No shame..

…on warehouse graft

It’s clear there are elements in this government who have no shame. None! But then you’ll always find such miscreants in any random collection of folks. And when that collection isn’t random, but those who seek “government wuk”, the “shameless quotient” jumps by a factor of at least 10! Anyhow, that was the reaction of your usually stolid Eyewitness when he heard the Junior Minister of Health declaring the Bottom House Warehouse hasn’t been nixed – it’s actually been receiving government drugs!!
Shameless! At the final handing over by the US-built 26,000 sqft Government pharma bond at Diamond, the Junior Minister offered another “reason” for the rental of the Albuoystown bottom house- “… you know there are times where we have several containers, sometimes four (at one time) so it can be packed to capacity.”
Now let’s pick some sense from nonsense. From one side of her mouth the Minister accepts that the facility has more than enough capacity to store ALL the purchases of the government. Got that? ALL. So if it’s “packed to capacity” – which means MORE than the government could possibly store – why would FOUR more containers suddenly arrive with pharma?
Is the Ministry of Health in the habit of buying TWO years supply of drugs? No wonder we’ve got all these “expired drugs” dumped at Haags Bosch! And then… this Minister thinks the Albuoystown bottom house – with no loading docks and one gate – can handle FOUR containers of pharma? Madame Junior Minister – since you’re a medical doctor – your humble Eyewitness will put that claim in terms you may be familiar with. Unloading four containers simultaneously would be like using a turkey baster to deliver an injection into the human eye! Ouch!!
But let’s return to the main news – that Larry Singh will be getting away with the most barefaced scam since Ocean’s Eleven. Has the outrage meant nothing to President Granger? Your Eyewitness likes Prezzie and all that – but the buck stops with him. What more proof does he need? There were so many “smoking guns” – how did Larry know about the need for a warehouse, the prepaid rent/buying price; the lie about comparative pharma storage rentals etc, etc – it looked like the Fineman’s last shootout!
What this (sordid) episode does is to encourage all and sundry in the government – from the lowest clerk in the Public Service to the Police rank on the beat – to increase their runnings. What’s all this nonsense about “no corruption” they’ll ask. If three Cabinet Ministers can’t find wrongdoing in this scam… why worry?
If them “big ones” can do it…why can’t they?
…on juice for our children
The feeding programme in our schools is supposed to help those most needy: to give at least their kids the basic nutritional requirements for them not to be malnourished. By now, all of us should know about the effects of malnutrition – including underdevelopment of the brain. And of course this leads to intergenerational poverty and misery.
So when someone in the Ministry of Education’s Procurement department connived to pass off fruit juices from Suriname rather than our own higher quality locally produced “Topco” you’re talking about some real bottom feeders here. You can’t sink lower than a snake’s belly? Well whoever did this (dirty) deal just succeeded.
The latest revelations confirm this. When the story initially broke, the shill from the government (the DPI) immediately announced shrilly that tests by the Government Analysts showed the foreign drink had more “fruit juices” than the local one.
Not so!! Says the Analysts. They couldn’t do the testing and went by the labels supplied.
But were never given the local label!! Owmaan!
…on diaspora helpers
The letter from the APNU/AFC diaspora helpers still haunts your Eyewitness. It was such a cri de coeur. The deep wrenching sobs could still be heard.
Couldn’t the administration at least give them some certificates of appreciation?