Blatant misinformation by Minister Patterson

Dear Editor,
The Parliamentary Opposition is fully aware of its role and functions, and it is for that expressed reason it made known publicly its reason for not attending the Parliamentary tour of the CJIA Expansion project.
We noted in the letter columns of the state’s newspaper of Friday, April 27, 2018 a letter signed by Mr David Patterson, Minister of Public Infrastructure, which contains at least five (5) blatant inaccuracies. We suspect that in the mad rush for cover — having been exposed of an attempted raid on the public purse – this is an attempt at damage control.
For clarification, we have no knowledge of any member of the Parliamentary Opposition requesting a tour of CJIA Expansion Project. Could the Minister tell the nation when and where that request was made, and by whom?
The second blatant and deliberate offering of misinformation was the Minister’s claim that the “parliamentary opposition, in fact, had raised vehement protest following a visit to the project in January by the Cabinet.” This statement is a concoction. It is the most visible manifestation of desperation, and it shows the APNU+AFC government’s mastery at the fine art of deception. There was never a protest, vehement or otherwise, as stated by the Minister.
Could Minister Patterson tell the nation when and where this vehement protest took place, and by whom? And could the Minister point us to the evidence to substantiate this ludicrous statement?
Thirdly, the Minister continues to spew dishonesty when he stated that Mr Edghill had been invited to other “Tours” of the CJIA project, and would have attended at least one of them. He could have simply said the truth: that Mr Edghill was invited once, and he attended. Why go at length to convey the impression that there were other tours?
Continuing, the Minister seems to be annoyed over being made to account for his stewardship in the National Assembly, by saying my questioning in the National Assembly has been “deliberately obtuse.” The fact is, this particular Minister has always sought to obfuscate issues by bringing in “red herrings” in his answers, and has now perfected the skill of “talking much” but “saying little.”
This current tour is nothing but a smokescreen, a shameless attempt to siphon off $346.5 million Guyana dollars from the public purse to finance what was already paid and catered for in the original “fixed price design and build contract.”
From the figures provided by the Minister on Financial Paper #2/2018, one can easily do the math and conclude that when this project was redesigned by the APNU+AFC Administration, just on the alteration of moving from eight (8) air bridges to two (2) air bridges, the contractor benefited from US$5M, or in excess of $1 billion Guyana dollars in avoided cost.
Could the honourable Minister say what was the “appreciation” bonus for this contract as altered and redesigned?

Yours truly,
Bishop Juan Edghill
Member of Parliament
Spokesperson on
Public Infrastructure