3-4 September, 2022 / Vol. 12 No. 38 / Price: $100 Email: mirror2018.gy@gmail.com SEE INSIDE Coalition has not deviated from bullyism, intimidation tactics – Teixeira PAGE 3 ‘Fumbling’ Norton backs down from substantiating latest reckless claim Investigation of supply of erroneous data to GECOM to commence shortly – Nandlall CEO asked to further revise workplan for LGE vaccinemonkeypoxeligiblepersonsOnlyfortransparencyaccountability,Higher–scannableapp’‘ImatterviolenceDomesticnowMinPersaudlevelofoilrevenueshigh-riskforPAGE 7 10PAGE PAGE 11 22PAGE – President Ali appoints NRF Board, Public Accountability, Investment Committees PAGE 14 PAGE 23
Having refused to partici pate in the public consul tations on proposed electoral reform and frustrated the work of moving forward with con stitutional reform, the embat tled Leader of the PNCR and the APNU+AFC Coalition, Aubrey Norton, now says he would support reforms. On Tuesday (August 30, 2022), Norton said, “AP NU+AFC hereby goes on record that we stand ready to discuss and support the necessary constitutional and other amendments to ensure a clean voters list as a necessary condition to ensure that the next elections are free, fair, and However,credible.” Norton’s focus, in his call for constitutional re form, was particularly focused on removing Guyanese who migrated overseas from the Voters List. Notably, in Au gust 2019, Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George, in a ruling, made it clear that GECOM cannot deregister persons from the National Register of Regis trants (NRR) – from which the Voters’ List is compiled – un less they are dead or otherwise disqualified under Article 159 (2), (3) and (4) of the Consti tution.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, in August 2022, noted that that the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition had been actively working to sys tematically stymie the work of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform. “The government will not accept responsibility for the process grinding at a slow pace. We are ready to push the process and that is what we have been doing, or else we would not have had any progress at all. But as I said, it is of crucial importance that we have bi partisan participation,” he said.According to him, the Co alition is “not serious” about its public commitment on constitutional reform. The At torney General said, “Consider how we are going to move forward with the recognition that we have an Opposition who is obviously not serious in their manifesto and public commitment to constitutional reform…do we do it unilat erally? Do we try to engage the Opposition and prod them and I suppose try to appeal to them to come on board. Or we go back to the people and say, what else do you want us to do? Since it's it cannot be a process driven only by the government because of the very nature of the process?” He added, “…for now, our highest priority is at least get the bill into the National Assembly before it goes into recess in August.” At the last meeting of the Parliamentary Committee addressing the issue of consti tutional reform, only two Op position members showed up to the meeting, which meant that no decisions could have been made on pressing issues relating to the development of a constitutional reform bill, which is to be taken before the NationalNonetheless,Assembly.in its bid to ensure constitutional reform, the PPP/C government moved to the National Assembly with the Constitution Reform Commission Bill 2022, which seeks the establishment of a Constitution Reform Commis sion to review the country’s supreme laws in the latter part of August 2022. The Bill was presented by Parliamen tary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira. The explanatory memorandum states that the Act seeks the es tablishment of the Constitution Reform Commission which will consist of 20 members.
On the issue of “other amendments” Norton talked about supporting, the proposed amendments are expected to be tabled in the National As sembly after the House comes out of recess on October 10, 2022.The APNU+AFC Coali tion, in addition to its GECOM Commissioners, have main tained a position of calling for a review of the March 2020 Elections, before any legis lative changed are advanced. In a statement, on May 10, 2022, the Coalition-nominated GECOM Commissioners said, “We further reiterated our pre vious position that GECOM should conduct a review of its conduct of the 2020 elections as the precursor to making any submission on electoral reform.”OnMay 17, 2022, during a news conference, Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Nor ton, called for a comprehen sive review of what took place in March 2020. Opposition Parliamentarian and General Secretary of the PNCR, Geeta Chandan-Edmond, who was with Norton for the press conference, said, “A thor ough review by GECOM of its performance in managing recent elections. The plethora of faults and irregularities (intended and unintended) in the 2020 elections alone must not be brushed under the carpet to resurface again. They must be swept out for good. To achieve this, a thor ough and honest review must be conducted as a necessary first step. Here, we agree with GECOM Commissioner Vin cent Alexander that GECOM itself must not conduct such a review but should commis sionNotably,it.” the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), in response stated that the call from the Coalition camp for a comprehensive review of what took place in March 2020 before electoral reforms are addressed is nothing but a delay tactic. “Recall that every report from the international Election Observer Missions, including the CARICOM team, detailed what took place at the March 2020 Elections – every Guyanese is aware of what took place during the March 2020 electoral process, civil society is aware, the international community is aware. It would seem that the only ignorant party, by their own claim, is the PNCR/ APNU/AFC,” the party said in a statement issued on May 18, The2022.PPP made clear that the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition is the only party with an interest in keeping our electoral laws vague and ambiguous, hence the delay tactics. tried undermined constitutional reform efforts failed to participate in public talks on amendments to ROPA
REFORMCONSTITUTIONAL
2 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022MIRROR
ROPA AMENDMENTS
Norton pays ‘lip service’ to electoral reform
“These threats and ver bal attacks expose a sinister plot to bully and intimidate a former Judge and the Chair person of a constitutional body, the Guyana Elections Commission, one of the highest in the land which is established to protect the right of the Guyanese people to vote for a government of their choice in freely and fairly managed elections.”
