Weekend Mirror 15-16 June 2019

APNU+AFC Coalition’s desperation on display ‒ Jagdeo 15-16 June, 2019 / Vol. 10 No. 77 / Price: $100

Internet: http: //www.mirrornewsgy.com / e-mail: weekendmirror@gmail.com

PAGE 9

Decision Day

‒ CCJ to deliver judgements in NCM cases on June 18 PAGE 8

PPP/C MP calls on Police Commissioner to investigate ‘fraud’ involving PNCR member PAGE 24

Three years later….

PNCR-led Coalition gov’t refuses to act on recommendations of Rodney CoI PAGE 22

SEE INSIDE

PPP/C working on ‘twin-track’ ahead of CCJ ruling PAGE 11

Coalition PAGE 10 gov’t remains under the ‘illusion’ that crime is down

Historic political ties between Ghana, PPP spotlighted PAGE 15

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Opposition team meets with IMF

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team of People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) reps, led by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Monday (June 10, 2019) met with a team from the International

Monetary Fund (IMF).

The IMF team is currently visiting Guyana to undertake the Fund’s annual Article IV consultation.

The Article IV consul-

tation with Guyana is done within a standard 12 month cycle. The IMF’s report on this year’s meetings with local stakeholders is expected to be made public soon.

Region 5 cattle farmers file case against gov’t A

n Application has been made by several cattle farmers in Region 5 against the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA), which the farmers are in occupation, control and possession of approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of State Land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana.

After being in possession of the said lands for over two decades, and the land being declared by the former President and former Minister of Agriculture to be that of the cattle farmers, on the 18th day of January 2018, the MMA/ADA wrote to the cattle farmers informing them that their permission to occupy the said lands was rescinded and that they were required to deliver vacant possession of the said land to the MMA/ ADA by the 18th day of February 2019.

As a result, former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, has filed an Application in the High Court seeking the following orders: “(a) a Declaration that the Applicants are entitled to a Lease, Licence and/ or Permission to Occupy a portion of State Land comprising approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana;

“(b) an Order or Writ of Certiorari quashing any decision made by the Respondent granting Leases, Licences or Permission to Occupy to any Third Party in respect of a portion of State Land comprising approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana; “(c) an Order or Writ of Certiorari quashing any Lease, Licence or Per mission to Occupy to any Third Party in respect of a portion of State Land comprising approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana; “(d) an Order or Writ of Certiorari quashing any decision to allocate or the allocation of a portion of State Land to any Third Party located at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana; “(e) an Order of Mandamus compelling the Respondent to process the Applicants’ applications for a Lease and/or Licence in accordance with law for State Land comprising approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana; “(f) an injunction restraining the Respondent from processing, allocating or issuing any Lease, Li-

cence and/or Permission to Occupy in respect of and in connection with State Land comprising approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana; “(g) an injunction restraining the Respondent from dispossessing or in any manner interfering with the Applicants’ peaceful enjoyment and occupation of State Land comprising approximately one thousand, three hundred and sixty (1360) acres of land located and situated at the rear of Rampoor, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, Guyana; “(h) costs; “(i) such further and other reliefs that may be just and reasonable in the circumstances.”

According to the Grounds of the Application, the farmers are alleging that the MMA/ADA wish to allocate the said lands to some other persons, who have no claims to the land. “…the decision not to allocate the said lands to the Applicants but to allocate it to strangers to the land is arbitrary, capricious, discriminatory, unreasonable, unfair, made in bad faith, influenced by irrelevant considerations and improper motive and in breach of the Applicants’ legitimate expectation,” the Grounds of the Application read.

This matter is set for hearing before the Chief Justice (ag) on Friday (June 13, 2019).

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

GPHC staffers warned about criminal elements in the hospital complex W

ith the recent increased in criminal activities, including within the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), staffers have been warned to take extra caution.

A public notice to all staffers said, “Members of staff should be on the alert at nights when moving around the Hospital Complex for persons posing as patients in an attempt to rob them of their property.

“Members of staff should avoid wearing excessive jewelry especially as nights when on duty.

“Members of staff especially females should ensure their cell phones are properly secured in their possession when moving around the Hospital Complex, especially at night.

“Staff when moving in and around the hospital complex especially at nights should try to avoid walking in the dark and desolate areas when moving in the Hospital Complex.

“Members of staff, if afraid or in doubt when going to any part of the Hospital Complex, could seek the assistance of the

security guard on duty, through the supervisor.”

Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, last week, insisted that serious crime is down, while suggesting that stories on the front pages of the media might gave the perception that there is an upsurge.

Earlier this month, Ramjattan insisted that Guyana is not in “really bad state”.

“Sometimes this thing is

emblazoned across the front pages of newspapers giving the impression as though we are in a real bad state, [but it’s] not really true,” he was quoted as saying.

Notably, while the Guyana Police Force updated the public on incidents on every three months, the last release of statistics was done on July 13, 2018 – for the period as at June 2018.

Ramjattan publicly snubs Nagamootoo T

he infighting between AFC Executive Members Moses Nagamootoo and Khemraj Ramjattan continues over the nomination for the post of prime minister.

And on Wednesday (June 12, 2019), Ramjattan publicly snubbed Nagamootoo.

When asked, Ramjattan said he is confident of being elected the party’s next Prime Ministerial candidate for the upcoming General and Regional Elections.

However, when asked about his competition, he said, “I don’t know of any other person indicating an interest.”

Nagamootoo’s expressed interest has been public knowledge for months now.

While the APNU has decided to stick with Granger, similar unanimous support for current Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, is non-existent.

While Ramjattan was clear in his declaration, he

does not have support of AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman – a former People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member who broke ranks with his Party and joined the AFC. According to an AFC press statement, at the January 26, 2019 meeting of the AFC’s National Executive Council, Trotman, in his address, reaffirmed his confidence in the David Granger/ Moses Nagamootoo leadership to guide the Coalition Government in the period ahead.

In early February 2019, when Ramjattan hinted that he would welcome consideration as a replacement to Nagamootoo, Trotman said, “Politics and elections are very fluid and it is simply too early to talk about replacing anyone…prefer not to be too hasty, but to take time to observe and assess before reacting emotively… right now I am not sure if

anyone feels that he or she can do a better job by winning more votes nationally, and has national acceptability.”

In accordance with the 2015 ‘deal’ between APNU and AFC, the latter has the prime ministerial position while the presidential post goes to APNU. While the Cummingsburg Accord – the pact that sealed the APNU and AFC partnership – detailed a weighty portfolio for the Prime Minister, once the APNU+AFC Coalition took office, Nagamootoo was only responsible for oversight of state media – Guyana Chronicle, NCN and the Department of Public Information. Nagamootoo is regarded as a ‘diminished’ Prime Minister.

The AFC will select its prime ministerial candidate at its next National Conference, which is slated June 15, 2019.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Granger confirms interference in the GDF, fails to address key issues affecting ranks S

everal issues of concern, as well as presidential meddling in the day to day affairs of the Guyana Defence Force, were raised by a Guyana Defence Officer rank in a letter to the media, on June 2, 2019, which was followed by a response from the Ministry of the Presidency. And Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, contends that while the Ministry of the Presidency was quick to respond, it failed to address critical issues raised in the letter.

“What we see is clear obfuscation. They don’t tackle concerns raised. They talk about everything else, expect the fundamental issue,” he charged.

Jagdeo added, “They (army ranks) are saying that the changes, that the junior officers, have a shifting goal post to meet to get to be promoted and that the standards and that the rules keep changing all the while. And that they are done based on the whims and the fancies of the Ministry of the Presidency, and it is not discussed with the senior officers even in the

“Imagine what they are saying, they didn’t deny interfering, they are saying the President when he was private citizen compiled a book and now implying that the Army, a State institution must follow what the President complied when he was not even President.” – Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo should change this.”

GDF. That is a very specific allegation that it is done this way, that, therefore, officers’ promotions are affected and they don’t get answers.” “…the rule has been changed now that if you are interdicted and one year passes, the instruction from the Ministry of the Presidency and the President, is to terminate your employment. And they are saying that the court matter could even take more than a year. So, if their employment is terminated now before the case is concluded, and they prevail, how do they then address that situation? “…they claimed in the

past once they had served after 20 years, they were free to leave, to retire from the Army, with all their benefits once they had met that threshold of 20 years. So, this government has changed this now to say that even if you finish the 20 years and you want to retire, you cannot get your full benefits because we will treat it as a resignation.

Therefore, you don’t get any of your benefits, you have to wait out all the years … so this is a big change too. “…all I want to say to the Army is to ensure that we treat our soldiers, and ranks of the Joint Services, well… if these concerns have been raised and now publicly, then they need to be addressed and if they are counterproductive, I think the Government

INTERFERENCE The Opposition Leader rapped President David Granger for his direct interference in the smooth operational process that the Guyana Defence Force enjoyed, prior to the APNU+AFC Coalition government taking office.

He pointed out that the response from the Ministry of Presidency to that letter mainly focuses on an explanation seeking to justify President Granger’s involvement in the affairs of the Guyana Defence Force.

The Ministry of the Presidency, in its response, said: “It should be noted that the President in his private capacity, before entering office compiled a book ‘Values and Standards of the Guyana Defence Force’.”

Jagdeo said, “The release said that the President in his private capacity before entering office complied a book called ‘Values and Standards of the GDF’. So, imagine

hortages of drugs, medical supplies and equipment continue to affect the functioning of the Diamond Diagnostic Centre – hindering the delivery of medical services to members of the public.

Several nurses attached to the hospital have since spoken up about the challenges they face. They have asked to remain unnamed for fear of victimization.

They complained that all of the operations of the hospital are being done by only a few nurses, who are left to multitask and are forced to work long hours beyond their shifts in order to get the work completed. It was disclosed that majority

of the staff of the hospital have been migrating to overseas jobs, while others have sought transfers to escape the “stressful” environment at the Diamond hospital.

Further, the nurses added that machines and other vital equipment – including the X-ray and EKG machines – have been out of order for an extended period of time despite several reports to the administration about seeking repairs. Additionally, the nurses related that there is a major shortage of drugs and other medication at the institution and this greatly limits their ability to treat patients in need of medical attention.

The nurses contended that the Diamond hospital

what they are saying, they didn’t deny interfering, they are saying the President when he was private citizen compiled a book and now implying that the Army, a State institution must follow what the President complied when he was not even President. So, they have only confirmed now what the officers are saying that there is operational interference.”

DUPLICITY The Opposition Leader also called out the Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition Government for its duplicity in trying to claim neglect of the Guyana Defence Force by the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Administration.

The Ministry of the Presidency, in its statement, had said: “Over the years, there has been organizational neglect which caused the destruction of the National Cadet Corps and the near extinction of the GDF Reserve Force…additionally, it

is a known fact that defence operations and training had been neglected during the former administration in the years 1992-2015.”

Jagdeo said, “I am not sure it was destroyed, but look how disingenuous this is. This government now has former Chiefs of Staff Atherly, Collins and Gary Best… together they (the former Chiefs of Staff) span almost two decades or so, a decade and a half, of governance at the helm of the GDF during the years that the PPP was in office. So what they are saying is those people presided over the destruction of the National Cadet Corps, and they have all of them in their bosom across there and that’s what they are saying.”

According to him, the pattern of making excuses and blaming the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic Administration continues to manifest itself whenever the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has its ‘back against a wall’.

has a negative stigma attached.

This is not the first time staff are complaining about the condition of Diamond Diagnostic Hospital. Back in 2017, medical workers had staged a strike in order to have their concerns and issues addressed. This led to the Public Health Ministry and regional officials hosting a meeting with staff to iron out the matter. That meeting was headed by then Junior Health Minister Dr Karen Cummings, who had noted that the main concern of the Ministry is to ensure that patients and staff are treated with care and respect at all health facilities throughout Guyana and that

necessary systems should be in place to ensure that health services are provided in an unhindered manner.

The issues that affected the hospital at that time were the lack of security presence, non-functional sewerage systems and faulty electricity supply due to poor installation.

Now, less than two years later, the hospital is once again facing issues hampering the effective delivery of healthcare services.

This comes on the heels of Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, recently boasting of her Government’s commitment to improving access to primary healthcare to all of Guyana.

Region 6 REO, nephew embroiled Shortages of supplies, equipment surface in latest conflict at key East Bank Demerara hospital of interest scandal S

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ouncillors of Region Six (East Berbice) have called for a probe by the Auditor General’s office into the dealings of the Regional Executive Officer (REO) and the Regional Health Services Director.

According to Councillors, the Regional Executive Officer, Kim Williams-Stephens, as part of her job, has been approving payments for the Director of Health Services in Berbice, Jevaughn Stephens, is her nephew.

The REO sits as the Financial Officer of the Region and the Chairman of the Regional Tender Board.

Under the health services budget of Region 6, tens of millions of dollars have been set aside for the purchase of drugs and supplies for state-run hospitals and health centres in East Berbice. Under the system, all programme heads within the Region, inclusive of the Health Director, has to report to the REO. It was claimed that the key persons are handpicked for positions, including to overlook stores and deliveries.

The REO has a limit of $250,000, which she can approve without it having to be referred to the Tender Board.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

EDITORIAL

‘Wolves in Sheep’s Clear lack of foresight in formulating clothing’ returning to communities policy for a critical sector across Guyana T T Dear Editor,

he Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) was formed in 1976 when the then government of Guyana nationalized and merged the sugar estates owned and operated by Booker Sugar Estates Limited, Tate and Lyle and Jessels Holdings, respectively. Sugar has been a primary revenue earner for decades in, but, with changes on the world market, the industry faced several challenges. The sugar sector, by the time the 2015 General and Regional Elections came around, became a major campaign platform issue. On the campaign trail, the APNU+AFC coalition made a bid to the sugar workers with promises of increase.

As time later showed, that was simply an election ploy, they made promises to secure votes by voters who were soon enough forgotten.

Now the APNU+AFC Coalition Government – seemingly oblivious to the fact that their track record when it comes to keeping promises has been accepted by most all Guyanese as dismal and disappointing – has returned to communities, making promises, yet again.

President David Granger, last Friday (June 7, 2019) made a surprise visit to the Albion/Port Mourant Sugar Estate, East Berbice- Corentyne (Region Six) with Minister of Agriculture, Mr Noel Holder and Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), Dr Harold Davis Jr. And he did not disappoint. He lived up to expectations – he visited the communities, mouthed one platitude after another, failed to provide clarity the future for the sector and provided no clarity on how the sugar workers affected by the mass firings under his Administration would be supported.

First, one can only assume that the reason for the surprise visit was that the President did not want to be greeted by Guyanese who are disappointed with his Administration.

Second, the President, as is becoming the norm with his speeches, saw it fit to recite his version of historical tales – as opposed to dealing with the current issues at hand. He said: “Nearly 200 years ago, in the 19th century, there were 380 plantations but that declined to 239 three decades later.

It declined further, in the ensuring years, to 138 by 1890; 80 by 1990; 39 in 1922; and by 1967 it was down to 18. There were only 11 sugar estates – Albion, Blairmont, Diamond, Enmore, La Bonne Intention, Leonora, Ogle, Rose Hall, Skeldon, Uitvlugt and Wales – by the time the Guyana Sugar Corporation was established in 1976. From 380, we came down to 11. I didn’t do that. It is the nature of the industry to consolidate and restructure to keep abreast with the changing international markets. The consolidation that we are talking about is nothing new. It has been going on for 200 years and it didn’t begin in 2015. Let us not forget that the East Demerara plantations – Diamond, Enmore and La Bonne Intention – were consolidated in 1998 and the administrative office for the merged estates was centralized at La Bonne Intention.

The Enmore administrative office and field workshop were closed in the same year, 1998. I didn’t do that.”

Third and importantly, what President Granger missed was the rapid nationalization of the sugar industry in the mid-1970s led to a serious flight of talent, which left the industry short of management and talent. In true People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) style, this government once again implanted a plan half-baked. The President stated that the Government since 2015 has been doing everything humanly possible to ensure the industry thrives. However, a Commission of Inquiry was done on the industry, where a task force was established to carry out the recommendations from the State Paper on the ‘Future of the Sugar Industry’, which was presented to the National Assembly. The very report recommended no closure of sugar estates, but it was ignored.

Finally, what the President did not address was why did his Coalition Government hurried to shut down the other (Turn to page 24)

he Minister of Public Infrastructure Hon. David Patterson took to social media (Facebook) to vent his frustration about the positioning of the Vreed-enHoop to Kingston submarine cable; Patterson identified this positioning as a poor political decision by the PPP and as the culprit for this round of power shortages. Patterson’s perspectives are often interesting as they offer insight into how his mind works and his own decision-making process.

To ascribe a technical decision, good or bad, as a political one, is more reflective of how Patterson has operated than would have obtained under the previous administration. PPP Ministers of government would accept that the technical people would know better than Ministers who are political appointees charged with policy formation and implementation. The Patterson way of thinking suggests that ministers are infallible, ‘know it all’ entities with abilities to ‘fix’ any issue with personal knowledge and/or intervention.

Minister Patterson’s logic has led us into this ever increasing quagmire of power outages and electricity shortfalls;

it began with his soft `nationalization’ of the Wartsila Company that provided a wide range of services to Guyana Power and Light (GPL). These services included acting as the authorized country dealer for Wartsila, design, procurement, installation and maintenance of power generation engines and units. In this process the Wartsila company was stripped of its contracts and its 90% of its employees were offered jobs with Patterson’s new creation, Power Producers & Distributors Inc. (PPDI).

This decision had three immediate consequences: 1. Loss of upper management knowledge and proven ability to deliver quality service. 2. The PPP negotiated ‘List minus 17 percent’ price on all spares 3. The inability to handle design and construction of large new projects, such as the 300MW natural gas facility desired by ExxonMobil.

Editor, in less than two years, this policy decision by Minister Patterson has led us to the situation where the prime Wartsila generation sets are all well behind accepted maintenance schedules; where substitute parts are being used in Wartsila engines; where PPDI is not given the 17 percent discount on spares and is forced to join

queues for parts and not afforded special status as the local Wartsila company which had no such issues.

To add to these woes, we have the strange fact that despite years of complaining about the use of China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation (CMC) while in opposition, Minister Patterson performed a volteface and now utilizes CMC on a myriad of projects. It would be interesting to get an explanation on that decision. In four years no major increase in power generating capacity has been planned, begun or implemented. The installation of two heavy-fuel containerized generating sets in Charity is hailed as ‘the big success’ in the sector by the APNU-AFC coalition.

The lack of foresight used in formulating policy in this critical sector added to the convoluted logic of Patterson’s mind, has us all in the dark with vague promises of a ‘fix’ somewhere in the future. This is as unacceptable as the coincidence of two submarine cables being damaged in one week. Something fishy is in the river and it ain’t the fish!

Yours faithfully, Robin Singh

Criminal justice system once again being used as a tool to target political opponents Dear Editor,

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he PNC has a long history of using the criminal justice system as a weapon against its political opponents.

This dates back to the late 60s when PPP leaders and activists were arrested and charged without investigations and upon no solid evidence. This continued during the 70s and 80s. During this latter period, leaders and activists of the WPA were also victims. Fast-forward to 2015-2019, this policy of the PNC has not changed.

Over the past four years, a number of PPP leaders, Members of Parliament and Public Servants, who served the State faithfully under the PPP Administration were charged with trumped criminal offences. Some were charged for carrying out decisions of Cabinet and executing Government’s policies and some were charged based on reports submitted by forensic auditors, handpicked by politicians. These audits were done without affording a hearing to persons whom they implicate in alleged wrongdoings. In other words, these reports condemned these persons without affording them an opportunity to defend themselves, then, these reports are used

as a basis to charge them.

These charges are being prosecuted by special prosecutors, all of whom are closely affiliated with the PNC and are handpicked by Attorney General, Basil Williams and paid out of his Ministry’s budget.

