When the PPP, and in particular, Cheddi Jagan came to power through an uncontroversial election in 1992, most Guyanese wondered what would become of the PNC gang that raped Guyana for over three decades. The word in the street was that Jagan would go after Burnham’s assets he stole from the state and deposited in foreign banks. The street lingo was that Burnham was the “fourth richest African in the world.” The question as to whether such a label is true or not, is meaningless. What is meaningful is the people’s perception of this man what makes the above label immensely believable.
Jagan did not engage in any substantive forensic auditing. Instead, he removed many inept PNC administrators from foreign and domestic posts. Jagan did not conduct forensic auditing for two reasons. The first is that the new PPP government was afraid to do so because of the fear of being removed from power. The military and police were still loyal to the PNC. In 1994, the political conversation was that “the PPP won the 1992 election but the PNC was ruling”.
The second reason is that Jagan believed a forensic auditing of the PNC would create more mayhem in Guyana. Moreover, Jagan thought that to conduct any sort of forensic auditing would have been a moot effort since most Guyanese understood how bad and corrupt Guyana was under the PNC.
Jagan wanted the PNC to help in the rebuilding of Guyana instead of isolating them.
The current members of PPP can shed some information as to why a forensic auditing was not conducted, at least when compared to what is going on right now. What is certain is that a forensic auditing of the PNC grip on power after three decades in 1992 would have sent a clear message to politicians as to what can happen when the principles of leadership are violated.
This was a missed opportunity.
What happened instead was that the current opposition thought that they would never be in the opposition, much less subject to any form of auditing. This is bad leadership anywhere and anytime and those who are found guilty through the courts, not by propaganda reporting, should face the consequences, including serving time in prison.
I have always supported forensic auditing – Guyana’s style of checks and balances of government – to ensure transparency and good governance. However, this is not what is happening with the current forensic auditing. The current regime has floundered immensely in this regard. I will provide three reasons why.
Firstly, those who are leading the forensic auditing are staunch critics of the PPP and some have even voted for the coalition. The question then is, how objective can these individuals be in carrying out mandated responsibilities? One of them has been writing regularly in one of the dailies, expressing dislike and disgust of the former government. This person has recently launched a self-published book and guess who was there supporting this book? Yes, the President of Guyana. Am I to believe what is written in that book is carved in stone, not to be questioned or criticised? Someone should review this book.
Another so-called leader of the forensic auditing has his own television programme which, until recently, was at odds with the previous government. Again, these individuals may be honest but I question their judgment. I would go even further and ask for a forensic auditing of these individuals.
Secondly, these forensic audit officers are deeply involved in Guyanese politics to be objective. Many believe that they were dogged, rightly or wrongly so, by the previous administration. It is not what they have discovered but it is what they have chosen to discover coupled by the fact the forensic auditing is restricted to the past decade. Why not extend it backwards to 1970. By the way, I now have a copy of the Rodney report. I can see why the current regime is reluctant to release the report to the public.
Thirdly, the dailies are publishing the findings of forensic auditing as if they are facts. The people who are implicated in the forensic auditing should have an opportunity to respond. Instead, the government’s media mouthpiece and the national daily tabloid (KN) are purporting reckless and rancorous views, acting like the Supreme Court of Guyana. Let me repeat, any politicians or persons who abuse state funds, who engage in corruption, and who violate the law should face the consequences. But there must be a fair journey of jurisprudence.
Finally, the President should use the findings of the forensic auditing to go beyond “corrective measures” but the findings must be assessed by an independent international firm before any action can be taken ([email protected]).
