Dear Editor,
We as a group have not written a formal letter since May 2015; we were committed to the principle that President David Granger must have his 100 days to set his foundation for the next 5 years. Even though we were very disappointed after 100 days at the incompetence of the Granger led administration, we thought that we must provide him with some more time since he claimed that the economy was in such a bad shape after the PPP lost the elections. But falsehoods must be exposed and President Granger stands indicted when it comes to how he has managed the nation.
In 18 months, we have found some 20 verifiable cases of malfeasance, mismanagement of the treasury and plain old nepotism. There is now enough evidence to confirm that the Guyanese people were duped by this government. We can find very little evidence that this Granger led administration is any better than the Jagdeo-Ramotar led administration.
We are on record for firmly calling out the Ramotar led administration for blatant acts of nepotism and mismanagement. We think that we have earned the right as members of the diaspora and civil society to call out these wanton acts of financial impropriety under this Granger led administration. It must be opposed and exposed. And the most powerful sword to carry out this battle is the pen.
This latest act of providing two sitting ministers with some $6.6 million per year to fund their studies is nothing but abhorrent. In total over the life of their studies, collectively these two ministers will cost the nation some $26 million.
That is enough money to build at least one brand new low-income house for poor and deserving families in every administrative region of Guyana.
Anyone with a modicum of integrity will know that while serving as a sitting minister they ought to focus on their jobs 100%.
Poor people’s lives are depending on their performance. And this foolish excuse that because the PPP granted Robert Persaud a scholarship while he was a sitting minister is utter nonsense. It was wrong under the PPP and it is wrong today under the Granger-led government.
President Granger should know that the responsibility of a minister is for decision and policy-making in government.
That is not a part-time job. These ministers are being paid $18 million each in wages and benefits to supervise several government departments, and at least one of them is an abysmal failure as a policymaker, namely, Minister Henry.
But yet, over the next three years, President Granger will have allowed these two ministers to enjoy some $125 million of the people’s money to their benefit (wages, other benefits, school fees, travel and so on) while they work part-time.
But what is painful is that this same government continues to say they have no money to pay the ordinary workers a living wage.
The majority of people now have no confidence in President Granger, as the local government elections revealed. How dare he tell the diaspora to stop writing? Is he a dictator? Those with wisdom will know that the pen is mightier than the sword so why would they surrender that advantage?
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose and
Harish Singh