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 3 3
RELATED RE PORTING ON PAGES
T he recent threats by the Leader of the Opposi tion Aubrey Norton on the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, Jus tice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, are not new, according to Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira. And she stressed that they must stop. According to her, it is time for the Guyana Police Force take action to in vestigate these threats; for leaders of civil society and women’s rights organiza tions in particular, should come out and call fowl on the misogynistic bullying of a woman, an outstanding Guyanese and the GECOM Chair; and for the diplomatic and international community to make known their con cerns regarding the safety of Justice Singh, and the efforts by Mr. Norton to destabilize the electoral process as he and the APNU+AFC Coali tion tried in 2020. Teixeira also made clear that she will be formally writing the diplomatic and international community with regards to the targeting and threats to the Chairper son of the Guyana Elections Commission, and Norton’s dastardly plot to undermine GECOM and the electoral system in Guyana. In a statement she said, “The threat may seem to be new, but in fact, Mr. Norton and his eralofthetheThissistentlyingCoalitionPNC/APNU/AFChavebeenattacktheGECOMChairconsinceMarch2020.coincideswithwhenChairpersonagreedtorecountofallthevotestheMarch2,2020GenandRegionalElections.
Teixeira noted that threats to the Chairman’s life which were made on Facebook, seemingly over her handling of the March 2, 2020 elections, particularly the commission’s plans for a national recount. “These were reported to the Guyana Police Force and the Cyber Crime Unit. One APNU sup porter was charged under the Cybercrime Act,” she said. The Minister charged that Norton’s strategy has been exposed by non-other than Rickforde Burke on the December 3, 2021 pro gramme of Sherod Duncan’s “In the Ring” where he is recorded saying: “…they are doing their level best to get a racist East Indian from the PPP to be installed as Chief Elections Officer. That’s what they’re doing and Claudette Singh is in bed with them. I think we should break up the Elec tions Commission. Bring everything to a halt. Grind government to a halt.” She also cited Norton’s reckless statements such as “there are many things we can do to put the pressure on the elections commission and Claudette Singh…and so, we have left the door open. We hope we don’t have to close it and Clau dette Singh will do the de cent thing and resign,” and “…pressure her to resign or face unspecified action” need to be urgently investi gated by the Guyana Police Force. Madam Claudette Singh is a retired Judge and in other countries such as the USA, such threats are a criminal offence. Teixeira said, “Clearly Mr. Norton, his party and the APNU+AFC Coalition have not deviated from these bullyism and intimidation tactics which we witnessed during the Granger admin istration. Norton’s party’s legacy in particular, since its inception, has been one of bullyism, intimidation and violence.“One should recall the misogynistic and racist at tacks by Mr. Norton’s party and its supporters on four brave women during the five-months period of the post March 2, 2020 elec tions - Prime Minister Mia Mottley, US Ambassador H.E. Sarah Ann Lynch, Ca nadian High Commission er H.E. Lilian Chatterjee, and GECOM Chair retired Justice Claudette Singh. It cannot be coincidental that these women were vili fied and threatened for their forthright support for con stitutional rule of law and democracy.“Mr.Norton and his par ty cannot accept any person that opposes their interest and stands in their way for their thirst for power, more so women daring to stand up for what is right. This is evident even within their own party in his abhor rent treatment as the newly elected leader of his party of former General Secretary, Amna Ally, a woman who served her party loyally for 53 years. “It is this mentality of bullyism and intimidation against women, in partic ular, that should make all women intuitively know that this is all too familiar; these are the components of domestic abuse and vi olence. The defenders of women’s rights are silent; known outspoken civil so ciety organizations and in fluencers are silent - unfor tunately in 2020 and now again in 2022.” She stressed that retired Justice Claudette Singh has loyally served her country for decades, she has guarded her integrity and her adher ence to the constitution and rule of law. “These threats are unacceptable in any civilized society and must not be allowed to continue without consequences,” the Minister posited. “The only way that ‘bully boy’ Norton and his supporters will understand that Guyanese are a decent, respectful people who will not accept such threats, is if they feel their rejection of this cowardly behaviour. Norton should remember the public reaction, even amongst his supporters, to his refusal to shake the out stretched hand of President Mohamed Irfaan Ali. There is no indication that this ‘bully boy’ intimidation be haviour will stop,” Teixeira declared. [SEE 10, 11]
(See attached compendium of statements threatening the GECOM Chair, Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh from March 2020 to present)
Coalition has not deviated from bullyism, intimidation tactics – Teixeira
Dear Editor, Ihad to again read an interesting article by Dr David Hinds; captioned ‘The APNU+AFC Govt. and African Guya nese: After three years, no major Policy Initiative that targets Black Empower ment’, it appeared in the Kaieteur News of May 13th 2018.
44 EDITORIAL Dear Editor, Observers of the APNU/AFC Coali tion and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton's power-driven mantra are view ing a strategy characterized by vendetta and hatred, which clouds his objective rationale, and increases conflict with the ideals of democratic leadership.
