Ramjattan fires back at Jagdeo on corruption claims

Opposition Member of Parliament and former Public Security Minister in the last APNU+AFC government, Khemraj Ramjattan on Friday fired off at Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, who declared recently that the previous APNU+AFC government was the most corrupt in the Guyana’s history.

Mr. Ramjattan told reporters at his party’s press conference that the Vice President has been trying to hide widespread corruption and mismanagement in the current Government by attempting to analyze the Coalition’s period in office.

“His government is integrally syndicated with criminality, we know that long before Roger Khan said he used to do a number of activities for them, long before Vice news interview with Su, we got so much information—professor Clive Thomas had proved the criminal state of the PPP a long time ago,” Ramjattan said.

Mr. Ramjattan said the mere admission by officials of the current Government that friends and families are greatly benefitting from Government contracts, highlights the level of corruption that is occurring today, with friends and family members of Government officials openly being handed massive Government contracts regularly.

“But secondly too, the reverse is happening where monies are moving up the chain of command in today’s Guyana in the form of kickbacks, levy’s paid to superiors and purchase for positions as well as unfettered permission to extract resources for personal gain and protection from repercussions. Protection rights are even being extended to the people at the bottom who are paying for those at the top and that is why you are not getting investigations and so on happening,” Ramjattan said.

Ramjattan said the business mode PPP leaders have found themselves in, has nothing to do with governing of the country, but rather comes with an objective to enrich a few elites.

AFC Leader Nigel Hughes also weighed in on the issue and said there should be an audit on which period in this country’s history saw the greatest transfer of state assets into private hands through corruption.