IT cannot escape public attention how stoically the Executive Director of the National  Commercial and Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, continues to stand up against the ongoing misrepresentations, false information and cowardly attacks against his integrity by both chairman of the AFC, Khemraj Ramjattan, and APNU’s shadow Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge, over the financial management of the state-operated enterprise.
Not only has Brassington been refuting, with specific data, allegations about the financial assets, investments and general management of NICIL, but there remains to be accepted his open challenge, over a week ago, to participate in a live television forum.
In one of his emotional claims, the AFC’s Ramjattan had spoken of G$50B being at the disposal of NICIL. More recently has come the innuendoes from Ramjattan and APNU’s Greenidge about nepotism and corruption.
To his credit, the experienced NICIL head remains unfazed, and has been calling on his accusers to produce EVIDENCE of claimed wrongdoings by him, as well as for checking the facts of his statements with the Auditor General — if the opposition MPs are really interested.
Most recently, Greenidge, former Finance Minister of a PNC government, who was never known to be as energetic in his public posturings currently on display about compliance with the Financial Management and Accountability Act, is now piously warning that he was not interested in Brassington’s “resignation” but imprisonment, once ‘financial malfeasance’ has been established.
If, therefore, “political spite and vindictiveness” against the government is not at the core of the AFC/APNU ongoing hostile exploitation of a one-seat parliamentary majority, now being exposed in relation to some State agencies and institutions, in the current case NICIL, then why Ramjattan and Greenidge do not accept Brassington’s open challenge for participation in a live televised forum on the status and operations NICIL—once structured with independence and professionalism at the core?
In our editorial last Sunday, we focused on the AFC/APNU-generated controversy about NICIL’s management and also the challenge thrown out by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union President, Lincoln Lewis over his falsehood about the switching of steam and diesel turbines and more from Linden to the Berbice region.
As of yesterday, we have not been made aware of a reply from Lewis to the challenge from the Prime Minister; nor has there been any indication of a willingness from the political opposition to the NICIL’s CEO preparedness for a live, televised forum on its operations.
We are persuaded that the details CEO Brassington has been providing over the past fortnight in engagements with the media have been helpful to public understanding. We wish to commend him on being quite forthcoming with FACTS, as distinct from ALLEGATIONS.