The LGE’s are due and must be held as early as possible.
Norton and Alexander’s bitterness cloud their objectivity
This trend of marginalisation of the Black people had continued during the next round of the PNC-dominated Coa lition rule, from 2015 to 2020, and even though Dr Hinds tried to tie the PPP/C Government to this marginalisation agenda, he failed, since, from 1992 to 2015, Afro-Guyanese and all other Guy anese were living a far better standard of living than they did under the PNC.
In April 2020, the GECOM Chair had her life threatened. These were reported to the Guyana Police Force and the Cyber Crime Unit. One APNU supporter was charged under the Cybercrime Act. In July 2020, an unofficial petition calling for Singh to re sign first surfaced on Facebook and was signed by supporters of theAlsoAPNU+AFC.inJuly2020, the GECOM Chair was the target of private criminal charges filed by APNU+AFC supporters over her decision to support a national recount of votes from the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. By September 2020, the former Opposition Leader, Jo seph Harmon, added fuel to the call for her resignation. In December 2021, APNU+AFC Coalition aligned Rickford Burke called for resignation of all the members of GECOM. Peppering his call with race baiting, Burke had said: “I think the members of the Guyana Elections Commission from the Coalition should resign because of the shenanigans going on there. They are doing their level best to get a racist East Indian from the PPP to be installed as Chief Elections Officer. That’s what they’re doing and Claudette Singh is in bed with them. I think we should break up the Elections Commission.” Also in December 2021, the former Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon suggested that the incumbent GECOM Chair man could not be trusted. “ Incumbent Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, has more recently, joined the chorus, also with race baiting rhetoric. In December 2021, he said: “The infamous Claudette Singh voted to make Vishnu Persaud Chief Election Officer. We do not believe that the best person got the job. We believe that the appointment was collusion between the Chairman of the Election Commission and the PPP Commissioners to put a PPP hack as Chief Election Officer.” He reiterated this comment, adding, recently that: “She (Justice Singh) must go to ensure that we have elections that are free and fair. Her presence will not facilitate that. It is our intention to ensure a united Guyana. We do not want elections to divide us again.” By August 2022, he had moved to threaten ‘pressure’. Norton had said: “….there are many things we can do to put the pres sure on the elections commission and Claudette Singh. But we had first given her the opportunity to tender her resignation as a decent judge who would have served and to recognise that you cannot claim to be independent and, on every issue, you are voting with the People’s Progressive Party and you seem to have no interest in finding consensus on these issues. And so, we have left the door open. We hope we don’t have to close it and Claudette Singh will do the decent thing and resign.”This list does not account for all the number of calls made by the agents of PNCR/APNU/AFC on social media plat forms such as Facebook and Instagram, nor on private shows hosted on television or via online platforms such a YouTube, Facebook Live, etc. What is clear is that the PNCR-led Coalition has to be called for its actions. Democratic, right-minded Guyanese are not interested in being drawn backwards, but are focused on the progressive, prosperous future ahead. And self-interested leaders in the Coalition must not be allowed to endanger our collective prosperity.
PNCR-led Coalition employs racist rhetoric, bullyism, intimidation in attempt to gain power
In this article, Hinds admitted that even though the PNC, during its 28 years, initiated some projects which benefited Afro-Guyanese, those benefits were destroyed by the same PNC before they vacated office.
Moreover, under this Government,
NeilSincerely,Kumar
There is perhaps a hopeful disquiet from previously prominent party strong men and women, against whom Norton seems to have spewed a continuous toxic blood feud, with a comparative ethnic-poisoned dislike he often displays for key personnel of the current PPPC Government membership. Meaningless to say the least is an understatement. Equally supporting the reeling frag mentation under the misguided Norton is the categorically distressed Vincent Alexander whose sour disposition has become most extraneous to the fairness required in today’s politics. Perhaps the link is based on their contextual focus which still resonates with PNC rigging overtures of the 70s and 80s which this cabal still wants to act out. It must be recalled that both men were never seen as top tier. They both were unceremoniously removed from a tried senior position within the People’s National Congress and perhaps, they still aspire to utilize the condemned methodology of old. Notwithstanding the Constitutional and other relevant legislative positions together with the related ruling of the Courts, these men display a combined creature-like disposition, which un doubtedly, targets the suppression of the positive efforts of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). There has been the unjustified condemnation, personal character assassination, and threats issued to Chairwoman Justice (retired), Madam Claudette Singh; the advancement of frivolous petitions at the commission level, as well as the baseless criticism of the Register of Registrants (NRR) in an attempt to discredit. But these continuous stupid outbursts of hot air will not work this time around. It is important to note