The conduct for which these persons have been charged are not even morally reprehensible and certainly, they do not meet the standard required to attract criminal culpability. This is what I mean when I say that the charges are concocted and fabricated. The whole saga stinks of politics, political vendetta and vengeance. They are being done simply to humiliate, damage reputations, politically intimidate and silence political opposition.

In the GRDB charges, not a cent is missing but a group of young Guyanese professionals, including two PPP Parliamentarians, are slapped with dozens of criminal charges for simply not entering a transaction into an accounting ledger.

None of these persons had the responsibility to do so. All of them were board members.

The special prosecutors refused to give their lawyers a copy of the Forensic Report which led to the charges. The

Magistrate refused to order the Prosecutor to release a copy of this report. This is nothing more than trial by ambush.

The charges against Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington are worse.

They are charged with selling State properties below market value. Where in the world is such conduct a criminal offence? One only has to refer to the Desmond Hoyte era, where dozens of State entities were divested at a fraction of their market value and without any competitive process.

In Singh and Brassington’s case, the properties were indeed advertised and sold to the highest bidders. One vividly remembers these two highly qualified professionals splashed across the front page of newspapers with handcuffs.

Clearly, this was one to humiliate and embarrass.

I as President, granted Anil Nandlall a facility, whereby the Government would pay subscriptions for certain books that he was purchasing for the past 10 years. I granted that as part of the terms and conditions of his employment as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs. I issued a letter to the Auditor General to this effect. Attorney (Turn to page 5)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Clear cases of weak leadership at the GRA

Too many happenings at GECOM remain O highly questionable

Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

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sense of nervous apprehension has imbued the general atmosphere across Guyana as the entire nation awaits the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). The imminent pronouncement of the decision relates to the No-Confidence Motion (NCM) laid in the National Assembly by the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, which the House subsequently debated and the Speaker ruled as carried on December 21, 2018.

The constitutional consequences of the passed NCM signals that the Government has fallen. In every democracy, it is imperative for the incumbent leader, under such circumstance, to adhere strictly with the constitutional mechanisms for the resolution of the obvious impasse. This, stubbornly, has not been the situation with the APNU/ AFC coalition Government in Guyana. After initially accepting the decision of the Parliament, the fallen Government has abusively feigned interpretations of every precedent, judicial and normal procedure to cling to a clearly unwelcomed stay in power.

The resulting reverberations across the political landscape of the country are definitive, and in the eyes of the majority, is no longer tenable as a position of normalcy before becoming catastrophic. At the time of writing, almost thirty days have passed since the hearing of the matter by the CCJ, even though all indications had been towards an expedient and definitive ruling. While the CCJ ponderously deliberate, our nation continues to wait anxiously as angst and frustration build to an intolerable crescendo.

In context, the recent reopening of the matter raises national tensions given the clearly demonstrated and strengthened national support of the political Opposition under the astute leadership of Bharrat Jagdeo, presidential candidate Irfaan Ali and the winning PPP/C team.

Given the notions and clearly biased incantations led by the coalition’s Commissioners and supported by President Granger’s unilaterally selected Chairman, the implications for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) are obvious. Indeed, under this clear imbalance at the Commission, GECOM policies have reflected deliberate power extension approaches, by this quartet adopting measures to effectively delay elections. The CCJ’s rulings will be binding on GECOM as a party to the case, and enforce impartiality within the intent of the Constitution; extraordinarily slighted by Justice (retired) James Patterson After Local Government Elections in December 2018, and contrary to the always-required state of readiness as a mandate of the institution, there is suddenly need to clean the List of Electors by the method of houseto-house registration. PNC/R GECOM Commissioner Charles Corbin recently said that GECOM aims to have a clean list by October 31. He went on to say that whatever method GECOM takes, house-to-house or otherwise,

GECOM will be able to reach a deadline of October 31.

Contrastingly, GECOM’s handpicked Deputy Chief Elections Officer, Roxanne Meyers, said that GECOM Secretariat would need nine months to complete the house-tohouse exercises in preparation of the new List of Electors. She stated that “even if we take on more men this child will not be born when the PNC ready for the birth”. Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and the Public Relations Officer Ms Yolanda Ward also previously stated that GECOM is ready for National and Regional Elections. The conflicting reports and announcements by GECOM’s senior staff are very worrying.

These ‘blind’ dates of affairs are very serious matters which cements uncertainty, and it suggests that the PNC/APNU wants to start a house-to-house registration process just to commit the Opposition to such an unacceptable activity and extend further delays.

Further, although the matter is part of the case at the CCJ, the defiance by the cabal quartet continues as they forge ahead in the sinister delaying approach. The Judges at the CCJ must be cognisant that adherence to the Constitution is pivotal to our democracy and in preventing further damages to our country.

This is an illegal APNU/AFC Government, and we must have Regional and National Elections now.

Notably, the GECOM Secretariat is not responsible for the employment of staff at GECOM. Hence, it is not acceptable for this nation to accept their hiring of enumerators. Sadly, too many things taking place under the current approval of this Elections Commission at GECOM is illegal or highly questionable.

Corbin also said that GECOM has serious problems with the procurement of certain materials to conduct the registration exercise.

Procurement of materials for GECOM is under serious scrutiny but there is need for the Secretariat to declare to the Commission what they have in stock, and the Commission must be satisfied with good auditing of the stocks.

While Commissioner Corbin complains bitterly about the procurement procedures, the difficulties in obtaining the materials for conducting the registration exercise is utter nonsense, since there is no need for the conduct of the exercise in the first place. The situation highlights the high state of inefficacy taking place at the Secretariat, not to mention the lawlessness led by the imbalanced Commission. It cannot be denied, however, that corruption is so prevalent at GECOM that nobody or organisation wants to be involved with them. Herein, involves the real need for cleansing!

It is the transparency of procedures to support GECOM’s continuous readiness to hold elections at short notice which is ideal and required. Let us have free and fair elections following the CCJ’s rulings.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

n the 6th June, Leader of the Opposition Hon. Bharrat Jagdeo made a clear claim of malfeasance involving the Guyana Revenue Authority “I heard GRA seized these land cruisers in May and then they were registered in March. The register was backdated to March 14, 2019”, Jagdeo went on to provide pictures of the vehicles, GRA registration numbers of the vehicles, and even the Venezuelan registration numbers. In response the Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia acknowledged that the vehicles identified were seized and disposed of but noted that he would have to investigate the rest of the claim.

Given the specificity of the allegation and the photographic and written evidence provided, this should not have taken more than a few minutes of the Mr. Statia’s precious time. An examination of the records of seizure and registration should easily provide clarity and direct the actions of the Commissioner-General. If no conflict exists, then Mr. Jagdeo should be provided with the evidence that is contrary to his claim and a retraction and apology demanded, if there is evidence that Mr. Jagdeo is indeed correct, Mr. Statia would be expected to inform the Guyana Police Force of the illegality, provide them with evidence and allow the law to take its course.

What is worrying is the possibility that this backdating of registration on ‘want-of-entry’ vehicles may well be part of systemized

corruption; at twenty million dollars per vehicle, such a racket would the cost to the nation could be billions in lost revenue. The Auditor General should be tasked with conducting an agency independent audit of this sector and the findings made public.

More than enough time has elapsed since the claim for Mr. Statia to have made a determination; both records of seizure and registration are available to the GRA man at an instant’s notice, his sloth on this matter is noticeable and one can only hope he has not chosen the route of one of our previous Commissioners of Police, who infamously wrote himself for permission and then wrote a reply granting same.

Mr. Statia and the GRA has spent much time squeezing every available dollar out of the common man, they are very thorough in such pursuit, for example, GRA has been demanding that re-migrants check often with its offices to ensure that they are still in Guyana; it would seem GRA lacks the same vigor when in pursuit of the politically favored. The weak handling of the fuel smuggling incident involving the Jubilee, where the lowest possible fine of $36 million dollars was levied against the well-connected owners is still fresh in the nation’s memory.

The Guyana Revenue Authority needs to be led by someone who acts without fear or favor, and that time is now.

Regards, R. Singh

Criminal justice system...

General Basil Williams instructed the Auditor General to conduct an investigation into the acquisition of these books.

The Auditor General did. He submitted a report, in which he found no wrongdoing.

Basil Williams then instructed his Permanent Secretary to make a report at SOCU and no doubt, SOCU was instructed to charge Anil Nandlall. Before the charges were instituted, Mr. Nandlall purchased the said-same books and offered them to SOCU. This offer was rejected. The instruction was to charge.

Clearly, the intent is to embarrass, humiliate and silence. It is no secret that Nandlall has been a thorn in the side of Williams, exposing his incompetence every step of the way.

Recently, I read that the Magistrate and the Prosecutor in the Nandlall case, turning up in a different courtroom at the Magistrates’ Court and calling the case without any notice being sent to Nandlall or his lawyers, then the Prosecutor threatening to apply for a warrant for his arrest. If this is not cowboy justice, I don’t know what is.

There is no Judicial Service Commission in place for nearly two years, so one cannot even lodge a complaint against this Magistrate. How is it that the Prosecutor and the Magistrate were able to be present in a different court at the same time and on the same

(From page 4)

date without that date and time being fixed on a previous occasion, must be the basis for an investigation.

Irfaan Ali is another victim. The PPP Government has sold nearly 100,000 house lots at subsidised prices as part of the Government’s housing policy. Ali is charged in respect of a few lots sold to PPP leaders, supporters and other professionals who worked under the PPP Government. Again, these charges are ridiculously concocted but Ali is before the Criminal Courts, being prosecuted by three of these special, handpicked prosecutors, who are being paid $20,000 per hour. One of the ironies is that the DPP, who was recently made Senior Counsel by the President, is one of the purchasers of these lots. She claims that she did not advise on the charges. She simply stated the obvious. We know that Congress Place did but not only on Ali’s charges, but on all of the charges mentioned above.

I hear that the Financial Intelligence Unit is the newest entity that will be used against the political Opposition. Apparently, SOCU and SARA are not enough. I will expand upon the FIU a little later.

Yours sincerely, Donald Ramotar, Former President

6

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

APNU+AFC gov’t cronies manipulating the Whistleblowers must procurement system not be intimidated Dear Editor,

I

was shocked to read that David Hinds of the WPA “recommended that there be a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the public service with the aim of flushing out the PPP moles. This is not the language of a civilised, peaceful person or political party.

David Hinds took issue with the fact that members of the Public Service have apparently been providing information on inexplicable financial transactions that contravene the laws of Guyana. Exposing theft and corruption in our nation is a stated goal of all political entities.

The Protected Disclosures Act 2017 was passed by unanimous vote in the legislature: AN ACT to combat corruption and other wrongdoings by encouraging and facilitating disclosures of improper conduct in the public and private sectors, to protect persons making those disclosures from detrimental action, to establish the Protected Disclosures Commission to receive, investigate or otherwise deal with disclosures of improper conduct and to provide for other related matters.

Further, ‘Whistleblowers’ have been encouraged to come forward by Attorney General Basil Williams on numerous occasions.

Therefore, this change in language to characterisation of such persons as ‘moles’ and a demand to flush them out is a departure from norm and runs contrary to the progress that has been made on one of the rare occasions all of the members of the National Assembly agreed on something.

‘Moles’ are a term used to refer to espionage agents engaged in deep cover spying and undermining of nations.

Reporting that Minister David Patterson received a wire transfer to his personal ac-

count is not treason.

Reporting that children of Minister Simona Broomes have received payments totalling more than $20 million dollars is not treason.

These are acts of brave patriots and have been encouraged by the passage of protective legislation. While none has been brave enough to seek protection of the Disclosures Act of 2017, they are certainly acting within its spirit.

These persons should be championed not hunted and flushed from the system. David Hinds seems to believe it is more a crime to expose corruption and illegal acts by Ministers than the illegal acts reported.

Editor, David Hinds knows that his deliberate use of the term, ‘moles’ is racist, divisive and unworthy of a member of Rodney’s party.

His call for a Commission of Inquiry takes it further from labelling to an active hunt; one can only imagine with horror how such a hunt would evolve. Where would it start?

Do we treat everyone in the Public Service with equal suspicion or do we take the Hinds’ position that the PPP is an Indo-party and target Indo-Guyanese? Do we tap into private communications of public servants on the basis of race, colour, creed, party card?

What then? Arbitrary dismissals? Public trials? Or concentration camps? What if it is, as I suspect, the ‘moles’ are political operatives seeking to diminish rivals? What would Hinds have us do then? Build ovens?

I urge all Guyanese to keep blowing the ‘whistle’ without regard for anything other than the future well-being of our nation. I applaud your efforts to date.

Sincerely, R. Singh

Dear Editor,

T

he situation in Region Six is being worsened daily as the APNU/AFC coalition Government continues to destroy the lives of thousands of Berbicians.

Since this region is the heartbeat of the PPP/C, the APNU/AFC coalition Government’s agenda is to ensure that the PPP supporters feel the brunt of the punishments in every aspect of life. The present flooding situation in Black Bush Polder is because of the incompetence of the Minister of Agriculture and NDIA. Since the debate of the 2019 budget, the Regional MP Zulfikar Mustapha and the RDC enquired about the maintenance of these canals from Ministers Noel Holder and Ronald Bulkan but was told that the RDC would continue to do the maintenance. Unfortunately, the NDIA still went ahead and awarded the contracts for the canals and refused to send a circular of Cabinet’s decision.

This dictatorial approach is a clear indication of the hypocritical attitudes of the entire APNU/AFC Government since President David Granger, who at the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs in July 2018, said that RDCs and NDCs were bound by the Constitution to provide certain services, which include drainage and irrigation.

The President is a total disappointment in the management of the Cabinet and his Government must be held responsible for

everything that is allowed to destroy the lives of Guyanese.

The Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, continues to undermine the Regional Democratic Council of Region Six by appointing a “political hack” in the position of Advisor to the Minister to manipulate the RDC. This political appointee is being used

by Bulkan in his capacity to undermine the regional engineer, the Regional Executive Officer, the Regional Tender Board, and even the position of the Regional Chairman, in order to ensure the regional system benefits PNC contractors and activists.

This doesn’t stop here, the advisors to Ministers’ office is used to give PNC contractors and activists the contract documents to do selective bidding and as such, manipulate the procurement process.

This dictatorial approach is undermining the system and contractors who cannot do certain jobs are still receiving them because they are APNU/AFC coalition Government activists.

The Regional Executive Officer is the Chairperson of the Regional Tender Board and must not allow the Ministers’ advisors to manipulate the procurement system in the region. This situation is a clear case of organised corruption by the APNU/AFC coalition Government and must not be tolerated in Region Six. Regards, Zamal Hussain

Political implications of recent maneuverings by GL&SC Dear Editor,

A

matter which appears technical on the surface and pales into significance compared to headline grabbing news such as crime, corruption in high places and challenges in the budding oil and gas sector has gratefully, caught the attention of a section of the media.

Editor, the issues I refer to are to be found in S/N:11/2/16; ‘Hydrographic surveyor completes Japan training;’ S/N:22/12/17, ‘Lands and Surveys aiming for national land policy; S/N:22/5/19 ‘Guyana set for undersea surveying,’ S/N 25/5/19;‘Cabinet reviewing national Geo-spatial Policy, NSDI action plan’ and finally, S/N: 3/6/19, ‘GLSC to recruit historian for planned land archives.’

Observers have found rather puzzling, if not confusing, the constructing and deconstructing of internal structures within the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC).

Further, hiring a historian to establish a planned land archives at GLSC is fraught with serious consequences. How objective, sensitive and unbiased that historian will be as regards

Guyana’s national and unique peculiarities as well as considering the entrenched customs and mores are all issues that require careful attention.

Digitizing the records of old and new leases, surveys and maps etc; stored at the GLSC can prove to be legally contentious especially when it comes to presentation of evidence in land disputes requiring a determination by the courts.

Though unrelated but nevertheless tangential, the case of the Berbice cattle farmers whose revocation of leases has now become a political issue is a microcosm of what is portended for the national level.

Moreover, the formulation of a National Land Policy treating with land titling and ancestral lands as distinct from a National Land Use Policy which addresses the utilization of land for economic development is yet to be explained to the public.

Land use or undersea surveying for economic development has both environmental and national security implications that ought not to be underestimated. So does land alien-

ation and insecurity. The threat of displacement of locals and loss of livelihoods is perceived as a threat to human security. And the resultant loss of the livelihoods of those who depend on the land and sea can result in conflict and authoritarian-type interventions.

What the GLSC appears to be doing is precisely what other government agencies and departments have been doing since 2015, retrieving policy papers formulated under the previous administration, embellishing and/or tweaking them to make it appear as a ‘fresh approach’ and as though the APNU+ AFC are the originators of the said policy initiatives.

Those issues aside, Mr. Trevor Benn of the GLSC has been talking a lot about institutional strengthening at GLSC and maybe justifiably so, but the burning question is, towards what end?

There is an emerging consensus among persons who have an interest in these matters that the objective behind GLSC’s moves is to have a stake in policy formulation as per the oil and gas industry and to follow the money that will flow from the sector.

But GLSC’s moves have resulted in an apparent turf war, which in turn has brought into greater focus, the unsettled question of inter-agency collaboration between GLSC, MARAD and above all, the Department of Energy in respect of oil and gas, an area of strategic and mandatory concern for each of them.

The establishment of a ‘National Hydrographic Coordinating Committee’ at GLSC and the efforts being made to set up a ‘Hydrographic Unit’ at the Commission are matters that are not solely technical in nature but of political and strategic importance to Guyana as a whole.

While GLSC is authorized to conduct land and hydrographic surveys, questions are being asked whether GLSC has the capacity to conduct hydrographic surveys, a process requiring technically trained personnel most of whom are currently stationed at MARAD. The recent handing over to MARAD of $68m worth of hydrographic equipment last month for use in undersea surveys was seen as an indication of where the human resource ca(Turn to page 7)

7

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Another manifestation of APNU+AFC Coalition’s poor policy making Dear Editor, The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) saw in several sections of the media reports regarding the status of the $30B bond that was secured by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) to re-capitalise the estates under the stewardship of the Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc (GuySuCo). The bond which came to being after the, seemingly, clandestine transfer of the Corporation’s shares, among other things, to the Government’s holding company. The March 29, 2018 Stabroek News reported that the Special Purpose Unit (SPU) of NICIL, which apparently was instrumental in the bond’s birthing, said it would “…provide a much-needed capital injection, support infrastructure maintenance… and develop new co-generation capacity to support estate operations and sell to the national power grid”.

Our Union, as a concerned stakeholder, after learning about the bond, through media reports, sought an audience with NICIL-SPU and the GuySuCo regarding its plans for the large sum it was intent, at that time, to borrow. At an April 19, 2018 meeting with officials of the sugar corporation and the SPU, the GAWU learnt that monies were earmarked towards improving cane production and productivity as well as enhancing factory operations. Sums, we were told too, were identified for ventures into electricity generation and plantation white sugar. The GAWU, at that time, while welcoming the ideas did express concern that it appeared there was no firm plan to guide how the monies that would be secured will finally be spent. To that end, we urged NICIL-SPU and the GuySuCo to collaborate to working out the finer details of that plan. We even went as far as offering views to allow for a more rounded and wellthought-out road map.

Notwithstanding, what we felt was a valuable suggestion, the bodies charged with managing the affairs of the sugar industry have apparently not worked out a proper and workable plan. That suggestion, we must add, the GAWU has reiterated on many occasions.

We should not fail to add that Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, responding to questions, posed to him in Parliament by the Opposition, did say that a plan was worked out. We sadly have to say that we take the Minister’s utterances with a pinch of salt, as

if such a plan does really exist it must be the most closely-guarded secret in the history of Guyana. Moreover, had such a plan really been a reality, the lamentations by NICIL’s Head (a.g.), Mr Colvin Heath-London and the responses by the Corporation’s CEO, Dr Harold Davis Junior, we believe, would not have been heard. Undoubtedly, the plan, among other things, would have clearly set out the parameters for disbursements and accountability. Rather than ironing out these matters very early on, we see the apparent chasms rising to the surface and complaints and disagreements between NICIL-SPU and GuySuCo appearing ever so often.

