PRESIDENT David Granger has made it explicit that businessman Brian Tiwari is not an appointee of the Government of Guyana and is not performing any function on behalf of his administration. The President was at the time responding to questions posed by reporters on his weekly televised programme, ‘The Public Interest’ on Friday at the Ministry of the Presidency. His comments

followed widespread criticisms on the appointment of Tiwari by Minister of State Joseph Harmon as a Ministerial Advisor on Business Development.
The appointment was revealed by the Kaieteur News earlier in the week, following which the President personally rescinded it.
“He is not required to provide any business functions. We have a Minister of Business and as far as I am concerned, that minister is quite capable, quite competent and he has not asked me for any assistance and I personally rescinded Mr. Tiwari’s appointment,” President Granger told reporters.
That programme will be televised tonight. Asked if he is aware of Tiwari’s current location, the President replied, “I don’t know.”
He explained, however, that as far as he is aware, the Minister of State had travelled to China with one person, Ms Seepersaud (only name provided), an official of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
GT&T
The duo, the President said, travelled to China to deal with “business concerning GT&T (Guyana Telephone Telegraph Company) interests and that’s as much as I know and that’s all I can say at this time.”
NICIL was responsible for the selling of 20 per cent of government’s shares in GT&T to a Hong Kong company. Those shares were once managed by NICIL and were reportedly sold to the Chinese company circa 2012 to the tune of approximately US$30M.
President Granger reiterated that his government has no “ongoing relations with Mr Tiwari.”
“I certainly don’t have any need for him in that role and that’s why it was rescinded,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, both Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin have told reporters that they only learned of Tiwari’s appointment through the media. The Prime Minster told the Guyana Chronicle on Tuesday that some government officials may have had some concerns with the manner in which the appointment had been done.
Attempts to receive comments from the Minister of State on the matter proved futile. He, however, told the media yesterday morning that he will be hosting a press conference today to deal with the Tiwari issue.
Tiwari was appointed on January 29 by Minister Harmon, but the appointment became public earlier this week andPresident Granger revoked the appointment on Tuesday. Tiwari had been closely linked to the previous government and is a major contractor in the construction and sea defence sectors. [Ariana Gordon]