peace, me pikney

Tiday ah satiday and meh see dat dere is some genuwin efforts wid da peepl at Linden.

But dat boi, de King of Israel - sorry, king of linden, soloman gat foh kno wen fa press on an wen fa bak dung. Leh dere be peace nah maan, leh de poor peepl get food and thing and mek yuh struggel wan intellectual struggle.

All dem years of racial fighting did nat help anny of us. Fram 1964 till tiday, how many black peepl and coolie peepl lass dem lives bekase of race hatred and foolish leadership? And did we gain anything?

Maak, yuh and fredny and roopie need to take note too. Egging peepl on nah gun mek us betta. When u put me lil pickney in de front line, imagin how dem gun grow up, wid hate and anga.

Ow meh pickney, leh we change course in guyana. Laan from Martin Luther or Gandi. If de peepeepee cant put guyana first, leh we do it.

GRA officials in yet another bribery scam - telephone company implicated

Secret deals seems to be the thing of the day as We learn of yet another series of secret deals between GRA officials and persons from the private sector. Millions of dollars are being spent every year on paying off the customs officials. Based on our reports from one ex-customs officer, the largest payoffs came from a telephone company and a hardware store. In this first expose, we will deal with the overall accusations.

The telephone company under the microscope recently fired its chief financial officer for "conflict of interest" without disclosing what those conflicts were. We are left to wonder if the CFO was involved in this scandal and would like to talk with Mr. Rachpaul (Mr. Rachpaul, if you read this, please contact us on corruptionexpos_e@hotmail.com.

Joe Singh's emergence, as M. Maxwell questions in the Stabroek News, indicates another clear conflict of interest. However, Joe Singh was being paid off by ATN to sit at the office of the president to influence the Government's action (or inaction) on the legislation and so his conflict is obviously not in the same class as the CFO's. It was during Singh's years that the telephone company paid over 20 million dollars (per year), that's $20,000,000 in bribes to GRA officials to allow its goods to avoid detection. The ex-customs officer said that GT&T cannot produce any record of their payments to GRA, since it was all paid as bribes.

It seems that the CEO's of GT&T have a history of such dealings since it is public information about the foreign exchange deals that were done by the former CEO, Jagan (current CFO). It was also under CEO Jagan's so called “guard” that a few of the Government's properties were sold for cash. These Government properties were claimed by GT&T to be their own, so they sold it off (where was Brassington??). This deal had also included the payment of this ex-GRA officer.

Jamzone and GRA, is there a link?

Jamzone 2010 is a welcome changed to what it was a couple years ago. The youngsters of the promotion group Hits and Jam have outdone themselves this year by not only attracting an international artiste to Guyana but providing a packed entertainment schedule for Guyanese of all walks.

The shows seem to attract the largest Guyanese crowd in the past ten years. 

What Guyanese don't know however, is that while the promoters use their sponsorship and other funds to off set several expenses, Guyanese tax payers are being duped into double paying for several things. 

Tax payers would now have to pay for any repairs even done to the Guyana National Stadium in the in event that the ground will have to undergo changes following the recent shows. Many dont know that.

The Hits and Jams group have been beneficiaries over the past 4 years to duty free concessions to hold these shows, in fact just around Carifesta they were given government funds to pay for the stage that is being used at the stadium, even though the stage is said to be the 'property' of the Culture Ministry.

The Guyana Revenue Authority is notably absent from any of the shows held. 

No entertain tax is being paid and our information suggests that the government is not collecting taxes as required by the VAT act on any of the tickets sold.

How much will our coffers lose out ?

Well the local promotion company paid more than US$100,000 to bring signing sensation Ne-yo to Guyana, which is a small percentage of what they will make minus the taxes.

We are told that more than G$30 million could off set their other expenses (their sponsors take care of that).

The group is expected to make more than $30 million from other ticket sales and shows - all of which is tax free. 

The Guyana Revenue Authority seem to be acting under political directive on this one and no one is asking questions.

Riddle of the Week

How is it the alleged accomplice in a GRA fraud and a friend of the Minister Priya Manickchand gets hired as the Director of Social Services at the Human Services Ministry?
 
Wentworth Tanner who once worked as an Asst. Director at GRA and resigned after he was fingered in a fraud is now employed by his Queens College classmate Priya Manickchand, how is this possible?



You tell us please.

What will the PPP be like in 3 years?

The following is pure hypothetical and assumes that Jagdeo is "persuaded" to go for a 3rd term:
1. People cannot call on a person who is unwilling. Assume(?) Jagdeo KNOWS and LEADS the call for his 3rd term.
2. Has carefully manipulated and silenced all potential opposition (both in and out of the PPP).

We have seen that anyone or any company who dare to ‘bad-talk’ Jagdeo, will suffer. For example Navin Chanderpal criticized the 3rd term thingy at Wugar-workers’ Providence Stadium. He was fired.

For the companies, “suddenly” GRA holds up their imports, GRA initiates audits, GRA investigates their VAT books. Then, GPL will 'discover' a dirty connection. Any legal matter languishing in the courts will be suddenly brought forward for hearing. NOW, we are NOT saying that Jagdeo does all of this, it MAY be just an act of God.

However, such companies are also ridiculed and criticized by the HOS.

For some individuals, eg. Geri Goo: at the initial independent thought, the HOS lashes out at him….. Suddenly Geri gets selected for ownership of prime properties. Soon, Geri is seen as his back-pocket. Geri now sits in every committee to guide the private sector into acquiescence and praiseful comments of the almighty.

Ministers and political wannnabees: they are carefully selected and placed in boards and committees and reminded that they are there by the Grace of the big one. Careful comments coupled with careful ridicule ensure that sooner than later they are followers. Those that follow and praise are allocated large budgets, like MOA. Those that prove to be a challenge will be given tasks to fail. They will be given a small budget, a large task and allocated the persons to work with - failure, ridicule, downsize, silence. And if this does not work, set up rumors and email about families etc. Silence. Dead.

So, the PPP is carefully taken care of.

Let’s turn to PPP internal

Congress is manipulated, the executive committee is ‘selected’. The current ExCo members are: Ali Baksh, Komal Chand, Navin Chanderpaul, Clinton Collymore, Bharrat Jaadeo, Roger Luncheon, Zulficar Mohamed, Haripersaud Nokta, Reepu Persaud, Robert Persaud, Ulric Ramanah, Ralph Ramkarran, Clement Rohee, Gail Teixeira, Donald Ramoutar.

Of the above list the only persons that can stand up to Jagdeo would be Komal Chand and MAYBE Navin Chanderpaul, but he’s jobless.

The aspirations of Donald Ramoutar will be shattered. The once mighty and well-liked Gail is reduced to an underling of Jagdeo. We theorize that under Jagdeo’s 3rd term, Gail will become the General Secretary to the party. In addition, Airfan and other Jagdeoites will become more entrenched within the PPP - and more powerful. Rohee will continue to float, Frank will be frustrated, Ralph is history, Moses will retire soon, Navin will shut up.

The wise old heads like Feroze will soon stop emerging from their homes, their minds stuck in the glorious dreams of yesteryear and their freedom of speech removed.
Komal Chand will eventually retire – and like Cheddi, Janet and a host of past greats – he will leave disillusioned and disheartened at what has become of the people he helped to train and grow.

So, for the next three years, we see the content of the exco changing as well as the GS of the party.

To be continued……………..