PPP PRESS STATEMENT

Is the Kaieteur News an arm of the Governments Department of

Public Information?

A competent investigative auditing team can easily debunk the

scurrilous claim that NICIL is broke, as published by the Kaieteur News
on July 30 2017.
NICIL head, Horace James, is imputing this state of affairs to fraudulent
practices by the former PPP/C administration. The cold hard truth is
that NICIL generated billions of dollars for the treasury and had billions
of dollars in assets and dividends at the time when the PPP left Office. If
it is now broke, as James claims, then either the monies were stolen or
squandered or both under this Administration.
However, this claim is the normal gimmickry designed to bamboozle
the public with the governments now recognizable pattern in the
continuum of unfounded and unjustified accusations of fraud and
corruption against the leadership and functionaries of the previous
PPP/C administration. These specious claims are nothing but
obfuscatory strategies to divert public attention from their mal-
administration, squandermania, naked incompetence and outright
corruption.
Kaieteur News is, as usual, in the forefront, as the coalition
mouthpiece, peddling these baseless and libelous attacks against the
former administration. Rather than publish the PPPs Press Statement,
which details the relevant facts on this matter, the Kaieteur News chose
to respond to the statement. Imagine NICIL has not responded; the
Government has not responded; but Kaieteur News has!
The truth is that Kaieteur News should have been the last entity to
respond. The credibility of this media entity, especially in this instance,
is compromised, as its publisher Glen Lall, has a pecuniary interest in
distorting facts to corroborate the coalition governments contentions
against the former government and its functionaries, because Guyana
Stores Limited, of which Lall is a co-owner, is one of the biggest
defaulters. For this reason alone, any self-respecting and professional
media outfit would have either recused itself from publishing on this
matter, or at a minimum, would have exercised extraordinary due care
and attention when so doing, to be as objective as possible. Obviously,
these high ethical principles are alien to Kaieteur News.
It is obvious that, notwithstanding the indebtedness to NICIL of the
financiers and cronies of the coalition partnership, who are direct
beneficiaries of the governments largesse, they are never persecuted
or prosecuted like other entrepreneurs. The corruption and incest stink
to high heavens and we hope that we will hear more on these issues
from organizations such as Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc.
All the PPP/C's transactions can bear scrutiny: ie: National Hardware
was sold land through a competitive bidding process; land to
Movietown was sold above market value and today it is the only
investment of its size and type in the country. However, despite that
the Beepats business entity was sold land at a lower price, there has
been no outcry. It is reasonable to conjecture that this is because of the
honour bestowed upon Moses Nagamootoo for cutting the ribbon.
Why the purchase price that Glenn Lall paid for a huge block of land at
industrial site Eccles, which is similar to the prices that other investors
were sold land by the Government, never made an issue by Kaieteur
News? If land sold by the Government to other investors were below
market value, the same argument applies with equal force to the land
which Glenn Lall purchased at industrial site.
Currently, Kaieteur News is on another mission: that of excusing
Ramjattan from culpability for the crime situation and the tragic
occurrences at the prisons in recent times. They are vulgarly arguing
that Indo-Guyanese would feel insecure if Ramjattan is removed as
Public Security Minister- a position in which he has failed abysmally.
The reality is that Indians are in the forefront of calling for his head to
roll.
Another motivation for Glen Lalls misleading the nation through fake
news, is that the coalition promised him a broadcasting licence.
The government has been engaging in actions that would deter
investments in the country and further demoralize the private sector.
The Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill of 2017, is another attempt at
driving fear into investors and entrepreneurs.
However, what this Bill seeks to achieve is to dispossess proprietors of
ownership of legally-acquired properties and to put government
control over programme content of media houses, which directly
contravenes all international edicts guaranteeing freedom of
expression. This bodes ill for the nation and sets a dangerous precedent
for entrepreneurship in Guyana.
This odious strategy of obfuscating the incompetencies and blatant
corruption of this government and its functionaries, is no longer fooling
the people, because the swath of disillusion engendered by an
obviously uncaring government cuts across every divide in this country.
The rapidly deteriorating quality of life of Guyanese all across the
country can no longer be excused by clumsy rhetoric and false
promises. Hopelessness is engulfing the national psyche, which is mired
in corruption and scandals on a daily basis.

Peoples Progressive Party

August 2nd, 2017