–Dr Jagdeo highlights; says all of Guyana’s responses to UNCHR will be submitted in writing
THE attempts to embroil Guyana in allegations of corruption was, on Thursday, stomped out by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who highlighted that these allegations are nothing new and have already been dismantled.

While addressing questions pitched to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, particularly by United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee Member, Laurence Helfer, Dr Jagdeo said that his utterances mirror the Opposition’s “propaganda.”

During a press conference at Freedom House, Dr Jagdeo said: “This is all APNU propaganda. Every bit of it is APNU propaganda. We’ve dispelled all of these issues a million times before, but it’s consistent with what I said just last week. Last week, I pointed out that they cannot get any traction here, they’re trying to recreate the atmosphere of 2015 and the atmosphere was through the lies…”

Additionally, the PPP General Secretary said that the report submitted by the government to the UN Human Rights Committee was up to 2021.

He said: “I haven’t seen people carrying the details of the report. It’s a comprehensive report we submitted, addressing almost all of the issues that you heard about… We address issues of corruption, rigging of elections, etc…”

Additionally, while pointing out how transparent the government is, Dr Jagdeo said that Guyana is among the few countries that permit individual complaints, unlike the United Kingdom (UK) and United States.

“So, the members can raise anything and we have to respond to what they raise, every issue that has been raised by particularly Laurence Helfer every one of those issues…These issues were addressed publicly,” Dr Jagdeo said.

Addressing Guyana’s appearance before the UN Human Rights Committee, he lamented that Minister Teixeira was not given ample time to respond to the individual complaints raised.
However, in an effort to set the record straight, the PPP General Secretary disclosed that the government will be submitting its response in writing.

The PPP General Secretary said: “Every one of these issues we will address in writing and we will ask them to publish our responses.”
When Helfer brought up the allegation of stifling critics and social media influencers, he made reference to wanted man, Rickford Burke.

Dr Jagdeo responded by saying that this might be compared to the statements made by opposition operatives such as Burke and said that the government will demonstrate Burke’s wrongdoings in a written answer.
Minister Teixeira, earlier this week, responded to questions around the fabricated allegations by Vice News.

The minister dismantled claims of corruption in her response to questions posed by Helfer. Regarding the Vice News allegations, Teixeira immediately clarified that the matter did not even merit a police report, as the claims did not meet the basic threshold for pursuing such recourse.

“There was no follow up because there was no police, there was no report made by Vice News or anybody else. And so the police cannot investigate without some form of report or complaint. However, the Vice President has answered this issue several times publicly in the same media that carried the report,” she said.

As it relates to anti-corruption measures, the minister stated that a Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has been appointed and is functioning. She pointed out that robust systems for accountability and transparency are working perfectly.