Home Letters It is time to swear Dr Irfaan Ali as President
Dear Editor,
The GECOM-supervised recount of votes for the March 02, 2020 National and Regional Elections has been completed, certified, and the tabulation definitively constitutes the “final results.” The numbers establish that GECOM must declare the People’s Progressive Party Civic as the winner, and define the number of representative parliamentary seats awarded to the various political parties who contested.
As such, it is now time to swear Dr Irfaan Ali as the Ninth Executive President of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.
Dr. Ali and the PPP/C are, without a doubt, deserving of the win; given that, along the way, his team-oriented, purposeful, charismatic, altruistic, outreaching attitude helped him gain invaluable respect and support at home and abroad.
It is indeed disappointing and sad that Guyanese are without a legitimate Government more than three months after the Elections and amidst a world struggling with the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.
Notwithstanding, Dr. Ali and the team have had to navigate a path constantly booby-trapped by clandestine GECOM and PNC-APNU-AFC suicide bombers, led by the now-proven-indecent David Granger. Since the night of March 02, 2020, Granger’s men and women had their Statements of Poll and knew that they lost these elections overwhelmingly. The PPPC exposed the cabal’s woeful, underhand, clandestine attempts at stealing the elections in full view of the whole world.
Even after all the shenanigans, Mr. Granger stubbornly demonstrates a lack of decency and integrity, refusing to congratulate Dr. Irfaan Ali and end the high-tension scenario in our country.
There are lots of work for the new PPPC Government to do, given the extensive damage to the economy caused by the coalition’s fraudulent spendthrift acts. The treasury is empty, and almost every major development economic driver industry is approaching closure. The sugar industry is almost bankrupt, impacted by a spiteful and deliberate suppression of the APNU/AFC to close the sector.
Unless the new Government takes immediate remedial action, the situation will result in a negative impact on the livelihood of thousands of workers and their families, as many communities would be destroyed and our people would go hungry.
Bauxite mining is dead; the Forestry sector has been destroyed, while the fisheries sector is heavily threatened and is risky and struggling. Coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the cost-of-living has risen sky-high and our people are almost in panic mode. It is critical for the PPP/C Government to move into office and immediately return life and stability to our ‘Motherland’.
The incompetent APNU/AFC Government has closed itself down, while much of its current administrators fraudulently and uncaringly focus on persistent corrupt acts of squandermania and discrimination.
Of note, PPP/C won these elections from a total of 13 contesting political parties. However, the wave of unpatriotic and undemocratic suppression threatened by the flagrant APNU attempt at stealing the election has generated a magnanimous united front, which must prevail in the struggle for free and fair elections. We are confident that the way forward will see further unity and tremendous progress in our country Guyana.
All and sundry must maintain the keenest scrutiny of every move made by the APNU/AFC Coalition, given their surreptitious inclinations.
The Liliendaal project addressing the transformation of the Ocean View Hotel is under serious scrutiny. It started as a (Gy) hundred-million-dollar project to effect some simple repairs but has now turned out to be a major milking cow for the PNC/APNU players. It is therefore not surprising that a PNC candidate at the National Elections, who is /was the owner of the hotel, is now in hiding and playing dumb.
After the exposure of the flagrant vulgarity that took place regarding this hotel, a decision was taken by the principals to let the Government take over the place by compulsory acquisition. However, there are numerous serious questions to be answered, such as the determined or agreed cost for the acquisition, and the implications for NICIL.
Further, it is interesting to know under which ministerial jurisdiction this project falls, since the responsible party never published this acquisition in the Official Gazette.
With the National Assembly closed during this period, it is clear that this is an unbudgeted project. Hence it is obvious that an illegal position demands a supplementary programme in the National Assembly, and that several clear anomalies exist.
I ask further: Was there an Engineer’s estimate? Who is/was the Engineer? Who is the supervisory consultant; and what is the cost? Was there any approval granted by the NPTAB, contractors, and suppliers?
There will be issues regarding the role of the Public Procurement Commission and the Auditor General, among many others, given that the APNU/AFC will not complete this building. This slackness is a serious indictment against the thieves, who will certainly have to answer for it; and the Guyanese public is calling on the Granger Administration to explain what is happening with the acquisition.
Mr. Granger and his agents, who peddled insults against our many Caribbean and international partners, have served to tarnish Guyana’s international image significantly, and this must not be tolerated going forward. The Granger Team’s damage is being uncaringly spewed, and this ugly cabal must be made to eat their own vomit as the new revolution consumes them. This columnist joins in welcoming Dr Irfaan Ali as Guyana’ Ninth Executive President, and in welcoming to office his supportive team.
Sincerely,
Neil Kumar