Dear Editor,
Why should the workers of Guyana not vote PPP come 2011? Any political analyst can find hundreds of reasons to answer this question, but in this letter I shall focus on one pertinent fact as stated by President Jagdeo when he said, “A probe into CLICO would serve no purpose.”
As a public policy position, President Jagdeo stated he “believes that such an investigation would only disclose what has already been established through an audit of the company.” To expose the shallowness of this regime, I support my position with some facts. What is an audit? An audit is a process of objectively obtaining and evaluating evidence relating to the reliability and integrity of financial information. The approach adopted is a key factor in determining the outcome of the audit. With the unfolding ‘soap opera’ at CLICO, a forensic audit was more relevant in addition to the standard audit, since the standard audit cannot arm the regime with the information on what the extent of the financial hole is, where we can track the money and who is accountable for this mess. Was a forensic audit done at CLICO and was it laid in the National Assembly? Obviously not, and thus it is very unfortunate that President Jagdeo came to these conclusions with inadequate evidence to support him, but now in a patented style, the regime makes it up as it goes along, with limited analysis behind the decisions. A forensic audit of CLICO could have provided better answers as to whether an alleged fraud had taken place (there is a perception by many that fraud did take place), and if so, the quantum of money missing; but more importantly, in the event of fraud, it would identify those involved so that they could be held responsible. The Guyanese workers have a vested interest in bringing closure to this case since they have lost billions by way of the NIS investments in CLICO. If one is to follow what is happening with CLICO (Bahamas), one would clearly ascertain from the liquidator Mr Gomez that “CLICO (Bahamas) was used as a cash cow to divert money into real estate investments in Florida.”
One is left to wonder why President Jagdeo is willing to compromise his credibility over the CLICO affair by denying the workers the right to factual information. The time has arrived where the workers of Guyana cannot trust his judgment on this issue, since it is his regime that allegedly made the decision to invest the NIS money in CLICO without consulting the workers. Thus it is his regime that is allegedly responsible for the parlous state of the workers’ pension funds where the NIS has more liabilities than realizable assets (there is a paper asset on the NIS balance sheet called ‘Investment in CLICO,’ which must be impaired in accordance with IAS 36). If anyone is to conduct a risk based audit of the NIS, they will find that this company is insolvent since it has a negative equity position. So the Guyanese public must understand why President Jagdeo is against a probe. He does not want to be straight up with the Guyanese workers that CLICO will most likely repay about 10 cents for every dollar invested by NIS and the workers and taxpayers will have to fund the gap of 90 cents for the billions lost by the Jagdeo regime.
There is no money to be had at this point in time and even if there are monies to be had, they will be tied up in court for years to come. Thus the boast from the President that he tracked every cent has little meaning. What the regime is doing, is buying time to allow for continuous NIS contributions to rebuild the asset base of the balance sheet, while stifling the cash payout to the deserving pensioners and other beneficiaries. I have been told of the scores of retirees from the sugar belt that have been told they have not paid their required number of contributions even though they have worked legally for donkey years at GuySuCo. It was only after they sought legal advice and produced their pay slips that they got what is justly theirs. According to the Institute of Governance, good governance is the “practice of how a government relates with the citizens, how they interact with the citizens and how decisions are taken for the citizens.” Was there any participation of the workers of Guyana in this material decision to invest billions of dollars of their money in CLICO Guyana? Was a sensible risk analysis done to ensure that the strategic vision of the investment was best for the workers of Guyana?
The CLICO case clearly demonstrates we have a regime with little respect for accountability. If we are to venture into the realms of transparency, we will find that the workers of Guyana had zero access to any information on this investment until the independent media broke the story. The basic minimum that any good government would have done was to at least advise the National Assembly of its decision to invest material sums of the workers’ money in CLICO but this was not done because of the regime’s administrative laziness. They just were not interested in preparing a justification document to support their ill-conceived actions.
The well-being and future of our workers in Guyana is now compromised because of this decision to invest their funds in CLICO. Workers will have their say in 2011 and they will have to carefully consider the AFC decision to not join with the PNC and the PPP as a foundation for their future. For those sugar workers who remain loyal to the ideals of Cheddi Jagan, it is time to wake up. If they are to evaluate the main horses in the race in 2011, the AFC is the party that best represents the Jagan ideals. The power players in the PPP have buried all of Dr Jagan’s teaching permanently and have actually quite comfortably gravitated to a Burnham style of government with a Burnham constitution. If one is to peruse all the actions and decisions of the Jagdeo regime, they will clearly see Burnham is alive and well in present-day Guyana. They have to make that hard decision to save the country from today’s Burnham and make that paradigm shift to the AFC to regain grounds and rights that were lost since 1999. Sugar workers with a clear conscience must understand that a vote for the AFC is not a vote for the PNC. Sugar workers must exercise that protest vote against the regime that has lost billions of their money.
In concluding, we must move our government to a principle-based one that governs for the people, not themselves. This CLICO saga has clearly demonstrated that the Jagdeo regime does not understand the concept of fairness, equity, justice, integrity, honesty, human dignity, service to the people, excellence in service, and patience in public policy. It is time for the sugar workers to vote on issues and give the AFC the chance to change the way the people’s affairs are managed.
Your faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
