.. in AFC
In truth, the truth really hurts. Especially when you’ve been caught with your pants down, and more so when you’re holding yourself out as the local George Washington, who never told a lie.
Khemraj Ramjattan had displayed his endemic ignorance of parliamentary practice when he accused Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh of misspending monies for public servants’ salaries. Ramjattan, of course, has been assiduously sucking up to public servants since he can’t shake his habit of poaching on A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) turf.
So the finance minister, who’s obviously had it with the sleazy ambulance-chasing lawyer, bitch-slapped him about ignoring his party Chairman Nigel Hughes’ hiding his conflict-of-interest relationship with the Amaila Falls Hydro Inc (AFHI).
Now Hughes has been hiding under a rock since the scandal broke, but now his wife – who was the public relations flak for AFHI’s affiliate Sithe Global Inc, jumps to his defence.
Unfortunately, she’s landed him smack into the old doo-doo he hoped would’ve washed off.
This is what the self-proclaimed public relations guru proclaimed: “Ramjattan, on the day of the publication of the news of my husband’s position as company secretary of Sithe Global, stated that he knew of Hughes’ relationship with the company.
“That Hughes had disclosed this relationship to the party and that he, Ramjattan, saw no conflict of interest, as Hughes did not participate in any Alliance For Change (AFC) meetings, discussions or decisions taken in relation to the Amaila Falls Hydro Electricity Project (AFHEP).” Lies! Lies! And more lies! That is exactly what DID NOT happen. At the time, Ramjattan confessed that while he knew of some “association” between Hughes and AFHI, his chairman hadn’t shared with him the news that the “association” was actually that of company secretary.
Now this is not an inconsequential difference. And in her assertion, Hughes’ better half shows that she’s just as contemptuous of the intelligence of the average Guyanese.
Does she really believe that in this day of the retrieval capabilities of the Internet, we can’t check what was really said?
… versus the truth
As we wrote then, “A ‘company secretary’ isn’t someone in short skirts who takes notes in shorthand. Hughes is basically the legal officer of AFHI and in that capacity would have advised, for instance, on the entity getting the best deal – that is making the maximum profits from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) – from the deal.
Now Ramjattan said, as a professional lawyer, Hughes can sell his services to whomever he wants. We have no problem with this. What we have a problem with is that Hughes has been less than “professional” in not revealing his employment in a company that has been in the centre of a controversy precipitated by his party’s position.
Ramjattan assured us that Hughes recused himself when matters involving the Amaila Falls hydro project were being discussed by the AFC. But if Ramjattan and other party members didn’t know of how key a position Hughes held in the SPV, how the heck can we be sure that in informal contexts Hughes mightn’t have influenced others? Or even the gullible Ramjattan himself?
In our highly-charged political atmosphere of accusations and counter accusations of “conflict of interests” and “self-interested parties”, shouldn’t Hughes, at least, have revealed the true nature of his involvement? Like when, for instance, on June 21, he articulated his party’s position on AFHEP at a press conference?” We hope the AFC wankers realise that “the truth will set us free”!
… in APNU
Imagine that APNU’s leader David Granger will “investigate” Volda Lawrence because the poor woman ran out of the House before she puked on her colleagues. Seems that the brigadier feels his members of parliament must remain at their post, come hell or high water – or vomit.
We just hope he doesn’t muster up a firing squad for Lawrence for “desertion”.