Also of concern to us, is that, so far, though roughly a quarter of the bond has been disbursed, no tangible progress has been seen.

We recall that the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo had previously expressed concern about the lag between implementation and the securing of the funds and the heavy interest costs that would have to be borne in the intervening period. From all appearances, the Opposition Leader was right as NICIL, according to the media, will channel to bondholders several hundred million dollars in interest while the specific capital works to secure the industry’s viability, it seems, appear nowhere on the horizon. Concerns, we see too, were expressed by NICIL regarding the probability of default. This is something that is not in our interest especially considering that the bond has essentially mortgaged the assets of the Guyanese people. For the current and future generations of Guyanese this would be an unwelcome disaster.

The entire imbroglio that is unfolding, we see, as yet another manifestation of the Administration’s mis-adventure and, undoubtedly, poor policy making regarding the sugar industry and which will further negatively impact national interests. As we well know, the Government’s actions and or inaction regarding the industry has been one of the more difficult times of our nation’s recent history. It is a period, which has seen the largest retrenchment exercise in Guyana’s history and a period that has brought about tremendous hardship and grave difficulty for thousands of Guyanese people of varying walks of life.

Yours faithfully, Seepaul Narine, GAWU General Secretary

Government should seriously revisit the decision to close down the sugar estates Dear Editor,

T

he continuing spat between the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) and the Special Purpose Unit (SPU) would have been laughable were it not for the disastrous consequences it could have for the future of the sugar industry and for that matter the economy as a whole. Interestingly, both the Guyana Sugar Corporation and the SPU are creatures of the State and the fact that both seem to be at odds with each other is indicative of a serious governance deficiency on the part of central government.

To begin with, it is my firm conviction that the privatization of sugar and the closure of the four sugar estates, namely Skeldon, Rose Hall, Enmore and Wales was at best shortsighted and certainly not in the best national interest. It has not in any significant way resulted in any tangible benefit to the industry. Billions of dollars were wasted due to asset depreciation and loss of revenues not to mention the social costs associated with the loss of employment for the thousands of sugar workers.

The Government’s decision to establish a SPU to oversee the privatization process has, from all indications, been met with much resentment by GuySuCo which seems unprepared to make available to the SPU critical information to facilitate the privatization process.

It is clear that the SPU is experiencing some serious challenges in finding suitable investors for the sugar estates. Billions of dollars are being spent to put the estates in a saleable condition but with limited success.

The billions of dollars borrowed attract high interest payments which adds to the burden taxpayers have to carry in the privatization process. The longer it takes to find buyers, the greater the accumulated interest payments and asset depreciation costs.

One major stumbling block is the unfavourable investment environment due in large measure to the existing unpredictable political environment following the no-confidence motion currently before the Caribbean Court of Justice. Potential investors seem reluctant to invest out of fear that any change in administration could result in fundamental policy shifts which could put their investments at risk.

I continue to hold the view that the Government should seriously revisit the decision to close down the sugar estates. There is nothing to suggest that the price of sugar on the world market would decline to unsustainable levels in the near future. The issue is fundamentally one of raising the productivity of the industry to make it much more competitive on the world market.

Yours faithfully, Hydar Ally

Political implications... pacity exists for the effective and professional use of such equipment.

The Department of Energy and the GLSC under the Ministry of the Presidency (APNU) and the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) under the Ministry of Public Infrastructure (AFC) appear to be jockeying with each other in fulfillment of their respective mandates in the area of hydrographic surveying moreso with the prospects of financial and economic benefits looming large on the horizon.

With the pushing and shoving for space in the area of hydrographic surveying, all eyes are on the oil sector since it has become clear that what is at stake is the harvesting of revenues from the petroleum sector by the three contending agencies.

It is hoped that GLSC, will not be encouraged by the Ministry of the Presidency to behave bullishly towards other government departments who are legally authorized to play a role in hydrographic surveying in fulfillment of their respective mandates.

Established by the 1998 Shipping Act, MARAD assumed responsibility for harbours, their approaches and beyond the navigable waterways.

Moreover, the department is legally authorized to establish, oversee and maintain a hydrographic section within its organizational

(From page 6)

structure.

According to a S/N report of 11/2/16, a Japanese-trained member of staff of MARAD returned to Guyana about two years ago with a view to enhancing MARAD’s human resource capacity of its hydrographic section.

This was a step in the right direction indicating that MARAD had the foresight to recognize the importance of building capacity consistent with its hydrographic mandate.

However when all of a sudden GLSC announced that it was ‘set for undersea surveying‘ this came as a surprise to many since, from all indications, GLSC appeared to be at sea, drifting as it were, towards one of MARAD’s harbour approaches.

Though authorized to engage in hydrographic surveys, the sudden interest evinced

by GLSC in this area, appears to be driven by certain vested interests at the Ministry of the Presidency, whose primary aim its seems, at this stage, is to mobilize and ensure that funds from the petroleum sector, become available through fees for licensing permits for foreign vessels associated with the oil and gas industry as well as from the approval of permits for marine infrastructure levied on foreign investors in that sector.

Yours faithfully, Clement J. Rohee

8

Decision Day ‒ CCJ to deliver judgements in NCM cases on June 18

A

decision from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), in the cases related to the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion, will be handed down on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.

The decision is a highly anticipated one.

The Court of Appeal in March 22, 2019, set aside the decision of the High Court, which had ruled that the vote of no-confidence was valid. According to the Appeal Court, the Parliamentary Opposition needed 34 votes and not 33 – essentially that 33 was

not the majority of 65 votes in the National Assembly.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo; former Government Parliamentarian, Charrandass Persaud; and political activist, Christopher Ram, then moved to challenge the decision of the Court of Appeal at the level of the CCJ. The three consolidated cases are: 1. Christopher Ram versus the Attorney General, the Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission; 2. Bharrat Jagdeo versus

the Attorney General, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission; and 3. Charrandass Persaud versus Compton Reid, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Attorney General, Bharrat Jagdeo, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission.

Two days of hearings at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion were held on May 9 and 10, 2019.

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

CCJ to rule on unilateral appointment of GECOM Chairman

From left, the unilaterally appointed GECOMC Chairman, James Patterson, and President David Granger

T

The Parliamentary Opposition’s legal team

CCJ rejects Basil Williams’ attempt to present ‘new evidence’ in no-confidence motion cases

T

he Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), on Tuesday (June 11, 2019), refused an Urgent Notice of Application by the Attorney General of Guyana, Basil Williams, to introduce “new evidence” in the consolidated appeals challenging the No-Confidence Motion, which was declared carried by the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly on the 21st December 2019.

In the decision, the CCJ stated: “Upon reading the Urgent Notice of Application filed in GYCV2019/011 on behalf of The Attorney General of Guyana, for an order to adduce new evidence together with the Second Affidavit of Jennifer Ayana McCalman in support, sworn to and both filed on the 6th day of June 2019.

“And upon reviewing the Case Management order of this Honourable Court dated the 29th day of March 2019 granting an order for the urgent hearing of the consolidated appeal, abridg-

ing the timelines for filing documents and scheduling the timetable for the hearing of the appeal.

“And upon reviewing the subsequent order of this Honourable Court dated the 3rd day of May 2019 dismissing the application filed on behalf of the Guyana Elections Commission, for an order to extend time to file written submissions and to present oral submissions in the hearing of the consolidated appeals.

“And having considered that Counsel for the Attorney General of Guyana had developed at least one aspect of his oral submissions on the premise that the Appellant, Mr Charrandas Persaud, being an Attorney at Law, was well aware on the date he was nominated that he was disqualified to be a member of the National Assembly because of his dual citizenship.

“And noting that given the scope and context of the legal issues as presented to the Court, the adducing of

further facts to establish that Mr. Charrandas Persaud was aware that he was a dual citizen at the material time will add little if anything relevant at all to the sub-stratum of fact for the Court’s consideration.

“And having considered, on paper, the application filed herein on behalf of The Attorney General of Guyana pursuant to Part 9.7 of the Caribbean Court of Justice (Appellate Jurisdiction) Rules 2019.

“It is ordered that the application for leave to adduce new evidence be and is hereby refused.”

Williams moved to the CCK last week.

The “new evidence” has to do with comments made by Charrandas Persaud during a recent Globespan live show, which Government is alleging purports to show he knew that as a dual citizen he ought not to be in the parliamentary chambers.

However, Williams’ claims only cited Persaud’s comments in part.

he Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), yesterday afternoon, via email has informed all parties that the decision in the matter of Zulfikar Mustapha v The Attorney General of Guyana – better known as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman challenge – will be delivered on June 18, 2019, at 10:00 am.

In June 2018, Chief Justice (ag) Roxanne George-Wiltshire, ruled that President Granger was in order when he unilaterally appointed 85-year-old Justice (rtd) James Patterson as the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.

That ruling led to an appeal being filed with the Appeal Court. The Guyana Court of Appeal on Thursday, October 18, 2018 upheld a High Court ruling on President David Granger’s unilateral appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

On the May 8, 2019, the CCJ heard arguments in this matter following an Application for an early date for the hearing and determination of the appeal, which was pending in that Court.

ARGUMENTS Notably, in the arguments before the CCJ, in light of the fact that General and Regional Elections on the horizon, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) had asked that if the Court’s decision be stayed until after General and Regional Elections – if the Court rules in its favour.

This being because if the decision is put into immediate effect, General and

Regional Elections could be delayed, since the process to appoint a new GECOM Chairman could be a lengthy one.

PPP Attorney, Douglas Mendes, in his presentation to the CCJ had argued, “What I would ask the court to do, if the court does come to that conclusion, is to hear the parties again on what further consequential orders ought to be made. I am saying that because the orders that you make in this case if you are minded to set aside the appointment may be impacted by the results of the appeal which you are going to hear tomorrow.”

Mendes pointed out that the CCJ is also hearing cases on the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion and a positive decision – to uphold the vote – could mean that Guyana heads to General and Regional Elections soon.

“In other words, if the court were to conclude in that appeal that elections must be held – and it must be held in a short period of time, then we would want to address the court on whether, you ought to consider suspending quashing the appointment of the chairman in order that the election would not be disrupted… certainly we wouldn’t want any order that you make in this case (GECOM Chairman Appointment) to disrupt an election that you ordered to be held if in fact you think that should be done,” Mendes had said.

BAD FAITH Patterson was unilaterally appointed as Chairman on GECOM on October 19,

2017.

His appointment came after a meeting on the selection of a GECOM Chairperson, between Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, and President Granger, which only lasted five minutes. At that meeting the third list of nominees submitted by Jagdeo was rejected by Granger.

However, at a previous meeting on June 12, 2017 – the meeting before Granger made a unilateral appointment – there was an agreement on what would be the way forward, if the third list was rejected. The June 12, 2017 joint statement said: “It was also agreed that a high-level team would be assembled representing the President and the Leader of the Opposition which will begin to work immediately on exploring modalities to bring a resolution to this matter in the event that the list is rejected.”

Given that there was a joint agreement, the Parliamentary Opposition has argued that Granger acted in bad faith when he unilaterally appointed a GECOM Chairman.

Article 161(2) provides for the appointment of a Chairman based on a consensual process in which a list of six persons, “not unacceptable to the President,” is submitted by the Opposition Leader.

A proviso included in the law allows for the appointment to be made unilaterally, where the Opposition Leader fails to submit a list “as provided for” – but Jagdeo submitted three lists, which were all rejected by President Granger.

9

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

From the desk of Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo...

Guyana Under Review Several issues were addressed a weekly news conference held by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Thursday (June 12, 2019), ranging from the debacle involving NICIL and GuySuCo to the continued silence of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government on key matters.

WPA called out for ‘convenient’ positions on Rodney’s death anniversary J

une 13, 2019 marks the 39th year since Dr. Walter Rodney was brutally assassinated by the People’s National Congress (PNCR) regime of 1980 and his death represented a huge loss for Guyana, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“A whole generation of leaders were inspired by Walter Rodney. He helped to stimulate a critical analysis of Europe and North-South relationship. It is a tragic loss for not only Guyana, but also for the rest of the world,” he said, during his Thursday (June 13, 2019) news conference.

He noted that Working People’s Alliance (WPA), of which Rodney was a co-leader, issued a statement in remembrance of his death anniversary and called attention to the convenient nature of the statement.

He charged that it is the same WPA that is a part of the current PNCR-led Coalition Government, which refuses to push for action to be taken on findings from the independent international Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into Rodney’s death.

The Commission’s 155page report concluded Rodney’s assassination was a “State organised” act that was executed with the knowledge of the then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of the People’s National Congress (PNC), who had “large and detailed” knowledge of what

From left, Dr. Walter Rodney and Dr Cheddi Jagan

was being done by the State and its agencies during his tenure. “We conclude that Prime Burnham knew of the plan and was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Dr. Walter Rodney,” the report said it its findings, also making references to the manner in which the country was run.

On August 4, 2016, the International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report into Dr. Rodney’s death was debated in the National Assembly.

The report was debated in the National Assembly after the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) pressed for the report not to be shelved, but be discussed, so as to avoid a repeat of history – to avoid a duplication of the circumstances under which Rodney was assassinated.

The APNU+AFC Government’s position was that it

will not adopt the findings of the report; rather it will acknowledge the report.

Jagdeo said, “They government did not want to adopt the findings. They said only acknowledge the report…. the WPA was part of that presence in the National Assembly when this was done.”

He noted that the CoI boasted impartial and renowned lawyers. The members of the Commission were; Queens Counsel Sir Richard Cheltenham (Chairman) from Barbados, Senior Counsel Seenauth Jairam from Trinidad and Tobago and Queens Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown from Jamaica.

The Opposition Leader said, “That was not a Commission of Inquiry, like the ones we have seen done by this Government – where one person is handpicked, like

The damaged car after the explosion that killed Dr. Walter Rodney

Raphael Trotman’s father, and put in charge.”

ELECTORAL FRAUD Jagdeo also expressed his surprise at the WPA’s talk of electoral fraud in its statement on Rodney’s death anniversary. He said, “We are approaching elections and I saw the statement from the WPA – saying they would never support electoral fraud.

Clearly, they know something that I don’t know about, because they are speaking about not supporting electoral fraud.”

The WPA in its statement said that it “takes this opportunity to categorically state that it is vehemently opposed to electoral malpractice as a route to power. This is a fundamental principle of our party that is non-negotia-

ble—WPA will not be part of any overt or covert plan or action to rig elections. To do so, would be a dishonour to the legacy of Walter Rodney and the other stalwarts of our party who gave their lives and sacrifices for free and fair elections that are free from fear. Towards this end our party is vigorously opposed to those in the opposition and other circles who are spreading false alarms about intentions to rig elections.

WPA sees or knows of no plans in that regard.”

On that note, Jagdeo pointed to one of the recommendations from the independent, international, Commission of Inquiry into Rodney’s death.

The recommendation was that: “No party in government should be permitted

to tamper easily or at all with the electoral system such as to secure an unfair advantage. The electoral system should be entrenched in the Constitution and should only be amendable by a twothirds majority. Besides, the Chairman of the Elections Commission should be a person of the highest integrity and non-political and his/ her appointment which [sic] should meet with the approval of opposition groups and sectoral interests. If felt necessary, the Chairman may be sourced from a CARICOM country. The political opposition and other interests should be adequately represented on the Commission.

Serious changes should not be undertaken except after a thorough and meaningful public education programme and after consultation, too, with the opposition party/ parties and pursuant to a two-thirds majority vote in parliament.”

Jagdeo said, “This was the recommendation, yet the WPA said nothing about the unilateral appointment of the GECOM Chairman….the WPA’s June 12 statement seems to me very, very convenient.”

The Opposition Leader made it clear that a picture of how Guyana was managed in the period the PNC – one of intolerance, impunity and unaccountability – is clear in the report.

Yet again…

APNU+AFC Coalition’s desperation on display

T

he use of a political opinion poll conducted by the Barbados based Caribbean Development Research Services Inc. (CADRES) was rubbished by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his Thursday (June 13, 2019) news conference.

Of the key findings of the poll that is being pro-

moted by certain media outlets is that President David Granger enjoys a 94 per cent approval rating among APNU+AFC supporters and a 50 per cent overall approval rating when supporters of the PPP/Civic and Uncertain voters are added.

Jagdeo stated that any leader with such high approval ratings would not shy

away from calling General and Regional Elections – as Granger did, following the passage of the no-confidence motion. “If you believe you are so popular then call elections,” he said.

He noted that while the state-media omitted an important detail, other news outlets made it clear that the poll was commissioned

by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government. “The state media left out that the poll was commissioned by APNU, to create impression that the poll was impartial and independent….this is an APNU+AFC Commissioned poll. They paid for this. I wouldn’t put it past them to have used taxpayers’ monies to pay for this,” the Opposi-

tion Leader said, He noted that the publication of the so called results of the poll show the desperation of the Coalition Government. “Political parties do polls to guide their campaign. The fact that APNU released the information, I think this is serious desperation on the part of this government. Any Party that

has to release a poll like this is desperate,” Jagdeo said.

According to him, it would be interesting to see how Granger polled on questions such as: • Keeping promises; • The management of Guyana; • Job creation; • Handling oil and gas (Turn to page 10)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

From the desk of Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo...

Guyana Under Review Several issues were addressed a weekly news conference held by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Thursday (June 12, 2019), ranging from the debacle involving NICIL and GuySuCo to the continued silence of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government on key matters.

Harmon must answer about transfer Refusal to discipline of monies to Minister’s children Minister who ‘arbitrarily’ fired T MoTP staffers questioned T he confirmation from Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, that the recently appointed Minister, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, acted “arbitrarily” when she fired the staffers of the personnel and accounts departments of the Public Service Department was noted by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

And during his Thursday (June 13, 2019) news conference, he questioned what disciplinary action will be taken against Sarabo-Halley. “Harmon is saying the minister acted arbitrarily, exceeded her authority…she went in with heavy handed behaviour. What action will be taken against the Minister?” he questioned.

Jagdeo also called out the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) for its silence on the

matter. He noted that Mr. Lincoln Lewis, when asked about the issue, said only that he has not been following the developments in the matter.

“If this had happened under the PPP, we would had protests already,” he said.

On May 31, 2019, Halley reportedly sent the entire personnel department and the account packing. According to information received, the Minister claimed that the department is moving in a different direction and that the services of the old staff will no longer be required.

Personnel were escorted from their offices by security.

A junior staffer of the Ministry of the Presidency’s Press Affairs Unit claimed that there were no dismissals. However, the next day, the termination letter sent to the staffers who were fired

was leaked to the local press corps.

The leaked letter, dated May 31, 2019, titled ‘Determination of Contract of Employment, said, in part, “Pursuant to aforesaid contract of employment, your services are hereby terminated with immediate effect. One month’s salary will be paid to you, in lieu of notice…any and all property belonging to the Government of Guyana that currently resides in your possession must, as a matter of course, be forthwith returned to support continuity and efficiently of the work of the Ministry.”

The letter was copied to the Ministry of the Presidency’s Permanent Secretary, Abena Moore. Some of the fired staffers have served in the public service for over a decade.

APNU+AFC Coalition’s... wealth; • Health care; • Education; • Cost of living; and • Crime The Opposition Leader quipped that Granger would surely come out ahead of any People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) figure on being the most “ceremonial” president in contempo-

rary history and for condoning corruption. “This is the only place he will out-score Irfaan Ali,” Jagdeo said.

The Opposition Leader also joked that the results of the CADRES poll show that six per cent of the respondents expressed the view that Granger is younger and more mature that the PPP/C presidential candidate, Ir-

(From page 9)

faan Ali. The Opposition Leader noted too that a poll result on what could be the likely results of a General and Regional Elections would also prove interesting. “This is a fake poll with fake results that APNU paid for and this intended to talk up their chances at the elections,” he declared.

The poll paid for by the APNU+AFC Coalition showing positive results for President Granger

he “deafening silence” on the transfer of taxpayers’ monies to the children of a junior APNU+AFC Coalition Government Minister is fueling the belief that, indeed, there was some corruption afoot, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

It has been almost a month now since information about the transfer of taxpayers’ money to two children of Minister Simona Broomes has been made public.

