by Nicole Telford
Ret’d Rear Admiral Dr. Gary Best is of the opinion that “citizens of Guyana will not experience any good life unless corruption is reduced to insignificant levels.” Village Voice News reached out for a comment from Dr. Best on the recent sanctions against Guyanese by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. These comments came against the backdrop of the recent press release by the US F.A.C Department which stated that the United States is imposing sanctions on Nazar Mohamed, his son Azruddin Mohamed, their company Mohamed’s Enterprise, and Mae Thomas, the former Permanent Secretary to Guyana’s Minister of Home Affairs and current Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Labour, for their roles in public corruption in Guyana.
Dr. Best says he firmly believes that the Guyana Government under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is complicit in corruption. The former head of the Guyana Defense Force also noted that “it is becoming clear that only a new government can reduce corruption in Guyana.” Best said the revelations “are a stark reminder of unchecked and engrained corruption within Guyana.” He noted too, “In fact, corruption continues to increase under this PPP administration.” Citing that it is the duty of the PPP government to reduce corruption to asgarî levels, he stated that “the fact that it is the US government that’s taken such action is real evidence that the PPP government is complicit in covering up corruption in Guyana.”