President Granger says….I intend to stamp corruption out of Govt.
By Kiana Wilburg
President David Granger is determined to run the economic affairs of the country in an accountable
President, David Granger
and transparent manner. He insists that there is simply no room for corruption. In fact, the Head of State said that he intends to stamp it out of Government.
He made these remarks, among others, on the show, “The Public Interest,” during which he discussed the engagement of the Diaspora in Guyana’s economic advancement.
Granger said that his Government would be encouraged to offer some form of concession or incentive package to members of the Diaspora in order to encourage them to be part of plans for economic progression. He noted, however, that the shape and form the package might take has not been determined as yet.
“I have not committed myself to any concessions. But usually people search or ask for tax holidays; waivers on equipment and of course, the ability to repatriate their profits. I have no objections to those packages or to those items in packages, and we have offered those before to new companies.”
The Head of State said that he wants to give the potential investors from the Diaspora, a level playing field. In this regard, he asserted, “So nothing that is being offered to any foreign company would be denied to any Guyanese investor. At this point, no package is confirmed, but the Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin, is in negotiations with potential investors, and let us see what they are asking for.”
Granger suspects that the potential investors will obviously want access to land and other resources. He noted however that the investors must be committed to bringing items from the Diaspora such as transportation and of course, capital.
Kaieteur News asked the President whether the high crime rate and Guyana’s “third world systems of doing business” would serve as hindrances to his plans in this regard.
He responded, “I don’t know what you mean by high crime rate. Maybe it is too high for some people, but it has actually been lowered. It is 16 percent lower than what it was last year. There are some spectacular crimes like the grenade which was thrown at your publisher’s vehicle, but serious crime has actually reduced.”
The President noted that several measures have been taken by his administration over the last 12 months to bring down the crime rates. He said that these include the deployment of more police, ‘operation dragnet’ and the speed at which persons are being arrested after offences have been committed.
Granger contended that Guyanese are safer now than they were two years ago. The President said that he would agree, however, that more can be done.
When it comes to how business is being conducted in Guyana, Granger said he is interested in transparency and the lawful conduct of transactions, particularly between the Government and the private sector as well as other investors.
He recalled that a few weeks ago, he spoke with the private sector and made it clear that one must be careful when it comes to criticizing the Government excessively “because sometimes corruption comes from private business persons…”
The President said that he is interested in stamping out criminalities among rogue businessmen. He added, “But I intend to stamp corruption out of Government.”
The Head of State said that equally important is the need for private investors to obey the law.
“That’s the way I do business, above board and transparently.”