The information from the whistleblower states that there were, in 2018, two transfers of US$25,000 each to the daughter of Minister Broomes, the Department of Public Service within the Ministry of the Presidency. In 2019, there was another transfer to Broomes’

daughter worth US$36,450 – again by the Department of Public Service within the Ministry of the Presidency.

Broomes’ son, in 2019, benefited from a fourth transfer of GYD$2.51M from the same Department.

The total sum transferred amounted to over $20M. Jagdeo, during his Thursday (June 13, 2019) news conference charged that the Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, must provide answers on these matters.

“What was the transfer for?

This is the critical question that must be answered,” he said.

The Opposition Leader has called on Broomes has to come clean on this matter.

At a prior news conference,

he had said, “If this information is wrong I will apologize…the Minister and the Ministry of the Presidency need to answer.”

The Opposition Leader made clear too that the issue is about transparency and accountability, not about the children of a government minister. “We have a duty to expose forms of corruption… we don’t have an issue with people’s children in politics…people’s children must be kept out of the cut and thrust of politics…we have nothing against the children of politicians…but we have a duty to expose misconduct,” he said.

Up to press time, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government remained silent on this matter.

Coalition gov’t remains under the ‘illusion’ that crime is down

T

he APNU+AFC Coalition Government continues to live with the illusion that crime is down, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

During his Thursday (June 13, 2019) news conference, he stressed that action must be taken to address an issue that is affecting the lives of thousands of Guyanese across the country.

After receiving what he touted as the ‘plan to end all crime’ in January 2018, President David Granger assured that the plan will be laid in the National Assembly. This assurance of action was supposed to have been realised since October 2018. That was seven months ago – and over a year since Granger received the report.

On January 18, 2018, Granger accepted the Report of the Security Sector Reform Project (SSRP), which was presented to him by United Kingdom’s Security Reform Programme Senior Advisor, Colonel Russell Combe.

To date, in addition to the fact that the report remain secret, there has been

no official move to operationalise the plan.

This is despite the fact that, in 2018, Granger himself admitted to need to roll out measures to address the crime situation. He had said.

“We are deeply concerned about the security situation and the sooner we implement those reforms, I think, the better.”

When he received the report, the President had said that the report was the start of security reform in Guyana. He had said, “We are now trying to correct the errors of over two decades of mismanagement of the security sector. There is a lot of work to do.”

Notably, in 2018, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government was criticized for the poor handling of the crime situation in Guyana when the United States of America (USA) State Department released its assessment of the crime situation in Guyana. The report states that it has “assessed Georgetown as being a CRITICAL-threat location for crime” affecting its own government interests. The “critical threat” description

is a first, when compared to the 2017 and 2016 reports.

The report added that, “The general crime rate in Guyana is above” the country’s own national average.

At a prior news conference, Jagdeo, stated that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has proven itself incapable of responding to crime and he was no holds barred in rapping President David Granger for the failure.

He noted that prior to May 2015, Granger presented himself to the Guyanese people as the ‘man with a plan’ and the skills of former security personnel on his team to ensure that the “root cause” of crime is addressed.

The Opposition Leader noted too that in January 2018, Granger, on receiving the Combe report, claimed that attempts under the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Administration to reform the country’s security sector “all a bluff” and the completion of the report represented an effort to “make Guyana safe” and secure.

Jagdeo pointed out too that it has been over a year since (Turn to page 11)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

From the desk of Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo...

Guyana Under Review Several issues were addressed a weekly news conference held by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Thursday (June 12, 2019), ranging from the debacle involving NICIL and GuySuCo to the continued silence of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government on key matters.

PPP/C working on ‘twin-track’ ahead of CCJ ruling T

he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is continuing its work at various levels, including at the grassroots level, according to the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“We in the PPP are operating on a twin track,” he said on Thursday (June 13, 2019), during his news conference, when asked about the PPP/C expectations of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruling in

key cases.

A decision from the Caribbean Court of Justice in the cases related to the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion, will be handed down on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.

Three cases - Christopher Ram versus the Attorney General, the Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission; Bharrat Jagdeo versus the Attorney

General, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission; and Charrandass Persaud versus Compton Reid, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Attorney General, Bharrat Jagdeo, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission – were taken to the CCJ after the Appeal Court ruling of March 22, 2019. The Court of Appeal in March 22,

2019, set aside the decision of the High Court, which had ruled that the vote of no-confidence was valid.

According to the Appeal Court, the Parliamentary Opposition needed 34 votes and not 33 – essentially that 33 was not the majority of 65 votes in the National Assembly.

Also on Tuesday, June 18, 2019, the CCJ will rule in the matter of Zulfikar Mustapha v The Attorney

General of Guyana – better known as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Chairman challenge – will be delivered on June 18, 2019, at 10:00 am.

Guyana’s Court of Appeal on October 18, 2018 upheld a High Court ruling on President David Granger’s unilateral appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

Jagdeo made clear that

whatever the decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice, the work of the PPP/C continues.

The Opposition Leader maintains that the Party’s work continues and all Guyanese are welcomed as supporters. “We are working to change that and we urge people to look at the facts,” he said, adding the work to consolidate and broaden the Party’s support base continues.

APNU+AFC gov’t failures continue to be exposed ‘P

romise delivered’ is the catchphrase being used by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government on social media sites as it continues to claim some measure of success after over four years in office, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

However, during his Thursday (June 13, 2019) news conference, he noted that the success is so non-existent that the Coalition has resorted to ‘lifting’ images from other online publications and rebranding it as its own – to show ‘success’.

He referred to one case where the Coalition claimed that a promise was delivered to “provide better access to potable water and improved sanitation to all Guyanese” and a photograph used by an online blog was used to bolster this claim.

In a second case, he pointed out that the Coalition claimed that a promise was delivered relative to “creating jobs in the oil and

gas industry” and a photograph used by a foreign YouTube page was inserted to validate this claim.

As recent as last month, the Opposition Leader noted that the APNU+AFC Coalition continues to boasted of major significant feats, when the reality has been four years of failures and broken promises.

He charged that the declarations made by the coalition administration of its successes during its tenure in office is far from the truth. “There are multiple lies to Guyanese about its long list or achievements.

When the average Guyanese tries matching those with the reality of life on the ground, they find a huge gap,” he said.

According to Jagdeo, the Government has failed in attracting major new investments in Guyana and even local investments, if any, are limited and flailing in the country. “Outside of the oil and gas sector which started under the [People’s

The Coalition claims of success using ‘lifted’ images

Progressive Party] PPP, the investments have dried up totally, foreign investments, and local investment is almost non-existent now. The only thing that a few people are benefiting from are the high prices for land in prime locations where the oil companies want to locate one or two of their facilities. That is the only thing that is happening, foreign investment as well as local investment have dried up…”

A photograph used by a YouTube page was used to bolster the Coalition’s claims of success

The Opposition Leader pointed out that while much focus is being placed on the oil and gas sector in relation to job opportunities for citizens, the employment opportunities will be limited, and cannot substitute for the jobs that were lost due to Government over the past four years. “The prospect of creating new jobs is dimin-

ished because oil and gas as I said before will give us 2,000 new jobs and we lost 30,000 jobs and we are not going to create many new jobs in the other sectors so it is going to get progressively worse… four years of deterioration… only four years in office is not an excuse.

How much longer does it take to recognised that this

Government does not have a vision?”

He added that the current Administration has an “absence of direction” and that contrary to the declarations of achievements by the APNU/AFC from 2015 to date, the past four years have been nothing short of failures and deterioration of progress in Guyana.

Coalition gov’t remains...

Granger received the report and crime is increasingly ravaging communities.

“He said that narco-trafficking was the source of crime and this was the disease…. he claimed that narco-trafficking eliminated, but how is it that we see this massive escalation in crime?” he asked.

The Opposition Leader

added that in February 2018, Granger declared that crime was the greatest impediment to human safety and prosperity. “This is what he said.

What has he done? There has been no direction, no leadership. He has a Minister [of Public Security] who is more interested in playing politics and imbibing…a minister whose utterances are more

(From page 10)

often than not seen as comical because of the lack of seriousness. This Minister is failure. Granger takes ultimate responsibility. And he has done nothing,” Jagdeo said.

The Opposition Leader stressed the need for urgent action to arrest the increase in crime. “All we can do is call on the Government to act,” Jagdeo stressed.

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AFC infighting escalates ‒ One of the Party’s founders said to be using convicted felon to intimidate members

A

head of its national conference, scheduled for June 15, 2019, the infighting in the Alliance For Change (AFC) escalated in a public manner, following the release of a press statement, as well as a video recording on social media, by AFC Executive Imran Khan.

He said, “Internal political skirmishes have given rise to the fear that there are those who place self-interest and personal entitlement and ambition above the interest of the party, the Coalition Government and Guyana.

“This is a development which ought to be of serious concern to party members and the wider Guyanese public. Many Guyanese have reposed confidence and trust in the AFC to represent their interests and would be disturbed to learn of these developments and machinations, principally engineered

by a small band of self-serving, entitled persons. “…a well-known hooligan, thug and convicted felon who is being cuddled, sheltered and protected by a very senior executive of my own political party has threatened me and my wife that when his benefactor attains a certain political office my wife and I will be ‘chased back to Antigua’.

“This senior party executive is fueling this thug and his co-conspirators with alcohol and political promises to camp outside the party headquarters on a daily basis and abuse and intimidate persons who are considered not to be supportive of their cause.

“Another political thug who is a known supporter of this high official has been actively engaged in attempting to have my name removed from the delegates list and has vowed that he

will leave no stone unturned until he is successful.”

Khan said the high official he is referring to played a “central role” in the formation of the AFC.

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

GECOM has still not received its 2019 budgetary appropriation – Shaddick

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he Guyana Election’s Commission’s (GECOM) budgetary appropriation for 2019 was $5.371B. However, in breach of Guyana’s laws, the full sum has still not been released to the agency.

Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Bibi Shaddick, made the disclosure during a televised programme ‘This Week In 60 Minutes’ on Wednesday (June 12, 2019).

She said, “The schedule three agencies (constitutional agencies), of which GECOM is one, draw they monies directly from the Consolidated Fund. The law says that one month after the Appropriation Bill is signed all that money is supposed to be transferred for the constitutional agency to use as it prioritized….the money appropriated for GECOM has still not been given to GECOM.” During the May 15, 2019) sitting of the National Assembly, Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced the tabling of a $7.9B supplementary paper. And of that amount, $3.4B was requested for GECOM, for the conduct of General and Regional

Elections. On May 23, 2019, the APNU+AFC Coalition – the only political Party represented in the National Assembly – approved the additional monies for GECOM. On the issue of an additional $3.4B for GECOM, Shaddick said, “I asked at the Commission, have you gotten the $5.37B. The answer was no. So I asked when are you going to get this one (the additional $3.4B). It is money that is appropriated, but money that is not given. So GECOM does not have this money still.”

Notably, the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) (Amendment) Act 2015. Section 80 B (8) – makes it clear that: “The appropriation of a Constitutional Agency approved by the National Assembly shall be disbursed as a lump sum by the end of the month, following the month in which the appropriation was approved.”

It was President Granger, in August 2015, who signed off on the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) (Amendment) Act. Additionally, it was Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, who confirmed that

GECOM can spend its annual appropriation as it prioritizes.

Jordan, on November 19, 2019, during the consideration of the 2019 budget of GECOM, a constitutional agency, in the National Assembly, said: “Mr. Chairman, the sum of $5,371, 061,000 is given as a lump sum to GECOM to use as it sees fit and as it prioritizes.”

The fact that GECOM has total discretion over the use of its annual appropriation, is also made clear in Article 222 (A) of the Constitution. Article 222A of the Constitution says: “In order to assure the independence of the entities listed in the Third Schedule – (a) the expenditure of each of the entities shall be financed as a direct charge on the Consolidated Fund, determined by a lump sum by way of an annual subvention approved by the national Assembly… (b) each entity shall manage its subvention in such manner as it deems fit for the efficient discharge of its functions, subject only to conformity with the financial practices and procedures approved by the National Assembly to ensure accountability.”

Criminal liability in D’Urban Park project to be addressed on completion of audit report

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fter months of delay and public pressure, information has been finally handed to the Audit Office by the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, relative to the controversial, multi-million dollar D’Urban Park Project.

Auditor General Deodat Sharma, said, “I think lately they did submit some information, which I’ve passed to my engineers to look at to see if those are the records. I’m about to finalise the report

with the response, so I will incorporate what I have and issue the final report,” Sharma said.

He added that criminal liability is a matter that will be pronounced on once the audit is complete.

The delayed handover of requested information and documentation delayed the Audit Office’s completion of its investigation of the controversial Durban Park Project.

In 2017, in his report the

Auditor General noted that $107.119M was unaccounted for in payment vouchers; a grand total of $1.150B was expended on the D’Urban Park project. The lack of information has led Sharma to conclude that the completeness, accuracy and validity of the amounts could not be determined.

The Auditor General had disclosed that he found no documentation attached to any payment vouchers to

explain or indicate any works being done, or even supervisory checks being carried out on works done. He further stated that there was no certification to show the works being done were up to standard or meet the requirements.

Apart from the discrepancy in the D’Urban Park project, the Auditor General pointed out that $500M was paid to Homestretch Development Inc. (HDI). HDI was created as a private company for the implementation of the D’Urban Park project. They paid this company so it could pay and met the obligations of creditors.

The increasingly controversial matter of financing and management of the D’Urban Park project started when works commenced in September 2015.

From September 2015 to date, there are three periods that are distinct in reviewing when taxpayers’ monies was spent: • From September 2015 to January 22, 2016; • From January 22, 2016 to April 21, 2016; and • From April 21, 2016 to date.

From September 2015 to January 22, 2016, an estimated millions of dollars in donations, as well as contributions of equipment and labour,

were collected. Government has released some names of donors, but there are some persons who contend that they were not listed.

From January 22, 2016, Homestretch Development Incorporated took reins of the financing and management of the D’urban Park project.

The name of the company was made by public by Minister David Patterson in the National Assembly on November 21, 2016. It should be noted that once a company takes on status of incorporated, it must be registered before it begins official operation – making involvement of Homestretch Development Incorporated on the project legal from January 22, 2016.

The company was registered on January 22nd, 2016 and its number is 8247. The registered address is Lot 18 Lamaha Street. The directors of Homestretch Development Incorporated are Education Minister, Rupert Roopnaraine, Larry London, Bobita Ram, Gentian Miller and Victor Wilson. From January 22, 2016 to April 21, 2016, there is again no account given to the Guyanese people.

It is also unclear how Homestretch Development Incorporated became involved in the project, since the company could not have started work

of that magnitude on State property without a Cabinet decision and a Memorandum of Understanding, a contract or agreement.

From April 22, 2016, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure took over the project.

What is known for certain is that works on the D’urban Park project, in April 2016, were tendered out using the selective tendering system, according to Public Infrastructure Minister Patterson. His response came to questions on the $407.6M spent for the completion of the D’urban Park project for 50th independence anniversary. The money already was been spent and the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Government came afterwards for parliamentary approval for the monies. Prior to that, the National Assembly by government majority approved another $150M for the same project. In Budget 2017, another $500M is allocated to the Ministry to be given to Homestretch Development Inc. to pay off the debts it racked up.

The APNU+AFC Coalition has been widely criticized for failing to account for the monies spent on the project.

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

PPP/C details priorities to be included in Manifesto ahead of General and Regional Elections The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders is working on a detailed Manifesto, which will elaborate on the Party’s policies for improving the lives of all Guyanese.

Some of the priority actions of the next PPP/C Government will be to: 1. Restore– the $10,000 cash grant to school children. The APNU+AFC took away $1.67B per year, a total of $8.35B from Guyanese children.

2. Reinstate the water subsidies to pensioners. The APNU+AFC removed $500M in subsidies per year amounting to a $2.5B burden that had to be paid by our elderly.

3. Reverse VAT on essential services including water, electricity, and health care. The APNU+AFC imposed this on Citizens which led to billions in tax collection from Guyanese people and escalated the cost of living.

4. Reopen the closed sugar estates. Over 7,000 persons lost their jobs directly and another 4,000 lost their livelihoods indirectly.

5. Restore zero-rated VAT for machinery and equipment for agricultural, mining and forestry industries. For example, a tractor or excavator now attracts in excess of $5M in additional taxes.

6. Reverse cost of license and permits for doing business and accessing Government services. The APNU + AFC increased over 200 fees, e.g. vending licenses increased from $12,500 to a burdensome $65,000. This, added to the cost of living, hampered small business development.

7. Reverse land rents and drainage and irrigation charges. These have moved up in varying degrees, from $2,500 to $293,000 per acre, a policy that is suffocating many sectors including agriculture and tourism.

8. Remove age limits on vehicles. The APNU+AFC added at least $1M to the cost per vehicle, an unnecessary hardship for those aspiring to own a vehicle, especially young people.

9. Remove the restriction on used tyres. The imposition of this restriction increased the cost of tyres by 300%.

10. Reverse VAT on exports.

11. Reverse VAT on building materials.

12. Reinstate the joint services bonus. The APNU+AFC in a Grinch-like move took away the Christmas bonus from the joint services.

13. Remove VAT on data. The APNU+AFC has taxed the internet and your cell phone data.

14. Reverse the 2 A.M curfew. The arrogant implementation of this measure has not helped to address the noise nuisance issue and has affected quality of life and hurt job creation and businesses.

In addition to correcting these draconian impositions, the next PPP/C Government pledges to: 1. Create 50,000 jobs in the first five years.

2. Assist small businesses through the implementation of programmes to help small businesses grow by providing technical advice, small grants, loans, and training for workers. Women entrepreneurship will receive special attention.

3. Deliver 8,000 to 10,000 new house lots per year.

4. Implement a programme for affordable financing for home ownership.

5. Deliver quality health care and end drug shortages.

6. Improve the quality of and access to education at every level including offering 20,000 persons online University education.

7. Implement measures to expand the capability and increase the effectiveness of the security forces so that people can once again feel protected in their homes, on the streets and in workplaces.

8. Create conditions for our young people to prosper, realise their dreams and to involve them in all levels of Government.

9. Ensure better working conditions and remuneration for teachers, healthcare workers and other public servants.

10. Improve infrastructure (roads, wharves, bridges, airstrips, drainage etc) in Georgetown, other Towns and Villages across Guyana.

11. Extend and improve Government services and ICT on the Coast and in the Hinterland.

12. Ensure that revenue from Oil and Gas is not squandered and stolen and leads to the improvement of the lives of ALL GUYANESE. 13. Create the conditions and strengthen the institutions to expand and protect the civil, cultural and human rights of all Guyanese.

14. Improve governance, including expanding and strengthening measures aimed at fighting corruption.

15. Protect our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The PPP/C has said that it is time to restore Guyana to the path of progress and prosperity.

Since taking office, the APNU+AFC cabal has put forward five budgets, spent $1.3 trillion, borrowed US $ 900M and increased taxes by approximately $88B per annum.

They are spending every year $1.6 B more for food allowances, $1.1B more for rentals, $1.2B more for local travel among other things, as part of their extravagant lifestyle. Meanwhile over 30,000 Guyanese have lost their jobs. The cost of living has skyrocketed and health care, education and quality of life have deteriorated rapidly.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

‘Significant progress made under succ administrations to improve welfare of LEGISLATION

The Amerindian Act 2006 is an embodiment of policies that cover the protection of the general welfare and rights of Indigenous Peoples. It affirms the declaration of rights of indigenous peoples in specific stipulations that include governance, land rights and preservation, and Amerindian heritage.

Passed a year before the UN-DRIP declaration, Guyana’s 2006 Amerindian Act includes key provisions relating to Amerindian people that are not dissimilar, in most instances, from those outlined in the declaration, and has thus been the legal stronghold for Amerindian development.

