According to the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) general secretary, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, a web of corruption and broken promises plagued the nation under A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC).
During a gathering at Babu Jaan, Port Mourant, East Berbice-Corentyne to honour the party’s late founder, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Jagdeo did not mince words in criticizing the APNU+AFC for failing to deliver on its promises.
APNU+AFC’s promises leading up to the 2015 elections were lofty and ambitious, tantalizing voters with the prospect of accountability and transparency.
However, after the APNU+AFC was elected to government, the reality on the ground tells a very different story.
The APNU+AFC accused the PPP of corruption during its time in government, while the PPP itself was embroiled in a web of deceit and malpractice.
“APNU made promises in 2015, everything under the sun. Five years in government to prove corruption and everything they talked about when we (PPP) were in office,” Jagdeo said.
A government’s integrity depends on its adherence to legal and ethical standards, particularly in procurement and financial management, which form the basis of the PPP.
The APNU+AFC government, however, regularly flouted these principles, according to Dr. Jagdeo.
David Patterson, the former Minister of Public Infrastructure under the APNU+AFC government, is in court for allegedly soliciting unsolicited bids and awarding contracts in violation of procurement laws.
Patterson and Rawlston Adams, former General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC), were jointly charged with conspiracy to defraud in 2021.
In 2016, a controversial contract was awarded for the feasibility study and design of a new Demerara River Crossing.
According to the complaint, the pair allegedly defrauded DHBC of $162,635,015, which belonged to the Asphalt Plant.
A study and design for a new Demerara Harbour Bridge was not a function of the DHBC, so funds from the Asphalt Plant account could not have been used to fund the project.
Patterson was also called out for the non-delivery of three portable motion scales purchased by the APNU+AFC government in December 2016 for a whopping $72.264 million.
The director of NevPro Realization Limited of Jamaica reportedly served as APNU+AFC’s campaign manager for the 2015 General Elections and was closely associated with AFC, the political party Patterson founded.
A fire at Laparkan and Tropical Shipping Bonds in 2020 destroyed the scales and millions of dollars worth of vehicles and other imported items.
Dr. Jagdeo also noted that the allegations of corruption within the Ministry of Finance cast a shadow over the APNU+AFC government’s fiscal management.
During his tenure as Finance Minister, Winston Jordan was accused of selling state-owned properties at grossly undervalued prices, resulting in significant losses to the national Treasury.
He is accused of wilful misconduct by acting recklessly when signing the NICIL (Transfer of Property) Order while serving as Finance Minister under the APNU+AFC coalition government. The government’s holding company, NICIL, falls under Jordan’s ministry.
Jordan has transferred and vested to BK Marine Inc. all buildings, erections, stellings, platforms, and further appurtenances on Mud Lots One and Two, F of Mud Lot Three, A, B, and D, consisting of over 2.553 acres.
It was reported that $20,260,276 was paid for a property originally valued at over $5,000,000,000. The selling price was grossly below the actual value of the assets.
After the State failed to prove Jordan met the criteria for a “Public Officer,” he was freed from the charges last year.
“They sold a ton of land and transported the land before we came in. In fact, change of ownership of the land without collecting a cent. We plan to take back all those lands,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
In addition to individual ministerial portfolios, APNU+AFC corruption encompasses broader institutional failings.
The general secretary cited land mismanagement and irregularities in allocating state resources, as valuable land was distributed without compensation.
Wales gave away all of its lands, which we now own. We need to build 14,000 home lots for people in Region Three, so we’re taking it back here, right here, so they can have it. They gave it all up.” he stated.
Dr. Jagdeo said many former APNU+AFC officials had evaded prosecution despite serious corruption allegations, leading him to question the justice system’s impartiality and effectiveness.
In the already protracted electoral fraud case trial, several APNU+AFC members were charged and fingered, but the trial hasn’t yet begun.
Carol Smith-Joseph, a People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) activist, along with Volda Lawrence, former Health Minister under the APNU+AFC government; Keith Lowenfield, former Chief Election Officer (CEO); Roxanne Myers, former Deputy CEO; Clairmont Mingo, former District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller are facing various charges.
These include public office misconduct, using forged documents, and conspiring to deceive Guyana’s voters by declaring false votes.
“I bet you, if it were a PPP minister, they would have already tried and convicted them, as they had done in the past when there was no evidence of corruption. The same thing is happening with the rigging case,” Dr. Jagdeo said.
He pointed to the findings of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections, which found that senior GECOM officials had conspired and collaborated to divert votes to the APNU +AFC rather than safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.
According to the report, Lowenfield blatantly violated the law and the people’s will by making decisions and employing procedures. As a result, GECOM staffers ignored court instructions, used illegal or manipulated materials, and sided with APNU+AFC agents to berate observers whenever they objected.
Dozens of documented corruption scandals involving the APNU+AFC exist, including the parking meter scandal, which has left Guyana’s citizens with rusty parking meters all over the city. In the current lawsuit, Smart City Solutions (SCS) is suing Guyana for US $100 million.
Following these revelations, Dr. Jagdeo urged citizens to raise their awareness and demand accountability from those in power.
A few weeks ago, Hamilton Green, the former secretary general of the PNC party, publicly confirmed that rigging elections was part of the PNC agenda then and must be used again and again to keep the “bastards, devils, and demons” out of power.
Here, Hamilton Green refers to the majority of Guyana’s people, including the Indo-Guyanese, the Ameridians, the Portuguese, and other minorities, as “Bastards, Devils, and Demons). Geriatric Hamilton Green knows that without the majority of voters’ support (the Bastards, the Devils, and Demons), the minority Afro-Guyanese could not win a fair election in Guyana.
Hence, the reason why Hamilton Green advocates rigging elections to gain power. Like his Master, Forbes Burnham did the rigging during his dictatorial rule in Guyana.
Unlucky for Forbes Burnham, who was caught red-handed by a British television network for allowing dead voters from London to vote for his PNC party in Guyana. Burnham was so desperate to win that he decided to call upon the dead Guyanese from London to rig the elections in Guyana.
There is a joke in London that Forbes Burnham could miraculously raise the dead Guyanese in the UK cemeteries and make them vote him into power.
Hamilton Green has done an excellent service to Guyanese voters by exposing Forbes Burnham and the PNC party’s rigging of election after election in Guyana. At least Geriatric Green dares to tell the voters the truth about rigging elections in Guyana, which has been going on for decades by the previous leaders of the PNC party.
Aubrey Norton must apologize to the people of Guyana for his party, PNC, for rigging elections after elections, allegedly proclaimed by Hamilton Green.