President to continue battle against corruption
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has pledged to maintain the battle against corruption and intends to seek broad support from communities. "I will strongly emphasise the need to battle corruption in every single department, in every single agency, in every single aspect of the life of the government", he told Chronicle Editor-in-Chief Sharief Khan. "I don't have any illusions about it - we will not wipe it out tomorrow...it had become entrenched over many years", he said as he settled into office Friday after his swearing-in Wednesday. President Jagdeo said he intends to operate broadly with involvement of communities, "something that the late President Cheddi Jagan had always emphasised." "If you can get communities involved in monitoring many of the activities of the government, then we have a hundred eyes on the ground to oversee that these things go in accordance with established procedures and that the Government gets value for money", he said in an interview at the Office of the President. Main characteristics of his presidency will be "fanning out across the country; trying to bring the government closer to the people, a tough battle against corruption and trying to address the immediate needs of many sections of our population, especially poor people." President Jagdeo reiterated that he plans to create incentives for business, saying there must be "a climate conducive for business." He said he has not decided on who would be the next Finance Minister as yet, "nor have I decided as to whether we will appoint a new Minister of Trade." He urged an end to media speculation on this issue, saying "whenever the decision is made, I will make it public." Mr. Jagdeo said he would for some time be retaining the Finance portfolio. He said he has also not decided on any Cabinet reshuffle. On his first day in office Thursday, he met the staff at the Office of the President, and "briefed them on what I stand for." "I asked them to try to get to know me better and not necessarily from reports in the media because those could be misleading", he said. The President said he talked to the staff "about some things I believe strongly in - like national unity." "From the Office Assistant to the President, we have one thing in common - we are all here to serve our people. "So that's the common thing we have - whether you are the Office Assistant or the President. And I expect that at all times we keep that in mind", he said. "I pointed out the challenges we face as a nation - from external forces and the major challenge before us for our country to move forward is a resolution of the political difficulties that we currently have and we should all play our part in trying to make our country a better place, regardless of our political affiliations, race, religious orientation..." The President also met Army Chief of Staff Major General Joe Singh and Commissioner of Police Laurie Lewis on his first day at work. He said he has also met a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team here to negotiate the Policy Framework Paper. "...we committed ourselves two or three years ago to a new (IMF) adjustment programme. "We have just completed the first annual arrangement under that programme and so we are negotiating the second annual arrangement under this three-year programme", the President reported. He said he has also been calling leaders from different communities. The President said he has been telling them "I hope that we can work together in the interest of our country... "I have been talking to leaders from different constituencies, not necessarily political, to say that we all have a common task and that I look forward to their support. "I have an open door policy with regards to them accessing this office." "I intend to go out a lot - to meet with people across the country, to meet with communities, individuals...to travel around our country a lot and to first hand find out from our people what their difficulties are... "I will try to explain to them the constraints that we face in working out programmes to address those matters affecting them... "I would also ensure we increase efficiency in the government in delivering many of the programmes that are already there to benefit these people."
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