TOURISM SUPPORT

In 2012, the Ministry financed eco-tourism projects for 19 Villages, each receiving utmost $1.5M. In 2013, twenty villages will be receiving grants at $1.5M each to the eco-tourism industry in their respective regions.

The initial implementation of the first 27 Community Development Plans (CDPs) funded through the GRIF, 11 % account for projects that are related to ecotourism.

HEALTH

The Amerindian Hostel data on inpatients reflect access to medical services at Georgetown Public Hospital thereby reducing further aggravation of health situations of Hinterland patients and providing better access to quality health services; safe and adequate accommodation for patients and welfare cases help ensure the psychological health and general well-being of those that are affected by sickness and other social issues.

The fact that all villages have a health hut/health centre makes access to primary health care easier in villages and thus improving health conditions of villagers.

Amerindian Residence accommodated a total of 7017 patients with their accompanying relatives up to 2014.

The Residence provides a shelter for those patients who have been referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for medical attention.

Over the years, the purpose of this facility had evolved such that the most significant proportion of persons being accommodated is patients and those accompanying them.

The Residence has also expanded its services to encompass persons in difficult situations including Domestic Violence, Trafficking in Persons, labour issues, discharged prisoners or any other similar situation.

The Maternity waiting room at the Amerindian Hostel was constructed at a cost of $1.2M. The aim of the new facility is in keeping with Government’s commitment to ensure the safety of mothers and their babies and to ensure that every mother and child have access to adequate health care and provided with the best care and treatment.

SOLAR PANEL AND ENERGY ACCESS

A total of 11, 000 solar panels were installed across all the regions. A mini-hydro power plant is about to be constructed in Cheung Mouth River to supply renewable energy to Region 8 villages.

An additional 6000 solar panels are being procured for distribution to additional communities including some riverine communities CORE HOMES/HOME SUBSIDIES

A sum of $107.2M was spent on home improvement and 127 Core home were completed in the hinterlands

GOVERNANCE

Every year since the passing of the Amerindian Act, MoAA hosted the Annual National Toshaos Council Meeting (with an average budget of $50 M) to build capacity on: • Best practices in governance that includes transparency and accountability (audits); • Improved leadership for Toshaos and Village Councils in accordance to the Amerindian Act 2006; • Improved Community Management geared towards a holistic approach in Community Development; • Promoting dialog with government officials for the advancement of Amerindian welfare and total development of Amerindian villages; • Providing an opportunity for All Amerindian elected leaders to be able to have dialogue and exchanges on development priorities which challenges them; and • To provide a platform for the Amerindian Leaders have direct access to Government Ministers to dialogue on development challenges in various sectors and finding solutions ADF-GRIF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS

A total of 187 Amerindian Villages and Communities were considered for economic projects under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) - Guyana REDD+Investment Fund (GRIF).

Some US$6.3M from GRIF is allotted for said projects under the Amerindian Development Fund (ADF).

Twenty- Seven (27) projects from across all regions have been chosen for the initial implementation of the project which has commenced early part of 2013 with a budget of US$1.8M. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of all the projects are in agriculture with the aim of securing Amerindian livelihoods.

ADF Project Management Unit were up and running to facilitate full implementation of 160 CDPs. CULTURE

The preservation and promotion of Amerindian heritage is germane to Amerindian’s identity. The cultural activities have been the media for Amerindian culture to be accepted and understood by other groups in Guyana, at the same time, an avenue for all Amerindians to celebrate their heritage and embrace their indigenous roots and identity.

By continuing to protect Amerindian culture, Amerindians are able to understand the significance of their dances, languages, practices, local knowledge, cuisine, crafts, songs, and literature to the total development of their villages. The government is cognizant of the fact that culture is one of the pillars of sustainable development, and without it, and then development is not fully achieved.

Some $25M was spent on average annually in for Amerindian Heritage Celebrations to promote traditions, values, literature , dances of Amerindians. Another $6M was spent annually for other cultural activities The Initiatives include: Arawak Revival Language Project launched in Capoey; Support to Cultural Expo (North Pakaraimas) - $5M; and Support to cultural groups of Aisalton ($1.4M) and Santa Rosa ($7M) OTHER INVESTMENTS

• Mining including gold, diamond, various metals, bauxite • Forestry • Agriculture • Information Communication and Technology- 99 hubs were completed by 2014 to accommodate the computers 20 in number to commence the computer literacy training of youths, women and residents including children.

LAND OWNERSHIP

Prior to 1992, 74 communities were titled. Since, then 24 more villages were granted titles, thereby bringing the total of titled villages to 98, seventy-seven of which had been demarcated.

Six (6) titles were to be approved prior to May 2015 and seven (7) extension were investigated and in preparation for approval While Indigenous people in many Countries have right of use of the Land only, in Guyana where the Indigenous People account for approximately 9.7% of the population, Amerindians own land, including the forests resources within their Titled Lands.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT/SUPPORT

The MoAA has launched the Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YEAP) aimed to train young Amerindians while employing them at the same time and become powerful partners in development.

Some $200M was spent on YEAP in 2013. Focus was placed on developing 2,000 Community Support Officers (CSOs) participate productively in Education, Health, and Social Welfare, Community Development, Culture, ICT, Infrastructure and small business.

The CSOs received training in various areas, including: • Management of Photovoltaic System • Management of Basic ICT hardware • Governance & Amerindian Act • Youth Voices for Climate Change (Sponsored by the US Embassy/Caribbean Development Bank educate youths on the importance of Climate Change and its impact in the Caribbean) • Business & Sustainable Development • Various aspect of the Community Development Project training The Youth Apprenticeship Programme was aimed at training young Amerindians while employing them at the same time is a medium to empower the young as partners in national development. These youths will be our partners in the implementation of CDPs and other socio-economic activities that are taking place in the villages now. The inclusion of the young in gearing their villages towards progress by letting them participate productively in technical, mechanical, computer, and agricultural activities will definitely enhance the capacity of the villages’ human resources.

AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT

Tractors, farm implements, fertilizers, acoushi ant bait, irrigation systems, and other infrastructures provided for villages every year An average of $50M per year was given in agricultural support for various villages through the years COMMUNICATION

Computer Accessibility through 100 computer hubs commenced in 2013. Some $287.7M was allotted for solar systems for ICT hubs; and 57,000 person-beneficiaries.

As at 2014: 72 of these hubs are completed;9 hubs near completion and the HUBs were constructed into Regions of 1, 7, 8 and 9.

All villages now have radio sets for fast communication, each one costs $500,000 Telecommunication facilities built in Mabaruma, Port Kaituma, Red Hill, Morucca, Aishalton, Annai, Lethem, Ominaik, and Mahdia, thus improving communication in the hinterlands!

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

cessive PPP/C Historic political ties between Amerindians’ Ghana, PPP spotlighted AMERINDIAN LAND TITLING PROJECT (ALT)

In 2010, MoAA together with UNDP and the Office of the President initiated a Land titling Project that sought to process applications for titling and demarcation. When it started, some 13 new communities were considered for titling, 32 applications for extension of land were made; and 33 Villages were demarcated.

Some US$10.75 was been allotted for the project under the LCDS-GRIF. A Project Management Unit was established in June 2014 to facilitate the implementation of the project. Under the APNU+AFC Government, the Unit was disbanded.

Government of Guyana has also allotted $77.9M in its 2013 national budget for this purpose.

This means that 89% of eligible villages have thus far been titled, and only 11% remains to be titled by 2015.

TRANSPORTATION

The PPP/C government consistently allocated funds for Land and Water Transport to improve transportation services in villages, and thus improving Access to hospitals and health centers and posts.

Boats, outboard engines, ATVs, Mini-buses, Pick-ups, Motorcycles have been provided to almost all the villages through the years; and more.

PRESIDENTIAL GRANTS

From the year 2007 to 2013, the Government of Guyana invested $1,172,000,000 to 189 Amerindian communities for Economic, Agriculture, Tourism, Infrastructure, Transportation, and Social Projects.

In 2012 and 2013 alone $M359, 800,000 was allotted for this program to 189 Amerindian Communities. In 2014, 200M is allotted for this project, and 28 villages have thus far received their grant.

EDUCATION

Access to Primary Education was advanced and 100 % of villages have primary schools Better access to secondary education was pushed and through 14 secondary schools in the hinterland were set up.

Under the Hinterland Scholarship Programme sixty two (62) students were awarded Hinterland Scholarships in 2014. In 2013, 430 total students are in the roll which is an 18% increase from the total of 362 students in 2012.

An average of 50 Hinterland students per year for the past decade is added to the list of grantees.

Some $94.5M spent for Liliendaal, East Coast Demerara, with state of the art facilities, was home to an average of 90 students per year . All secondary schools have dormitories.

The cost per student per year in the Dormitory is $994,780; (inclusive of transportation and allowances).

The Cost per student living with Guardians in the Interior is $214,000 per year. For those living in Dormitories in the region including President’s College is $99,000 per year.

School Uniform Distribution commenced in 2007 to increase school attendance in hinterland areas by ensuring students have the necessary uniforms. The programme benefitted 30,000 hinterland students from Regions 1, 7, 8, and 9.

V

isiting Ghanaian Head of State, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, engaged Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Tuesday (June 11, 2019), during a courtesy call and it was also an opportunity to discuss a few substantive issues, according to Jagdeo.

Speaking to the press after the meeting, the Opposition Leader said, “It was a courtesy call, but we had a chance to discuss a few substantive issues….Ghana has been going through a similar set of circumstances as we will go though as a result of the oil find in Ghana and so it is always important to share experience, to ensure that we avoid the pitfalls that can come with this new resources. So I said to the President that we appreciate his offer to share their experience and to share some technical advice on issues they have had to deal with. It is important

that have the experience of a practitioner country, a developing country.”

Guyana and Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Shirley Botchwey, on Tuesday morning (June 11, 2019), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that is expected to pave the way for increased cooperation, collaboration, trade and visa free travel between the two countries.

Ghana’s President also promised an exchange in the oil and gas sector, as it relates to technical cooperation with the necessary personnel to assist in the development of the oil and gas sector.

Jagdeo said, “The President asked about Elections and all of these issues.

So I said that we said that the offer, the offer of assistance, is to Guyana and not to any political party. We expressed our appreciation for his country’s support. When the PPP returns to office we will still need the support of

like-minded countries and Ghana has always been a good partner.”

The Opposition Leader pointed out that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Ghana have historic political ties. He said, “We share a lot of ties, historic ties. Many of our people came here in the time of slavery and in the independence period with the experience of Cheddi Jagan and Harold Drayton, in trying to get him to come back to Guyana to work with the University of Guyana. And after the upsets in the 60’s we tried to get (Kwame) Nkrumah involved to try to heal the ethnic divide that had developed. So the PPP has a strong historic relation with Ghana. We share a kinship and it is good that we can work with Ghana.”

According to him, Guyana will continue to welcome development partners.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

PPP/C teams continue to visit communities Big Biaboo

Larico

Mahaica Creek

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

City Hall in Focus

Robust reorganization of ‘bloated and corrupt’ City Hall only way to realise change M

ayor Ubraj Narine was scheduled to travel out of the country on Tuesday (June 11, 2019) to attend a mayoral conference in Trinidad and Tobago, according to information presented at the statutory meeting on Monday (June 10, 2019).

However, to the surprise of the Councilors, Town Clerk and other members of the Council’s administration, the Mayor had made a decision to take his personal assistant with him to the Mayoral conference in Trinidad.

Mayor Ubraj Narine also advised everyone at the meeting that his personal assistant will be paying for her own ticket since it was his understanding that he was the only one invited to attend the conference and she would not be covered.

But that information proved to be inaccurate as the back and forth among the Town Clerk, some Councilors and the Mayor continued at the meeting. The Town Clerk and some Councilors were insisting that an officer of the Council’s administration should accompany the Mayor to offer support and also participate in the event in order to assist in compiling a report which will later be presented to the Council.

There was confusion and uncertainty about the invitation which was issued to the Mayor and so the Town

accompanied to the conference by the Deputy Town Clerk (ag.) Sherry Jerrick and also the Mayor’s personal assistant, all at the Council’s expense.

This whole episode is another glaring reflection of the haphazard ways in which matters are handled at the Council and also the erroneous perception by some Council Officials and Councilors that they can make decisions without the approval of the full Council.

Clerk was requested to read the invitation in its entirety.

It was clear that Mayor Ubraj Narine and Town Clerk (ag) Sharon Harry-Monroe had not read the invitation in its entirety because the invitation indicated that training would be provided to officers accompanying Mayor Narine which would include “disaster and climate change resilience planning” and so the event was not restricted to only the Mayor’s participation. In addition, further information presented at the meeting revealed that the conference was open to any-

one who was willing to pay the entrance and participation fees.

Mayor Ubraj Narine expressed his displeasure at the direction that the discussion was going by announcing that he would no longer be attending the conference. His announcement was soundly rejected by some Councillors and the Town Clerk (ag) who reminded the Mayor that it was not his decision to make but it was the elected Council’s decision to make.

In the end, the majority APNU+AFC Councilors voted for the Mayor to be

FORENSIC AUDIT BY AUDITOR GENERAL On another important issue, there is a forensic audit currently being conducted at the Georgetown City Council by the Auditor General. This appears to be a targeted forensic audit to specific areas and for specific items of the Council’s operations and not a comprehensive forensic audit that we are calling for.

As citizens are aware, the PPP/C has been calling for a forensic audit of the City Council since 2016. While the APNU+AFC government and also its majority in the City Council have resisted the sanctioning of a forensic audit, the Commission of Inquiry which was authorized by the Local Government Commission in 2018 to investigate the City Council’s operations found enough evidence to recommend a

forensic audit including the need call in the Guyana Police Force to do further investigations into a number of possibly criminal acts which may have been committed.

The Georgetown City Council has been at the center of numerous allegations of corruption and gross mismanagement for decades now without any effective remedial actions being taken by anyone. While there were other investigations and Commissions of Inquiry which simply confirmed the massive corruption and lack of accountability at the City Council, the piecemeal approach has not solved the major problems affecting the effective and efficient operation on the Council.

And even though the Auditor General of Guyana is required to conduct annual audits of the books of the Georgetown City Council, they have been hampered by the disorganized state of the accounting mechanism for revenue and expenditures and so most of the Auditor General’s reports have been inconclusive due to the lack of proper records in those areas.

Councilors were recently advised by the City Treasurer that the Auditor General had requested documents for the deductions made from employees salaries for NIS, GRA and the Credit Union

for the years 2015-2018, records for the waiver of interest on rates & taxes owed to the Council, a listing of all former employees who are owed gratuities and the Treasurer’s cash book.

It should be noted that the Auditor General submit reports on the annual audits which they have conducted on the Council and the sensible and prudent approach would have been for the City Council and the City Treasurer to urgently take action to remedy those deficient areas so that Council would be in full compliance and ready for any financial investigation.

It is clear that they have not paid any attention to the observations and recommendations made in those previous audit reports by the auditor General.

In addition to the call for a comprehensive forensic audit to investigate every single area of operation of the Georgetown City Council, the PPP/C has also called for a complete overhaul of the City Council.

We see that as the only way for the citizens and stakeholders of Georgetown to finally benefit from the Council’s operations by the implementation of a robust reorganization of this bloated and corrupt organization and updating the laws governing the operations of the City Council.

Even with worries about Guyana’s increasing public debt…

Jordan tells CDB that Guyana needs more financing

F

inance Minister, Winston Jordan, took to the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) 49th Annual Meeting of Governors, held in Trinidad and Tobago from June 5-6, to ask for more financial support.

According to him, Guyana’s economy remains fragile and the CDB should increase its Guyana’s projects portfolio. “Guyana has many needs, assistance for which we look to our

partners. I, therefore, enjoin the Bank to step up and provide us with the support we need,” he said.

Jordan admitted that Guyana benefitted from “a signal level of project approvals and a very respectable disbursement level of US$6.7M”, and its project portfolio grew to US$150M. Notably, the Bank of Guyana 2018 Annual report projects an increase in Guyana’s external debt stock for

2019.

The report said, “The stock of outstanding public external debt is projected to increase by 5.6 percent to US$1,370 million at the end of 2019. This outturn is expected to be on account of higher multilateral and bilateral debt by 8.2 percent and 2.2 percent to US$834 million and US$503 million respectively.

“Liabilities to IADB and CDB are forecasted

to increase by 5.1 percent and 3.2 percent to US$535 million and US$154 million respectively.

“Liabilities to the EximBank of China are also estimated to increase by 2.1 percent to US$204 million while liabilities to Venezuela are likely to decline by 4.2 percent to US$110 million.”

The report also noted massive increases in debt servicing.

It said, “Total external debt service payments are projected to increase by 3.6 percent to US$80 million during 2019 compared with US$77 million in 2018, resulting primarily from an increase in principal and interest payments to multilateral creditors. Principal payments are expected to increase by 1.6 percent to US$56 million while interest payments are projected to increase by 8.7 percent

to US$24 million. Payments to multilateral creditors are likely to rise by 9.0 percent to US$43 million, while payments to bilateral creditors are expected to decline by 2.9 percent to US$35 million.”

The APNU+AFC Coalition government continues to come in for criticism because of its decisions that increase Guyana’s public debt; not only external, but also at the domestic level.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Corruption, breach of financial laws, spending irregularities and more….

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office

C

orruption, breach of financial laws, spending irregularities and more….

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office The Parliamentary Opposition has been monitoring the APNU+AFC Coalition government’s use of public funds and the levels of transparency and accountability. From June 10, 2015 to date, over 55 scandals have been uncovered – an average of one scandal for each month – some of which are listed below:

1. The cost of the inauguration ceremonies at the Parliament Buildings and, more particularly, the one at the National Stadium has never been revealed.

2. The removal of 8 containers containing steel by BK International from the Ministry of Public Health’s compound worth millions of dollars - in the first week after government changed - in violation of a court order.

The government did nothing to retrieve the containers and has been silent.

3. The dismissal of 1,972 Amerindian community service officers at “one stroke of the pen” with no cause by the third (3rd) Vice-President and Minister of Indigenous Affairs. Despite a promise by VP Allicock in the National Assembly, during the 2015 Budget debate that the government would create a new programme to hire Amerindian youths, they instead replaced this programme with the Hinterland Entrepreneurial Youth Skills Programme (HEYs).

HEYS is a sixmonth training programme with no entrepreneurial or employment component, which is under severe duress as there are complaints that the facilitators and students have not received their stipends despite the budgetary provision of $1Billion.

4. The appointment of 33 foreign honourary advisors to assist the government and the appointment of a top heavy bureaucracy of Presidential and Ministerial advisors, which have only been partially disclosed in the National Assembly in response to questions to Ministers in 2016. The total numbers are approximated to be nearing 100 advisors (local and foreign) at a huge cost to the taxpayers.

5. India/GoG funded Speciality Hospital – the government gave

a contract to Fedders Lloyd (VP Ramjattan was its lawyer) without going to tender at a price yet unknown and in violation of the procurement laws. Despite public outcry, the government refused to terminate the contract for the Speciality Hospital. The company was delisted by the IDB and the Indian government and Eximbank withdrew the money for the loan. There has been no disclosure as to how much Fedders Lloyd was paid and what work had been done when the company was delisted and the project halted.

6. The first act of the government was to give themselves enormous salary increases between 50 -100 % of what the former government ministers received. This was quietly done in September 2015 and the parliamentary opposition had to wage a struggle in Parliament to bring a motion to reverse this. When the motion was finally heard in December, it was defeated by the government’s one-seat majority. It should be remembered that the media, having leaked the fact that the government was embarking on increasing the salaries of the President, VPs and Ministers, Minister Trotman, on behalf of the government, denied that the government was contemplating any salary increases for the Ministers. This was also denied during the debate on the 2015 Budget in August 2015. Having gone into recess mid-September, the government stealthily published Order No. 6 of 2015 in the Official Gazette, dated September 25th, 2015, increasing their salaries and making it retroactive to July 1, 2015. Contrast this act with the government’s refusal to increase the salaries of the public servants in accordance with their campaign promises.

