Dear Editor,
The recent D’Urban Park debate in the National Assembly presented a stunning blow to the credibility of the David Granger-led A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government with its staunch reluctance to make full disclosure about the operations of this scandalous project. None of us as taxpayers should be comforted by such attitude where the Government dictates its own terms, outside of the Constitution and financial laws for accountability and transparency.
It is absolutely clearly that almost one year after the commencement of the Durban Park project, the Government of Guyana is stubbornly refusing to tell us about the millions of dollars in cash and other resources donated to this project, a full list of the principals who meddled in its execution and the millions of outstanding amounts to contractors and service providers.
How could you have a state project utilizing state resources and donations from civil society without proper account for the monies and other resources collected and utilised for this project?
We have no obligation as taxpayers to accept this unaccountable and non-transparent behaviour by the Government which during the elections campaign promised Guyanese, higher levels of accountability, transparency and good governance. So far, with some 26 and counting corruptible and scandalous acts by the Granger-Administration the nation is frightened by the intensity with which the Government’s credibility is shrinking.
The parliamentary debate on the D’Urban Park Project also exposed the APNU/AFC Government’s attitude of ‘might is right’ as its representatives in the National Assembly utilised the full range of diversionary tactics, puerile postures and futile masquerading to dodge the real issue of the motion which sought answers to the many shady aspects of the D’Urban Park project.
The debate did grave damage to the Government despite its last minute effort of pitching Minister David Patterson into the ring to fight-off rapid punches from the parliamentary Opposition that was obviously armed and well prepared. No doubt Patterson was unhelpful as his contribution deepened suspicions and complicated the matter as he failed to bring recovery to the Government’s credibility with his sketchy offering of murky details leaving the nation with a plethora of unanswered questions.
The APNU/AFC Government lost out on an opportunity to assert itself as a genuine subscriber to accountability and transparency.
There was nothing difficult about the motion; all the Government had to do was prepare the list with all the donations in cash and kind, the players and the mechanisms utilised for engagement parties in the project and hand over to the parliamentary Opposition. That would have been a better strategy which would have forced the parliamentary Opposition to either retreat or sing to itself during the debate.
But the entire display of the Government side appeared mocking accountability and transparency while the nation is still without clarity about the D’Urban Park Project.
Sincerely,
Todd A Morgan
