Dear Editor,
The President’s attack on my professional character as reported in the Stabroek News and the Guyana Chronicle has been drawn to my attention.
I challenge the President to prove that I messed up the IFAD project. To the contrary, I, with a number of talented young people (most of whom I recruited), turned around within two years this deeply malfunctional project to achieve a delivery ratio of over 89% by the time I resigned to leave Guyana. The Poor Rural Communities Support Services Project (PRCSSP) that he alluded to was a five-year project that was in its seventh year when I arrived at its doors, but with an implementation ratio that was way below the expected benchmarks. When I exited the project two years later to move overseas, all major components were well advanced with respect to their execution.
For the President’s information, it was my performance on this project that allowed Guyana to receive a better rating that paved the way for the READ project. The critical reports of the donor agencies as regards the execution of the project prior to my presence there, make my claim self evident. At the end, the PRCSSP was a well-rated project. It is clear that the President did not read the IFAD Project exit document and was not privy to the sentiments of the beneficiaries with regard to my stewardship.
My performance was good enough for me to be immediately offered another role in the Caribbean by another international agency. For the President’s information, international agencies do not offer people who “messed up or were fired or rejected.”
Since the President found the time to mind my business rather than do the people’s work, he should review his performance as head of the Government of Guyana. He was not honest enough to tell the nation that I refused an offer from him at the highest level of government. My refusal was because by that time I was convinced that serving under him would have compromised my professional integrity.
As to the supposed application for the Finance Minister position, I was never a friend of the President when he was Finance Minister or thereafter, so I could not have done this over coffee at Camp Site or any other of his social events or at his elite hangouts. And I never did so in writing. So again, I would challenge the President to supply the evidence to back up this claim.
Permit me to assure the President that at this point in time, there is no rank or position that he or any of his loyal servants hold or may be seeking to return to, that I, Sasenarine Singh, have any aspiration for in my career. My future is my future and that is in the hand of the divine, and fortunately not in the hand of the President.
The only truth in the President’s statements is that I was once a member of the PPP. I campaigned for the PPP in every election since 1992. I was motivated by the lean, clean and mean attitudes of Dr Cheddi Jagan and his commitment to sharing the nation’s wealth to all of the people. I knew, however, since the Port Mourant Congress in 2002, when the progressive minds such as myself, who stood with Khemraj Ramjattan on changing the PPP’s constitution and called for greater internal democracy, that my time with the PPP was over. However, being a loyal soldier, to the very end I tried in my little way to influence the change from within in the dying years. But when you have an establishment that does not believe in principles and is only concerned with preservation of power at all costs, one has to take a principled stance. The people were more important than power. To further solidify my haste to leave the PPP is the fact that the party turned a blind eye to corruption and the accumulation of wealth at the expense of the taxpayers. I drew the line. I will have none of it.
The President is very good at being nasty and childish. I dare him to put his record of success against mine and let us debate. He was a compliant beneficiary of the economic foundation left by Carl Greenidge and Asgar Ally, and thus just existed on remote control for most of his public life. He should name one national initiative that he has conceived and driven that created jobs, created and distributed more wealth to the working people, caused greater racial healing in the nation and arrested our crime wave. None can be named. That is his legacy.
My professional record speaks for itself. I will not engage at the President’s level but choose to deal with issues. I challenge the President to rise to the occasion. I will take a leaf out of his book and challenge him to an open debate on his track record. But as Freddie Kissoon found out, the President is a wimp when it comes to debates.
For me, I thank the President for energizing me as I recommit myself to the struggle of removing the barriers to Guyana’s development. My vision is that Guyana will one day be the Singapore of the Americas. I am convinced that the likes of Mr Jagdeo cannot accomplish this. I wish him well in his last days as President. I rest my case.
Yours faithfully,
Sasenarine Singh
