Ramotar seeks private sector input in corruption fight

JUNE 29, 2012 | BY KNEWS

Corruption has been identified as one of the major impediments to good business in the Guyanese economy and, both the Government and the private sector have agreed to stamp out the practices beginning at the “top.”

When the Private Sector Commission (PSC) met at the Pegasus Hotel yesterday for their 2012 Annual General Meeting (AGM), fingers were pointed at both the public and private sector, where examples of corruption can be found.

President Donald Ramotar who was invited as a guest speaker at yesterday’s meeting didn’t turn a blind eye to the fact that corrupt practices exist within government sectors in situations, where officials use positions of influence to frustrate persons conducting legitimate business.
“We have fought corruption in the past and we will continue to do so.  We will try to get to both the corrupted and the corrupter. Both are criminally culpable.  In the case of corruption within the public sector, the corrupted is a public official who demands something in return for a favour,” President Ramotar said.  [more]

Corruption in gold mining sector under scrutiny

Corruption in gold mining sector comes under scrutiny

MAY 16, 2012 | BY KNEWS | By Leonard Gildarie

 …local consortium proposes refinery

An age-old practice by holders of large and medium scale exploratory permits to allow illegal gold mining has drawn fire from government quarters.
During a luncheon in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud, said it is a major issue being tackled by his newly established Ministry.

Some of the companies involved in the illegal act are prominent ones and the guilty parties could very well face sanctions and see the seizure of the Prospecting Licence, Persaud warned yesterday during a session with reporters and stakeholders at the Sleep Inn Hotel on Brickdam.

According to Persaud, there is clear evidence, via written agreements and otherwise, of the illegal actions.  

President bluffing on snap elections… Nagamootoo

May 6, 2012 | By KNews –  By Rabindra Rooplall

 Ramotar politically a “dead duck” if elections called–Nagamootoo 

“We are helping this Government to deal with its own dilemma which is its own corruption …. they don’t have the political will to fight the corruption.”  Says AFC Executive Moses Nagamootoo 

For the first time society now sees both the government and the opposition going around the country explaining the budget situation and observers are saying that it appears as if the government is inclined to call snap elections.

Observers see the moves of political parties at this time as campaigning ahead of snap elections. However, Alliance For Change (AFC) Executive Moses Nagamootoo says he is calling the bluff of the Government and is challenging them to call snap elections since society is now much more aware of what government does with taxpayer monies and the way they administer governmental functions throughout the country not as public servants but as authoritarians.

President Donald Ramotar’s New Year’s address

“We will work to root out corruption and get value for money” – President Donald Ramotar’s New Year’s address

JANUARY 1, 2012 | BY KNEWS | 

Fellow Guyanese,
I am pleased to greet you on this New Year. This is my first New Year’s address to the nation and I am extremely honoured to extend best wishes for peace, happiness, health and prosperity to all Guyanese.
In keeping with our traditions, the dawn of a new year is for many, a time to spend in the company of loved ones.
Throughout Guyana and in the Diaspora, Guyanese are doing just this and they greet the New Year with expectant hopes for a more rewarding year ahead. To make the most of the coming year however requires that we spend some time reflecting on the year that has just ended and charting our own plans for 2012.

Jagdeo’s Real Pensions – Tony Vieira – TV Commentary

Pull Quote:  “So this is Jagdeo’s real pension the silent owner of QAII which makes him a billionaire at the expense of the poor Guyanese taxpayers”

      Jagdeo’s Real Pensions

Tony Vieira’s comments  (Aired 14 November 2011)

