Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 12, 2016 Editorial, Features / Columnists
One year ago the people took the first step to change a government that had been in place for 23 years. Indeed, there was the view that the government could not ever lose another election in Guyana. The fact that the change came, was a shock. The People’s Progressive Party once more contended that it was cheated out of office, just as it has been doing over the years whenever it was voted out of office.
Looking back over the past year there are those for whom the euphoria has died. It has been a most interesting year especially since the nation expected to see the corruption that they were led to believe was widespread, being nailed.
There have been the forensic audits that exposed myriad irregularities but to this day no one has been brought to book. The government, acting on information provided from a variety of sources, did remove some people. One man who admitted to nepotism, claimed that he was in fact saving the company millions of dollars.
There were others who were accused of operating as politicians rather than as public servants. These were sent home. These dismissals all sparked charges of witch-hunting, something that the opposition has vowed to provide to the public as soon as it has detailed the extent of the witch-hunt.
None of these people has gone to the courts to challenge the dismissal and this tells a story.
The forensic audits found that many of the irregularities were initiated by the Cabinet. Cabinet decisions sparked many of the decisions. And in almost every case whatever decision it was, it represented a case of exceptionally high spending.
It could have been that the contractors overcharged the government who could not take the time to seek second opinions. It could also have been that people in the government accepting the higher prices because there was always the case of somebody releasing a few dollars as a token of appreciation for the award of the contract.
This much has been made clear by the audits but prosecution is a remote possibility. Those who were most named in the irregularities have taken evasive action. They have left the country. But for all that it is becoming clear that these people could claim that they were executing the bidding of the government.
But no country is run by a government that is bent on chasing after the deeds of the previous administration. It must chart its own course. So we had the new government reviewing some of the existing programmes and actually attempting to put a lid on them only to reverse its decision. One such is the Specialty Hospital.
The new government had announced that it was scrapping the project but it soon learnt that if it wanted the money then it had to continue with the project. It was the same with the hydroelectric project. The government wanted out but the international agencies shouted, “Not so fast.”
The expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport was another inherited project. Again there were reviews; again there were plans to modify the contract; and again, the new government must continue with the project.
The government has undertaken no major projects largely because there are others in the pipeline that it must undertake. There are the road programmes—the expansion of the East Bank Demerara and the East Coast Demerara highways. These have been underway for at least four years and are nowhere near completion. The new government is saddled with them and will be blamed for their non-completion.
One plus is the environmental enhancement. Guyana is nearing its pristine best, courtesy of the private sector support that greeted the government when it acceded to office. Public perception is that crime is rampant but the truth is that the government is slowly getting a lid on criminal activities.
There are still the robberies, too many for one’s liking. They feed the perception of rampant crime and in the coming days the police would have to be at their best.
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