Cohesion Ministry using State resources to fund PNC work – Edghill

The Social Cohesion Ministry is nothing but a reincarnation of the Ministry of National Development and Mobilisation, which was operated under the Administration of the People’s National Congress (PNC) and is now being used to do party work funded with State resources.

This damning accusation was made by former Minister within the Finance Ministry, Bishop Juan Edghill, as he delivered his presentation during a parliamentary debate on Friday.

The Minister in rubbishing the arrangements surrounding the social cohesion unit headed by Minister Amna Ally said that Guyana was today even more divided than it was in May 2015.

“When we talk about social cohesion,” according to Edghill, the conversation has to be centred on shared values and equal opportunities.

He suggested that perhaps there needed to be put in place constitutional arrangements for equal opportunities for all Guyanese.

“If we gonna talk about social cohesion, we must talk about social inclusion, but we have social exclusion,” Edghill said, insisting that what in fact obtained was that the Ministry of Social Cohesion operated as a revamped Ministry of Mobilisation.

He suggested that the good life promised by the Administration has been elusive for all but a few – that particular class of people who are enjoying what Minister of State, Joseph Harmon described as the gravy train.

“How could we be talking about social cohesion when people are being removed from their jobs on the mere perception of political affiliation?” the former Government Minister questioned.

Edghill declared that in order to secure the cohesive society adumbrated by the President and embellished by substantive Minister Amna Ally, there must be participation by all people and sectors, not just by a special group or segment of society,

The Ministry of Mobilisation, which was opened and closed under the PNC, resurfaced in the media after weapons that had been issued to that outfit and never returned were discovered following a shootout between Police and bandits in early 2008.

The Police in a statement at the time said that its ranks responded to information that a boat with a number of men was seen in the Zeskendren, Mahaicony drainage canal area.

When challenged, the men opened fire and when fire was returned by the Police, they abandoned the boat and escaped into the thick bush north of the canal. A subsequent search led to the finding of a wooden boat with an outboard engine. Weapons and ammunition were also found.

Two of the weapons were subsequently determined to be the property of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), which for its part, claimed that the weapons were issued to the Ministry of National Development and Mobilisation in 1976 and 1979. A total of 237 guns, including four general purpose machine guns (GPMG), were issued to the Ministry and were still unaccounted for.