Former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge has formally accepted the nomination to contest to be the PNCR’s presidential candidate at this year’s general elections.
Greenidge, who is backed by the supporters of the late Winston Murray, yesterday handed over a letter to PNCR General Secretary Oscar Clarke accepting the nomination as well as biographical and professional data required by the selection process.
Stating his reasons for accepting the nomination, the former Caricom economist noted that he had been approached by a number of persons in recent weeks and had arrived at the conclusion that it was “an important matter in which I can contribute.” However, he added that the Guyana government’s complaint to the Caricom Secretariat about comments he made at Murray’s funeral also played a part in his decision. He was employed at the Office of Trade Negotiations as a Senior Director up to December 21. (See other story on this page.) According to Greenidge, the government’s statement that it had lost confidence in him narrowed his options. “When a statement like that is made in the region, it is going to be, I think, difficult for regional entities to be in a position to employ you if a government is going to be taking these sorts of positions. So that was an aspect that I think contributed in a sense. The other option that I would have normally followed was closed,” he said.
Greenidge was gracious in summing up his chances, stating that the list of nominees contained a number of “exceptionally well-qualified candidates, many of whom have already contributed to the well-being of Guyana and [are] clearly full of a lot of energy.” However, he added that it is often the case that each person has their strengths and weaknesses. “I do believe that the experience I’ve had over the years both in Guyana working on a range of problems as well as the experience abroad looking at issues to deal with development, development funding, the challenges of poverty in other countries of the world, do provide me with a background that would enable me to help to cast a vision for Guyana—a path along which we can follow—so as to enable Guyanese to live in the type of society that they’ve been aspiring to live in for quite a long time,” he explained.
Greenidge said he believes many people would like to see improvement in the areas such as security, opportunities for youth, the modernisation of the agriculture and industrial sectors, as well as to enjoy “buoyant levels of income.” Opportunities for professional people to stay and contribute to the country’s growth, he added, were also important. “These are, I think, important issues and I think I have ideas about how we might achieve that vision. For that reason I’m prepared to offer my self as a candidate,” he said.
Focusing on the PNCR, Greenidge said he has had many years of association with the party and has been keeping track of its goings-on over the years. He added that he has some ideas about how they could “dynamise the party” to assure its supporters and the wider public that their interests are understood.
Economic difficulties
Questioned on his role during the economic difficulties under the PNC administration and it possibly being a liability on the campaign trail should he be selected, he acknowledged that mistakes were made but added that they sought to rectify these. He said, “There were economic difficulties during the times when I was a finance minister. But the important point in economics, if you’re speaking to that, is really not what exists at one point in time but the trend and the point is that at the end of the period when I stepped out of office with the PNC government, the problems that had been created, whether they had been created by bad decisions by the government itself or by bad decisions together with, if you like, global misfortune because there was some of that, they were remedied.”
According to Greenidge, the question of economic imbalance was treated and Guyana’s financial standing internationally was also corrected. “If post-1992 Guyana enjoyed special treatment by the Paris Club, that is the writing off of debts and so forth, it was very closely related to what took place in the period prior to 1992. I sat in a number of Paris Club meetings. So we did do something about remedying the difficulties that had arisen and that in life is all you can say, you cannot claim never to have made errors …” he added.
Greenidge concluded by saying that there was no doubt that the PPP/C government that succeeded the PNC administration benefited from the work his party started with its Economic Recovery Programme (ERP). “If you look at the literature produced by those people who even in Guyana were arguing that the ERP couldn’t work, or if you look at the IMF and World Bank critiques, you will see that they give credit to the policies and the bravery with which policies were implemented in the late 1980s and 1990s because they were difficult times. These were not popular measures but we never had a lot of the difficulties that you see now because the populace believed that there was fair burden sharing.”
Some 23 persons have been nominated for consideration as the PNCR’s standard bearer in this year’s polls and the list, which was to be publicised last week, is expected out in a matter of days, the party has said. Greenidge, along with retired army Brigadier David Granger, PNCR Vice-Chairman Basil Williams and former PNC minister Dr Faith Harding are seen as the frontrunners.
