It is time we hold our leaders responsible for their statements

Dear Editor,

I refer to a letter published in another section of the media on February 21, 2017, authored by Kumar J Persaud, under the caption, ‘‘Mr Jagdeo’s business cronies are bawling’’.

I am stunned and exasperated at the fact of how gullible some people are, who are so easily tricked into believing the most outlandish and bizarre stories fed to them by a few with their sinister objectives.

In this letter, the author said, “I read with horror the revelation by Professor Clive Thomas, the head of the State Asset Recovery Unit, that Guyana was losing every year up to $35 billion to friends and cronies via contracts and other procurement fraud; $90 billion from folks buying our foreign currency and taking gold out of the country; and $188 billion through smuggling contraband goods, constituting what is referred to as ‘the underground economy’.”

On what basis did Persaud believe Dr Thomas’ disclosures? I read the same article. Dr Thomas did not cite a single source of this spectacular piece of data. Many have since publicly questioned Dr Thomas’ source and indeed lambasted his revelations as being a concoction. Thomas has said not a single word in his defence. In my humble opinion his utterances border on senility and his attempts to mislead the nation should not go unchallenged. Rather than asking Dr Thomas to provide some shred of evidence to back up his statements Persaud misguidedly repeats the ramblings as if they are gospel.

For the sake of argument, let us assume that Dr Thomas is right for a second, then by his pronouncements the APNU/AFC government should have been able to save approximately $600 billion since assuming office, but as we know no such money (as a leaked amount) is reflected in the consolidated fund as a recovered sum – unless of course they stole it or it is all being absorbed in the 50 per cent increase in salaries, the large number of houses being rented for ministers at several thousand United States dollars each and the numerous overseas trip which are taken by ministers and their spouses.

So I’d like to urge all Guyanese before repeating any information please ask for the evidence first. It is time we hold our leaders responsible for their statements and actions.

Sincerely,

Roodi Balgobin