A legacy of division

The opposition last week took umbrage with statements by President David Granger that under the Bharrat Jagdeo administration the nation was divided into red and green-red being the PPP supporters who were favoured with massive development in their communities and green those of the then opposition (PNCR) whose villages were virtually abandoned and starved of resources.

Apart from these discriminatory acts the Bharrat Jagdeo regime will be remembered—apart from the rampant crime —  as a period of devious political patronage that saw him decide which of his loyal subjects should be rewarded and which ones punished. This extended from the lowly sugar worker up to the country’s corporate boardrooms. It resulted in the loss of billions of dollars in tax revenue and led to a distrust of government as a force for good that this current coalition has done much to restore.

Jagdeo for all his current talk about public servants deserving decent salaries never gave them a proper salary increase. 5% to 8% was his preferred gift, handed down from on high days before Christmas. As a cheap election gimmick, Jagdeo also approved across-the-board increases in salaries for all government employees retroactive to January 2011 and payable a few days before the 2011 election. Instead, as was the case with the teachers, he created various intangible benefits such as annual clothing allowances and limited duty-free concessions for cars that could be taken away or renegotiated at any time. This government has given genuine increases in salaries in order to put money in the workers’ pockets.

Arguably no other group was treated as shabbily by Jagdeo as Guyana’s indigenous communities. This culminated in what was a naked vote-buying operation ahead of the 2011 election. A Commonwealth Observer report stated that “opposition parties accused the government of expedient timing and the misuse of public funds by handing out GUY$20,000 each to hundreds of Lethem residents from the PPP/C’s Region Nine headquarters.” The dismissive, paternalistic attitude towards Indigenous peoples can be seen in two incidents: one where first Nigel Dharamlall, the then permanent secretary of the Amerindian Affairs Ministry was recorded threatening to bar access to his office and withhold stipends from Amerindian leaders. And secondly, where the country’s own president Donald Ramotar was caught on tape telling a young Indigenous man in Aishalton that if Jagdeo had “been here, he might have slap you, cause you stupid.”

In contrast, this government has taken a genuine and respectful approach to development in the hinterland regions, including the provision of healthcare, infrastructural and educational facilities and several modern radio stations.

The Petro-Caribe rice deal, on the face of it, was a win-win for Guyana: cheaply financed petroleum products paid for by high-priced rice. Indeed, it made many favoured millers fabulously wealthy, but it was also a creation of debt that transferred billions to the rice sector. The accumulated debt amounted to US$184M as of December 2014. Also, Guyanese commuters and drivers did not benefit from cheaper fuel at the pump as could have been the case. Instead, as prices for fuel dropped, the government raised the excise tax, thus passing on none of the savings to the average Guyanese. The use of the Guyana Rice Development Board to apportion rice contracts to Venezuela among millers was an opaque form of political patronage open to influence and corruption.

The sugar industry is the most blatant example of the abuse of state resources for political gain. Through his own blunders, Jagdeo personally botched the Skeldon sugar project so badly that it sent GuySuCo into a financial tailspin. However, instead of having the courage to fix an industry already declining due to mismanagement and external factors, he took a cowardly approach and simply used taxpayers’ funds to put the industry on life support. This government is fixing the industry through rationalisation, right-sizing and a goal to create a corporation that can produce sugar sustainably. It may not be popular with everyone, but that is fit and proper leadership and governance.

In the area of business corporations also fell in and out of favour with Jagdeo. In favour always was Bobby Ramroop, whose Queens Atlantic II was given dubious tax concessions for its site in Ruimveldt that had to be hurriedly made legal via legislation in Parliament. GRA Chief Godfrey Statia has been reeling in these and subsequent concessions.
Land was also handed out like gifts to friends and family. Odinga Lumumba was sold a tract of land on Mandela Avenue for $1.5M and sold it four years later for $38M. Even criminals got into the action: Roger Khan, when not having his goons kill young Guyanese and exporting drugs, was building houses at an East Bank scheme, while the Guyana Forestry Commission granted a State Forest Exploratory Permit for a large tract of land in Guyana’s interior to Aurelius Inc., a company controlled by Khan.

A convicted real estate fraudster, Ed Ahmad, was sold GuySuco land at Leonora on the cheap under the pretense of setting up a woodworking facility.

A radio licence was bestowed upon Jagdeo’s niece Kamini Persaud, husband of then Minister Robert Persaud, with which they did nothing for years and then turned around and sold to a Trinidad company.  House lots by the sea to those in favour; well paid jobs for the sons and daughters of party apparatchiks; the former Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Power and Light, Bharat Dindyal, being paid an annual salary of over $73M. We could go on and on…At every turn, Jagdeo in his malicious and petty practices schemed to please his supporters and punish his enemies. It was a despotic rule. This government will ensure we create a new Guyana from the ruins of his kingdom.

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