Dear Editor,
The recent statements on GuySuCo by MP Vinceroy Jordan can only be described as totally baseless, unfounded, reckless, impetuous, mischievous, malicious, and wickedly vengeful. The list of similar adjectives can be extremely long.
It has long been the modus operandi of the APNU/AFC to ceaselessly chant the “corruption” mantra without providing an iota of evidence. The Guyana Sugar Corporation has a robust Internal Audit Department which ensures compliance with laws and regulations and helps to maintain accurate and timely financial reporting and data collection. This Department has never been the subject of any malpractice, and its findings have always been accurate, impartial, and without prejudice.
As a responsible Member of Parliament, Mr Jordan must know this fact, and that the findings of the Internal Audit Department relative to the overstatement of 243 tons of sugar at Rose Hall Estate are subjected to such high standards.
The Production Manager and the Head Lab Technician did not deny there was an overstatement, but the ‘well-informed’ Member of Parliament denied this fact, and attributed this to “merely a top-of-the-surface rush to the defence of the Minister of Agriculture and the Agency…” This is a gross insult and a direct attack on the Internal Audit Department of GuySuCo.
In simple words, the MP is saying the findings of the Internal Audit Department are a cover-up. As a professional accountant, I take umbrage at such a reckless and willful attempt to besmirch the character and professional integrity of my peers. Who is Jordan to make such a determination? This MP would do well to subject his party, the PNC, to close scrutiny when it comes to corruption, mismanagement, and related cover-ups.
The Auditor General’s Reports for all the years the Coalition was in Government are replete with taxpayers’ dollars being unaccounted for. For instance, Jordan should read the 2019 Report, in which the Auditor General submitted a ‘Disclaimer of Opinion’ which stated that, “I do not express an opinion on Financial Report of the Deposit Fund, Receipts and Payments of the Contingencies Fund and Statement of Assets and Liabilities of the Government which form part of the Consolidated Financial Statements because of the significance of the comments as contained in the relevant sections of my Report. I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion on these statements for the fiscal year ended 31st December, 2019”.
The Coalition constantly raided and raped the Treasury. The details are in the Reports, Mr Jordan. This was what the Coalition did in their term in office from 2015 to 2020, and Jordan has the temerity and audacity to question the findings of the GuySuCo Internal Audit Department. This MP and his colleagues should spend some time dissecting and digesting the Auditor General’s Reports for all those years their party was in Government. It is anyone’s guess what they would have done with the oil money; they gave a good illustration with the US$18 signing bonus.
The Coalition has no moral or legal basis to speak about corruption. They should stick to conducting ‘pit latrines’ audits.
Mr Jordan and his ilk should have done an audit on the total cost of the closure of the four estates, which this Government has to bear. This is estimated at more than $100 billion. His colleague Winston Jordan had said that the estates would be kept in pristine operational condition until sold, but instead billions in sugar canes, machinery and equipment were left to rot and decay. Even the grinding estates were not spared, since capital investment and rehabilitation work was minimal and thousands of hectares of sugar cane cultivation were abandoned.
It must be recalled that $17.6 billion from the $30 billion Bond was expended with nothing to show. This Government is now rectifying the havoc unleashed by the Coalition. Jordan and his colleagues should visit the Rose Hall Estate and its environs and behold the progress and prosperity which this Government has brought back. This has been the trend countrywide.
In conclusion, I wish to reiterate a statement from GuySuCo’s response to Jordan’s vexatious and spurious allegations: ‘The people of Guyana deserve better than these cheap political stunts. MP Jordan should focus on contributing positively to the nation, instead of spreading lies and stirring up unnecessary controversy’.
The Coalition should know that they cannot win an election on lies and deceptive statements.
Yours sincerely,
Haseef Yusuf
