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Ron Webster acquired 85.31% stake in CCI for G$300,000 – and no money paid

A review by Business Page of Sunday Stabroek of May 5, 2013 of the annual reports and financial statements of three companies, including Caribbean Container Inc. (CCI), about which three concerns were raised, drew a sharp response from Mr Ronald Webster, that company’s Chairman and Managing Director in respect of one of those concerns which dealt with his controlling interest in CCI. It was Mr. Webster’s view that the column ignored certain statements in CCI’s annual reports for the years 2005 through to 2012.

So what did Business Page ignore? Here are five assertions in the reports by Mr. Webster as the company’s Managing Director and by the Board of which he is Chairman, each followed by the facts gleaned from publicly held records. I add some comments as seem appropriate.

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Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation racks up heavy losses; questions about where the income goes: Part 2 – Airport Extension

Introduction
In July last year under the caption ‘No such thing as a free chow mein’ I wrote critically of the process leading up to the decision to undertake a proposed expansion project at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport. Let us recall that the Minister of Public Works and Communication Robeson Benn had explained that “we [meaning the government] had to enter into an agreement because we had a very narrow window in September where a Chinese Vice Premier came to the Caribbean with several billion dollars to fund projects and it was the only opportunity we had then to fund this undertaking.” What follows in this column shows how dangerously absurd it was to make such a multi-million US dollar contract for an even more absurdly outlandish project. Because of the substantial expenditure to which the Government of Guyana is committing the taxpayers of this country, I will begin by outlining the provisions of the contract for the extension of Cheddi Jagan International Airport and will follow this up with a review of the government Concessional Loan Agreement signed between the Government of Guyana and Export-Import Bank of China (EXIM).

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There was no ‘sleight of hand’ involved in the fixing of the national minimum wage

Your editorial ‘Poverty and the minimum wage’ (SN, June 19) falls short of the usually high standard that makes a Stabroek News editorial such a pleasure to read and a work of considerable authority. It is incorrect to apply the estimated unemployment rate to the total number of every woman, man and child to arrive at the number of unemployed persons in the country. In fact, in unemployment statistics only the active workforce is considered.

A huge problem I have with the editorial is your unsupported description of the fixing of a national minimum wage for workers in every sector of the economy as a “sleight of hand.” The only suggestion you offer is that the government is seeking to divest itself of any responsibility to offer welfare/public assistance to some 31,000 who will move out of the abject poverty group. Where is the evidence of the percentage of persons in the abject poverty group who now receive such assistance, or is this mere speculation? And second, of any strict means test being applied in the decision on the payment of public assistance? In fact, in the case of old age pensions, the government does not apply the means test required by the Old Age Pensions Act which I have argued it should, since it causes pensions to be paid to those not legally entitled, at the expense of those really in need.

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