that it is GECOM’s authority to maintain the NRR and destroying the Current NRR will disenfranchise thousands of citizens and violate the court’s ruling because persons cannot be removed from the database unless a death certificate is pro vided to GECOM. Persons calling for the scrapping of the current National Register of registrants (NRR) are doing so out of a lack of understanding, and or appreciation of the financial undertaking and vigor ous sustainability efforts to secure and maintain this register where every single person in the database are included using their Fingerprint Biometrics and their photograph.Further, the database for the current NRR began in 2008 in compliance with the urgings of the PNC and is being compiled since. Today, it contains both Guyanese living in Guyana and overseas since the registration process was com plemented by several terms of continuous cycles of registration done over the past 14 years using GECOM’s Registration Centers across the country. The registra tion process begins with young persons at 14 years old and when these persons attain the age of 18 years, those names are moved over to update the lists of persons eligible to vote. So, the database would today contain categories of Citizens residing overseas or not at one fixed place in Guyana including Pilots loggers, Miners, and Amerindians that go hunting and over seas-based Guyanese, who would have all registered at their convenience in one of the continuous registration centers. Therefore, while we have approximately 750,000 persons living in Guyana, they are another 1,000,000 Guyanese living in foreign lands who would have also regis tered before or while visiting home over the past 14 years which accounts for the approximately 650,000 registered on the NRR. Further, every month the General Registration Office provides GECOM with the confirmed list of persons who died along with copies of their death cer tificates to support the removal of those names from the NRR. It was Vincent Alexander who was the PNC’s lead Commissioner at GECOM who silently looked over the APNU/AFC affairs, and who took quick action in 2015. This was even before the PPP/C took up their seats in Parliament, to support hustled amendments for the affirmative resolution of the National Assembly concerning the Continuous Registration Bill to allow a period of Con tinuous Registration to give six months’ life to the List of Electors. The APNU/AFC were quick to use the same List to hold Local Government Elections in 2016 and 2018. And the same list was used for the National and Region al Elections in 2020. Then, APNU/AFC along with the GECOM Commissioners and all the PNC members including Norton praised the List and declared that the 2020 Elections were free and Fair. Guyanese are fully aware of the fact that APNU/AFC made several failed attempts to swear in David Granger as President. Alexander cannot stand to speak of the GECOM Chair having misconceived the nature of the body, which can go beyond interpreting and making deci sions based on the law is a wish-washy argument. Alexander’s recent ‘motion’ is nothing but another failed attempt to postpone LGEs. Immediately after the 2020 National and Regional Elections, the PNC cabal along with the ‘deadwood’ AFC, lauded the running of the Elections. However, after their failed attempt to “rig” the Elections, Alexander and his colleagues are criticizing Clau dette Singh while Norton is openly saying that the imminent Justice Singh is biased and cannot be trusted. Norton's spineless calls for Justice Claudette Singh to resign will fall on deaf ears. Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Minister Anil Nandlall SC. was recently very explicit that it is the responsibility of GECOM to hold free and fair elections; and GECOM has full responsibility to produce the Official List of Electors. GECOM recently successful ly held a continuous registration process, and now the Claims and Objection Exer cise is in process. Chief Justice Roxane George already ruled that it is unlawful and unconstitutional to remove person’s names from the List who are registered unless they are disqualified on grounds laid down in law. Norton and Alexander must be seen for either their hypocritical stand of con venience or deliberate myopic positions.
Myth of Afro-Guyanese marginalisation by the PPP/C gov’t blatantly false
(Turn to page 5) Power, not people, has always been the proven focus of the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition. And this endeavour has been plagued by racist rhetoric, bullyism and intimidation. With Local Government Elections expected to be held soon, the focus of this power play has been to target the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh. As such, it is worth underscoring the pattern of behaviour that the PNCR-led Coalition has, and continues to, exhibits when it makes its frantic grasps for power.
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 5
IDB study used as the basis for rehabilitation and upgrading of health sector Myth of Afro-Guyanese...
However, when one reads about the hun dreds of millions pumped into the Interna tional Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G), it is only then that Granger’s ‘magic wand’ can be seen at work, but not for the poor Afro-Guyanese. If there was ever a case of emerging apartheid in Guyana, it was under the Coalition Gov ernment, so the pro-PNC Cuffy 250 group is barking up the wrong tree. This Government has done for Afro-Guy anese in its two years what the PNC did in its 33 years in Government. History has testified to this, and the future will make this a lot more manifest as this Government continues to reach out and satisfy the needs of all Guy anese in an equitable and just manner.
