Businessman Robert Badal yesterday endorsed the Alliance For Change (AFC) to lead the next government, calling the party “the most credible option” to take the country forward.
“Today we have not only a clear choice but a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to support a change in government,” Badal said at an AFC news conference. “I am a businessman not a politician, but as a businessman and a citizen of this country it is my duty to say something is wrong when it is wrong, free of any fear of intimidation or victimisation,” he added.
According to Badal, an AFC-government led by Khemraj Ramjattan, Raphael Trotman, Moses Nagamootoo and a dynamic team of young professionals would “restore decency and integrity to government, ensure transparency and accountability to Guyanese, and halt the accelerating web of corruption.”
In recent years, Badal, the Chief Executive Officer of Guyana Stockfeeds Inc (GSI) and owner of the Pegasus Hotel, has been one of the few voices in the private sector critical of the government. Last year, he criticized the government for agreeing to invest in the Marriott Hotel. His comments have drawn the ire of President Bharrat Jagdeo.
Yesterday, he said that all over the world people are removing abusive, corrupt and repressive governments, and pointed out that after 19 years of “divisive and destructive politics under the PPP/C,” there is little to show for the billions of dollars spent and the huge sacrifices made by every Guyanese. “Physical infrastructure of roads and drainage in the city and around the country remain poor. Criminal activity, including daily robberies and murders go unchecked with no solution in sight. Corruption has become the culture in public office, evidenced by the unexplained wealth of those in power. All institutions of the state designed to ensure public accountability have been deliberately marginalised and [are] non-functional,” he added.
Badal blamed the state of affairs on the poor choices made by the PPP/C, particularly over the last 12 years—the tenure of outgoing president Bharrat Jagdeo. “How could an intelligent and resourceful people allow its country to degenerate to this level?” he asking before identifying “poor choices” over the past 12 years as the reason for this.
He said that in endorsing the AFC he was also asking for a judicial system which is independent of any political intimidation and influence: “I think what the AFC stands for is to bring a progressive system in the civil service” similar to what exists in to other countries in the region. Badal said while members of the private sector are “very timid and very docile” due to the “systematic abuses” by politicians, in private they express their concerns on similar matters.
AFC presidential candidate Khemraj Ramjattan described Badal’s endorsement as a “big development” in Guyana saying that it is indicative that changes can occur even within the private sector. “Many businessmen suffer what is called the battered women’s syndrome and so they just take it as it comes every time because they fear that nothing else can be done,” Ramjattan added. Ramjattan said that Badal’s endorsement could encourage other individuals who are fearful to come forward.
Endorsing what Ramjattan said, AFC leader Trotman said that although Badal is not on the party’s list of candidates, “he has struck the first blow against the dictatorship for the business community”.
