Dear Editor,
I am in a helping mood today. First in line is the Hon. Vishnu Panday, of We Invest in Nationhood (WIN). He is the new chair of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Through this channel, please turn thine back against that well-thought out, dripping-with-consideration, package deal tabled by the PPP Govt. Before chairman Panday turns his back, he should deliver a Spanish like kick to that Trojan Horse gifted to the PAC by the PPP. In sum, the PPP didn’t succeed in playing games with all those billions by being stupid. Insensitive, sure; but idiotic, no way.
The PPP Govt meddled with the quorum, abused it through using its majority weight. First, low blow below the belt. Then, absenteeism, the exigencies of ministers, and conflicts of time (maybe interest also) all hampered the work of the PAC. Simply ask the PNC. Having stonewalled and succeeded, that should have been the end of the matter. PAC closed. Case closed. All those nosy people closed down from venturing deeper. Going where they shouldn’t. Matters rested there until some resourceful citizens (beginning with your truly) advised PAC Chairman Panday to hold meetings, regardless of government’s absences.[1] I see those as deliberate, intended to cripple transparency. Intended to deny Guyanese from getting a serious look. At the dishonesty of PPP henchmen, PPP regionals, PPP insiders, and the PPP’s 4F crowd manifested. Recall: record billions budgeted each year, since 2021. If they did their jobs cleanly, handled those billions with care, every government member would have been available for every PAC meeting.
My recommendation to Chair Panday was that he examines the audit reports (truly a casualty of Guyana’s politics), and publish the results of such unfettered, undisturbed, scrutiny. Others agreed. Now, the PPP found a new rabbit for Mr. Panday. A Trojan Horse, really. In the interests of movement, the offer came: merge the audit reports, works of extraordinary artistry by themselves, for 2020-2022. No, chairman Panday. Get part of the backlog of audit reports out of the way. Do not agree, chair Panday. Give a circle of cooperation and new political culture the head start it needs urgently. Should chair Panday of WIN and the PNC members in the PAC fall for that ruse, they should have their heads examined. Plain and straight. Frank talk.
Undoubtedly, the government already has its rebuttal ready. PPP haters. More interest in playing hardline politics than getting to the bottom of billions, serving Guyanese. Recall that poem about pot, kettle, and what’s black. My perspective is that the PPP Govt wishes to skim over, cover over, and smooth over the hundreds of billions from 2020-2022 in one shot. Done. Dust off hands. Move along. Sure, it has PNC money and PNC hands in the year 2020, but how much and from where? Oil wasn’t quite there. Elections suffocated. From August 2020 it was all PPP and the glory of billions upon billions. The guys and girls were away from the public troughs for a long five years (four and change), so they were hungry. Know also that select PNC and PPP luminaries did business on the side between 2015-2020. Some of that continues today. Don’t fall for this cook-up, chair Panday, of cramming almost three years into one round of scrutiny.
Because that opens the door for more of the same. If 2020, 2021, and 2022 can be blended into one, then a precedent will be set. The same could be expected for 2023 and 2024. See why I say that the PPP is cagey! For the last time: refrain, chair Panday. Thanks, but no thanks. Be polite. Defang without any big bang. The PPP should have Plan B waiting.