The myth of Afro-Guyanese marginalisa tion by the PPP/C Government has no sales value.Let those who are trying to divide this nation understand that Guyanese will not fall for such Goebbels propaganda. History has attested that the PNC has marginalised its own people for more than 33 years. YoursHaseefsincerely,Yusuf (From page 4)
Dear Editor, B y 2020, the whole health sector was totally neglected. While the media was preoccupied with other matters, they paid little to no attention to the dire situation at New Amsterdam Hospital and across the health sector. Since that time, beginning in August 2020, when a new Minister of Health was appointed and a new PPP gov ernment came into office, major initiatives have been taken to remedy the situation at New Amsterdam Hospital and throughout the health sector. The description that Kaieteur News used in an editorial on Wednesday September 24 and in earlier articles that they claimed the IDB now has found in a study refers to the conditions the MOH was addressing from August 2020 and used as the basis for rehabilitation and upgrading plans that were put together since that time. At New Amsterdam Hospital, a new X-Ray has been functioning since early 2021, earlier in 2022 a new mobile digital X-ray was procured and functioning, presently a new fixed-site digital X-Ray is being installed. A CT machine has been provided and has been operationalized, laboratory equipment has been procured, ECG equipment, ultrasound machines, CTG for fetal monitoring in the delivery rooms, better systems for supplies have been put in place. Basic maintenance work on the existing operating theatres have been done, new ma ternity building, with three new operating theatres is about to be commissioned, op erating room tables, new delivery beds and new ICU beds have been procured, new ven tilators and anesthetic machines have been installed. A new oxygen therapy system is in place. The ATS for the back-up generator has been installed. The solar system now contributes 20% of the energy needs of the hospital. There are now new ambulances for the hospital. A new chemotherapy building will be operationalized in a few weeks. The dialysis center has been reactivated. A new, fully-equipped Infectious Disease Building has been constructed and operationalized. General environmental clean-up has been put in place. Upgrading of the laundry ser vices have been embarked on. In addition, a major upgrade of the hospital is planned under the IDB project that the government has Thenegotiated.plans developed by the MOH includes a new emergency and trauma building, expansion of the operating the atre suites, a new ICU and HDU area, new neonatal unit, etc. Already a chemotherapy area is ready to be commissioned. The work identified at the New Amsterdam Hospital is what the government has planned. The IDB project will be a part of the planned work. While it is encouraging that news entities like KN are again interested in what occurs in the health sector, we completely reject the attempt by the KN to transfer the neglect that was evident at the New Amsterdam Hospital before August 2020 to the PPP gov ernment. KN must have reasons why when those deplorable situations existed it paid no attention as it stood by before 2020 without ever highlighting the scandalous situation at the New Amsterdam Hospital. We would like to assure everyone that what is described in KN for New Amsterdam Hospital is far from what really exists at the hospital presently. While we have made sig nificant progress, the MOH and the Region 6 administration are well-aware that condi tions are not yet what the MOH would want the New Amsterdam Hospital to be. The IDB project being formulated for the New Amsterdam Hospital is using the state of the hospital at the time the MOH began put ting together the plan in 2020 to correct the situation and to upgrade the hospital. While the situation is very different today, this is still a work in progress right now. Thus, the urgency to implement the major upgrading plan which the MOH has put together and which the IDB will fund. Outside of New Amsterdam Hospital, the situation at other hospitals was not dif ferent. Similarly, the neglect of the health centers and health posts was shameful. The IDB conducted an assessment of more than 330 health centers and health posts in all ten regions in 2018/2019. The assessment was a Service Availability and Readiness Assess ment (SARA). The report showed that the primary health care system was, like the hos pitals, totally neglected. Many of the health centers and health posts had broken beds and furniture, leaking roofs, broken windows and doors, many had problems with utilities, such as electricity and water and many other problems. Since August 2020 a massive effort to remedy this situation in health cen ters and health posts has been undertaken, with an investment over the two years that amount to more than $1.5B. From RHO’s reports over this past year, greater than 90% of health posts/health cen ters today have electricity and water. Most of the health centers/posts today benefit from improvement. Many have been repainted, most of had waiting areas constructed, wash rooms have been upgraded, most have run ning water, most have access to electricity etc. In the coming years, every one of these facilities will benefit from further upgrading in infrastructure, technology, medicine and supplies and human resource. As far as the hospitals are concerned, including the New Amsterdam Hospital, the government has made significant progress in improving the conditions. While efforts at rehabilitation and improved maintenance are continuing, the government recognizes the need for massive investment to upgrade many of the facilities. The sector has developed an ambitious plan for upgrading all existing hospitals in the country. The IDB has been a major partner in the health sector for a long time. The IDB is partnering with the Government of Guyana in the upgrading of three facilities, the GPHC, New Am sterdam Hospital and Linden Hospital. The Government of Guyana has identified areas for upgrades in these hospitals, including in more comfortable, more modern facilities for emergency medicine, better operating theatres, better diagnostic facilities and improved in-patient areas. For these three hospitals, the government has allocated $US160M from the IDB portfolio to support major upgrade of these facilities. In the first phase, $US60M is being earmarked from this loan. Just over $US48M will flow to wards improvement of three hospitals. More than $US7M will flow towards introduction and rolling out of a telemedicine program. Just over $US3M will be directed to overall service delivery across the health sector. Outside of the three hospitals which are the target hospitals for the IDB loan, other in vestments are being made to upgrade exist ing hospitals. Among major inputs, Suddie, West Demerara and Bartica Hospitals are presently on the books, with designs for new hospitals completed and new construc tion for these hospitals planned. Presently, financing is being arranged by the govern ment for these hospitals. Skeldon and Fort Wellington Hospitals are being replaced by new construction at new sites. Land prepa rations for these two hospitals have already begun. In addition, new hospitals are being constructed starting now at Enmore, Little Diamond, De Kendren and Anna Regina. A new Maternal and Children Hospital will start construction in weeks at Ogle. Since August 2020, given the deplorable conditions in the health sector, these plans were being put together by the new govern ment. The urgency of mobilizing resources for the plans the Ministry put together for correcting the neglect and upgrading the sector was immediately recognized. The IDB reports reflect the need that existed then and the reason why resources were being mobilized. We urge newspapers and others to be more conversant with the reasons why the rehabilitation and upgrading are being done. The works being done are works that have been put together, not by the IDB, but by the Ministry of Health. The IDB will help fund some of the work still to be done. Sincerely, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy
from 2020 to now, there has been massive development in all Black populated areas, and all across Guyana. No area has been neglected in the President’s One Vision for Guyana. Dr Hinds, in that article, made a revealing statement concerning the Coalition Govern ment’s incompetence when he pointed out that “the average African Guyanese knows full well that after three years in office, this Government has not implemented a single policy initiative aimed at addressing the structural socio-economic problems of that community”.Letusnow compare this with what the PPP/C Government has done for Afro-Guy anese. During its tenure in office, the Coalition literally snatched bread from the mouths of each and every Guyanese; its own support base was not spared. Today, billions in infrastructural and housing development works are taking place in Linden, Georgetown, New Amsterdam, Albouystown, Ithaca and Buxton, among other Afro-Guyanese communities nation wide. Thousands of jobs have been created by the PPP/C Government, and President Ali has unequivocally declared that it is his Gov ernment’s responsibility to provide jobs and a better standard of living for all Guyanese. This is quite unlike what former President Granger had said. He had said, “There is no magic wand. The Government cannot provide jobs in the Government Service, in the Police Force, or in the Defence Force. Employment is not something to be provided by the Gov ernment.”Itwould now seem that President Ali has the ‘magic wand’. There is more money in Afro-Guyanese pockets than ever before, and the same can be said for all Guyanese, who now are enjoying a better life.
