The Alliance For Change yesterday upped the pressure on President Donald Ramotar for not taking action on irregularities at state TV NCN which implicated two senior officials of the network.
The irregularities pertained to the deposit of money from telephone company, GT&T into the private account of one of the individuals and attempts by both to cover up the matter. A subsequent investigation pointed to other wrong-doings.
As the Minister of Information, the matter was referred to Ramotar and eight months after an investigation nothing has happened. Critics have said that the President should not even have gotten involved but that the matter should have been handed over to the police. Critics have also said that the police themselves should have investigated it even without a formal complaint.
At a press conference yesterday, the AFC noted that eight months after Ramotar ordered an investigation into financial irregularities at NCN and some four months since the Audit firm handed in its report, there has been no move by the Administration to “ensure that those who siphoned off the company money into their personal accounts are charged.”
The AFC said that this was the “highest level of executive lawlessness”.
The party argued that the deposit of company money into personal bank accounts is not an allegation as there is evidence that this fraudulent transaction did take place.
“In any other society, those responsible would have been behind bars. For the President to sit on the report from the audit firm while the perpetrators are still being paid by the company or allowed to go free, places the president in a position where he is clearly condoning executive lawlessness”, the AFC charged.
“If President Ramotar is disinclined to take action in his capacity as President, he is honour bound as Minister of Information to ensure that the state owned and government controlled NCN operates above board and in such a clear case of irregularity, he should have immediately called for those named to face the full force of the law and let the chips fall where they will”, the party asserted.
It also referred to an audit report related to the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority.
The AFC said that this report recommends the immediate dismissal of NDIA’s boss Lionel Wordsworth and the Senior Section Engineer, Aneel Chowbay
The audit on fuel consumption and equipment operations and maintenance, was undertaken between May and September. The AFC said that it was completed and submitted to the Chairman of the NDIA Board of Directors on September 26, and carbon copied to President Donald Ramotar. Five months later, the AFC said that the President has failed to clean house.
“These clear-cut and proven cases of financial irregularities at two government controlled entities have placed Guyana in a very embarrassing position. This is compounded by the fact that the persons named either continue to work in the agency with the opportunity to continue their illegal behaviour or they are given a slight tap on the wrist and sent off to perpetrate such acts elsewhere. They are not made to pay for the wrong they did.
“While the AFC remains committed to working with President Ramotar and his Administration to move Guyana forward, we remind him of remarks he made to his new cabinet in December 2012, `…our nation’s well-being should always be our most important guiding influence’ and call on him to lead by example and put this nation’s well-being ahead of protecting cronies”, the party said.
