Guyana president seeks to fight graft, ease racial tensions

GEORGETOWN (Reuters) - Guyana's newly elected president plans to fight corruption and calm the South American nation's long-running ethnic tensions following his victory in elections earlier this month that saw a historic power shift from 23 years of single-party rule.

Former army brigadier David Granger led a multiracial coalition called APNU+AFC, which brought together Guyanese of African and Indian descent, narrowly beating out the ruling PPP party that is dominated by ethnic Indo-Guyanese.

"We cannot wash ethnicity aside," Granger, 69, who has worked as a security consultant and magazine publisher and is himself of African descent, said in an interview this week.

"What the coalition has done is provide a forum in which people of all ethnic groups can talk to each other."

Afro-Guyanese complained of being marginalized under the rule of the PPP, which won repeated elections in part because Indo-Guyanese are the largest single ethnic group.

Granger, who appealed to younger voters less hung up on race, said he plans to create a special ministry of "social cohesion" to break the cycle of racial polarization that has hindered Guyana since its 1966 independence from Britain.

Responding to outrage over state corruption and complaints that the PPP handed out contracts to friends and family, Granger promised to boost transparency of public spending and create an "unbribeable" civil service.

"Through our new cadre of ministers, we will ensure there is an emphasis on integrity, intelligence and impartiality," he said, adding that he saw no need to create new anti-corruption agencies. "The law is very clear, and what we're talking about is enforcement."

One of the first tasks of the new 65-seat legislature, where Granger's coalition has a one-seat majority, is the appointment of a Public Procurement Commission.

Former President Donald Ramotar's 2014 move to spend some $22.5 million without lawmakers' approval led to a showdown with parliament in which he suspended the legislature's operations, outraging critics and turning public opinion against him.

Granger hopes to expand the development of natural resources such as gold and bauxite and recently-discovered oil deposits and to use them to improve living standards in Guyana, one of South America's poorest nations.

"With Guyana's resources - natural and human resources - we can all have a good life," he said. "Guyanese don't have to be poor."

(Writing by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Christian Plumb)

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