6 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022SUNDAY CHRONICLE, August 21, 2022 23
The Government, when it assumed office in August 2020, inherited significant job loss, with out 70,000 jobs being lost under the APNU+AFC prior to and during the COVID-19 pan demic, when the country was shut down. This was exacer bated by inimical economic policies, which included heavy taxation, which this government has reversed, bringing ease to citizens. As such, the part-time job initiative was introduced. The part-time jobs initiative is currently benefitting some over 11,000 persons, many of whom have praised the programme.Inaddition, over $7 bil lion in COVID relief cash grants were distributed to every household across Guy ana, at a critical juncture when families were having a difficult time, due to the restrictions brought on by the Similarly,pandemic. government has been distributing flood relief hampers and cash grants to farmers who lost livestock and produce.
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 7
‘Fumbling’ Norton backs down from substantiating latest reckless claim
To ensure children are well-equipped to return to school, the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant initia tive has been increased to $25,000, together with the $5,000 school uniform al lowance, every child regis tered in a nursery, primary and secondary school, is entitled to $30,000. Recognising the difficul ties in the various sectors, many initiatives have been launched to offset challeng es such as the distribution of a one-off cash grant of $150,000, to fisherfolk and the cash grant to retrenched sugarWhenworkers.tragedy struck for farmers, government pledged $1 billion in fertilis er to be distributed free of cost to farmers to assist them in returning to the lands. Equally, those in the mining sector were given relief with the removal of the 10 per cent Tributors Tax. Children living with dis abilities have not been left out of development. They are being provided with a $100,000 ‘Special Needs Fund’ to meet their needs. These are some of the programmes the PPP/C gov ernment has rolled out to support Guyanese across the country.
SEVERAL INITIATIVES
“My government is not in the business of that ap proach but it seems as if he is stuck in his battle field of lies, hate and outright racist form of thinking. I am tired of this non-productive narra tive,” Ali stressed.
A fumbling Aubrey Nor ton failed to back up his claims that government’s temporary workers are being deployed to do political work for the People’s Pro gressiveNortonParty.said, “The AP NU+AFC condemns the use of the temporary workers of the state as political workers in the present claims and ob jection process. We demand that the PPP/C ends this cor rupt practice immediately. It is clearly an abuse of state resources and However,corruption.”theleader of the PNCR and the AP NU+AFC Coalition, when pressed for evidence of his claim, could not proffer a coherent response. He said only that, “They are all around.”Meanwhile, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, put Norton on blast for his deception. He rubbished the Opposition Leader’s claims as “absolute nonsense” and made clear that Guyanese of all walks of life, ethnicity, political, social and religious persua sion are part of that job-cre ation initiative.
The Head of State added that Norton must produce facts to the Guyanese claims to substantiate his claims if he is to have any semblance of credibility.Healsounderscored the reckless nature of Norton and his APNU+AFC Co alition in dubbing much needed relief to farmers, children, public servants and other vulnerable groups as handouts and for calling the efforts to cushion rising cost of living as a “corrupt” practice – all without a shred of evidence. “When in a public and open way we pro vide jobs to put disposable income in people pocket it is corrupt practice….it does not take much to understand the reckless and hopeless motive of Norton,” Ali said.
QUESTIONABLE DEALS Further, while in Oppo sition, the PPP/C had iden tified several questionable deals and promised to have these investigated – includ ing the alleged sale of vehi cles to Jordan’s children for underJordan’s$300,000.arrest followed the move to send the file into his conduct in office to authorities for a criminal investigation.Astatement by the Guy ana Police Force said, “Of ficers of the Special Organ ised Crime Unit (SOCU), Guyana Police Force, made contact with Mr. Winston Jordan and invited him to attend the office of the unit at Camp Road, Georgetown for questioning in relation to a series of alleged fraudulent transactions in which he is implicated, involving public funds and state properties, estimated to value billions of Guyana dollars. Today (December 2, 2021), at or about 10:30 hrs, Mr. Jordan, in the company of two At torneys-at-Law, attended the SOCU office at Camp Road and was interviewed….this is only one of several in vestigations that implicate former Minister Jordan.” The embattled former Coalition minister was re leased on his own recogni zance. When charged, he was not required to plead to the charge, was released on $3M bail. Jordan’s lawyers are APNU+AFC Coalition Parliamentarian, Roysdale Forde and Khemraj Ram jattan, as well as Attor neys-at-law, Dawn Cush, Joseph Harmon, and Darren Wade.
