Dear Editor,
As a follow up to my letter on the spending philosophy of the Granger cabal, I did indicate that I wanted to dissect the data some more. In that regard, let us reflect on spending on drugs and medical supplies. If one is to compare the spending in 2019 vs. 2014 (the last full year of the PPP/C), spending on drugs and medical supplies declined by $100 million, yet the Granger cabal has the audacity to set up medical insurance for some 29 Ministers that is costing this nation some $600 million a year. So who is benefiting from this good life that Mr. David Granger promised?
When one considers what is happening to the ordinary people that have to visit the public hospital system in places like Suddie, West Demerara, New Amsterdam, and Georgetown, then they will discover that these people are visiting these hospitals at their own risk.
Secondly, in the table below (sourced from the respective National Budgets and the Auditor General Reports), one can find that the money spent on the rental of buildings went up by some 100% since the PPP/C left office. In total, the Granger cabal spent more than $8 billion on the rental of buildings since they arrived in office and to what end? Who really benefited from all this rent? Certainly not the people but the landlords who are all closely aligned to the APNU.
Since coming to office, the Granger cabal has spent more on the rental of buildings than it has spent on Rose Hall and Enmore Estate, two estates that if opened, could have fed some 4,000 families. But rather than saving the livelihood of thousands, the Granger cabal was more interested in enriching some 40 mainly Indo-Guyanese businessmen around them and their close cronies. Remember the $478 million paid for the rental of a warehouse at Sussex Street that only cost $40 million in purchase cost.
While they were at it, they have decided to not conceive and build new things like the Del Conte Road so that new forms of human development can take place in new areas. Rather, they choose to spend huge sums of money on repairing public buildings as a machine to funnel money to these 40 plus business persons close to the regime’s leaders. So while spending doubled on the maintenance of buildings (especially Ministerial Offices), when one looks around the outputs are few and far. Instead of Nicolette Henry getting a new multi-million dollar makeover in the Brickdam Office, could that money be better spent to fix up James Street, Albouystown?
Former Minister Annette Ferguson personally promised me that she will repair that road for the folks in Albouystown within 6 months of our conversation. That was two years now and it was never done. I was in James Street a few days ago and the place is now worse than when I communicated with Ms. Ferguson.
Next, there is the much-debated topic of travel cost in this Granger Cabal. Since the PPP/C left office, the travel cost went up by some $1.3 billion. Same Government with inflation below 5% yet the travel cost of the same government went up by more 45%. Why?
The PPP/C had 17 Ministers, the APNU had 29. Plus 94% of the newly appointed heads of departments appointed after 2015, who were political apparatchiks of Congress Place also got to travel too internationally and first-class. So we can see the reason for the expanded bill. Then there is the request for a new fleet of vehicles for all these people – the Granger Government bought many new executive vehicles after 2015. The newly minted advisors all had to get their $30 million-plus vehicle although it was reported that some of these vehicles “hit the State up” for upwards of $80 million and that is without tax.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
