Mayor Green has no moral standing to accuse anyone – Ganga Persaud

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Ganga Persaud on Tuesday responded to a letter published in the June 28 edition of the Stabroek News entitled ‘Local Gov’t Minister statement is a tissue of untruths’ which was submitted by the Mayor of the City Council and Councillors.
The first matter addressed by the Minister was the claim that the City Council has already submitted its 2013 budget. However, Minister Persaud noted that he was speaking about their subvention programme for 2013 which has not been approved for 2013 as yet.
The second bit in the article is that the Minister misinformed the nation when he said that the government has paid the first and second quarters’ taxes for 2013 owed to the Municipality.
“The fact is, as we speak, the government has paid the first and second quarter taxes to the Municipality of Georgetown, that is undisputed and can be verified by the municipal treasurer…what may have happened is that when I would have made that statement it means that the payments were not made at that point in time but they were in process…I would have made that statement based on approval at my level,” he said.
At that point in time the Municipality would have collected for the year 2013 based on its projections 40 percent of the rates and taxes for 2013, which is based on the report presented by the Municipality.
The Mayor and his team sought to give the Minister a lecture on morality, trying to suggest that he should not be speaking on issues of accountability and transparency because of his involvement, and to quote the Mayor, ‘in a major scandal involving millions of tax payers’ dollars for the printing of law books.’
Minister Persaud explained that a bit of research would have shown that in 2001 when he was the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, he signed a contract for the printing of Guyana’s law books and he did so without having the approval of the IDB because the money was intended to have come from a loan for the Justice Improvement Programme.
“The records would show that the contract was nullified because of incorrect procedure and not a cent of taxpayers’ dollars was paid by the IDB for the printing of the law books based on that contract which I had signed,” he stated.
Minister Persaud emphasised that it is a clear fact that the PPP/C government, interested in maintaining law and order in this country, sought to hold an inquiry with regards to what went on and how he ended up signing that contract.
“I was found guilty of breach of procedure and I was surcharged based on the regulations …every cent from that surcharge was paid,” he pointed out. He highlighted that that is kind of transparency that the PPP/C government ventured into.
“Mr. Hamilton Green must remember that he and his political party were described by Lord Avery as running elections in Guyana that were as crooked as barbed wire…cheated and robbed people at the ballot box…so he should not be speaking at all and questioning the authority of anybody with regards to transparency and accountability and worse yet democracy,” Minister Persaud argued.
He added that the people of the city know very well how democratic has been his rule and how much he has been serving their interests.
Minister Persaud noted that the Ministry is still functioning under the legal framework Green and his people brought to bear with regards to local government in light of the fact that the Constitution was changed in 2011 but had no impact on local government. The reforms for the latter are now engaging the Select Committee of the Parliament.
“So for him to say so is downright wicked, mischievous and trying to rewrite the history of our country…trying to embarrass the intelligence of the people of this nation…Mr. Green and his select team of councillors will definitely have to answer to the people, not only of the city, but the country.” he said.