APNU, AFC wants to rid Guyana of its human and financial resources – Finance Minister

[www.inewsguyana.com] – According to Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, the political opposition parties – A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) –  are responsible for chasing away investors, targeting young professionals and undermining development in Guyana.

The Finance Minister in a statement said, “Between the APNU and the AFC, there is a collective effort to rid Guyana of all its human and financial resources. This has become even clearer with recent events that are unfolding before the public.”

Minister Singh explained that in less than six months, two major international investors, Muri Brasil Ventures and Blackstone Group which pulled out of the Amaila Project, were forced to walk away from doing business in Guyana as a direct result of Opposition hostility.

“As if chasing away investors is not enough to satisfy their lust for power afforded by their one seat majority, they now move to attack and ultimately chase our human resources: our young qualified professionals working in Government. Just months ago the AFC waged a campaign to discredit the head of the Guyana Energy Agency, Mahender Sharma, son of CN Sharma. Now APNU’s Joe Harmon is copying from his AFC’s friend playbook, by doing the same thing to Alexei Ramotar and the project he leads,” the Finance Minister said.

Dr. Singh believes that it is not by coincidence that Harmon and his party chose to publicly question the merit of Mr. Ramotar.

“This was strategically done because Alexei Ramotar is the son of President Donald Ramotar. Alexei Ramotar was hired in 2010, prior to his father’s run for Presidential Office and was deemed the most qualified for the job at that time. Today he remains one of Guyana’s most qualified in his field, with a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, over a decade of work experience where he led numerous projects in his field, and several academic awards and publications.”

According to the Finance Minister, “the APNU has called on government to provide jobs for young people and to utilize Guyana’s local human resources. But when young professionals return to work for Government in a field of expertise that is sought after internationally and are not paid at a competitive rate they otherwise would receive in developed countries, they are attacked and demoralized by the Opposition.”

Dr. Singh further accused that the AFC and the APNU has made every effort to stagnate the development of Guyana for their personal political gains via their one seat Parliamentary majority.