Dear Editor,

With regards to a letter appearing in KN of 21.7.08 by Anthony Vieira captioned ‘Winston Murray, not David Patterson deserves credit,’ first let me express my disappointment with KN for allowing a letter to be published without checking whether the allegations contained are factual. Mr Vieira previously attempted to level some of these allegations against me, however Stabroek News to their credit sought to confirm the allegations before publication, and having determined that they were incorrect, declined to publish the inaccuracies. Of course my opinion of the writer remains unchanged. I consider the statements made against me to be libellous.

Mr Vieira’s understanding that as a quantity surveyor I am “doing Government valuation contracts on an ongoing basis,” which in his opinion places me in a position of conflict of interest while serving on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is totally incorrect. Despite being one of only two chartered quantity surveyors presently operating in Guyana, I have been unable to secure a contract with the government for over ten (10) years and counting. Where is the conflict of interest if I do no work at all for the Government of Guyana? This is a blatant lie being peddled by Mr Vieira and it is remarkable that a man who claims to be a great researcher would not even have the common sense to lean over at one of our parliamentary meetings and ask me frontally if this is true. I have to say that I am surprised that as a television news publisher and Member of Parlia-ment, this is the type of loose and irresponsible reporting that Mr Vieira produces. It’s this  type of utter rubbish that jeopardises the good work of all media practitioners and causes ‘eye-pass’ to come to them. Maybe Mr Vieira may want to resuscitate his now defunct commentary programme to inquire why important quantity surveying services are being performed by unqualified technicians, which results in hundreds of millions of dollars being squandered from government coffers annually.

Mr Vieira omitted to mention that as a member of the PAC he has not, up to the time of writing this letter, been attending meetings for this current sitting of parliament (October 2007 to present). There is no Hansard produced at these meetings, but only minutes, and these minutes will nail Mr Vieira’s lies being peddled against me. In this committee we examine the Auditor General’s Report for all the government departments; the information relating to the Ministry of Health and the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation exclusive procurement policy with New GPC was contained in both the 2004 and 2005 reports, so any credit for unearthing this illegal practice should go to the Auditor General’s department. If he is upset that I, via Stabroek News, brought this matter to the public domain, I can only recommend that he attend PAC meetings, then use his unfettered access to the media to highlight any corrupt or illegal practices.

The AFC remains the only party perfectly placed “to condemn the numerous and flagrant conflict of interest situations existing in this country” since we continue to be guided by the rule of law, and a higher moral code. None of our members has turned their backs or compromised him/herself.

It is important that lies and half truths are exposed and I make no apology for my response and consider this attack to be a part of some bigger sinister programme being hatched against me and the party which I proudly represent, the AFC. Try again, but some place else.

Yours faithfully,
David Patterson, MP