7. Durban Park Development Project for the Jubilee celebrations - The government has refused to provide information on the “private company,” which was in charge of the preparations of the Durban Park prior to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s “take over” of the project on the orders of the President.

It is estimated that the costs, when finally exposed, will be close to $1Billion - for a one-day event.

8. The President pardoned over 100 convicted felons in 2015 and stated that this would be done annually. He promised that these would be felons with non-violent crimes and juvenile offenders. In fact, this was not true. A number of these persons had been sentenced for violent crimes and a number of them are back in prison.

9. The Rudisa case at the CCJ and the pay out to Rudisa - The APNU and AFC, while in Opposition, twice caused the defeat in the 10th Parliament of attempts by the PPPC government to amend the Customs Act in order to pre-empt the case going to the CCJ and save the country millions of US dollars. The APNU+AFC Coalition government settled to repay the entire amount of the Rudisa USD$16M claim without any negotiations for a debt repayment schedule and despite the fact that the company owed and appears to still owe millions of dollars in taxes to Guyana. The first payment was made late last year and the second budgeted for in the 2016 Budget.

10. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the Government and the Georgetown Mayor and City Council on the “Clean Up Campaign” in the city with no public tendering and handpicked companies. In some cases, new companies were created with no experience to facilitate this corruption. There has been no accountability of the amount of monies spent and the Mayor and Town Clerk have rebuffed efforts to allow the Auditor General’s office to do a forensic audit.

11. The write off of debts owed to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the nation by DDL worth billions of dollars (April 2016). If DDL had not issued a press release announcing the write off, this would not have been known.

12. Other write-off of debts by the GRA for other companies who financed the APNU+AFC Coalition electoral campaign, worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Minister Trotman said these companies have to be compensated for their financial investment.

13. Following the March 18, 2016 Local Government Elections, Minister Bulkan in violation of the statutes governing the local government system, appointed the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, and the 5 Chairpersons and vice chairperson of the 5 NDCs in the 6 tied LAAs. All of these persons were APNU, although there was a plurality of votes in 3 of the 6 tied LAAs for the PPP and 3 for the APNU+AFC. 14. W r i t e - o f f s b y t h e APNU+AFC dominated Georgetown Municipal Council to many companies for millions of dollars owed in rates and taxes for undisclosed amounts. This is a City Council that is now cashstrapped and cannot pay contractors for garbage collection nor timely payment of salaries of its employees. The cost to the Treasury of these write offs by the GRA, the Georgetown City Council and other Local Authority Areas alone earmarked in this list of scandals is estimated to be between 23% to 36 % of the total 2016 Budget.

15. Parking meters contract with no public tendering, no involvement of the Georgetown City Council, no consultation with the citizens – the scandal deepens, even as the APNU+AFC Georgetown Mayor is being advised to do some damage control by attempting to amend the 49-year contract and make it less embarrassing for the government.

16. The three-year Pharmacy Bond contract between the Ministry of Public Health and the Linden Holding Company was not tendered for by Minister Dr Norton’s own admission on the floor of the National Assembly.

The PPP/C will be submitting its motion of privilege, calling for the Speaker to send the Minister of Public Health to the Privilege Committee for wilfully misleading the National Assembly and the nation.

17. The GoG/BK International settlement of $1.17 B for Haags Bosche - The Ministry of Communities’ settlement of $1.17B to BK International for the Haags Bosche project came to light as a result of a Supplementary Financial Paper on August 8th where the country learnt that this settlement was made and

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Corruption, breach of financial laws, spending irregularities and more….

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office would be paid in three tranches, even though the court did not award costs to BK Int’l.

The government paid BK Int’l the first third of the payment in January 2016, which begs the question - where did this money come from? It was not provided for in the 2015 budget, nor was there any SFP in the interim nor in the 2016 Budget or since to cover this first payment of G$500M. The August Supplementary Financial Paper covers the payment of the second tranche of $501M to BK int’l from the Consolidated Fund.

The third payment the Minister stated would be reflected in the 2017 budget. This is a scandal like the RUDISA and the DDL write offs. Interesting and of note is that BK International is being paid the entire $10M USD for the contract though BK Int’l only worked for 3 of the 5 years of the contract at substandard work. The PPP/C government had terminated the contract due to substandard work and delays.

Ministers Bulkan and Patterson late 2015 both publicly stated that BK Int’l had done substandard work on the project!

18. Two fuel scandals relating to the issuance of fuel licenses for the importation of fuel to companies that are made up of persons related to top officials or who are top officials themselves in the government, who have no fuel bonds, no storage facilities and no offices. The withdrawal of the fuel importation license to the Chinese company, which has invested millions of US dollars for storage facilities, appears to have been calculated to make room for these alternative importers. In August the second set of fuel licenses came to light regarding licenses issued to Dr. Van West Charles, CEO and other officials in GWI under a private company. It should be noted that an applicant for a fuel license has to acquire an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and 4 additional licences - provision of a bond under detailed specifications, transportation, storage, importation, and restrictions on where fuel storage can be located. It normally takes a long time for an applicant to obtain all these licenses---impossible to do so in 9 months. The licenses were issued in the month that Van West Charles became CEO GWI and,

therefore, he had ample time to remove himself from the company. At a parliamentary opposition weekly press briefing several months ago, this gentlemen’s role in soliciting donations for pipes for the wells in Region 9 was exposed. It was reported that the Brazilian contractors hired by GWI to dig 8 wells in the Rupununi region were unable to pay their workers as they allege that GWI is not paying them (the contractors).

19. Consistent and frequent violation of the Procurement Act by line ministries - e.g, the Minister of Agriculture admitted that the MOA nor the NDIA had gone out to tender for works totalling $234M due to emergency works for El Nino and flooding in regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. In fact, these monies should have been provided for in the Supplementary Financial Paper # 2 of 2016 for the Consolidated Fund.

20. Requests for information during questions to Ministers and questions during the debate on the two Supplementary Financial Papers on August 8th revealed that the government ministers’ will not release contracts unless they have the permission of the other person/ company/ party to the contract.

This is unheard of and a violation of the role of the legislature under the constitution to hold the government accountable.

21. Undermining the judicial process- the establishment of a Presidential Tribunal to inquire, investigate and recommend whether Carvil Duncan, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, should be removed from office for inability to discharge his duties. Since the charges against Mr Duncan are still pending before a Magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrate’s court, the establishment of this tribunal is premature, pre-emptive and repugnant to the very “due process” to which the President says that his Administration is committed.

22. Auditor General’s special audit of GECOM expenditure in 2015 prior to the general and regional elections—this is on-going, with the use of sole sourcing by the GECOM estimated to amount to $700M in the months prior to the May 2015 elections. However,

unlike other investigations where the heads were sent on administrative leave such as the Head of NICIL, Head of the NDIA, PS of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, head of the Public Hospital Georgetown, to name a few, this CEO has not been sent off on administrative leave.

23. $240M spent on refurbishing the Kitty Market. Photographic evidence exposes the corruption

by City Hall. There are no scope of works, estimates, etc that is available and the project was not put to tender as the city has hired the workers and is implementing the works itself. This project is still not completed.

24. The awarding of the contract for boxed juices for the school feeding programme to a Surinamese beverage company owned by RUDISA that was not the lowest or even the second lowest bid.

The impact on the local farmers and manufacturers will be felt.

DDL has come out publicly to criticise this, so too, has another company Guyana Beverages.

25. Award of the contract for quarry stone to a Surinamese company for the CJIA will have tremendous impact on the local quarries. Toolsie Persaud, one of the stone producers, has protested. There is more to come to light on this issue and this we have earmarked an emerging scandal where government needs to provide answers.

26. The discriminatory dismissals of hundreds of employers in the public service and in the state entities on the basis of their ethnic and assumed political affiliation which started in June 2015 is continuing unabated.

27. Some $1.64B was spent regionally on health, plus an additional added $2.5B that was spent on pharmaceuticals and medical supplies at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) without tender – a massive total $4.17B that was spent by the Coalition Government in breach of the procurement rules.

28. Not satisfied with the huge increases in salary and benefits, some Ministers are greedy and the reports of paying off Ministers for licenses, contracts etc., is astounding. The government has got into the habit of putting

out tenders in the press and then cancelling them repeatedly until their chosen contractor wins the tender.

29. Chicken importation licenses to non-existent/ non-registered companies as well as another company in the name of the CEO, GWI, Van West Charles.

30. The Removal of 6,000 solar panels purchased for the Hinterland Household Electrification Programme and re-allocating them for use at the Ministry of the Presidency and State House.

31. The Wind Farm project being done by Lloyd Singh, an AFC financier. Minister Trotman has said that it is “payback time for one of their election financiers”.

32. Antinfek in drinking water purchased by GWI without tender and without warnings of the health hazard by a CEO who was employed for years by the PAHO. Only after questioning by the Opposition in the National Assembly has the government provided minimum disclosure.

33. Contract for GPL Prepaid meters, awarded after 3 re-tenders to a contractor whose bid was the highest of all bids; in fact, $ 1 B more than engineers’ estimate.

34. Contract for the Water treatment plants- tenders cancelled twice before finally being awarded to their preferred contractor, who was higher than the other tenders.

35. Tendering for the GOG/ IDB Sheriff St road project was repeatedly done and no awards made until we lost that part of the IDB loan of $20M USD while at the same time paying penalty fees.

36. Procurement of drugs and medical supplies, in breach of procurement laws.

37. Consistent and on-going violations of the Procurement Act, financial rules and the Fiscal Management and Enactment Act are pervasive. The most recent examples were exposed during the August 3, 2017 debate with regard to funds for the State Assets Recovery Agency and constitutional bodies including the Public Procurement Commission and the Public Service Appellate Tribunal.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Corruption, breach of financial laws, spending irregularities and more….

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office 38. The on-going saga of the Durban Jubilee Park. It is estimated that expenditure has reached $1.5 B. Auditor General Deodat Sharma aims to wrap up his special audit into the controversial Durban Park Project before the end of the year even if he does not receive certain financial records which appear to be missing. Mired in controversy, millions more are being spent in preparation for the flag raising ceremony to mark Independence.

39. Contract for CCTV cameras for the Ministry of the Presidency- not delivered and paid for since 2015. The company has been declared bankrupt. So where is the taxpayers’ money?

40. Purchase of the Prime Minister’s SUV- bullet proof, latest model, extraordinary extravagance for a poor developing country. Noticeable is the acquisition of a fleet of new vehicles for every Minister yet many have not been budgeted for in the annual budgets.

41. Secret COI targeting constitutional rights commissions, in particular the Public Service Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission. This is a form of intimidation. No report available.

42. President’s instruction to the Police Service Commission to halt police promotions in contravention of the constitution.

43. The COI into the Police with regard to the way it investigated the intention or plot to assassinate the President. The real plot behind this move appears to be the decapitation of the Guyana Police Force leadership. The President’s instruction to the Police Service Commission to halt these promotions appears to give credence to this theory.

44. The Georgetown Prison Camp Street Jailbreak and fire on July 9, 2017 and the Lusignan escapees coming after the March 2016 riots and fire that lead to 17 inmates being burnt to death. The COI of the March 2016 prison disturbances and fire has been kept secret but more evidence coming to light indicate that the government did not act on those recom-

mendations, including the establishment of a multi-agency multi-sectoral body being appointed by the President to implement the recommendations. Budgetary allocations for the Prisons, especially capital works to increase the inmate accommodation at the Mazaruni Prison in the 2016 budget was unspent and rolled over to 2017 and as of July 2017 these works are still not complete. The new request for $753M appropriated in Parliament on August 3 2017 cannot account for $ 153 M requested.

45. The Amendments to the Broadcasting Act passed in the National Assembly by the one seat majority government are an infringement on the f r e e dom of expression and freedom of the press. Despite public appeals to the President by reputable international organizations such as Reporters Without Borders and the International Press Institute as well as denunciations by the Guyana Press Association, private sector, broadcasters, civil society, and the Parliamentary Opposition, the President as of August 17, 2017 denied requests to defer his assent and hold consultations.

46. The Commission of Inquiry into Lands – communal, joint and individual lands and any other lands – with specific focus on Amerindian land titling and land of Freed Africans.

There was no prior consultation with the National Toshaos Council (NTC) or any Amerindian communities on the establishment of this COI. The NTC, five Amerindian non-governmental organizations and the Parliamentary opposition protested the appointment of this COI as it threatened Amerindian land rights which are enshrined in the constitution and in the Amerindian Act. The Parliamentary Opposition brought a motion in parliament calling on the President to revoke the COI or at least the component which is treating with Amerindian land titling which was defeated by the government’s one seat majority. The government 4 months after it established the COI held its first consultation with the NTC. This COI is a recipe to drive rifts and strife between different ethnic groups

in the country.

47. Repossession of lease and transported lands and property - the revocation of 30 MMA farmers leases by the President, the Central Housing and Planning Authority ( CHPA) repossession of transported houses and land and its CEO’s recent renewed threats to take away land from private developers are all unconstitutional.

The judiciary in early August 2017 ruled that the President’s revocation of the leases of the farmers in the MMA was unconstitutional. In another instance the court issued a conservatory order to prevent the government from seizing and taking possession of the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre until case is properly heard.

48. Rental of residences for Ministers- $500,000 each to 2 junior Ministers and one Minister $ 1.5 M. This has been exposed in detail in the media and by members of civil society and the Parliamentary Opposition.

49. The appointment of the Chairman of the GECOM in violation of the constitution and the ruling of the Chief Justice.

50. The US$18M signing bonus from ExxonMobil placed outside of the Consolidated Fund.

51. Painting state properties in APNU colours.

52. Reduction of constitutional bodies budgets 2016, 2017, 2018 in violation of the 2015 amendment to FMA Act. These scandals, not limited to this list, have been uncovered and expose a level of corruption and discrimination that has not been seen since the Burnham era.

53. GPL and their contract with state created and owned Power Producers Distribution Inc. (PPDI) has inspired questions and raised concerns since GPL’s payments to PPDI are higher than those made to Wartsilla – yet there are unresolved electricity problems, including as it relates to the reliable supply of power.

54. Sole-sourcing of $366.9M in emergency drugs in June 2017 has once again brought

into question decisions by the Ministry of Public Health, as documents reveal that a company, HDM Labs was handpicked over three others that went through tendering and were declared to have failed the evaluation process. The company is owned by a supporter of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

55. Government has borrowed $30B G from a joint banking and commercial consortium led

by Republic Bank, for GUYSUCO’s remaining estates at 4.75 % interest rates. The members of the consortium are unknown and the terms and conditions of the loan are also unknown.

56. The contract for a foreign company to rebuild Camp St prison was announced by Minister Khemraj Ramjattan during the 2018 Budget debate and media stated that no one tendered, this also remains secret and no funds are allocated in 2018.

57. The PPC completed its investigation and handed its report over on August 7, 2018, to Teixeira, who has written to the PPC on the matter in 2017.

The report noted that several companies bid for the project – to do the feasibility study and design for the new Demerara River bridge – and 12 companies were shortlisted. The report added that only two of the 12 companies made proposals.

As such the bidding process was annulled. It added that on November 12, 2016, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) approved the move for the project to be re-tendered. The project was not re-tendered. Instead a Dutch Company, LivenseCSO, was engaged by Patterson’s Ministry. The report, on page 7, noted that the bid from LivenseCSO was “unsolicited” and added that Patterson then took the company’s proposal to Cabinet for approval. Cabinet granted its approval for the company to be engaged.

What is clear, to date, is that the APNU+AFC Coalition government has no regard for the promised transparency and accountability, and is prepared to undermine and even violate the procurement and financial laws of this country, as well as other constitutional provisions and statutory provisions.

21

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

SOCU prosecutor rapped for unnecessary draconian recourse L

ocal reports on Friday (June 7, 2019) indicating that an arrest warrant will be issued for the former Attorney General Anil Nandlall if he fails to show up at a city court for the next hearing, in the proceedings against him for the alleged fraudulent conversion of law reports, drew a strong response from his legal representative in the matter.

Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Prosecutor and relative of Minister Nicolette Henry, Patrice Henry, requested an adjournment and asked that a notice be sent to Nandlall informing him of his next court date.

He further stated that should Nandlall fail to show up on the next court date, a request will be made for an arrest warrant to be issued.

SHOCKING In his response, Nandlall’s attorney, Glenn Hanoman, said, “I was shocked by two headlines in the Stabroek News and Kaieteur News of June 7, 2019, which read ‘Court to issue arrest warrant if former AG is no-show at next hearing in law reports trial’ and ‘Prosecutor threatens to seek arrest warrant for Nandlall’, respectively.

“Both articles accurately reported that neither I nor my client, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, were present when the relevant matter was called before Her Worship, Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court on June 6, 2019.

“I wish to make it clear that the absence of my client and I were neither deliberate nor due to any form of inadvertence. It is also important that I make it clear that from the inception, this case was and is being heard in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V, and the learned Magistrate is currently assigned responsibilities in the East Demerara Magisterial District and only returns to the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V to deal with incomplete pending cases, including this case.

“On April 5, 2019, this matter was called before Magistrate Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V. Both my client and I were present. The matter

was then adjourned to May 24, 2019 at 13:30hrs at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V. “On May 24, 2019, I attended the said Court.

Neither the Magistrate nor the Prosecutor were present. Upon enquiries, I was informed by her Clerk that Her Worship will not be attending Court on that day; that he is unaware of the next date when the Magistrate will be in attendance and that he will inform me when he is in receipt of that information. I left the Court and so informed my client.

“I never received any further information from the Clerk as promised. Therefore, neither I, nor my client, were informed that the matter was fixed to be heard by the learned Magistrate on June 6, 2019, hence our absence. It is extraordinarily worrying, not only how the matter became fixed for hearing on June 6, 2019, but also how the Prosecutor knew of this date, when he was not present on the last date the matter was scheduled to be called, that is, on May 24, 2019.”

Hanoman added that he was present in that “very Courtroom (Georgetown Magistrates’ Court V) both in the morning and in the afternoon of June 6, 2019” to attend to other cases. He said, “On both occasions that I was present, the Presiding Magistrate of the Court was Her Worship, Faith Mc Gusty and not Magistrate Fabayo Azore.

After reading the newspaper articles mentioned above and upon enquiries, I was informed that sometime between 13:00hrs-13:30hrs on June 6, 2019, the matter was called in Georgetown Magistrates’ Court III, another Courtroom, with only the Magistrate and the Prosecutor present.”

He added, “I have secured a copy of the case jacket and there is no endorsement thereon, that the matter was adjourned from May 24, 2019 to June 6, 2019. So again, the question must be posed, how and when the date June 6, 2019, was fixed and how did the Prosecutor and, presumably, the press, become aware of this date, the precise time and the new Courtroom in

which the matter would have been called? These apparent oddities will be interrogated and examined closer at a later stage.

“It is unfortunate that the learned Prosecutor signaled an intent to resort to the draconian recourse of seeking an arrest warrant for my client on the next occasion when he is so familiar with the whereabouts of both my client and I, who are both officially located less than a stone’s throw away from the Court and with whom he interacts on a regular basis.”

SOCU QUESTIONING On April 24, 2017, Nandlall was called in to SOCU headquarters for questioning in relation to the Commonwealth Law Books. The day after his detainment, the attorney took to the High Court and filed legal proceedings against Attorney General Basil Williams, SC, to prove that the 14 law books are his property.

Nandlall had explained to the media that when he was appointed Attorney General, he requested as part of his contract of service for the Government of Guyana to stand the expense for his subscriptions for the Commonwealth Law Books.

He had subscribed to Lexis Nexis, the publishers of the Law reports. Insisting that nothing was abnormal about the practice, the former AG had argued that it was done by other Government Ministries such as Finance and Health.

He had expressed awareness that for decades prior, the Government had paid for professional and technical publications, journals, periodicals, magazines. This, he said, had been done for Ministers as well as professional and technical personnel.

His contentions were corroborated publicly by then President Donald Ramotar.

