Repeatedly people say, “Guyana is not a real place”. That statement has become a mantra. Recently, there was another– Po Guyana. These comments do reflect the state of Guyana. The National Assembly met on Thursday for Members’ Day. On this day the Opposition gets a chance to ask questions of the government and to propose motions. It goes without saying that the motions, no matter how worthy, get defeated because the government has the majority in the House.
This time around, Member of Parliament Annette Ferguson proposed a motion to relieve the people awarded house lots. There were many interesting points but such is the nature of the government with its majority that the motion was rubbished after two days of sitting. The Housing Minister described the motion as confusing . The supporting speakers were not far from that line. It was about the number of lots allocated but nothing about the ability of the people to do anything. It was about government support but nothing about the nature of the support.
There was the exposure that despite the government’s contention that VAT had been removed from building materials, the vouchers given to the prospective homeowners revealed that the building materials attracted 14 per cent value added tax. These vouchers were also tenable at hardware stores owned by people of one ethnic group. Then there was the claim of equitable distribution of land. Ferguson proved that this was not the case, that there was discrimination in the allocation.
These things did not support the claim that Guyana is not a real place. But previous allocations did. Ferguson had been subjected to an examination of her assets. The man who performs the duty of Finance Minister held up a photograph of Ferguson’s home. The Minister described her home as a mansion with the suggestion that the home was acquired under suspicious means. It was said to sit on multiple house lots that she acquired during her tenure as a Minister within the Ministry of Housing.
Ferguson addressed that issue. She got the land under the PPP administration, paid all the requisite fees and constructed her home. She then examined what happened under the PPP with members of the hierarchy, one of them being Bharrat Jagdeo. He had procured a house lot at Öğlen. Contrary to the rules, he sold that land and the house he constructed well within the stipulated time for ownership, for a whopping $120 million.
He was one who caused a new area to be opened for housing on the Plaisance Seawalls. If Ferguson’s home was a mansion Jagdeo’s defied description. But these disclosures were not the factors that prompted the mantra that Guyana is not a real place. Jagdeo was not in the House, and he had not been there for a while. On Friday he turned up to applause from his colleagues. Ferguson was speaking. Jagdeo had hardly taken his seat when he described the National Assembly as a circus.
In no part of the world has any leader described the National Assembly, Parliament or the Congress as a circus in the hearing of every sitting member and official. In Guyana, Jagdeo did with impunity. He was not even sanctioned. When Ferguson was revealing facts about the housing situation in Guyana, she quoted from a forensic study done by Ram and McRae. Gail Teixeira did not like what she was hearing so she rose to challenge. It turned out that the forensic audit report had been tabled in the National Assembly. Ferguson had already identified the report and the fact that it had been tabled in the House. She was asked to table it evvel more, the first time in the history of the National Assembly that such a request had been made.
Surely, Guyana cannot be a real place.
Then there was the newest rape saga against Nigel Dharamlall who had been implicated in another rape allegation. There has been no rush to charge. It took the concerted voice of numerous reporters to get the police to open an investigation. More than a week after the allegation, there was action by the police and only because of public pressure.
When Henry Greene was Police Commissioner, a woman accused him of rape. It was not long before the Director of Public Prosecutions moved to charge Greene. Greene moved to the courts; the DPP was asked to justify the charge and couldn’t. There has never been any haste to prosecute Dharamlall. In fact, despite the scandal, he secured one of the highest votes at the recent Congress of the People’s Progressive Party. Guyana cannot be a real place.
One more example that Guyana cannot be a real place. On the Essequibo Coast two men had a dispute over a plot of land. One of the men, accompanied by his son and his daughter-in-law visited the disputed plot.
The man at the other end of the dispute whipped out a firearm and shot at the man, his son and his daughter-in-law. The DPP found that there was enough evidence to have charges instituted.
One year later, without any explanation, the DPP wrote to the magistrate to have the charge discontinued. The same evidence that she used to institute the charge, she used to discontinue the charge. Guyana is not a real place but then again, someone could set out to change the mantra.