…nailed!!
They say, “what goes around, comes around”. And the corruption the AFC biggies used to carry on about when they were in the Opposition, has come around to bite them on their bamsees with a vengeance! What say they now about corruption in housing with CH&PA Chairman Hamilton Green caught with his pants down giving out goodies to former PNC MP Ivor Allen?
What say they about all the “advisors” hired as “contract employees” and gypping all those Public Servants out of a raise because of their multimillion-dollar salaries? What say they about “fertiliser gate”…which stinks to high heaven?? And hot off the press…what say they – especially the Vice President and Minister of Public Security Ramjattan – about the sole-sourced Specialty Hospital contract they handed on a platter to Fedders Lloyd?
Right from the beginning when India provided a soft loan of US million for a Specialty Hospital to jumpstart the PPP’s “medical tourism” plan for Guyana, Ramjattan had plugged Fedders Lloyd for the project. They weren’t his client, Ramjattan claimed, with his hand over his heart…and was only representing their interests in the press, Parliament – and every which place he found himself – because he wanted to do right for Guyana! He was going to be the first lawyer in the history of the world, to represent a US0M company pro-bono. For free!
The PPP government had chosen Surendra Engineering after a bid, but later had to cancel the contract for non-performance. Incredibly, the new APNU/AFC government insisted on giving the contract to Fedders Lloyd – without any bidding process!! Under the PPP/C, Fedders Lloyd had been disqualified for not complying with material demands of the bid. Transparency International – and even GhoulSarran, their pet auditor – condemned the decision. But then it always pays to have friends in high places, nuh?
Well it all came crashing down when the Indian High Commissioner announced the World Bank had blacklisted Fedders Lloyd from ANY contract for five years!! Why? Well, the Indian Ambassador was pretty coy about it – but the World Bank’s web site had no such compunction. It declared that Fedders Lloyd fatal flaw was ….drum roll, please!….CORRUPTION!! As described by its Fraud and Corruption Procurement Guideline 1.14 (a) (ii) “fraudulent practice”: any act or omission, including a misrepresentation, that knowingly or recklessly misleads, or attempts to mislead, a party to obtain a financial or other benefit or to avoid an obligation.
Fedders Lloyd “knowingly or recklessly” bribed to get a contract but never gave a penny to Ramjattan to lobby for years for the Specialty Hospital.
After all, he’s an Honourable man, nuh?
…and investment
As your Eyewitness predicted, no investment came out of the Harvard Club event in mid-Manhattan. It was supposed to haul in the big fishes from Wall Street. The President himself confirmed this. But it wasn’t the horrific traffic from lower to mid-Manhattan that kept them away – it was the overseas Guyanese con men crowding the posh locale.
It was a repetition of what happened to the PPP at the flag raising ceremony at the D’Urban Park Stadium. Imagine people with armless “singlets” given seats and none could be found for the representatives of half the country’s population! The fella hocking laser-beam parking meters is only the tip of a very large iceberg of corrupt hustlers courting the new government.
Pressie gave his own pitch to Guyanese at other locales and promised them “concessions” if they make local investments. That’s a welcome departure from the stance of his Ministers
THEY seem to think investors are elbowing each other in line to invest in Guyana!
…in City
But Pressie isn’t oblivious to the corruption dangers. He’s promised to stamp it out. So could he remind his Local Government Minister’s Town Clerk it’s not that the city doesn’t need parking metres.
It’s the how, they’re being procured