However, two days later on April 27, 2017, Nandlall was arraigned before Georgetown Magistrate Fabayo Azore on a charge instituted by members of SOCU. Nandlall continues to maintain that the accusation laid against him by SOCU is politically motivated.

22

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Three years later….

PNCR-led Coalition gov’t refuses to act on recommendations of Rodney CoI J

une 13, 2019 marks the 39th assassination anniversary co-leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr. Walter Rodney, and to date the APNU+AFC Coalition Government continues to ignore the findings of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry (CoI).

The WPA in a statement on Tuesday (June 12, 2019) said, “For the WPA, the current government’s non-treatment of the findings and recommendations of the Rodney Commission of Inquiry was short-sighted.

Despite the imperfections of the COI, its findings should have been better engaged.

The government missed a great opportunity to demonstrate to the country and the world that it has transcended the crippling politics of old.

It means, then, that as far as the WPA is concerned, the Rodney affair is unfinished business.”

Notably, the WPA has since teamed up with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), as well as smaller political parties, and formed A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) – which now occupies office with its Coalition partner, the Alliance For Change (AFC).

Leaked to the media in February 2016, the Commission’s 155-page report concluded Rodney’s assassination was a “State organised” act that was executed with the knowledge of the then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of the People’s National Congress (PNC), who had “large and detailed” knowledge of what was being done by the State and its agencies during his tenure.

“We conclude that Prime Burnham knew of the plan and was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Dr. Walter Rodney,” the report said it its findings, also making references to the manner in which the country was run.

The members of the Commission were; Queens Counsel Sir Richard Cheltenham (Chairman) from Barbados, Senior Counsel Seenauth Jairam from Trinidad and Tobago and Queens Counsel Jacqueline Samuels-Brown from Jamaica.

In a total of 66 sessions, from April 2015 to October 2015, 31 witnesses were examined, with 29 being cross examined and reexamined.

Two witnesses were examined in-camera.

CLASS ISSUE The environment under the then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham) in which the Opposition parties intensified their struggles spoke to a class issue, according to the International Commission of Inquiry into the death of Dr Walter Rodney.

Page 51 of the report quotes testimony from Eusi Kwayana, who was part of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and worked closely with Dr Rodney. He confirmed that there was a “class issue” that underpinned the struggles of the 1960’s to 1980’s against Burnham’s People’s National Congress (PNC).

During the Burnham era, the WPA also worked with the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), which was led

by Dr Cheddi Jagan. The report quoted Burnham as saying “The PPP can ride into office of on the backs of the ‘Worst Possible Alternative’ (his reference for the WPA), but comrades let me say this, never the day canoe bore punt (never can a small canoe damage a punt, which is made of heavy metal).”

Page 60 of the report said, “One of the main instruments employed by the PNC Administration was the infliction of public harm, including death of WPA activists and perceived opponents of the PNC Administration.”

ANYTHING FOR POWER There were lawful procedures and institutions at the disposal of the State, during the Forbes Burnham era, which could have been employed to address any breaches of the law, according to the International Commission of Inquiry report. And, on that basis, the Commission in its report, at page 79, noted that there was no need to resort to extra-judicial or extra-legal action – moves equated with State terrorism. The report, in that context, cited the operations of the Special Squad of the Guyana Police Force (GPF), known to Guyanese at the ‘Death Squad’.

On page 56 of the report, it said, “Extra judicial killings had gotten worst under the Burnham administration.”

Page 46 of the report noted that the PNC maintained a “good squad of thugs who would disrupt political meetings organised by opposition groups, even in the face of police” and “those party goons would destroy the public address system, stone and beat speakers and even bystanders and turn over or in other ways damage motor vehicles belonging to organisers of the meeting.”

The report cited references

by George Danns’s book ‘Domination and Power in Guyana: A Study of the Police in a third World Context’ in this regard.

Quoting the testimony of Tacuma Ogunseye, the report noted that the then Prime Minister Burnham was prepared to “do anything to maintain power and that included violence and death.”

The Commission’s report also highlighted the link between the House of Israel and the People’s National Congress (PNC) Youth Arm – Youth Socialist Movement (YSM) – to acts of State

terrorism.

Page 39 of the report stated that House of Israel members and the PNC had close ties and favours were called in from time to time.

It said, “The members of the House of Israel were so confident that they enjoyed immunity in the eyes of the law that they often had in their possession arms and ammunition and felt in no way concerned that they would be arrested.”

The report adds that this thinking extended to the acts they carried out on behalf of the PNC, to threaten and assault, as well as beat, Guyanese citizens in full view of the police and they were never arrested because they had the protection of the Burnham government.

The report also detailed the grisly deaths of WPA activists, as well as harassment, damage to property and intimidation of ‘opposition elements’.

FALL IN LINE Trade unions affiliated to the People’s National Congress (PNC) were subject to the policies of the party, policies that arose from the Sophia Declaration – party paramountcy – according to the page 53 of the report by the International Commission of Inquiry report.

The 155-page report added that the unions affiliated to the PNC at that time were the Guyana Labour Union, the Guyana Public Service Union, the Guyana Teachers’ Union, the Amalgamated Transport, the Guyana Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union, the Guyana Mines Workers Union and the General Workers Union.

Other unions, the report at page 53 said, which were not affiliated with the PNC became more militant, particularly by 1979 when the right to collective bargaining had been denied.

“There were forces at work to ensure that they (the Unions) fell in line with the Party’s (PNC) philosophy,” the report said. Quoting testimony, on page 53, it added that the Unions “who opposed the regime were ruthlessly attacked.”

In 1975, the report highlighted, a series of recommendations for the dealings with trade unions were made and endorsed by the PNC Congress of that year.

The recommendations on the role of labour included that: unions could only fund training programmes approved by the State; punitive measures should be meted out to party members who support trade unions, whose aims and objectives were not consistent with the PNC’s; and all party members must work to ensure that trade unions are affiliated with the party, among others.

“The doctrine of party paramountcy meant, in effect, that the PNC came before unions,” the report said, at page 52.

Page 49 of the report noted that an agreed minimum wage, set during the 1977 and 1979 period, became a “maximum wage by decree” of the then PNC Government.

The signing of that agreement, according to the document, received mixed reactions, with the strongest condemnation coming from National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE).

“The workers were to suffer yet more at the hands of the Government, for in June 1979, the then Minister of Finance withdrew all increments, which had been paid to workers by virtue of their contractual agreement.

Employees of the state corporations and sugar industry workers, represented by NAACIE, were among those most affected,” the report

said at page 52.

At the same time, the economic situation in the country, were “very difficult” and compounded by actions taken by the PNC, according to the report.

Page 51 noted that, all considered, Dr Rodney and the People’s Progressive Party’s Dr Cheddi Jagan, were at the time working together and it contributed to a growing sense of unity with trade unions, as well as religious organisations.

A POLITICIZED PUBLIC SERVICE The politicization of the public service was accomplished by “wide-scale and intensive PNC (People’s National Congress) party penetration,” according to the International Commission of Inquiry report.

It also detailed the political, economic and social conditions of the Burnham era – including the move to transform the PNC as the “major national institution” at the expense of a professional public service.

Page 44 of the report, which made references from the book ‘Domination and Power in Guyana: A Study of the Police in a Third World Context’, by George Danns, noted that “public servants have been conditioned to be responsive to party demands even if it interferes with the smooth functioning of their own department.”

The report, on the same page, added, “Attendance at the Party congress is compulsory for senior public servants, who are asked to prepare papers on government policies and intended policies for discussion at the Congress (PNC Congress).”

The Commission’s 155page report highlighted, on page 44 too, that where “Burnham was concerned” the public sector had to (Continued on page 23)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

PNCR-led Coalition gov’t... “pledge allegiance” to the PNC and the heads of all state agencies and civil service were summoned at short notices to attend any event of the ruling party, including PNC General Council meetings.

The document, at page 44, quoted Burnham, who said, “A massive campaign has now been launched in which there can be no place for disinterested and non-conformist who envisages freedom in terms of indulging in the practices and attitudes (that were unacceptable).”

According to the report, on page 43, the public service was no longer responsible to the public, but rather to “the dominant party and its leader.”

The Commission, citing testimony, noted, on page 45, that this comment was manifested in the “bitter, bitter, bitter period when the Government declared, literally, war against those who dare challenge the status quo of the State then.”

Page 53 of the report added that “all those who challenged the administration (headed by Burnham) came in for special treatment.”

The practice of “special treatment” led to the State using the public service, including the judiciary, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Guyana Defence Force (GDF), “going after Opposition elements.”

Rodney was one of these ‘opposition elements’. A distinguished Guyanese scholar, he was assassinated by an explosion which occurred in his car at John and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown. Rodney was, at the time of his death, an eminent political leader engaged in democracy and social justice in a struggle against authoritarian rule.

TARGETING POLITICAL ELEMENTS “All attacks on WPA (Working People’s Alliance) activists must be fatal.” The one line, according to the

International Commission of Inquiry report, was included in People’s National Congress (PNC) documents, which were circulated during the 1980’s.

Relative to the comment, the report details its link to the principle of party paramountcy and the use of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) and Guyana Defence Force (GDF), as well as the judiciary, to go after persons who were seen as opposition elements.

Page 51 of the report noted that Guyana was a “totally controlled society” and Burnham was “well informed and anyone who stepped out of line had to feel his ire.”

It added that the prevailing economic and social conditions were very difficult – prices were high and goods were in short supply, and distribution of the scare food resources gave priority to those who were affiliated with the PNC. The report, on page 41, also noted that Burnham in 1974, at a PNC Conference, said, “It was decided that the Party should assume unapologetically its paramountcy over the Government, which is merely one of its executive arms.”

Prior to that, according to page 42 of the report, Burnham reasoned that “God says that before you were, I was.

The party says to the Government before you were, we were. The government has got to be in our system as a subordinate agency to the party.”

In that context, the report notes that the judiciary, the GPF and, particularly, the GDF was used to enforce the wishes of Burnham and his PNC. Page 45 of the report stated that Burnham called for the armed forces to “be fully acquainted with the policies of the PNC party.” As such, page 46 adds that the judiciary and ranks “committed themselves to being servants of the Prime Minister (Burnham), rather than official in service of the

State.”

The report concluded that Burnham, had such an “absolute” grip and control over the society that he “dehumanised and belittled many Guyanese.”

The result was that opposition elements were constantly harassed, threatened or assaulted and some murdered. “The period under review was one of extreme hardships and difficulties in the life of Guyanese people.

The rule of law was systematically subverted on a daily basis. It was replaced by the rule of man in the person of Burnham and the PNC,” the report said on page 59.

The report noted that on November 28, 1979, Ohene Koama, a leading WPA activist was murdered by police at age 36. Another WPA activist, Edward Dublin, was the next to be killed by police on February 28, 1980. Three months later, Rodney was assassinated.

by the Government.” She added that two members of the WPA had been killed before Rodney. “The fact that I think at one or more than one of the big People’s National Congress rallies, the Prime Minister (Burnham) had been uttering threats about ‘make your wills’ and ‘sharper steel’ and so forth….that the people in the ‘Worst Possible Alternative’ should make their wills and that the Worst Possible Alternative’ is the way the WPA was named by the Government of the day and that the steel of the PNC was sharper than any steel that the WPA might have,” De Souza said.

The report also highlighted that the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) were used for surveillance of the political opponents. The report stated that servicemen tasked with surveillance had handbooks.

A LESSON FOR OTHERS The atmosphere of “intolerance and dictatorial rule” were noted by the International Commission of Inquiry.

At page 100 of the 155page report, which was leaked over the weekend, the report stated that Rodney’s death was an act of violence for “political purposes” – purposes relative to the Burnham era.

“Getting him off the political scene was definitely an objective of the government of the day. His death clearly set back and weakened the opposition forces,” the report said at page 101.

After Rodney’s death, Burnham, according to the report, on page 26, said, “Sad as I am at his inglorious end, I know that somewhere therein there is bound to be a lesson for the misguided others.”

Quoting the testimony of Karen De Souza, the report noted that when she saw Rodney’s body in the car after an explosion had killed him, he opinion was “he had finally been killed

COVER UP The report also addressed the attempt to cover up the incident and noted the role of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

For our purposes the relevance of the army’s initial denial is that it certainly raises in sharp focus the question as to why the army would have initially denied that he (Gregory Smith) was a serving member. The answer may well lie in an attempt at an international cover up. That coupled with the other evidence which had been examined has led his Commission to that very conclusion,” the document said on page 81.

On page 142, the report stated too that, “Given all the relevant facts and circumstances set out in the report, we unhesitatingly conclude that Gregory Smith was not acting alone, but had the active and full support, participation and encouragement of, and/or was aided and abetted by the GPF (Guyana Police Force), the GDF (Guyana Defence Force), agencies of the State

(From page 22)

and the political directorate in the killing of Dr Walter Rodney.”

Page 86 of the report noted that no explanation was ever given on why Gregory Smith was not arrested.

DEBATE Almost a decade ago, Parliament unanimously approved a motion to establish a Commission to enquire into the circumstances surrounding his death. Former president Donald Ramotar had agreed, in June 2013, to establish the COI following a request from the Rodney family, after a previous inquiry ordered by former President Desmond Hoyte in 1988 found that the historian/politician’s demise was caused by an ‘accident or misadventure’, and that was met with grave disbelief.

In mid-August 2016, the younger brother of Dr. Walter Rodney, Hubert Rodney, spoke out about the August 4, 2016, debate on the International Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report into Dr. Rodney’s death.

He proffered the view that outcome of the debate reflect a missed opportunity to focus on policy. “It was a state policy that did it (facilitated Rodney’s assassination). Individuals were subsumed by that policy.

That is the discourse we must have…look at how people’s rights were affected,” Rodney said.

The report was debated in the National Assembly after the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) pressed for the report not to be shelved, but be discussed, so as to avoid a repeat of history – to avoid a duplication of the circumstances under which Rodney was assassinated.

PPP/C Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, on that premise, moved the motion, which called for the National Assembly to adopt the international CoI report on Rodney’s death and its findings and for the Government to take measures to implement the 11 recommendations

in order to ensure that the democratic architecture of the state is preserved and strengthened.

Rodney said, “If Madame Teixeira had not brought the motion we would not have heard about some of these things…the critical thing here is policy. Those are the issues we have to deal with today…the objective in moving for a debate in the first place was to ensure that the report was made public, which has been done. Had the motion not been put, the report would have been put aside.” According to him, what prevailed during the Burnham era was less than acceptable and the recommendations of the CoI report would have been helpful in ensuring that the Guyana of today does not risk a return to less than acceptable.

The APNU+AFC Government’s position was that it will not adopt the findings of the report; rather it will acknowledge the report.

Government also made clear that it was not prepared to take measures to implement the report’s recommendations in order to ensure that the democratic architecture of the state is preserved and strengthened; rather it will take measures to examine the findings and recommendations in order to ascertain whether, if any, and if so which, are acceptable and implementable.

Rodney, a distinguished Guyanese scholar, was assassinated by an explosion which occurred in his car at John and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown. Dr. Rodney was, at the time of his death, an eminent political leader engaged in democracy and social justice in a struggle against authoritarian rule.

After his assassination, Rodney received several honours. In 1993, the Government of Dr. Cheddi Jagan conferred on him the country’s highest National Award, the Order of Excellence (OE); and the Walter Rodney Chair in History was created at the University of Guyana.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

PPP/C MP calls on Police Commissioner to investigate ‘fraud’ involving PNCR member A

request for an investigation was made to the Police Commissioner, Leslie James, on Thursday (June 13, 2019) by People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), Juan Edghill, into fraud involving a top People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member.

The PNCR member has been identified as Carlton Beckles.

Last week, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo disclosed that two Toyota Land Cruisers, bearing Venezuelan registration plates, seized by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in Lethem, Region 9, ended up in the possession of a PNCR member.

He added that the vehicles were seized in May 2018, but then had a backdated registration, dated March 14, 2019, before they were handed over to the PNCR officials.

“There is a big racket here…luxury vehicles seized and not registered in the want of entry logs…they are kept off books and given out…this racket runs into millions,” he said.

The Opposition Leader had called on the GRA Commissioner General, Geoffrey Statia, to investigate the matter. “If the Commissioner General is as concerned as I am, then call the Auditor General in….or call a private audit firm to investigate it….if he does that I can say he is doing something about it,” he said. However, to date there has been silence from the GRA Commissioner General.

As a result, the Police Commissioner was involved via Edghill’s letter.

BELOW IS THE FULL LETTER: Mr. Leslie James Commissioner of Police

‘Wolves in Sheep’s clothing’... estates, causing wide-spread economic depression in the sugar belt. Instead of gradually easing into the consolidation process, and re-training workers. He failed to address, what about all the sub-contractors of the estate are they going to be compensated in any way. Most of them have invested in capital equipment that can only be used to GuySuCo. When any the industry is going through a restructuring or change, it takes an amount of time. Even the Es-

tate Manager, Mr Threbhowan Shivprasad, in his remarks admitted to this and stated that Albion can see a turnaround by 2023. If this Government had a shred of humanity, they would have eased the re-structuring process and supported these areas that would have been affected by the restructuring.

Instead, in true PNCR style, they put the horse before the cart and are now coming back to the people to beg and solicit some votes.

Recognizing that the CCJ will rule imminently the

Police Headquarters Eve Leary Georgetown June 13, 2019 RE: REQUEST FOR INVESTIGATION INTO THE ACQUISITION AND REGISTRATION OF VEHICLES LICENCE NUMBERS PXX 6337 AND PXX 6338 Dear Commissioner, I hereby make a formal request for a thorough investigation as it relates to the aforementioned vehicles.

Information available suggests that these two vehicles at the time of entry into Guyana bore license plates purported to be of Venezuelan origin. It is further alleged that the said two vehicles were intercepted and seized by

GRA officials at Lethem in Region Nine in May 2019.

It is further revealed that the said two vehicles are now in the possession of a Mr. Carlton Beckles and the registrations have been back-dated to March 14, 2019 several months before the said vehicles were sized.

This request is to ensure that those responsible for these actions face the full force of the law and the nation is not cheated of its rightful revenue.

This matter has been in the public domain for quite some time and as a responsible citizen and a representative of the people, I now formally bring this matter to your attention for an investigation.

Yours truly, Bishop Juan A Edghill, MP

(From page 4)

APNU+AFC Coalition is now clearly pulling out all the tricks in their bags to try and win some supporters – returning to not only Albion, but communities across the country, communities that have been neglected for over four years.

After over four years – with over one trillion dollars spent, a diminishing of Guyanese’s welfare and wealth – most all have come to recognise the PNCR-led Coalition Government as ‘wolves in sheep clothing’.

GL&SC officers confirm that... aged by the Town of Anna Regina and is being used to generate income for the township by renting spots to persons to operate small businesses.

The Mayor related that the persons operating in the Deep owed millions in arrears to the Town Council and while a payment plan

was being worked out, a senior Minister of Government visited the area and promised to give those persons leases for the land that they were presently renting. This, he added, is disappointing since the Government has bypassed the township without any consultations on the matter.

(From back page)

As such, he has written to the GL&SC to cease the issuing of leases. In addition, letters were dispatched to the Ministry of the Presidency and the related subject Ministries on the matter.

There has been silence on this matter from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

Herstelling family beaten, Man killed by neighbour over sexual robbed by armed bandits assault claims A

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n East Bank Essequibo (EBE) man was on Saturday (June 8, 2019) chopped to death by his neighbour, who claimed he was sexually assaulted by the victim.

Police said Andrew Drakes, 43, a mason of Pump Station Street Farm, EBE, was sitting on a bench in front of his yard at about 17:30 hors when he was attacked by his neighbour.

The suspect, a 20-year-old unemployed resident armed himself with a cutlass and chopped Drakes multiple times before attempting to flee the scene, Police Headquarters said in a statement.

He was apprehended by an off-duty female Detective Corporal who was passing at the time with the help of residents who pursued and disarmed him.

According to the Police,

the 20-year-old man alleged that Drakes sexually assaulted him on Friday, June 7 at about 20:30 hours at his home.

