Jordan brazenly insults the Guyanese people, particularly supporters of the PNC

The President is busy securing direct cash grants for all the Guyanese people; no matter where they live, what their ethnicity or religion, who they voted for. Ministers have been in places like Linden, South Georgetown and Buxton, and in every single community in Guyana.

While Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo has been busy ensuring the Amaila Hydroelectric plant becomes reality finally, and President Irfaan Ali is concluding arrangements for the start of the Corentyne River Bridge, other Government Ministers are finalising arrangements for the new Demerara River Bridge; the Linden-to-Lethem Road; new bypass roads connecting the East Coast to the East Bank Demerara, by-passing Georgetown’s traffic; building new hospitals at Bartica, Suddie and West Demerara; building new high schools around the country. These are just a few transformative projects that represent an unprecedented dizzying pace of development in Guyana.
In the midst of this dizzying pace of development, the PNC continues its campaign of lies, lies and more lies. The latest lie comes from the former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, who has rightfully earned the title of one of the worst Finance Ministers Guyana has ever had. He took a flourishing economy and stagnated it. Without oil and gas, which started under the PPP in 2014, and without the success of Guyana’s rice farmers, the economy would have been in negative growth between 2015 and 2020.
Jordan was part of the conspiracy to hide the $US18M Exxon signing bonus. He had previously justified the secrecy by insisting the money was a gift from EXXON. Last week, given another chance to apologise for hiding the EXXON $US18M, Jordan again said he really thought the money was a gift.
Jordan did not shock any of us with this lie. It seems every time Jordan speaks, it is another lie that comes out of his mouth. Last week, Jordan belittled the cash grants the Irfaan Ali-led PPP Government has been making in its first year in Government. More than US$110M would eventually be distributed once the Government completes the distribution of all the cash transfers announced within its first year. Jordan had the audacity only a shameless man could conjure when he declared that had he still been Minister of Finance in a PNC Government, he would have given out a larger COVID-19 relief cash grant than the $25,000 per family the PPP Government gave out.
He further declared that he would have given it out as a monthly relief check for six months, and after those six months, would have considered another six months. Given his and APNU/AFC’s track record, who believes Jordan?
For five months, as COVID-19 locked down Guyana, APNU/AFC were busy trying to rig an election, with no consideration for a cash grant for the Guyanese people. Jordan’s brazen lies insult Guyanese citizens, particularly the PNC supporters. More than 30% of the Guyanese voting population have been loyal to them for more than 60 years.
The PNC have never once shown loyalty to their supporters in the same way their supporters have shown to them. For five years in Government, not once, not a single time, did Jordan and the Granger-led APNU/AFC (PNC) Government provide a single dollar in cash transfer to Guyanese citizens. In fact, when they gave themselves (the cabinet, that is) a more-than-100% pay increase, their justification was that it was necessary to prevent Ministers from being corrupt. The result was that, between 2015 and 2020, Guyana experienced corruption that reached unimaginable heights.
At the time, then Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo explained to public servants that the promised large increase in public servants’ salaries would be coming, but that the treasury was broke and the public servants must wait. They did wait, waited for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The big public servants’ increases never materialised.
When farmers such as those in Mahaicony, Black Bush Polder and Region 2 suffered massive damages because of floods in 2016, what was Jordan and the PNC Government’s response? Increase in land lease rates, removal of agricultural subsidies the farmers benefited from for twenty years previously under the PPP Government. Jordan’s Finance Ministry instituted increases in more than 200 taxes. VAT was introduced for water, electricity and data acquisition and education.
A fierce battle led to the eventual withdrawal of the education VAT.
When more than 7,000 sugar workers were fired from their jobs, the severance they were entitled to had to be fought for. Eventually a court had to intervene and force the Government to pay in 2018, a payment that was still outstanding for some workers in 2020.
Yet this man brazenly went on TV and said he would have given out more than the PPP Government is presently giving out. The cash transfers being given out are not handouts. They are being given out to help families cope with the crisis of a pandemic, climate change, and the stagnant economy that Jordan and his cohorts left for the PPP Government to rescue.
This shameless man continues to egregiously insult every single Guyanese citizen, but particularly those people that have given the PNC loyal support for more than 60 years. Every day, with every lie, the PNC move close to irrelevance.