Dear Editor,
Over the last weeks to months I have been disturbed and pained by the unjust smearing of the GEA and its CEO in the false so-called revelations in the media, featuring apparently selected leaks from the commissioned forensic audit of the GEA, so-called revelations of apparent scandals uncovered and of mismanagement and corruption at the GEA. But Editor, I have not seen nor heard of any allegation of a specific fraud or act of corruption at the GEA. There is really no basis for describing GEA as “a haven for astonishing levels of corruption” or as a location of “massive corruption of all sorts” when we are not presented with any instance of such. I assert so Editor, even as I acknowledge that I am a concerned as well as knowledgeable party having been the Minister Responsible for the GEA through the years that the PPP/C was in office.
Editor, whilst we must pay heed to all critiques/criticisms and perceptions (perception is reality), and whilst I sense a similarity in much of the critiques/criticisms of this forensic audit to those in any audit, I cannot take out of my mind the impression that there is a striving and a straining, a desire and an intent to smear and besmirch the GEA and its CEO.
I write this letter responding to the public charges and innuendos against the GEA and its CEO so that fellow citizens who are willing to and want to be fair and just and want us to progress, would have another view, a more realistic picture of the challenges, the opportunities and the practices in the world at large within which we must find our way.
At the outset let me say to remove any doubt, that in all the charges which we have seen/heard in the media, GEA together with its CEO was carrying out the considered policies of the PPP/C administration and me as the Responsible Minister. I state further that a knowledgeable appraisal whilst indicating areas for consideration for further improvement, would find the work of the GEA and its CEO commendable.
Let me now address directly a number of charges/innuendos:
That the CEO utilized Polygraph Integrity testing without the authority/approval of the Minister and the Cabinet to end the employment of workers: There was authority/ approval. Even more so, dismissal on failing became policy. It was public knowledge. It was controversial. The Cabinet Secretary and HPS, Dr R Luncheon, at a press conference in August 2009 told reporters that the commitment to institutionalize integrity testing (implemented by a recommended US firm) within the state and government sectors has been solidified. I have acknowledged my disquiet that such testing is not perfect, that there could be (in my judgment) as much as 10 to 20% false clearances and false failures but we judged that we could do no better. Accordingly, those who failed were provided full benefits on the termination of their employment or their contracts were allowed to expire without renewal and those who were retained were subject to the standard, ongoing checks.
That the Head of the Fuel Marking Division (FMD), Mr William Holder, failed polygraph testing in September 2010: No such thing! Mr William Holder was never requested to take the test, never took the test and so could never have failed the test. One is left to wonder how the forensic auditors got these matters of fact so wrong: how this false charge arose, could be accepted apparently without checking and could be advocated.
That the FMD is fully part of GEA and should be fully integrated into GEA: In the agreement with Biocode (now Authentix), Authentix is more than a seller of markers, indeed it is a provider of a full marking service. Authentix could have chosen to establish its own marking company in Guyana. Authentix has more than a say in the arrangements for the FMD. Rather than moving to full integration within the GEA from the existing considered arrangement of accounting separation, I can more see a move to a fully separate subsidiary arrangement.
That the CEO of the GEA, Dr Mahender Sharma was on the PPP/C’s list of candidates in our 2015 elections: This should have no place in any audit. It seems to suggest that Dr Sharma should not be continued in that office. It treads on his Constitutional rights. It would be recalled that I was declared to be the “Running Mate” and PM candidate alongside Dr Jagan in October 1990 and continued in my job as Director for Product Quality, Research and Development for two years until the elections in October 1992. No doubt I was lucky – the Executive(s) to implement the initial reflexive call to dismiss me were abroad and by the time they returned it had become a matter of some laughter that Sam had entered politics running with Cheddi – so the call for my dismissal faded away.
There are a number of other criticisms not untypical in an audit. They may be argued one way or another. I would have been ready to accept and implement many of the recommendations if only to keep things going but I totally reject the innuendos that there were loopholes intended to facilitate the so-claimed astonishing levels of corruption.
Editor, I found astonishing and of great concern, the concern expressed by the auditors that both Mr Jaundoo and Mr Naraine had positive attitudes towards their extensive work hours, averaging 60 hours a week, when they do not receive overtime pay. I was astonished because I always took that as a given, that managers at such levels would see and apply themselves as owners. We should be celebrating such positive attitudes. If we are to prosper as individuals and as a country we must have positive attitudes to whatever jobs we are doing given that they are the best we could find at the time.
Editor, it is a matter of regret that the issuing of fuel export/re-export licences was presented to the public as a preposterous matter engendering much laughter – corruption in that. There is no corruption. Guyana already has small incidental exports/re-exports of fuel. All fuel (and other) sales to international carriers –ships and planes – are exports/re-exports. Whist during the years of the PPP/C administration our economy was increased many fold, we need to increase our economy a further tenfold if we are to attain the prosperity which we all want. We can’t look to our traditional economic activities to do much more than to hold their own. We have to look for new activities, thinking out of the box, opening our minds to a thousand possible new ventures with the hope that some tens of them would take root and be fruitful.
It was with the above awareness that we agreed to issue a fuel export licence to facilitate a proposal to attempt to establish refueling and other bunkering services in port or at sea, to Chinese or other fishing fleets, and any other vessels traversing the Caribbean Sea.
At times I wonder whether these preposterous allegations of hundreds of billions of dollars embezzled are not proxy accusations venting frustrations and dissatisfactions which for whatever reasons persons do not want to or can’t speak directly to.
Whatever may be the case it is high time that these allegations of huge corruptions be put to rest one way or another? As immediate past Presidents Ramotar and Jagdeo have indicated, prosecute wherever a good basis has been found for prosecution but do not indulge in endless persecution. It exacts great but different costs on different sections of our people taking us further away from social cohesion. Over the last months there has been great indulgence in unjust persecution of the GEA and its CEO.
Yours faithfully,
Samuel A A Hinds
