Dear Editor,
Several weeks ago, former Minister of Finance, Mr. Winston Jordan shared his opinion on “wastage spending in Government,” when he appeared as a guest on the programme, “Guyana Morning Time,” hosted by Mr. Kidackie Amsterdam. Oh, Irfaan, Ashni and Big boss Jagdeo ran out condemning Mr. Jordan.
Personally, I endorsed the views expressed by Mr. Jordan. I will highlight via images how taxpayers’ monies are being wasted, when the very funds could have been used to improve key Sectors, such as Education, Health and Social Welfare and pay better wages and salaries to our hardworking public servants and teachers. The struggles that many Guyanese are faced with daily are indeed real. But the PPP/C government is bent on expending the nation’s oil resources on ‘infrastructure development, rather than Human Resources.’
The modus operandi of the PPP/C is to keep our people behind, while 5% of their cronies continue to enjoy from the nation’s patrimony. Since assuming government, there is not one single ordinary Guyanese who can boldly say that their living conditions have changed, due to injection by government where salaries and other benefits would have changed their lives exponentially from August 2, 2020 to current. However, the contrast will always be that our lives were better under the Coalition Government without oil resources and prudent spending as against a PPP/C government with oil resources and wasteful spending, and living conditions have become challenging.
The railway embankment from High Street to Lamaha Street and beyond is nostalgic to the older generations. I remember my mom sharing with my siblings her days of using the train. I was told that the train station was once located at High and Parade streets, Kingston, which still has some superstructure standing. Since the abolition of the train services, the area was being utilized by the Ministry of Public Works for the ‘Force Account Unit’, now referred to as the “Special Project Unit” and other activities, such as the workshop.
The Ministry of Public Works expended millions in this area in 2022, claiming ‘transformation.’ It has been approximately two years and the area looks underutilized, with a few security personnel from Sheriff Security providing daily services.
Editor, this is not the only area where huge sums of taxpayers’ dollars were used to do Infrastructural development. Just take a walk a few yards from the old train station area, from High Street, Kingston to Irving Street, Queenstown. A portion of the area from Parade Street to East Street, is being utilized for parking by staffers of GRA and GPHC, with the general public doing so also when conducting businesses in the areas, or drivers used the stretch as an alternate driveway parallel to Lamaha Street.
Therefore, the question many Guyanese are asking …was this necessary? Why hasn’t the Government channelled the excessive spending towards salaries and bettering the lives of its citizens? Why didn’t the government do this in the twenty-three years? This is a clear case of government finding ways to pumped taxpayers monies into the pockets of friends, families, favourites and flatterers of the PPP/C. Editor, it is only fair to any right thinking Guyanese to fully support the views elucidated by former Minister Jordan regarding the wastage spending of monies, under the pretext of “infrastructural development.”
On Friday October 4, 2024, as I drove past the area where the old train station was, I was perplexed not seeing any gainful activity on the recently renovated area, from High Street to Parade Street, Kingston. It will be helpful for Hon. Bishop Juan Edghill, Minister of Public Works to provide the nation and taxpayers of Guyana explanations on the following questions:
What is the intended purpose for the area, since it has been renovated?
Will there be a committee to manage the use of this facility?
If yes to two above, can the Minister state whether the committee will be comprised of officers from the Ministry of Public Works or it will be privately manned? If so, by whom?
What was the final project cost
Who was the Contractor?
Has the full scope of work for the project been completed? If not, what are the remaining components to be completed?
What is the deadline for project completion?
Editor, I am sharing with you images taken of the current state of the project, between High and Parade streets, Kingston, Greater Georgetown.
I will conclude by joining my voice in support of the views expressed by Mr. Jordan and appeal to Mr. Irfaan Ali to cease the wastage spending on infrastructural development and pay attention by revising Government programmes to aid in the development of the citizens of Guyana. It is time the cheap rhetoric of “government programmes are helping Guyanese; Guyanese have their own home and car…” While this may be so, it is the people who make the ultimate sacrifices of giving up one for another, in real economic terms, “opportunity costs.” It is not the government doing this for them.
It is time Guyanese feel the positive impact and effects from the oil resources.
May God help us as a nation.
Yours sincerely,
Annette Ferguson, MP