The case against embattled former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, was called in the Georgetown Magis trate’s Court before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly on Monday (August 29, 2022), Jordan was arrested by ranks of the Special Organ ised Crime Unit (SOCU) on December 2, 2021 for alleged misconduct in public office. The case was adjourned to September 14, 2022 for hearings.SOCU Prosecutor, Tuan na Hardy, requested that the accused be tried summarily in the Magistrates’ Court. However, Jordan’s lawyers objected and argued for a trial by jury in the High Court – meaning a Preliminary In quiry would take place at the Magistrates’ Court and once the magistrate finds that a case has been made, it would then be referred to the High Court for trial by a judge andJordan’sjury. lawyers have not made their submissions in the case, where he is facing charges of misconduct in public office. The case to which the charge is related is the sale and vesting of the state’s largest wharf facilities locat ed at Kingston, Georgetown. The charge stated that the property, Mudlots 1 & 2, F of Mudlot 3, A, B & D, situ ated at North transfersowednocumbranceisorderpurchasepassstatedtably,issuedTransporttheTiwariInhowever,$8B.portedlyTiwari.companywithoutKingstonwaterfronttoorder,undervaluedbillions,Georgetown,Cummingsburg,wasvaluedatbutwassoldatansum.JordanissuedavestingwhichpassesTitlethepurchaser,forprimepropertiesintoBKMarineInc.fullpayment.TheisownedbyBrianThepropertyisreworthawhoppingThepurchaseprice,wassetat$400M.astrangeturnofevents,onlypaid$20M–notfullpricefortheland.Thewassubsequentlyforthisproperty.NotheagreementofsalethatTitlemustonlyuponfullpaymentofprice.Thevestingstatedthatthepropertybeingsoldfreefromenandliabilitiesandfurthersumofmoneyisbythepurchaser.Thiswasamongnineofstatelands were signed off by the AP NU+AFC Coalition’s Jordan and exposed via the March 28, 2020 edition of the Offi cial Gazette.
Public misconduct case against Jordan set to continue on September 14th
The Auditor General’s Of fice (AOG) was called in to conduct a forensic audit of the situation at MARAD and the other agencies. Also, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) has been called in to investi gate the circumstances.
I nvestigations are still on going into the case of the exorbitant ‘gifts’ that were collected by former AP NU+AFC Coalition gov ernment Ministers, David Patterson and Annette Fer Mostguson.of the gifts were is sued under the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD), while significant sums were also spent by the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation (DHBC). A spreadsheet from the DHBC showed that in excess of $6 million in “donations” were given to the Public Infra structure Ministry between June 2015 and July 2016. In 2021 that it was revealed that over the five years under the APNU+AFC govern ment, Patterson received per sonal gifts totalling $2.646 million from agencies un der his remit. According to 2016 records, the MARAD had purchased a birthday gift for Patterson valued at $60,000. Further, in 2018, the same agency purchased a $384,700 birthday bracelet for Patterson from King’s Jewellery World. Documents from May 2020 showed that MARAD went on to approve a majestic sum of $704,292 “towards the purchase of birthday gifts”. The records did not specify that the pur chase was for Patterson’s birthday gift. Records show that Patterson also received gifts from the Transport and Harbour Department (THD), the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), and the Meanwhile,DHBC. while serving as junior Minister of Public Infrastructure, Ferguson re ceived items valued at $1.4 million from the very agen cies; however, these were classified as “donations”.
The gift-giving was also extended to former Gener al Manager of the DHBC, Rawlston Adams who ap proved the purchase of a spanking $897,000 bracelet as a gift for International Men’s Day in 2020. Adams later resigned and repaid for the Notably,item. as part of the Fiscal Management and Account ability Act (FMAA), ac counting officers, Permanent Secretaries included, could face penalties for spending monies that have not been budgeted for and approved by the National Assembly. Further, Section 34 of the Stores Regulations 1993 states that: “All gifts re ceived shall be subject to normal store-keeping and received stores accounting procedures and the proce dure set out in the regula tions 16 to 19 inclusive shall apply. A Gift Register in Form 18 shall be maintained by the Storekeeper, and the Permanent Secretary shall furnish the Secretary to the Treasury (now Finance Sec retary), the Accountant Gen eral and the Auditor General information relating to all gifts received from time to time.”
