Dear Editor,
The recent public meetings the AFC have been having in many parts of the country are highlighting a trend of rising anger among the poor and the working class against the ruling PPP. This trend is quite noticeable in the sugar belt. It is our humble political calculation that if such anger had existed during the 2011 elections campaign, the PPP would not have been in government. Therefore, all this loose talk of “snap elections” can be a blessing in disguise for any political force that is on the path of exposing the wanton corruption and executive lawlessness that continues unabated under the minority PPP government today.
The latest of these AFC public meetings at Port Mourant, Berbice, was quite a revelation. The members of the working class who attended (mainly cane-cutters, ordinary workers and their families) have informed us of the continued suffering today as a result of the oppressive system especially on the sugar estates where a few have most of the benefits and the majority have to settle for the crumbs.
To add insult to injury, they continue to face flooding on their own with little if any support from the government. These floods severely affect their main financial support during the crop-over season in the form of their gardens and poultry stocks. The people are so consumed with survival that the PPP’s propaganda is the last thing on their minds.
Since the start of 2012, the PPP has not put any additional loaf of bread onto the people’s table and they are fully up to speed on who is resisting the 10% wage increase for workers.
No amount of propaganda can destroy that fact. We believe that President Ramotar is being ill-advised and plead with him to seek alternative advice on the wages increase for workers. It is imperative for his political survival.
The people continue to tell our leaders how much they appreciate the fight by the AFC to release the $50 billion from NICIL and to cut the fat for the ‘big fish‘ out of the Budget to secure enough funding to pay a 10% increase now. Not next year or the year after, but now.
The recent pronouncement by Mr Brassington that NICIL has only $700 million has sent shock waves through the nation. Where are all the privatization proceeds and the dividends from state companies deposited?
In desperation, NICIL claims that Moses Nagamootoo and Christopher Ram benefited from portions of the $50 billion, but all and sundry know that this is a red herring to distract from the real issue.
What the NICIL Board has failed to tell the nation is who else benefited from NICIL and by what amounts. We challenge NICIL to publish all the facts on who got what. Why single out Messrs Ram and Nagamootoo?
In addition to that question, there are others: 1. Did NICIL foot the bill of $280 million to re-route the sewer under the proposed site of the Marriot Hotel, a private investment?
2. Did NICIL foot the bill of $400 million in design fees for the Marriot Hotel, a private investment?
3. Is NICIL going to foot the bill of $3,800 million in subordinate loans and equity in the Marriot Hotel project, a private investment?
4. Is NICIL guaranteeing a $5,400 million loan to fund the construction of the Marriot Hotel, a private investment?
We have only released a small subset of the information at the disposal of the AFC on NICIL, and taxpayers can immediately get an insight that the figure of $50 billion is a real number that NICIL is trying its best to avoid.
NICIL is a government company with an estimated $50 billion in public assets and taxpayers have a right to know what has become of their money.
The mistrust has reached such a level that unless audited accounts with a full listing of all the revenue streams between 2004 and 2011 are released, nothing coming from NICIL can be treated as credible information. The people want to know where this $50 billion is invested and if these investments have been sanctioned by the representatives of the people in the Parliament, the real owners of the funds?
We are urging the NICIL Board to tell the people the truth about taxpayers’ money held in their accounts and work with the majority in Parliament to invest these funds in national assets like a transportation link between Linden and Lethem rather than in a multitude of private investments which would only benefit a few. Anything else is a recipe for continuous confrontation between the people and the PPP.
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose
Sasenarine Singh
