EXECUTIVE Member of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Robert Persaud, in a statement yesterday, said, “The PPP/C categorically denounces the ongoing campaign of the APNU/AFC alliance in terms of creating the impression that we are, as a government and as a party, tolerating and facilitating corruption at various levels.” He stated that the advertisements and statements being made on political platforms by leaders are based on lies, rumours and misinformation.
“We all know that there are issues in terms of addressing corruption as you go to government services, and so persons would complain; but to suggest that at the executive level or at the state level there is this policy of encouraging corruption is a total and a ridiculous fabrication that sometimes doesn’t even warrant a response. But I find it distressing that instead of focusing on the issues that are important to the electorate, we see now the platform of the AFC/APNU Alliance is one in which the leaders and speakers would go up there and make a set of false claims, and these claims are sometimes repeated and regurgitated in some sections of the media.
“Take for instance, recently, at Buxton, the APNU leader and presidential candidate, David Granger, suggested that government’s records are not being audited. This is a total lie. When this government came to office, there were no audited accounts going back to as much as 7 to 10 years,” he further stated.
The PPP/C Government reinstated the Auditor General’s report and created an autonomous Auditor General’s Office that no longer has to present that report to the Minister of Finance, but presents it directly to the Public Accounts Committee.
“It was this government that reformed the Public Procurement Act; and in Guyana, the Act that we have does not exist in any other part of this hemisphere; and I challenge the APNU/AFC alliance to contest that fact. We, as a government, have removed Cabinet from awarding contracts. Cabinet would no longer award contracts, this is done by the National Procurement and Tender Administration,” he said.
“If we were to look at the Integrity Commission, the PPP side is the only side in the National Assembly that provides returns to the Integrity Commission; the PNC and the AFC have refused to do so, and in fact, we are challenging the Integrity Commission to proceed in filing charges against these breaches. They are being reluctant in filing the returns and if people are going to speak of corruption and accountability and integrity, they have to so demonstrate.”
Referring to the Perception Index, Persaud stated that the Opposition continues to quote the index which is questionable, since columnists and advocates of the Opposition are engaged in these surveys.
“They continue to quote this perception index that was done; perception is one thing, the reality is something else, and the people who carry out the perception index are columnists and advocates of the opposition, and we have had issues in terms of how these surveys have been done from time to time. They go and they take prominent opposition figures like Clive Thomas and Christopher Ram and engage them, what else would you expect in this regard?”
Persaud stated that the party would like to alert the electorate to the misinformation and lies being peddled by the Opposition.
“We want to alert the electorate that what we have here is an Opposition alliance, the APNU/AFC alliance is devoid of ideas; they do not want to focus on the issues but instead are running around on this bogey of corruption. Yes there are problems, we admit that, and we have to strengthen that; but to say that the executive at the state level has a policy to encourage (corruption) is ridiculous, it is shameful to say so.
“For instance, Moses Nagamootoo; it is very sad that in an elections campaign, especially for the young voters, people should be talking about the future; talk about the facts, talk about reality; not conjuring up this type of campaign, hoping they would have hysteria; but it wouldn’t work.”
He pointed out that the Opposition cannot fault the PPP/C’s economic policy, housing, education, and agriculture policies, and what is being done to transform the country, and the modernisation pathway.
“They cannot fault what the IMF has said; what the WB has said on the economy; what the IDB has said about the economy. Just recently Republic Bank of Trinidad and Tobago declared that Guyana, for them, is the best nation for investment, and they have been advising people throughout the hemisphere, not even thinking of advising people to put their money in the United States of America, but rather put their money in Guyana.”
Persaud added, “These are the facts, these are the issues that they cannot address, so they would be jumping around with their false claims, holding people who have grudges against the government, be it the former Commissioner of Police, or someone thrown out of the party for representing drug lords and notorious characters; they would now hold on to those elements and those strands of fabrication and hope to play them up and hope that their campaign would get some light and some momentum; but we want to insist that this campaign be about facts; be about the issues; be about the future of this country, one that is conducive to an election that is very free, fair and civil, as we have always maintained.”
Persaud further stated that the Opposition alliance focuses on one line, based on their discussions, and have been promoting that line in their campaign.
“We all know that Granger is out of touch, so because of the discussions that have been taking place between the AFC and the APNU, they have decided on a specific line, and the specific line is to go after the issue of security, and to create this false impression that we have a narco-state; and the second line has been the issue of corruption, to create this impression that Guyana is a corrupt society and that the government facilitates and encourages corruption, totally ignoring what the reality is, totally ignoring what the International community has said, totally ignoring that people have recourse now to international organisations and so forth, in having these matters addressed. But we know that it’s elections time; and when you have an Opposition that is out of ideas, out of plans, some of them can’t even present a manifesto yet, that speaks volumes.
“I want to challenge them to let us focus on the issues; but they will not focus on the issues because they do not have an answer, they do not have an alternative, what they have is scandal and rumour mongering; for them the development of this country is about scandals, creating scandals, and rumour mongering, and ensuring that they get some sensationational headlines in the newspapers.”