A VERY upset Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Jennifer Webster charged, yesterday, that the Kaieteur News headline captioned “Minister’s daughter to invest US$15M as business partner” was inaccurate and malicious.She was quoted as saying: “The article is intended to expose me, personally, my office as a Minister of the Government and the Government of Guyana to public ridicule and to perpetuate the perception of conflict of interest and corruption on my part and the Government of Guyana.
“Everyone is entitled to live his or (her) separate life regardless of affiliation of his or her families,” a statement attributed to her said.
In her defence and that of her mother’s, Andriana Webster, in a letter to Kaieteur News, stated that she is an independent person in her own right and expertise and that her work is in no way influenced by her mother, who is the Minister of Human Services and Social Security.
“I denounce any attempt to assassinate my character and my mother’s character in any form or sort. The proposed solid waste recycling project to be undertaken in Guyana, for which I am a registered director of the company, Natural Globe Inc, is purely being undertaken by the company. In fact, the financing for this project is already in place,” the minister’s daughter wrote in her letter to the Kaieteur News Editor.
That newspaper reported, yesterday, that Chief Executive Officer of Natural Globe Incorporated, Mohamed Osman informed that it was him and a female investor who would be putting the money to invest in the recycling plant.
Yesterday, both Minister Webster and her daughter, in their statements, refuted claims that the latter is the other investor or the female to whom Osman is referring.
They pointed out that, while the younger Webster is a director of the company, she is not a shareholder as was reported by Kaieteur News.
Andriana Webster is working with the company Mogford Enterprises and its parent company THI and ETS as an information technology consultant.
Designs software
She said, in her area of expertise, she designs software and provides information technology solutions for various companies.
Meanwhile, the minister told the media, during a press conference in her Georgetown office yesterday, that she has no connection to the company for which her daughter works and influenced no decision, personally, or as a Minister of the Government.
In fact, in response to a question from the media, she also made it clear that she was not part of the Cabinet of Ministers’ approval of the contract since she was absent on travel duties for the state out of Guyana.
She said she did not inform the Cabinet that her daughter was involved in the company because she was unaware of her involvement.
Minister Webster said she exercised no control, whatsoever, over her daughter’s decisions with respect to her personal or professional life.
The mother said the article in Friday’s papers attempted to imply or convey the impression that her daughter’s professional pursuits are as a result of some influence exercised by her, upon the Government of Guyana.
But it is not only erroneous but an assault on her personal and professional integrity and that of her daughter.
The minister said, in the circumstance, she demands a retraction of the misleading statements and the tendering of an apology publicly by the newspaper to her and her daughter.
Yesterday, too, Minister Webster told the media anyone can be a director of a company but that does not make them an investor or shareholder.
“I am not involved in it and my professional integrity is worth much more and I do not get involved in these things. I am a decent person. I don’t get into stupidness,” she declared.
The minister warned that, once she hears the recording in which the businessman cites her daughter as in investor, she will be advising her daughter, accordingly, and a legal course is not ruled out.