
Yours respectfully,
Joel Bhagwandin