Drakes was pronounced dead on arrival at the Leonora Cottage Hospital.

The suspect was also injured to the back of his head, while being apprehended.

Investigations are ongoing.

Berbice businesswoman, family victims of armed bandits

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n East Canje businesswoman on Monday (June 10, 2019) was robbed by armed men.

Shakeela Sankar, 59, who operates a grocery shop at New Street Cumberland, Canje, Region 6, related that she and her family were attacked and beaten by cutlass wielding bandits in her home at approximately 13:30 hours.

She stated that the ordeal lasted for close to fifteen minutes.

Her grandchildren – ages four and five – along with her 27-year-old daughter Rozya Somar were also beaten and tied up.

The men gained access via a half-opened door in the bottom flat of the house.

They carted off with approximately $500,000 in jew-

elry, $150,000 in electronic gadgets including cellphones and iPads and $60,000 cash.

The bandits escaped through the back door by removing the zinc on the back fence.

The mother and daughter were taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where they were treated and discharged.

Investigations are ongoing.

Guyanese urged to use social media platform to make anonymous submissions about corruption

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ith the four-year mark of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government being in office having passed and with more and more Guyanese forwarding information about increasing levels of corruption in office, a platform has been created to allow for easier communication of such information.

Opposition Leader, Bharat Jagdeo, has urged Guyanese to make use of the social media platforms and participate in the effort to continue to expose the misdeeds of the APNU+AFC Coalition. He assured that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) will continue its investigations in the push for greater accountability and transparency.

Guyanese can make submissions of information anonymously via Facebook on ‘Corruption Watch 592’ and via WhatsApp on telephone number (592)-653-6637.

family of four, including a differently-abled child, was badly beaten and terrorised after three armed bandits invaded their Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD) home on Tuesday evening (June 11, 2019).

The victims are Bibi Shaneeza Ali, 58; along with her son, Mohammed Ali, 32; her daughter-in-law, Ameena Hassan, 29; and her differently-abled grandson who is 13-years-old. The women were badly beaten while the teenager’s face was covered with a piece of cloth to muffle his screams.

The bandits carted off with in excess of two million in cash and jewelry.

The family operates a grocery shop at their home

and at the time of the incident, the gunmen posed as customers.

Hassan was in the shop when a man entered and requested a pack of cigarettes.

However, another voice was heard coming from the side of the shop saying “they don’t sell cigarettes”. An alerted Hassan reportedly decided to lock the shop door, however, in doing so, she was immediately confronted by another man who had already entered the yard.

Hassan, and her 13-year-old son who was also in the shop at the time, were accosted by the three men and taken into their house.

It was at that time that Mohammed Alli and Bibi Alli were held at gunpoint.

Mohammed Alli said that he was lying on a bed in the living room when he was attacked and his phone was taken away. He was then instructed to get on the ground and his son, who was at the time screaming, was placed next to him.

But the perpetrators were annoyed with the child’s cries and attacked him in a bid to make him stop screaming. They subsequently covered his face with a cloth to muffle his cries.

The women were escorted to the hospital where the 58-year-old woman received several stitches above her left eye.

Investigations are ongoing.

Drugs in schools remain a major concern

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he Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) has described as “worrying” and “disturbing” the continued sale and use of ecstasy in schools.

“CANU was required to conduct several investigations in schools in Regions 3 and 4 as it relates to the sale and use of ecstasy,” Lesley Ramlall, Deputy Head of CANU said at a recent event.

He added, “This situation certainly is very disturbing and while there were some level of intervention by the various stakeholders in providing educational and counselling sessions for teachers, students and parents, much more needs to be done to arrest this situation.”

According to him, CANU has been able to establish that

most of the synthetic drugs are coming through the ports shared with Suriname. “The Unit has been in collaboration with relevant counterparts to address this development,” Ramlall stated.

Ecstasy is mainly used as a recreational drug and produces altered sensations and increased energy, empathy, and pleasure.

Guyanese interested in volunteering asked to contact Party

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he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is now available on WhatsApp number 592-611-PPPC (7772) and it encouraging Guyanese, who are interested in political activism and volunteering, to contact the Party.

WhatsApp allows persons to message from Guyana other countries at no cost.

Operators are manning the line on a 24-hour basis and interested Guyanese are asked to communicate this to the Party.

26

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 JUNE, 2019

OBSERVER

Are Guyanese getting value for money being spent by the APNU+AFC Coalition gov’t?

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n this day and age where we place great emphasis on the dollar, Guyanese should ask themselves if they are getting value for money from spending being done by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government?

The new government upon assuming office insulted the Guyanese public by granting themselves a significant raise in salary.

This new salary was granted without any of them having performed the functions of their duties and allowing us to judge their performance to determine if any raise in salary was warranted or deserved. It was suggested that a Minister of government deserve their high salaries because they have given up their earnings in the private sector to serve the public. This is not a substantiated argument, since there is no evidence to show that they were giving up substantial earnings they made in the private sector. One should consider the fact that a Minister’s salary, along with a wide variety of perks and benefits far exceeds that of most Guyanese who work in areas of employment that are significantly more dangerous and challenging than a politician. Yet those persons only earn a fraction of what these Ministers are earning. These same Ministers are quite willing to accept raises in salaries with any proper evaluation of their performance. They are also willing to dismiss public servants who they deem are not performing to standard.

Should a survey be carried out on the performance of these ministers, it is certain that most, if not all will receive a failing grade.

The Guyanese public has a right to question why we are spending so much money on these Ministers whose performances leave a lot to be desired. In this area we are certainly not receiving value for our money.

The APNU+AFC Coalition government has been

spending our money at an alarming rate, while we, the taxpayers who are providing the funds, are not getting any real value for our money.

The amount of monies being extended on The Cheddi Jagan International Airport project has far exceeded what was budgeted.

This is particularly worrying when one considers that the original plan called for a new Airport, but we are now getting a rehabilitated airport for a price in excess of the budget. This continues to balloon on a daily basis. As taxpayers can we seriously say we are getting value for our money? This is an Airport that despite the amount of monies spent , passengers are still having unpleasant experiences in relation to its infrastructure, quite recently parts of the building was flooded when the rain fell. The Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson does not inspire any confidence that he fully understands the implications of this excessive spending and only seem interested in scoring points by somehow trying to blame the PPP/C for his incompetence. This Minister surely does not value our money.

Another area where it is imperative that we examine what value we are getting for

our money is our parliament.

Whenever parliament is in session approximately $1.3 million is spent to accommodate the parliamentarians. This spending would not have been an issue if one could point to significant strides being derived from these sittings. Since assuming office this government legislative agenda has been very thin. Sessions have been called with sometimes one or two items on the agenda. Sessions have been called with nothing substantial on the agenda.

A session was even called just to pass a sympathy motion. In November last year the government cancelled a sitting without prior notice, when all arrangements had been put in place and funds spent on accommodating the parliamentarians. The action by the government in this area clearly shows the government’s disregard for our hard earned taxes.

People often accuses parliament of being a talk shop, this government has surely made our parliament to be just that. We are not getting full value for our money in this area.

The 2018 Annual Report released by the Bank of Guyana identified that public consumption expenditure increased by 13.9 percent,

with a significant portion of this being attributed to increased spending on employment costs. This increase is significant when one considers the fact that public sector employment declined by 11.1 percent over the same period. This points to the obscene salaries being paid to the new persons hired by this new government, whilst at the same time significantly dismissing staff deemed to be sympathetic to the previous administration. All of the Ministries are now top heavy and are inefficiently run. A clear example of this is the government replacing the Ministers who were dual citizens with new Ministers, then rehiring those who were replaced into new positions created for them with the same salaries and benefits they previously enjoyed.

It is us taxpayers who are burdened with financing all these super salaries. We need to question whether we are really getting value for all this spending on super salaries at Ministries and other government agencies.

What are we getting from SARA, SOCU and other agencies of the government?

Who are they serving? An examination will show that it is certainly not us, however we are the ones funding them.

Since assuming office in 2015, Ministers of the government and other government officials have been embarking on regular overseas trips. What value are we getting from these trips?

One can recall several officials taking part in trips to

the USA and Canada not too long after entering into government. We were promised that these trips would have open opportunities to us. Several years have since passed and we have seen no benefits as a result of those trips to date. What value was derived from the former Minister in charge of Housing trip to Poland? Nothing.

It appears that our taxes are being used to fund vacations for these government officials. We are not denying the value of trips to foreign countries to seek opportunities for us, but we are questioning them when we never see the benefits from those trips. It is our money and it is not wrong for us to expect value when it is being spent.

Since taking over the reins of running the country the APNU+AFC coalition government has undertaken several projects that have been very costly, but have not added any real value. A case in point in the Durban Park project. This was done at an extremely high cost, which to date has been fully accounted for. Up to quite recently the auditor General was still trying to ascertain the amount spent on the project and the source of the funding. We the people who funded this project have derived no real value from it.

We often hear of the amount being spent on the procurement of supplies for our health sector. We have to question, however, what are these supplies being provided as there is an ongoing shortage of supplies at the health centres across

Guyana. This is particularly acute in the Hinterland region, where something as basic as paracetamol is unavailable. This is most distressing as persons in those areas have no other options than the government centres to seek medical attention.

Here again we can identify where the government continues to fail us.

The government expended a lot of funds holding inquiries and forensic audits into areas and issues that occurred during the tenure of the previous government.

These inquiries and audits were very costly, but we received no value from these.

These inquiries and audits produced nothing significant and were basically a waste of taxpayers’ monies.

The wanton spending by this government has had a negative effect on the country.

Cost of living has increased significantly. Unemployment is rising steadily and our debt has increased significantly. All our reserves are being depleted to fund their wasteful spending.

This spending has not improved our lives in any way and we are suffering from the failings of this government.

They are careless with our funds and we are not getting any value from their spending of it. It is in all our best interest to have this government removed and be replaced with a government who will give us value for our money – value for money that was delivered by former PPP/C governments.

GAWU expresses concern... attention during our discussion as well. On that matter, the GAWU shared its view that it appeared we were least prepared at this time to effectively deal with the industry and what it could bring to the proverbial table. We also shared view about the possibility of inequality between the oil and non-oil sectors of the economy and its ramifications for wider societal issues.”

(From page 27)

The IMF team committed to examining GAWU’s suggestions in finer detail. “The GAWU, for many years now, has been interacting with the IMF during its annual country visits. We have found those interactions as worthwhile and provides us yet another opportunity to represent our members and the workers of Guyana generally,” the Union said.

27

WEEKEND MIRROR 15-16 8-9 JUNE, 2019 JUNE, 2019

Wind Farm project to Harmon confirms mass go ahead, questions firings at MoTP remain unanswered A

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onstruction is expected to start soon at the Hope Beach location, East Coast Demerara, according to Chairman of the project, Lloyd Singh, who added that the undertaking will take nine months.

However, questions raised by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) since 2016 about the project remain unanswered – particularly questions as to how the agreement was inked.

In January 2016, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, announced that the Government is negotiating a power purchase agreement with Singh, for a US$50M wind farm at Hope Beach. Jordan had said, “This facility is expected to provide an additional 25 megawatts of power to the national grid.

Currently, the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) generates

power at an average weighted cost of US$0.28 per kilowatt hour. The new project will likely offer GPL energy at less than half that cost, which will translate to lower electricity tariffs to consumers.”

Singh, this week, said that the project is a US$20Mplus project is expected to produce up to 16 megawatts of wind power which will be connected at Coldingen to the network of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. – not 25 megawatts as Jordan claimed.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has noted that buying energy is not the same as adding new capacity to the power grid – which is what is needed. He contends too that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government will likely stick Guyanese with a high cost of purchasing power from the wind energy development.

Singh also owns the International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA) and a close friend of Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan. Ramjattan, himself admitted to this at the 2016 opening of the Alliance For Change (AFC) office in Kitty. Ramjattan, at that forum said, “I want to single out a personal friend of mine and from a long, long time since PPP/C days, Lloyd Singh. We were looking for a building and of course Lloyd indicated that, ‘Khemraj I know yal got to get a building, I know of something’. And of course, the advance payment on it….(Singh said) ‘hey buddy, you don’t bother with that, we gotto make this thing work’. He upped the front up monies and today we’ve gotten that building… thank you so much Lloyd.”

fter over a week of silence by the recently appointed Public Service Minister, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and key leaders in the APNU+AFC Coalition Government on the mass firings at the Ministry of the Presidency, Director General, Joseph Harmon has confirmed that the firings took place.

Harmon added that he “thinks” the decision has been halted. He also stated that the fired staffers will not return to office – rather they are now considered on administrative leave.

Harmon said, “It is known that that Minister did in fact fired these persons.

As of now, I think that decision is in abeyance pending an inquiry which will be conducted in a short time to determine whether in fact there were any breaches, grounds for dismissals, but certainly, an enquiry is going to be held into that. They are

presently on administrative leave rather than dismissed.”

Given Harmon’s comment that the staffers remain off the job – on administrative leave – and not reinstated, political observers are questioning whether the fired staffers will be able to return to work at all. Observers noted too that Harmon, by his own admission, stated that there are no clear grounds that were used in the mass firings.

On May 31, 2019, Halley reportedly sent the entire personnel department and the account packing. According to information received, the Minister claimed that the department is moving in a different direction and that the services of the old staff will no longer be required. Personnel were escorted from their offices by security.

A junior staffer of the Ministry of the Presidency’s Press Affairs Unit claimed

that there were no dismissals. However, the next day, the termination letter sent to the staffers who were fired was leaked to the local press corps.

The leaked letter, dated May 31, 2019, titled ‘Determination of Contract of Employment, said, in part, “Pursuant to aforesaid contract of employment, your services are hereby terminated with immediate effect. One month’s salary will be paid to you, in lieu of notice…any and all property belonging to the Government of Guyana that currently resides in your possession must, as a matter of course, be forthwith returned to support continuity and efficiently of the work of the Ministry.”

The letter was copied to the Ministry of the Presidency’s Permanent Secretary, Abena Moore. Some of the fired staffers have served in the public service for over a decade.

GAWU expresses concern to IMF team about Coalition’s policies in the sugar sector

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he Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU) on Monday (June 10, 2019) met with a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) currently visiting Guyana to undertake the Fund’s annual Article IV consultation.

The GAWU team which, engaged the six-person team for over an hour, was led by its Assistant General Secretary, Aslim Singh and included the Union’s Organising Officer, Porandatt Narine and Executive Committee member, Gordon Thomas.

The main focus of the dis-

cussion regarding the structural changes of the sugar industry. The Union, on this matter, expressed concern regarded what it termed the two pronged approach adopted by the Government of Guyana. The GAWU team explained that one prong concerned the divestment of three of the closed estates namely Skeldon, Rose Hall and East Demerara Estates and the other aspect regarded the re-capitalization of the estates under the control of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

In a statement on the

meeting, the Union said, “With respect to the divestment approach, the GAWU expressed concern that the process appeared to lack transparency. We pointed out that the divestment would possibly be the largest in the nation’s history yet the Guyanese people were none the wiser about the value of the assets being put up for sale.

Moreover, we reminded the IMF that its 2017 Article IV report on Guyana had urged the Government to ensure that displaced sugar workers be protected by appropriate safety nets. This suggestion

we hastened to point out was not considered as apart from the statutory severance payments to workers, which we reminded were illegally withheld and corrected following the intervention of the Courts, there is hardly, if any, tangible expression of the State’s assistance to the workers and communities affected.

We pointed out that since the estate closures, many affected remain hard pressed and finding themselves in difficult and miserable situations. We shared that, in some instances, children’s schooling has been truncated and families have

disintegrated. Moreover, the opportunities for employment remain almost non-existent.

“Turning to the plans to recapitalize the operable estates, the GAWU reiterated its concerns about the apparent absence of a plan to guide the large sum secured. We shared that, on several occasions, we asked the GuySuCo about its plan only to receive deafening silence. The GAWU expressed that it recognized President David Granger just last week referring to a plan.

We noted that the President had said, according to media reports we saw, that the Cor-

poration was not operating by guess work or hunches.

Nevertheless, we shared our apprehensions that despite what, we believe, are our good intentioned best efforts we remain shut out from being knowledgeable about the Corporation’s plans.

“During our engagement, the team also sought our views about the happenings in other areas of the agricultural sector. On that score, we expressed views regarding the rice, poultry and fishing industry. Of course, the oil and gas industry also attracted (Turn to page 26)

Power woes worsen….

Jagdeo says Granger-led gov’t failed to make the right investments in the right areas R

esponsibility for the frequent power outages currently being experienced in Guyana lies squarely with the current Administration, not the technical staff at the power company, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“Every time you have blackout don’t blame GPL, blame Patterson and this

Cabinet…they didn’t have a board for a year and a half.

How can you have a Corporation like that and not pay attention to that? How the issues of generation and all of that are dealt with? The Minister is totally inept. He is only looking for other things on the side, not looking for the main issues…this Minister has interfered too much

and so you can’t blame the operational people at GPL,” he said during a recent news conference.

The David Granger-led Administration, he said, was warned about the “lag effect” of its failures to invest strategically in the energy sector.

“If you are not putting in generating capacity and you have older units and you

are at peak with no reserves you will have what we are having. Your install capacity and peak demand can’t be the same… it is just that these guys did not have enough investments in the right areas and they are struggling with the system,” he said.

Jagdeo underscored the fact that the decision to scrap the Amaila Fall Hydropower

Project was ill-conceived.

The recent decision of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to pursue a wind power project was also similarly described.

He said, “How many times are we going to say this? Buying wind power even if it is feasible and it is not corrupt, even if it was a clean contract, wind power is not buying capacity, it is buying energy. What about the periods when the wind stops blowing and there are several periods during the course of the day and in the night? You still need the fossil fuel to step up at that time, because when the wind stops blowing, it goes down to zero, you go down to zero and so you have to then match that with the comparable capacity to pick up that, you cannot build future or satisfy future demand on buying just energy, you have to also install capacity.”

Notably, none of the renewable energy projects that are being undertaken by the Coalition Government will contribute to the national grid.

The Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project was initially expected to deliver a steady source of clean, affordable, reliable renewable energy to meet approximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s domestic energy needs and remove the country’s dependency on fossil fuels.

Additionally, the independent, facts-based assessment of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project in Guyana, which was done by an independent Norway-based engineering and design consultancy firm, Norconsult AS, found that the project

is the only realistic path for Guyana to achieve greater levels of renewable energy.

“The fastest way forward is to maintain AFHP as the first major step for substituting its current oil fired generation.

AFHP was prioritized as the first hydropower plant because it was the only project with a full feasibility study completed, it has a higher plant load factor than the alternatives, a smaller reservoir and a levelised unit cost in the same range as the most attractive alternatives,” the summary of the 49-page report said. The report also highlighted that Hydro power is the only way in which we can achieve the 2025 renewable energy target; that the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project is the fastest way to get to renewable energy by 2025; that the BOOT model is the most appropriate way of structuring the project and should be maintained; and that the project should be re-tendered since the last tender was in 2008.

As at 2014, approximately US$70M of this had been deposited by Norway in the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) which is channeling investment into seven LCDS projects. The Norwegian Government had announced that it plans to transfer US$80M to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to be used as Guyana's equity contribution to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.

With the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project scrapped by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, the financing was also lost.

GL&SC officers confirm that Coalition gov’t hands down instructions to Commission

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onfirmation that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government hands instructions to the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC) was given by officers of the said Commission after a confrontation with the Anna Regina Town Council.

The Anna Regina Town Council is contemplating legal action against the Government if it continues to grant leases to business owners who are renting portion of lands in Anna Regina, Essequibo Coast.

Mayor Rajendra Prabhulall, in a release to the media, said two officers of the Lands and Surveys Department in Region Two met with him, Deputy Mayor Rudolph Williams, Town Clerk Dian Chritchlow and Councillors, informing them that the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission was instructed by Government to issue leases to businesses operating in the Deep Area in Anna Regina.

According to the Mayor, the Deep is owned and man(Turn to page 24)

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