No accountability, democracy shown by Govt – Hinds

D’Urban Park fiasco

Political commentator Professor David Hinds has stated that after careful study of the statements of the President and other Government officials the establishment of the controversial Homestretch Development Incorporated suggests that the Government did not show accountability and democracy.

Questioning why this company was not made public at the time when it was established, Hinds commented that it took the People’s Progress Party (PPP) to draw this information out of the Government.
Last week, President David Granger said the company was created solely to help completion of the D’Urban Park Development Project in time for Guyana’s 50th Independence anniversary celebration in the absence of budgetary allocations, following the May 2015 elections.
The Opposition had claimed that Government had not been open with information regarding the D’Urban Park Development Project, the creation and registration of HDI, which collected funds for the Project, or Minister of Education, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine’s role as a director of the company.
Hinds suggested that Government should have disclosed this information on its own and “let the country judge whether it was prudent for the administration to create a company to oversee the project.”
Underscoring that there was not widespread support for the project in the first place, Hinds stated that it was prudent for the Government to ensure that there was instant disclosure.
“If there is nothing to hide—and I believe there was nothing sinister—then why not make the information public? Like many of the problems this government has created for itself, this one speaks to a culture that privileges secrecy when openness is the wiser and politically sensible way to go,” he said, adding that Government must have respect for the citizens and be guided by political morality.
“Mistakes would be made but a responsible Government should not put itself in a position whereby its motives are constantly questioned and projected as sinister.”  Although the President has explained Roopnaraine’s role in the company, Hinds posited that it is pertinent that Roopnaraine should give a public explanation on his own.
“The revelation that WPA co-leader, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, was a director of the company cannot pass without comment. I have not had an opportunity to speak to him personally on this matter, but as a public commentator, who is Dr Roopnaraine’s comrade, I have to assert that I hold him to the same standards of political morality as I do other public officials…But I feel very strongly that given his own political tradition and culture, Dr Roopnaraine should speak for himself by explaining to the public his role in the company and why he was party to keeping that information secret,” he suggested.
Hinds added that Roopnaraine owes his party—the WPA— and the country an explanation.
The President had indicated that Roopnaraine’s role on the board only represents the Government’s interest, “because the celebrations, which we had aimed at, at the time of the establishment of the company, concerned largely the 50th anniversary celebrations.”
However, the political commentator stated that he is worried that the Government continues to get itself tangled into situations that suggest it has something to hide.
“These accumulated mistakes help to provide space for the PPP to project itself as the defender of political virtue. But equally important, it saps the energy of its supporters which in the long-run could dampen their enthusiasm for the government,” Hinds purported.
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson in a debate in the National Assembly at its last sitting on Tuesday, November 22, 2016, said the D’Urban Park project has its genesis in the efforts of private citizens, who took a decision to support efforts aimed at converting an area that was in actual fact ‘a jungle’ into a public space.