The Opposition has scoffed at Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s plan to crack down on Government officials using their influence to land Government contracts for their friends and families.

Yesterday, Mr. Jagdeo stated that the Government has observed that public officials, especially at the Regional level have been influencing the award of contracts for their families and friends.
He said the Government will be pulling the brakes on that practice.

At a press Conference today, Opposition Member of Parliament and Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform, Shurwayne Holder, said Mr. Jagdeo cannot be taken seriously. He said the PPP may be on a mission to attempt to clean-up itself from corruption as General and Regional Elections draw near.

“Beyond the empty rhetoric about cracking on the perpetrators and his fake moral outrage, no one expects him or the PPP to take any serious action. Corruption in the award of contracts is a PPP political and business operation, expect more empty rhetoric on this and other issues as the elections draw closer,” Mr. Holder said.

The opposition PNC/R has long accused the PPP of handing out multimillion dollar contracts, to persons connected to the party and party members.

Mr. Holder suspects that Mr. Jagdeo is well-aware of what has been taking place since his party took office, but chose not to take action.

“Everybody knows that only family, friends and public officials who are involved in widespread acts of corruption are PPP connected, PPP appointed or PPP by membership. Guyanese must understand the scale of this corruption crisis in procurement. Since the PPP took office in August 2020, we are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars worth of fraudulent acts and transactions,” Mr. Holder stated.

The Vice President said Regional officials have been informed that the Government wants to ensure procurement opportunities remain within the Regions, particularly for the small contractors.

He also said that the procurement process needs to be above board and transparent at all times.

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