Free pass…

…on pharma decision
The AFC, via its leader Raphael Trotman, has announced that everything is hunky-dory with the party on the role Public Health Minister Volda Lawrence played in bypassing the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) to hand out a 5 million sole-sourced pharma contract to ANSA McAL.
In the meantime, the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) — which the AFC had fought the PPP tooth and nail to establish, and which is finally in place — hasn’t even completed the investigation which it’s legally mandated to do, and had already started to do!
And what was the source of the AFC giving a carte blanche to the Minister of Public Health? Well, just that Mr Trotman knew Ms Lawrence for 25 years, and feels she’s a pillar of the community and all that!!
Imagine that!! What else would ANYONE expect Trotman to say about a 25-year-old friendship? The man is loyal to his friends! Remember him picking his “friend” Chantelle Smith over foot soldier Gomattie Singh for an AFC MP seat?? He said his friend Ms Smith needed a job!! Guess he feels his friend Lawrence also does!
Well, now we know why the Cabinet sub-committee that “investigated” Ms Lawrence’s predecessor on the rental of the Pharma warehouse let him off with a rap on the knuckles, and the exorbitant rental is still in place. Trotman was chair of that sub-committee!
But it’s really outrageous for a full-fledged member of the coalition — with 40% of the seats in Cabinet — to subvert the integrity of the investigative process as the AFC has done. No matter what Mrs. Corbin – as Chair of the PPC — announces after this investigation is complete, it’ll be tainted by Trotman’s affirmation of faith in Lawrence.
The point of the matter isn’t the motive of Ms Lawrence for her lapse. As a lawyer, Trotman would know that “intent” and “motive” are two different standards to judge misfeasance; the former focuses on the EFFECT of the action. The bottom line is that Ms Lawrence deliberately broke the rules on Procurement, which resulted in gross enrichment to ANSA McAL to the tune of 0M, which came from the pockets of the Guyanese taxpayers.
This is worse than what the Government and SOCU are claiming in their Pradoville II hunt. There, the supposed gains are “opportunity cost”; that is: what the lands COULD have been sold for. Here, the New GPC was ready, willing and able to supply the pharma for half the price. What Trotman’s doing — plain and simple — is trying to subvert the course of justice.
But that is par for the course with this PNC-led coalition. Isn’t it?

…on UG’s VC fringes
Newly-minted VC Ivelaw Griffith — fresh from his fund-raising trip to the US with his personal posse, where they put in a plum and pulled out a (dirty) thumb — had promised that, from his requested mega $5B budget, he’d give staff a big salary increase. They were grossly underpaid, he said. But after getting his budgetary request, he refused to even meet with the staff! So they struck.
Responding to their demand for just a 15% raise in salary, the VC pointed to all the “perks” they enjoy. They were being unreasonable with their salary request, he said. So what happened to the budget? Well, the VC now has to pay for new positions created: Deputy VC of Academic Engagement; a Deputy VC for Planning and International Engagement; a Deputy VC of Philanthropy, Alumni and Civic Engagement; a Chief of Staff in the Vice-Chancellery within the Vice-Chancellor’s Cabinet; and a new Director of the Office of Strategic Initiatives!
And they have super salaries, plus all the perks of the regular staff!

…on oil
So here we are, waiting for the oil to start flowing and the good times to roll. And now the PNC-led coalition announces it’ll launch a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Last time they got a windfall (sugar), all Guyana got hydro!!