Opposition Member of Parliament, David Patterson, has accused the Government of manufacturing crisis at the Guyana Power and Light Company, rather than working to fix the service being provided to citizens.

During the ongoing Budget debates, Mr. Patterson said when the coalition took office in 2015, it met an ailing GPL, but immediately took steps to ensure that the power company became stabled.

Patterson said the previous PPP Government failed to address the problems at GPL and the current one is doing the same, even after the APNU+AFC Government would have provided the support to the company during its time in office to have it functioning in an acceptable manner.

He said the collapse of the power company restarted when the PPP returned of the office in 2020.

“The PPP returned to office and did absolutely nothing for three years, other than fire competent people and install their friends and family and when the bottom fell out, they commenced emergency spending and still cannot get it right,’ Patterson said.

Mr. Patterson said the Government’s continued complaints about the increase in demand for power is neither here nor there. He explained that the demand was expected and was discussed and was projected since the coalition’s term in office.

He said the necessary advice was left with the PPP Government but nothing was done until the company showed signs of a collapse.

“What I am saying is that the Government was aware of the electricity demands that would be increasing since 2020, but did absolutely nothing. Under the APNU+AFC administration we left GPL with excess generating power ahead of demand, but the PPP sat back and did nothing for three years,” Patterson noted.

The Opposition Member of Parliament said the issue over at GPL seems to have been properly engineered to create a crisis and then channel emergency funding to middle men.

He said the Government’s procurement of faulty generators and rental of power ships could have been avoided if it had moved swiftly to address the country’s power challenges.

GPL will get another $18 Billion in subsidy this year, and Mr. Patterson told the House that the coalition never gave a cent in subsidy to GPL because it properly managed the company.

“Not only we did not give GPL a subsidy, GPL commenced repaying loans and subsidies taken under the PPP administration. The company repaid $1B year each year from 2016- 2019 and we were able to provide less blackouts,” Patterson noted.

Mr. Patterson said the government’s plan to slash electricity costs by half when the gas-to shore project comes on stream is questionable, as it has not explained who will take care of GPL’s built-in costs.

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