-for blatant lies, factual distortions, lack of decency
“KAIETEUR NEWS (KN) continues to be a newspaper bent on peddling blatant lies and half-truths; and distorting facts in order to mislead the reading public, feed the needy egos of its puppet principals, and serve the narrow political agendas of its puppet masters.” This was the opinion of Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, as expressed in an invited comment on the KN’s latest misrepresentation of issues related to the Amaila Falls project.
The latest example Dr Singh cited is the newspaper’s repeated reference — most recently in yesterday’s issue — to an agreement for completion of the road project signed between Government and Synergy Holdings, which the newspaper claims bears Dr. Singh’s signature as a witness. Singh’s signature is one of the country’s most recognisable, considering that it is printed on every Guyana currency note. Nowhere on the completion agreement which was released by Government does a signature bearing any resemblance to Dr Singh’s signature appear; yet, the newspaper has wickedly and repeatedly sought to insinuate a non-existent nexus between Dr. Singh and the completion agreement by blatantly lying that the agreement bears Dr. Singh’s signature.
Dr. Singh iterated that the contract for construction of the Amaila Falls road was originally awarded to Synergy Holdings in accordance with applicable procurement laws and procedures; the evaluation of the tender bids was conducted by a qualified technical team; any previous statement by him on the matter would have been intended to defend the process Government had followed in awarding the contract, rather than to defend the contractor, the latter task being the contractor’s own responsibility, in Dr Singh’s opinion.
Singh stated that it was because Government consistently and persistently monitored the contract that the contractor was called in last December, and the agreement for completion under which the contractor was required to give certain undertakings, including to sub-contract some of the work and to supply a new performance bond with an extended maturity period, diligently re-evaluated.
It was pursuant to that agreement, and in light of Synergy’s failure to comply with that agreement, that Government, earlier this week, moved to terminate the construction contract.
Singh declared it most unfortunate that Kaieteur News and its principals appeared to have descended to a new depth of depravity in which they seemed to believe that it was somehow acceptable to fabricate stories, distort facts, besmirch characters, and insult persons in public service, freely and at will, with no regard for either factual accuracy or basic decency.