Swearing in new President critical, not only because he won, but our country is bleeding

Dear Editor,
Guyana is bleeding. Our people await anxiously for GECOM to declare the winner of the March 2 elections. While our people are fatigued by the sloth and the machinations of GECOM and the indecency and shenanigans of David Granger’s APNU+AFC, Guyana is reeling.
On Monday, GuySuCo admitted they wrote David Granger begging him to assist them from closing down because they have no money, putting 10,000 people out of jobs. On Wednesday, the Ministry of Finance admitted what the PPP has been saying for months: that Ministry has bankrupted the country.
They responded to GuySuCo that, as much as they would like to help, the Ministry has no resource available to do so. They did not call it bankruptcy, they called it “an inability” to meet the financial needs of GuySuCo.
These two reports affirm the financial mess Guyana is in, as reported in the Bank of Guyana’s most recent Report. In March, the deposits in the Bank of Guyana showed an overdraft of $82B; this increased to $92B by April. In a single month, APNU+AFC has accumulated an overdraft of $10B.
In May 2015, the deposits were a positive $8.5B. APNU+AFC spent out all of that money, most of the $25B gold deposits, and then went into overdraft of $92B by end of April. It is possible that the overdraft is in excess of $100B right now.
In the meanwhile, they refuse to tell the nation what happened to the $US18M bonus that EXXON paid Guyana in 2016, and have steadfastly refused to account for the $30B loan they took on behalf of GuySuCo.
The Ministry of Finance confessed that SPU/NICIL disbursed about $9B of the $30B GuySuCo loan to GuySuCo. Just over $20B of that loan is unaccounted for. GuySuCo does not need APNU+AFC to find the money it needs to operate; more than $20B from the loan is available, but that money is hidden. We have no idea if they have used it for non-GuySuCo expenses.
As the GuySuCo tragedy unfolds, threatening another 10,000 sugar workers with loss of jobs in addition to the more than 7,000 who have already lost their jobs, NICIL has sold GuySuCo lands, more than $4B worth, but GUYSUCO did not directly benefit from such sales. In fact, $2.5B from land sales went to cover interests on the loan, with another $1.5B to be paid soon.
Thus GUYSUCO had $34B of its own money, albeit mostly a loan, but they have no control of those funds; the APNU+AFC-controlled NICIL controls the money.
The greater tragedy is that this same Government forced Guyana to spend close to $1B for a recount exercise for the March elections when they knew full well that the Statements of Poll were accurate. We spent $1B for a totally needless exercise, while 10,000 sugar workers are facing a close-down of the remaining sugar estates.
Guyana is in a mess as a result of APNU+AFC’s squandermania.
In accordance with the Constitution, Dr. Irfaan Ali is deemed the President of Guyana. Swearing in Dr. Irfaan Ali as Guyana’s new President is urgent, not just because the PPP won the elections of March 2, but because our country is bleeding.
The elections were held more than 100 days ago. Twice we have had the real results. On the evening of 2nd March, 2339 presiding officers counted the votes and published the results at each one of the 2339 polling stations. The PPP published their copies of the SOPs online on March 5. Some of these SOPs were published in the Stabroek News, but GECOM and APNU+AFC hid their copies.
The recount, however, is finished; it was needless and it was expensive. There are better ways to use $1B; a caring Government, a decent and honest President, would know that.
The swearing in of President Ali is no longer about the winner deserving to be sworn in immediately. This is about the desperate need for an effective Government now. There is an urgent need for a Government to take control and stop Guyana from reeling into economic calamity.
Already, Guyana has been set back for decades. It was only in December last that there was euphoria that OIL finally is part of Guyana’s economy. Yet, six months later, Guyana’s economy is stagnant and Guyana’s financial and macro-economic status is one of bankruptcy.
For David Granger to callously and illegally cling on to the Presidency while Guyana is falling into the abyss is indecent, dishonest and criminal. But even with the desperate economic times, APNU+AFC is raping the resources of the country. The latest information is that assets of the State, such as State lands, are being willy-nilly distributed to their sycophants, family and friends. In the meanwhile, illegal ministers are busy reappointing boards.
This is why it has become desperately urgent for the new Government to be sworn in. It is not just because the PPP and Dr. Irfaan Ali won; it is because unless it is done now, Guyana will be completely bankrupt, State assets will be illegally distributed, and we will need decades to recover. Even OIL will not help.

Dr Leslie Ramsammy