  Guyanese are discussing   president Jagdeo’s pension, it has become a huge talking point in the nation as to what and how much his pension will cost us but people are only concentrating on the actual amount, not enough emphasis is being placed on the ancillary entitlements of his package which will total a very considerable amount of money for example, presidential guards will guard him until he dies not ordinary police, as was the custom in the past, we don’t know how many presidential guards will be required and how much this will cost, and this will go on for as long as he lives, domestic and other servants will be paid for by the state, first class trips twice a year for him and his family will be paid for by the people, his upkeep will include chauffeur including duty free vehicles and he will not be required to pay taxes ever, etc this is important in view of what I intend to disclose tonight, but this retirement package for this man who is still very young, will be enormous and ruinous over time to this poor nation, since the cost of the benefits will increase as time passes and the presidential Guards, the servants, the gardeners and chauffeur will all get more expensive as the cost of living increases and their salaries adjusted upward, all of these privileges have to be paid for with your taxes, but for what? This man is only a legend in his own mind, this man’s presidency has been the biggest disaster in the history of this country, under his stewardship crime especially narco trafficking has been allowed to escalate completely out of control taking hold even at the most senior levels of his administration, no one even tries to deny that Roger Khan was seen coming out of his office according to the Wikileaks cables from our own US embassy and reported in the newspapers on the …….xxxx.               

CRAPAUD FOR PRESIDENT – By Mark McWatt

CRAPAUD FOR PRESIDENT

By Mark McWatt

 

   I is the best politician, y’all must vote for me

I ent come with no baggage, so don’t hesitate

—no businessman friends, no damn law degree,

nor tainted by any former leader’s mistake:

what you getting is just what you see,

the baddest, ugliest bull-frog that God ever make.

 

Joey Jagan says corruption is evident from top to bottom

October 29, 2011 | By KNews | Filed Under News

–    Believes Ramotar can reverse the trend

Dr Cheddi ‘Joey’ Jagan has joined the alliance of the party his father, Dr Cheddi Jagan, founded because he believes its Presidential Candidate, Donald Ramotar, can reverse corruption and other ills in the country.
Jagan, who admitted to only recently trying to raise funds overseas to manage his own political movement, said he has joined the Civic alliance of the People’s Progress Party (PPP) out of his own desire with no promises to gain anything if the party chalks up its fifth consecutive victory at the polls.
“I am not interested in power. I am more interested in conscience and I feel that I can add to the humility, conscience and incorruptibility which Cheddi Jagan set out as the cornerstone of the PPP/Civic,” he told reporters at the party’s Freedom House headquarters in Georgetown, yesterday.  (October 28, 2011)       

EGG AND SPOON DERBY – by Ewalt (Waltie) Ainsworth

EGG AND SPOON  DERBY

BY EWALT (WALTIE) AINSWORTH       10 19 2011

President select, representing the People’s Progressive Party, Donald Ramotar, is trying hard, hard to duck out of the organized debate and socially engineer an egg and spoon derby as a substitute.  Little does Ramotar know that a sobering tenet, a selling point for ideology and ideas and a building block for democracy is a great debate.    Ramotar and those who are propping him up are instead poking fun and boring holes in his tinder box personality. 

AFC hopes for more East Indian support

AFC hopes for more East Indian support   < link to article

October 1, 2011 Demerara Waves

Leader and prime ministerial candidate for the Alliance For Change (AFC), Raphael Trotman is optimistic that his party will pick up more East Indian votes in general elections widely expected in late November.

The 2011 presidential candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan, had conceded back in 2006 that his party had secured little East Indian votes while the bulk of the AFC’s support came from among African Guyanese. But this time around, Trotman believes that bad governance and corruption have shifted some of the traditional supporters of the incumbent Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPPC).                  

Jagdeo brushes off US Envoy’s concerns about Guyana’s Narco-image

Jagdeo brushes off US envoy’s concerns about Guyana’s narco-image

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Written by Denis Scott Chabrol

Monday, 29 August 2011 11:11

President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday (August 29), brushed aside concerns about the image of Guyana as a country heading for narco-statehood and his administration appearing unwilling to fight the drug trade.Confidential United States diplomatic cables recently released by the whistleblowing site, Wikeleaks, saw the then American Ambassador Roland Bullen weighing in on the reasons why an office of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was not yet opened in Guyana.