‘It’s cool to be green’
-Granger defends repainting of presidential ministry
The painting of the buildings at the Ministry of the Presidency (MOTP) in the colour green is in keeping with government’s push to develop Guyana into a green state, President David Granger said last evening on ‘The Public Interest’ television programme.
“We are not going to change the colour of Red House… we would like to send a message to the rest of the country, to our schools, to our hospitals, to other government buildings that yes, it’s cool to be green,” he said in response to a question about the appropriateness of the new colour. The painting started recently in the middle of major rehabilitation works and has raised many questions about the appropriateness of the colour. Green is the party colour of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), which is the major constituent of the coalition government. Granger is also the leader of APNU.
“What better colour could we select to advertise the green economy?” he asked as he sought to defend the new colour. Previously, the buildings were light pink in colour.
Stabroek News carried a photograph of one section with the new colour in its January 4 th publication. Yesterday, a check revealed that more sections were green.
A letter to the editor by Audreyanna Thomas, published in the January 12 th edition, questioned the political implications of such an action, the dangerous precedent it could set for future changes in government and its impact on social cohesion
Meanwhile, with regards to the rehabilitation works at MOTP, Granger said that these have become necessary because of the need to accommodate the British Office of Security Reform and two new departments of government.
Granger stated that the Department of the Environment had been established last October, following the formation of the Department of National Events. “So, housing has become necessary for these Departments, and yes, it has created a demand for space outside of the actual premises of the presidency [MTOP], so we will be moving two departments into the building previously occupied by the National Trust, and the National Trust will be going to …Red House,” he said.
Granger stressed that the infrastructural changes are necessary to allow the government to do its business.