The Office of the President has expressed surprise at a statement by Opposition Leader Robert Corbin regarding his party’s reaction to the offer of the Government of Guyana to dispose of its minority 20% shareholding in GT&T.

A press statement from Office of the President last evening said the PNCR has officially not taken a public position on whether it supports the expressed intention of the Government to liberalise the Telecommunications Sector.

“The administration hopes that there can be no reluctance by the PNCR to identify with the reasoning that led to the decision to liberalise the sector, reasoning that includes the ability to exploit the social and economic benefits of ICT, benefits that are clearly hamstrung today by the Guyanese/GT&T licence agreement of 1991, an agreement that was entered into by the then PNCR in Government,” the statement said.

“The silence of the PNCR on this matter can only be interpreted as a lack of concern for the citizens of Guyana who would benefit from liberalisation, or it could reflect some consideration on the part of the PNCR for the electoral support mooted to have been provided to the party in their repetitive and futile electoral bids since 1992.

“Available records would support the decision of the Government to dispose of the shares as financial returns are miserably poor based on the dividend payment received over time.

“Since 1991, the minority shareholder received zero dividend payment until the year 2000, and since then the annual amount has fluctuated between US$1M TO US$4M while the company has been reporting skyrocketing profits over the same time.

“Additionally, to support the decision to dispose of the minority shareholding has been the fact that the shareholder has consistently been prevented from exercising any influence whatsoever on the affairs of the company.

“Maybe, the views of the PNCR are a reflection of its shenanigans with the privatisation of GTC and its fears those shenanigans might be disclosed.

“The PNCR must know that it cannot have its selective way in dealing with such issues.

It supports privatisation some of the time; and with other sectors, is strangely silent and non-committal, the statement said.

“Someone has to encourage Mr. Corbin to the fact that there are more pressing issues to investigate that are closer to his home and party, investigations for which he may garner some of the critical support that he seems to need today,” the Office of the President statement concluded.