Dear Editor
I KNEW that it was just a matter of time before the fledgling parties begin to flex their muscles to indicate that they are independent of the PPP/C and to create a niche in the populace and what is a better way of displaying this other than jump up and start singing the old corruption mantra made famous by the PNC (APNU) and the AFC. Both, the Chairman of ANUG, Mr Timothy Jonas and the leader of the Liberty and Justice Party, Mr Lennox Shuman have now sought to regain lost grounds. It must be reminded that these two are from the joinder parties which gained a seat in Parliament and were both vociferous during the five-month period when the Coalition had sought to rig the 2020 Elections. They must be complimented for their fight to restore democracy.

However, once that has been done it is now time for them to stake claim to their party’s independence and to take to the campaign path. But what is disappointing is the fact they are making unfounded allegations which have chorused that of the PNC. According to ANUG, there is ‘an alarming trend to dispense with necessary systemic safeguards, to marginalise the citizens of Guyana who are not perceived to number among the party faithful, and to favour those citizens of Guyana who are perceived to be supporters, while shaping statutory institutions and systems to facilitate easy access to State resources to pursue this divisive agenda’.

Since when is borrowing illegal? When monies borrowed are ill spent and siphoned off as what the Coalition did for five years then that is corruption. Just take a look at the $30 billion bond for GuySuCo and the alarming discoveries highlighted in the Auditor General’s Report. What was this government expected to do when all the reserves were actually depleted and the Consolidated Fund was abused and raped thoroughly? What would have ANUG, if in government, done to jump start the economy in the midst of a menacing pandemic and a merciless flood?

Are citizens being marginalised? This is absurd and laughable. Since this government took office more than $25 billion were put into the pockets of consumers and the ripple effect to the economy has achieved the desired results. Citizens have been able to cope with a rising cost of living due to supply chain issues resulting from the pandemic. In addition, the financial resources were equitably distributed and I would like to see real and hard examples of ‘marginalisation’. This is again singing from the PNC’s Song Book. Moreover, infrastructural developments have been taking place in all the communities regardless of perceived political support. I have submitted evidence in one of my letter that Fyrish Village, which is predominantly populated by Afro-Guyanese, received more capital funds than Kilcoy/Hampshire, Port Mourant and Black Bush Polder combined. This is just one example. It is the PPP/C supporters who should cry marginalisation.

Mr Jonas should walk across the various communities affected by the flood and investigate whether the COVID-19 cash relief and flood relief only favoured ‘party faithfuls’. This is so disgusting and untrue. Anyone who made claims and submitted evidence of crop destruction which is verified received the flood relief. Politicians worth their salt should go on the ground and investigate claims and provide evidence-based reports rather than listen to gossips being peddled by people with an anti-PPP agenda. This is gullibility to the extreme.

What ‘statutory institutions and systems’ are being shaped ‘to facilitate easy access to State resources to pursue this divisive agenda’? Systems are in place to provide transparency and accountability for all funds which are disbursed to the citizens. These are followed by audit trails unlike what the Coalition did and what the Auditor General’s Report has unearthed. Mr Jonas should compare the illegal NRF legislation under the Coalition with that of the current NRF Bill (now the National Resource Act) tabled by the government. But it is an accepted fact that the National Resource Fund Act will never be able to satisfy the Opposition and its new partners since they are fixated on the theory that the PPP/C Government will squander the oil monies and only they are capable of getting the NRF Act correct. They want to run the government being an opposition.

President Ali went at length to explain that the NRF is in compliance with the General Accepted Principles and Practices of the Santiago Principles. The Honourable Finance Minister also outlined the new structures of the NRF which took away the sweeping powers to the Minister of Finance and vested these in a board and Parliament. This brings to mind the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Bill which due to non-approval had resulted in Guyana being blacklisted and also the Procurement (Amendment Bill) which Ramjattan continued to peddle the wrong conception that the PPC would be an overriding and awarding procurement mechanism. Now this important piece of legislation is once again being used to foster the notion that the PPP/C Government wants to misuse the oil monies and the NRF Bill, if turned into law, is a recipe for corruption. The modus operandi of the Opposition has remained constant.

It is most disgraceful to read the disdain and contempt with which Mr Jonas holds the farmers and sugar workers. Similar to the PNC and the AFC he saw them as only supporters and members of the PPP/C. This is what he said in relation to monies which he claimed was borrowed with the oil money being used as collateral, ‘Billions of dollars were given to agriculture producers and to sugar workers’. Were these sums ‘given’ not to compensate them for the huge losses they suffered? What would have resulted if the government did not do so? Would they have been in a financial position to get back to farming? What would have been Guyana’s position in terms of food?

This government saved this sector from being literally wiped out. Why is Mr Jonas turning a blind eye to the sufferings endured by the severed sugar workers for three long years when the three estates were callously and unconscionably shuttered and over 7,000 workers were thrown under the bus? Mr Jonas is the financial compensation given by the PPP/C Government adequate to compensate these workers? What about the pension and other benefits lost? I believed that ANUG tried to engage these same workers to vote for them in 2015.

Mr Jonas should not be making baseless accusations but must provide proof. He is a lawyer and should know best to distinguish between opinion, perception, assumption and facts.
I therefore, request Mr Jonas to desist from saying that the oil revenues will be used to pursue a ‘divisive agenda’. Nothing could be further from the truth. This government has shown the will and determination to distribute Guyana’s resources in an equitable and just manner. Mr Jonas should take control over his overactive imagination. Third parties will never again be trusted in this country and the thuggery and the hooliganism of the PNC will continue aided by these fledgling parties.

Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf