Ministries of Public Infrastructure and Natural Resources slam Jagdeo on outlandish, baseless corruption claim
Thursday, April 12, 2018
The Ministries of Public Infrastructure and Natural Resources note comments made by the Opposition Leader, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo at a press conference today, Thursday, April 12, to the effect that there is large scale corruption at these two ministries.
Both ministries wish to state unequivocally, and to reassure the public, that all of the business conducted have been done within the law and regulations. Both ministries reject, in its entirety, this claim by the increasingly beleaguered and desperate Mr. Jagdeo and challenge him to provide evidence. The ministries are certain that he will be unable to do so as no evidence to this effect exists.
This outlandish, unsubstantiated claim by the Opposition Leader is nothing more than a red herring and a cheap ‘distractionary’ tactic to divert the public’s attention from the charges laid against former PPP Minister of Finance Ashni Singh and former head of NICIL Winston Brassington.
Mr. Jagdeo knows that much work has been done in uncovering the extreme corruption which was rampant while he was President and the PPP was in government and that the chickens are now coming home to roost. Months of tedious work is now resulting in charges being laid and Mr. Jagdeo knows that very few in his government would be unscathed. Instead of confronting their record of corruption, Mr. Jagdeo resorts to cheap theatrics and baseless political distraction.
The ministries find it laughable that Mr. Jagdeo has the audacity to lecture anyone on corruption and good governance when the most flagrant acts of corruption and obscene levels of lack of transparency and accountability occurred under his watch during his controversial and uninspiring presidency. Mr. Jagdeo’s presidency is characterized by an unending list of scandals and ill-conceived projects which left a major burden on Guyanese taxpayers, not least among which were the Pradoville 1 and 2 land giveaways, Amaila Falls scandal and Skeldon Factory sugar factory scandal.
Further it was under Jagdeo’s presidency that Guyana was ranked lowest in the Corruption Perception Index, while under the Coalition administration marked improvement has been shown in this regard. This government’s visionary execution of infrastructural projects seems to be deeply irking Mr. Jagdeo who failed to execute same during his presidency.