By Mark DaCosta- Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and Member of Parliament Khemraj Ramjattan lambasted the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Government for its management of Guyana.
Speaking to several issues of national concern, including the constant power outages (blackout) in oil rich Guyana, the AFC leader stated the “administration and governance under the PPP has gone to the dogs.”
The current spate of frequent, lengthy blackouts has caused major disruptions to the lives of citizens and are presently intensifying, despite Prime Minister Mark Phillips, who has responsibility for electricity, boasting more than two years ago blackouts will be a thing of the past.
Ramjattan said that one of the main reasons for the blackouts is the lack of planning by the PPP regime. He explained that the foreseeable increase in demand for electricity was ignored by the PPP regime that should have increased production capacity ahead of the foreseen increased demand.
The AFC leader was joined by Vice-Chairman Ricky Ramsaroop and Mr. Derek Basdeo, Regional Councillor for New Amsterdam in the live-streamed programme, “Alliance On The Move,” moderated by the party’s General Secretary Sherrod Duncan
The AFC officials – in the free-flowing discussion on March 30 – brought several other matters of public importance to the fore.
During the ensuing discussion, it was revealed that Berbice is facing the worst of the outages. Basdeo also opined that the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) has an unqualified upper-management tier, including the Board of Directors.
It emerged, during the programme, that a contributing factor to the sudden increase in blackouts is a lack of fuel for generators. It was pointed out that in early February, a vessel carrying fuel oil spilled much of its cargo near the island of Tobago.
Although the PPP regime has denied that the vessel was destined for Guyana, the panelists disagreed. They opined that the fuel was intended for Guyana. As such, the spill resulted in a massive shortfall of fuel oil in Guyana, leading to the blackouts being experienced locally.
Another major matter that came up is the issue of a senior officer of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) being questioned by American authorities.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on March 28 had confirmed that Head of the GPF’s Crimes Unit, Superintendent Mitchell Caesar was detained by United States law enforcement agents at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
“From what I gather, a report was made to the superior officer or the senior officer of that policeman so that will engage the leadership of the police force and that’s where the matter will be dealt with,” Jagdeo told a news conference.
During the streamed programme, Leader Ramjattan lamented that, “No explanation for these things is coming [from the PPP].”
He noted, too, that Vice President Jagdeo is a micro-manager, “He has his fingers in everything.”
On another note, it was brought to light by the AFC officials that some $50 million has gone missing from the Regional Democratic Council building in New Amsterdam, Berbice. To date, this publication is not aware of any investigation into that matter.