Dear Editor,
As the nation of Guyana continues to imbibe at the fountain of disregard for decency and justice, the report by the ombudsman, related to the New Building Society (NBS) and Mr Arjoon is welcome.
Every right-thinking citizen needs to compliment Justice Moore for a job well done. This is particularly refreshing since it is the advent (with due regard to the upcoming Season) of an important institution in our society after a lapse of over a decade.
I have no doubt that those with financial expertise as well as the media will deal with the many unhappy things surrounding this examination of Mr Arjoon’s matter. We have a picture which shows our minister of finance failing to respond to the ombudsman on a critical issue. There should be sanctions for persons who refuse to cooperate with the ombudsman. This should also allow for a full investigation of the way state funds are used and not properly accounted for – NIS , NICIL, tenders, GINA – the list is long. But of great interest in so far as the NBS revelations are concerned, is how the vital documents from the police just vanished.
But what was not the subject taken to the ombudsman was the origin of the Berbice Bridge; the public needs be reminded thus. The Berbice Bridge was birthed by its political midwife in a delivery room clouded in deceit, darkness and discrimination.
An earlier study I know of identified the locations of Ithaca on the west bank, and Sisters Village on the east bank of the Berbice River. The soils on both sides were firm and therefore favourable for construction work, while he river narrowed at that point meaning a shorter span to be built and less cost.
Both sides had existing communities to support the project and also benefit from this major development. It is this latter which apparently presented the Jagdeo administration with a problem. You see the residents of Sisters and Ithaca were considered not strong supporters of the ruling party, so the government selected a site nearer the mouth of the river which was wider, and as we recall, offered serious technical challenges. The result was the bridge cost more millions, as a result of which all of us, including their erstwhile supporters must pay a large sum to use this Berbice bridge, compared to the Demerara bridge.
We are a sad and sorry state crying for change.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
Mayor of Georgetown
