“Greenidge must come clean on sale of state assets during pre-1992 era” – Ali

By Michael Younge

Housing and Water Minister Irfaan Ali said that there are still a lot of concerns and questions which remain unanswered about the sale of assets in the pre-1992 era under the authority of the then Finance Minister Carl Greenidge, and the Peoples National Congress (PNC) administration.
Ali was at the time contributing towards the debate on a motion brought to the National Assembly by Shadow Finance Minister and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament (MP) Carl Greenidge which called for the approval of a special audit and investigation into the sale and disposal of state assets in the past 10 years.
The motion also called for Parliament to compel government to provide detailed and in-depth information related to all of the transactions, sale prices and terms and conditions.
The housing minister said that the motion was ill-conceived and sought to ask government to feed the opposition with information about a process that was transparent and open to public scrutiny.
“But Mr Speaker, I can understand the genesis of the motion as the author of the motion presided over a very dark blanket in the era of the economic and social development of this country,” he noted. He contended that during the pre-1992 era and under the PNC administration, there were concerns about “the flight of the assets as he tabled arguments in the Parliament suggesting that a lot of public assets are still not accounted for.
“There was a flight of the assets… one man owned an entire bus park…. when we talk about assets… I can still remember the lost barge… the photograph of the hydropower equipment comes to mind… and that asset still could not be found… globe trust comes to mind,” he submitted, in the midst of increased heckling from the opposition benches.
He felt strongly that Greenidge was not in any position to lecture the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration about accountability or transparency with respect to the disposal and sale of public assets. Ali explained too that it was a surprise that the former finance minister was now seeking information about National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) when he was the one that established the company.
Ali said that Greenidge was the one who also had direct control over all the dealings of NICIL, and public assets.
“There was not a body, not a board, only a figure head there,” he remarked, noting “This is an undisputed fact… so Mr Speaker, all the assets that went on flight must be accounted for by the sole hand that administered over them at that time,” he said as government MPs thumped their desks in support of his position.

Self-examination
The housing minister argued that any audit of NICIL must go back and test Greenidge’s management of the country’s public assets too, so that a comparison or appreciation could be had for the improvements in transparency and accountability that have been implemented by the current administration.
Meanwhile, the PPP/C MP said that government had authored a white page which clearly outlined the way public assets were to be sold and privatised since 1993. He disclosed that successive PPP/C administrations have been following the policy and abiding by the rules. He dismissed assertions and allegations that government was using “friendship” and “favouritism” as platforms for privatising and selling, or transferring public assets.
“There is no pointing to any direct report, statistical fact… or analytical intelligent point of view… just mere perception,” he argued, while dismissing the allegations made in the motion about corruption. Ali throughout his presentation pointed to several reports from the World Bank, the International Development Bank and other financial agencies that have lauded government’s economic performance and development.

He urged the House to understand its role and what needs to be done with state assets. He said that NICIL as a company is up to date with its audits as reports are completed for 2010, and there were no instances of corruption uncovered.
“This is playing politics… it’s pure politics,” he asserted, emphasising that NICIL has also been paying billions of dollars into the state coffers over the years.
“The rush was filled with political venom and they could not have stopped to ascertain what the facts were,” Ali remarked.
The minister said that Guyana has accomplished a lot in the areas of development and growth, macroeconomic stability and social advancement. He could not understand the opposition’s obsession with NICIL and state assets since it was just a case again of them politicising the parliamentary process, and flaunting their tyranny of one.
Greenidge has long been criticised for his economic policies and management of the economy under his tenure as finance minister. He has also been ridiculed for his alleged unfamiliarity with the new Guyana and the strides made towards modernisation, the amassing of wealth and prosperity of the people.
Ambassador Odeen Ishmael in a paper published in the Guyana Journal in October 2007 under the title “The rush towards privatisation 1989 to 1992”, brought several controversial transactions and deals to the fore when the PNC was about to exit office.
The deals included the sale, transfer and privatisation of multimillion dollar public assets and companies. He discussed deals related to the then Demerara Woods Limited, the Guyana Timbers Limited, the National Paint Company Limited, the GRMMA complexes and the Guyana Telecommunication Corporation Rainforest concession, among others.