Granger’s D’Urban Park defence gets stinging rebuke

…out of sync with reality

…entire fiasco reeks criminality ‒ Nandlall

Head of State David Granger has come out in defence of the D’Urban Jubilee Park Project saying there is nothing criminal or sinister about it. His position has, however, come in for immediate and stinging rebuke.

Former Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall in an invited comment by Guyana Times expressed the view that President Granger’s utterances “clearly demonstrates either he is out of sync with reality or he is part of a conspiracy to mislead the nation.”

The former legal advisor to the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration told Guyana Times, “Irrespective of how it is spun,” by officialdom, “the financial provisions of the Constitution, several provisions of the Financial Management and Accountability Act and the Procurement Act were all grossly violated and this entire fiasco reeks of corruption, cronyism and criminality.”

President Granger this past week on his weekly televised programme, The Public Interest, said a private company – Homestretch Development Inc – was set up to collect donations for the project since there were no budgetary allocations available for use.

Nandlall – a practicing attorney – is adamant: “The law is very clear on this issue… Once private monies are used on a public project it must be spent and accounted for in the same manner like public monies.”

Both President Granger and Minister of State Joseph Harmon, at separate forums on Thursday, confirmed that monies had been collected from private individuals for use on the project which is State-owned and is on State-owned lands.

According to Nandlall, “Clearly this was not understood by those who formed this private company… It is obvious that this company was used for this project so that the monies received and spent would not be the subject of Parliamentary scrutiny and oversight and the procurement of goods and services would not have to be done in accordance with the Procurement Act.”

He has since surmised that this misapprehension is exactly what transpired and that is why Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, “refused to answer the questions posed to him in the National Assembly.”

Nandlall was referring to a debate on a Motion promulgated unsuccessfully by his colleague Parliamentarian, Bishop Juan Edghill, which had called on the National Assembly to make full disclosures surrounding the financing of the D’Urban Jubilee Park Project during the entire life of the project.

Government instead provided details from April 21, 2016 when the project was turned over to the Public Infrastructure Ministry, saying that all works prior to April were undertaken by the private company – Homestretch Development Inc? and as such the details could not be had.

Nandlall has since opined: “It is quite unfortunate that the President has stepped into the fray to lend his voice in support to the fiasco which surrounds the private company, Homestretch Development Inc involvement in the D’Urban Park Development Project.”

He has accused the President of further clouding the issue of accountability and transparency in relation to monies spent on the project by glorifying and extoling

the virtues of the D’Urban Park Project.

The former Attorney General maintains, “The fact is, this private company was secretly established and collected hundreds of millions of dollars to spend to develop a State asset… No one knew about this company and its directors until Monday night when Minister David Patterson was forced to disclose these details in the National Assembly… Even then, he misled the National Assembly by not naming Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, as a Director.”

Responding to President’s Granger’s assertion that the private company was used to solicit funds since none was available through budgetary measures, Nandlall pointed to the fact that the 2015 Budget was passed in August 2015 by this Government, “so by September 2015 there was money to be spent by the Government.”

Homestretch Development Inc was not incorporated until January 2016, according to Nandlall, who used the occasion to remind also that “massive works started on this project in September 2015. The President’s story therefore, simply does not make sense.”

Nandlall in rebutting President Granger’s assertions noted that he had sought to convey the impression that this is a Government company, “however, Minister Patterson was at pains in the National Assembly to convey the impression that this is a private company for which the Government is not answerable… Indeed, this is the very reason why he diverted questions from himself to the private company and deliberately did not disclose that Minister Roopnaraine is a Director of this company.”

According to Nandlall, “If the company was a Government company as the President claims, why was this not made public for the past eleven months?”

He pointed out too that there are three directors of this company who have no known connection to the Government.

Nandlall has since sought to inquire where the Cabinet decision is, to incorporate this company; or will the company be audited by the Auditor General; and who will pay the hundreds of millions of dollars owed to contractors?