Friday April 01, 2016
Kaieteur News
Page 31
APNU/AFC deviating from promises of Accusation against transparency and accountability - PPP
the forensic auditors DEAR EDITOR, I read your response to my letter about your choice of headline. Yours is a very flawed argument. Additionally, you accused me of advancing a position that I did not advance. While I said was I am tired of reading all these leaked reports, never did I say or suggest that these shouldn’t be published. Editor, a whistleblower is someone who, through their own efforts, unearths wrongdoing and corruption and brings this to the attention of authorities and/or the media. A whistleblower is not one who is paid to investigate and provide findings to a competent authority, or those whom, through the positions of trust they hold in a government have access to these confidential reports, but then leak this information to the media. I am sure you are aware that there is something called the Official Secrets Act. My call is for the President to deal with those in positions of trust who are obliged to uphold confidentiality, not those who unearth information that has not previously come to light and who report this to the authorities and the media. To allow government functionaries to leak information unchecked is a sign of weak government. And no one should tell me this is a violation of democracy. Would KN allow a member of its staff to continuously leak information to Guyana Times about the news stories it is working on for the next day’s publication? And don’t bring the ar-
gument that that KN staffer wouldn’t be leaking information about wrongdoing. The issue here is about the leaking of internal information, the decision about how and when to release it must be up to the competent authority. So KN can stand by its definition all it wants. I stand by my position that I never requested that the President deal with whistleblowers. Nor did I ever suggest that newspapers shouldn’t publish articles based on leaked information. Further I say no more! Wesley Kirton EDITOR’S NOTE: These are Mr. Kirton’s words; “The President needs to bring down the hammer on those suspected of leaking these reports to the media.” Any reasonable mind will conclude by that Mr. Kirton doesn’t want to have these leaks, meaning then the leaks should not be in the newspapers. Mr. Kirton assumes that the leaks come from the people who were paid to do the audits as clearly stated in his letter above. The following words of Mr. Kirton are an unfair accusation against the auditors; “A whistleblower is not one who is paid to investigate and provide findings to a competent authority, or those whom, through the positions of trust they hold in a government have access to these confidential reports, but then leak this information to the media.” We trust that such an accusation is dismissed by the professional auditors for what it is - baseless.
The recent revelation of the appointment of businessman Brian Tiwarie, as a Ministerial Advisor on Business Development, managed to raise eyebrows. In addition, following a statement from the Government stating that it has rescinded Tiwarie’s appointment without explaining why, it paved the way for further scrutiny. The businessman’s appointment as a ministerial advisor was not announced by the government but was signed “secretly” by the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon on January 19, 2016. Harmon in his response stated that the appointment was a mere ‘honorific title’ and emphasised that the facts of the matter are being twisted. He firmly believes that the criticisms, which have since ensued, are all part of a wicked plot to jeopardise his political career. With a fraction of the nation kept in the dark, some Ministers – according to reports – were also clueless with regards to this development. No doubt, it has also attracted the attention of the main Parliamentary Opposition, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) who hosted a press conference at Freedom House, Robb Street, Georgetown yesterday. PPP/C’s Chief, Gail Teixeira, told media operatives that the government seems to be developing a habit of not informing the populace on issues of significant importance, and if this should continue, it would have dire consequences down the road. “It appears to become a habit of the Government of not telling people anything until you wake up in the morning and find it,” she said. This she said, goes
against the transparency and accountability that the David Granger-led administration had promised since taking office in May, 2015. She continued that while the Government has a right to have and cater for presidential advisors, this trend of new ministers having advisors is a “new development.” She also related that the PPP/C during the Budget Estimates Debate held in January last, had requested that the names of Presidential Advisors be submitted to the house. Names were called out, she said, but Tiwarie’s name was never mentioned. Requests were also made for ministers to name their advisors, however, “many” she said, refused to provide names. On the issue of Tiwarie being appointed with an ‘honorific title’, the Chief Whip said that there is a difference that the PPP/C does not know about, however, the receipt of
any title given by government, allows the holder to have some sort of superiority - the ability to “open doors” and the ability to close them. She also raised concerns about the “many” advisors that were appointed in the Diaspora. “We had asked the government about the advisors overseas; who they were? What they were doing. Are they being paid? Are they not being paid? Are they like the honorary consuls where they get a little stipend? We can’t get answers on that,” Teixeira said. The Chief Whip also registered her concerns about news of extortion being carried out by the government against several levels of society. “We have to, at this Press Conference, also not be oblivious to the fact that more and more the culture of fear is taking place in a number of levels in our society. We are
PPP/C’s Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira hearing more and more about extortion of members of the business community to make donations to the ruling party and/or projects, with the threat that they would not be considered for contracts,” Teixeira said.
“One and ah off years would... From page 12 gators that around 08:00 hrs on the day in question, he was given the gun to keep by Goodheart who told him that it was the gun that was used during the incident. He said that he did not check the gun. When asked by the Magistrate why he kept the gun, he stated that, “Due to circumstances, I ain’t getting wuk, so I decide to keep it. Goodheart asked me a favour. He did not pay me to keep the gun.” Goodheart told the
court that around 10:00 hrs on the day in question he collected the gun from an unpainted building and took it to Bunyan for him to keep. He also told him that it was the gun from the incident. When asked by the magistrate if they had anything to say before being sentenced. Bunyan told the court that “one and ah off years would do.” Goodheart informed the court that whatever the prosecutor said was true. Prosecutor Sherriff did
not object to bail for McCurdy and Edwards. Attorney at law Sasha Roberts of the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic is appearing for Mc Curdy and Edwards. They will have to return to court on May 4 for continuation of the matter while the other charge of robbery under arms will also be called.