How Much Money are the PPP/C Fat Cats Really Looting from Our Treasury?

by Mark DaCosta 21 January 2014 When Guyanese see government officials building opulent palaces on State land, selling them at enormous profits, then, purchasing more land and building more extravagant mansions. We cannot help but wonder where all the money comes from. We know that the money is not coming from their salaries, even with the perks and duty-free concessions. So, the enormous wealth is being taken from somewhere. But where? It has come to light, through U.S. court proceedings, that drug lords like Roger Khan, con-men like Ed Ahmad, and embezzlers like Sonny Ramdeo, were best friends with some powerful current and former government officials. These criminals had billions in ill-gotten cash. It is virtually impossible, however, to quantify the exact amount of cash that may have changed hands in the course of these friendships with officials. Therefore, we may have to wait until the U.S. Government unseals some court records, to find out the extent of any money laundering deals, that may have taken place. On the other hand; it may be possible to estimate roughly the wealth being siphoned from the Treasury, on a daily basis, based on the information that the political opposition have forced the PPP/C administration to reveal. We know a little about how such schemes work: government awards contracts to cronies at highly inflated estimates, the contractors do substandard work, and massive amounts of cash are paid back to government officials, in the form of kickbacks. We all know the result of shoddy works by contractors: stellings that constantly collapse, leaving Guyanese stranded; sea defences that crumble causing flooding, school closures and destruction of property; factories that do not produce, resulting in job losses; and roads that rapidly turn into potholes. So, in the end, the citizens suffer while the cabal fat cats build mansions and live large. One fat cat, living in Tuschen, reportedly, boasted that the chandelier in his dining room costs $10,000,000! But, how much money in kickbacks are we talking about? Could it be that half, or 50%,
1

of taxpayers' money is ending up in the overflowing pockets of government officials? Who knows, it could be 30, 40 or 50%? But, let me be conservative. Let me say 20%. And, let me try to figure out how much money we are talking about. Let us look at a few deals and try to get an idea of the quantity of money being funnelled from the treasury, into the Tuschen and Pradoville mega-mansions. The final projected cost of Amaila was US$915 million. That's right, 915 million United States dollars. 20% of that is 183 million United States dollars. Can you imagine how many chandeliers that money can by for a palace in Tuschen? Can you believe how many pool houses that money can build in Pradoville? How about the specialty hospital? The government said they wanted 18 million U.S. dollars to build it. We all know that the final cost is always millions more than the initial cost. But, let us work with the US$18,000,000 figure. 20% of that is US$3,600,000. That is not small change. And what about the airport expansion at a cost of US$130,000,000? This is the project with toilet sets for $424,000 each and sinks for $124,000 each. And signs for $41,000,000. If we apply our 20% estimate, we find that US$26,000,000 could be going from the Treasury, to the personal accounts of the cabal fat-cats. Is there no end to their shameless greed? I did not even mention the Enmore Packaging Plant (US$12,500,000) or the Skeldon factory (US$250,000,000, and counting), or the Berbice bridge or the Marriott, or the Muri Ventures mining deal, or the Vaitama logging deal, or BOSAI, or Barama, or BaiShan-Lin. It would take much more space. But, we get the picture. Was any of these projects about national development; or was it all about insatiable personal greed? Look at any of those projects, how did any of them meaningfully benefit Guyanese? So, can you imagine how furious the PPP/C fat cats became, when the Parliamentary Opposition cut the budget? According to our 20% estimate, the Opposition deprived the greedy cabal of US$212,600,000 in bribes and kickbacks! And that is just from the three projects alone! That works out to an estimate of $42,520,000,000 Guyana dollars. Forty-two Billion Dollars!

Just look at those numbers! We ought to be thanking our lucky stars for a Parliamentary Opposition working in the public interest. Were it not for the current parliamentary layout, that money would have gone into the pockets of PPP/C fat cats! If the combined Opposition did not have a one-seat majority, by these calculations, $42,000,000,000 would have been looted from our Treasury. Instead, that money can now be used to improve the lives of taxpayers. It could now be used to buy a much needed CT scanner for the Georgetown Hospital, or pay public servants a living wage, or repair schools in Lethem, or give senior citizens a decent pension. Taxpayers' money should be used to benefit taxpayers; not to buy expensive, imported tiles for the driveway of an ex-presidents Pradoville mansion, or finance more chandeliers for the Tuschen fat cat.