IN the wake of a recommendation for criminal charges be instituted against several former government ministers over the sale of lands at the Pradoville 2 housing scheme, the opposition People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) has condemned what it claimed is a “vicious and vengeful attempt by the APNU+AFC administration.The PPP, in a statement yesterday, said it will not be daunted by the on-going APNU+AFC “witch-hunting and campaign of vilification”.
The PPP said it remains convinced that at length, the truth will come out and the party’s unsinkable faith in the people in general, and its members and supporters in particular, will eventually see the governing APNU+AFC being a sorry sight. “All the evil and diabolical acts they have committed will be dashed to pieces and consigned to the dustbin of history,” the PPP said in its statement. The Attorney General, Basil Williams has since indicated that he will be forwarding the recommendations to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice on the case. The PPP said that “the blitzkrieg launched against the APNU+AFC coalition administration by a wide cross section of Guyanese society expressing their disgust and rejection of the unconscionable salary increase” has the coalition government on the back foot.

“In a desperate effort to wage a fight-back, several beneficiaries of the largesse from the treasury have come out in defense of their defenseless ‘split the spoils, mates’ syndrome. First, it was Harmon, followed by Basil Williams, Jordan then Trotman who came out in Viva Zapata style defending their hefty pay hikes,” the PPP charged.

It added that others are bound to follow suit as the coalition sinks deeper and deeper in the quagmire which it has found itself. “One of the tools in the damage control tool box the government has resorted to is the technique called ‘diversion’; it is used to divert attention away from an issue such as the current salary increase debacle which the Granger-led APNU+AFC coalition administration has come under severe criticism for on a daily basis,” the PPP stated.
According to the PPP, the government is hoping that by diverting the public’s attention away from itself and the salary increase and further, by shifting attention to the so-called Pradoville 2 inquisition by leaking the “results of the investigation and recommendations” by the Asset Recovery Unit, that they will succeed in re-focusing the public’s attention from itself and the current morass to the fabricated Pradoville 2 Nancy story”.

It said the most recent Trotman’s “trust us, believe us” pleadings have been clumsy and must be seen as further blundering by his administration. And the attempt to divert attention away from the salary issue is quite obvious to all and sundry, the PPP posited. It said these efforts are another manifestation of the Government trying to fool the people. “In effect, their defence has been transformed into counter-attack and the target is the Opposition as is to be expected,” the PPP said.