Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo had the perfect answer for reporters querying if the Government had plans to repaint all the buildings and structures that the previous Granger-led APNU+AFC Government had painted green. Essentially, his answer was absolutely not; the PPP Government has no objection to the colour green, and PPP leaders have never conceded ownership of any colour to anyone. When the previous APNU+AFC Government, after 2015, went on a bizarre journey to paint everything in the colour green, they involved Guyana on a journey of waste. There were better ways to spend Guyana’s scare financial resources. It was the same Government that told parents they could not afford to continue the $10,000 cash grant for school children. It was the same Government that discontinued the “One Laptop Per Family” programme because they claimed Guyana could not afford those expenses. It was the same Government that closed four sugar estates, sending home more than 7,000 sugar workers. But they had money to paint everything in sight, including village bus-stops, culverts, etc., green. They even began painting tree trunks green.
The PNC’s hypocrisy is really mind-numbing. Joseph Harmon, the Leader of the Opposition, reacting to the announcement by Minister of Governance, the Honourable Gail Teixeira, that State House would be restored to its heritage colour of white, with forest green trimming, lamented that repainting buildings to a colour the new Government has a preference for is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
That is exactly what the David Granger-led PNC (APNU+AFC) did between 2015 and 2020. They painted everything green. They painted State House green, they painted the Office of the President green. Every public building was painted wholly or partly green; even fences were painted green. Government buildings even had green rugs put into them. Community playfields had fences painted green. Government vehicles were sprayed green. Furniture in public buildings were changed to green ones. Even the uniforms worn by students at the Public Service Training Institute had to be green. The country was painted green everywhere to reflect the PNC’s colour.
The restoration of the State House to its original colour is not an attempt to paint the State House into a colour representing any colour preference by the PPP. The restoration of the State House to its original colour is to preserve its heritage colour. The State House is a Heritage Building. The repainting of the State House in 2015/2016 to change its original colours to green was in fact a repainting job that reflected the colour preference of the PNC. It is hypocritical for Joe Harmon to now say that the PPP’s intention to restore the State House to its Heritage colours is a waste of taxpayers’ money. When the PNC, with Joe Harmon as one of the leading proponents, were in a frenzy changing colours across all public buildings, and even tried getting private minibuses to change their colours to green, that was a real waste of taxpayers’ money. Harmon and his PNC colleagues did not care then. We are happy their eyes are now open.
The Vice-President made it clear that the PPP will not “do for do”. While the repainting of public structures to green between 2015 and 2020 was an egregious act, we must live with that colour change until such time that the buildings must, by necessity, be repainted. The Government must not be using taxpayers’ money for the purpose of changing the green colour just because it was wrong on the part of the PNC to do so during their term in Government. A time will come when maintenance requires repainting; that would be the appropriate time to restore original colours of buildings.
However, the immediate repainting of State House to its original colours is an entirely different matter. The State House is a Heritage Building; the PNC desecrated a Heritage Site, that is why the Government must hastily move to correct that horrendous mistake. It is indeed unfortunate that monies must be spent this way, but sometimes the ready correction of an egregious mistake is the best option.
Repainting the State House in its original colours is not wasting taxpayers’ money; it is Guyana preserving its heritage. Joe Harmon should be the last person to speak of wasteful spending; he exposes his hypocrisy.