8 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022
INVESTIGATION In October 2021, Attor ney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, announced that an investiga tion into the dealings of the former APNU+AFC govern ment is actively being pur sued. During a press briefing at the Office of the President on October 14, 2021, Nandlall said, “There were a number of transac tions that were done under the previous government that will be subjected to investiga tions and charges may flow if those investigations yield those charges based on the advice, of course, of the Di rector of Public Prosecutions. That is an ongoing process… many people believe that we may not have been pursuing this with the desired speed. That is not so. There are so many other things that have happened since that have di verted the attention of the Po lice Force in other directors. But we remain committed to that promise to investigate theseAccordingtransactions.”tothe Attor ney General, Jordan has been implicated in a number of nefarious transactions. “The former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, has been implicated in a number of nefarious and questionable transactions, which we intend to send to the Police Force and to other authorities for investigations.” These include: • Hiding receipt of the US$18 million signing paid by ExxonMobil for over a •year;The alleged sale of a num ber of prime pieces of land, many “far below market value” and “without the requisite public procure ment process”, after the December 2018 No-Con fidence Motion, as well as after the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elec tions; and • The alleged sale of several vehicles from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to close associates of the then administration with observing proper proce dures. Commenting on the in vestigations, Nandlall had said, “This is what we owe, as a government, to the peo ple of this country. After all, we have a duty, a fiduciary duty, to the people of Guyana to protect public property and public funds – public funds that are owned by the people, public property that are owned by the people. We have a duty to protect them and to call in the State’s in vestigative apparatus, where the circumstances require investigations to take place. We have certainly identified certain areas.”
NUMEROUS ‘GIFTS’ NOT RECORDED A total of $5.233B in miscella neous receipt was “understated by an undetermined amount” given that gifts received were not reported and accounted for during 2020. This is according to the 2020 Auditor General’s report, which was handed to the Speaker of the National As sembly in December 2021. The report, on page 21, said, “Section 34 of the Stores Reg ulations 1993 states that “all gifts received shall be subject to normal store-keeping and received stores accounting procedures and the procedure set out in the regulations 16 to 19 inclusive shall apply. A Gift Register in Form 18 shall be maintained by the Storekeeper, and the Perma nent Secretary shall furnish the Secretary to the Treasury (now Finance Secretary), the Accountant General Patterson, Ferguson still under investigation over ‘gifts’ (Turn to page 19)
The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) has been asked to submit all financial records detailing how it spent almost $500 million in taxpayers’ money it had received since 2018. A letter to this effect was addressed to Chief Execu tive Officer (CEO) of IDPA DA-G, Olive Sampson, and dispatched from the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport on Wednesday (August 31, 2022).According to the cor respondence, the Ministry pointed out that it has an overarching public respon sibility to ensure that public funds received by any entity are spent according to the intended objective. “The firm position of the Ministry is that the intended objective of the public funds allocated to IDPADA-G is for the benefit and empowerment of as many Afro-Guyanese as possible. The recent disclo sures, publications and public statements have provided the basis for the Ministry to have grave concerns, which require closer examination by the Ministry,” the letter said. Against this background, the Ministry requested cop ies of all financial records from IDPADA-G, including, but not limited to, payment vouchers, payroll, contracts, and receipts for all monies spent for the fiscal years from 2018 to the present date. IDPADA-G has been giv en up to September 5, 2022 to submit all the requested documents along with an in dex of these to the Ministry. From 2018 to 2022, the International Decade of People of African Descent Assembly– Guyana (IDPA DA-G) received almost half a billion dollars and Vice Pres ident, Bharrat Jagdeo, has made clear that it must say how the monies were used to benefit Afro-Guyanese. His comment came in de fense of the PPP/C Govern ment’s record on upliftment of Afro-Guyanese. “I would like them [IDPADA-G] to have a press conference so they can tell the people of this country what they have done with the nearly half a billion in money they’ve received and how much was utilised in the interest of ordinary Afro-Guyanese in this country. Who receive all of this money? Nearly half a billion dollars,” Jagdeo said on August 19, 2022….this is their financial statement for 2020… salaries and allow ances $42 million, confer ence expenses, $4.5 million, travelling and transportation $2.8 million, advertisement $2 million, office material and expenses $9 million, building rental and utilities $5 million, disbursement of grant fund, how much they give out in grants to Afro Guyanese, $343,000 disbursement of grant of the $100 million for 2020.” An attempt was made to justify the expenses by IDPADA-G during a news conference on August 22, 2022. However, Jagdeo later noted that their attempt at a justification has given rise to more questions than answers.
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 9 9
IDPADA-G called on to submit financials to account for taxpayer’s money
Many of these persons also, on their own, came forward.
10 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022MIRROR
GECOM records over 2,000 ClaimsduringtransactionsfirstweekofandObjections
The first week of Claims and Objections, which commenced on August 22, 2022, netted some 2,178 transactions. Of these, as of Wednesday (August 31, 2022): • 411 requested changes and corrections; • 560 requested transfers; •and1,207 persons used the op portunity to make a claim that they were not regis tered. Region Four recorded the highest numbers of transac tions, with 715 transactions, followed by Region Three with 465 transactions and Region Six with 323 trans actions.Replacement of national identification cards and re takes of photographs were alsoNoaddressed.objections were re corded as being filed. The Claims and Objec tions process allows persons to, among other things, object to any dead persons that may be on the Preliminary List of ElectorsOnce(PLE).theprocess is com pleted the Preliminary List of Electors will be used to generate the Official List of Electors (OLE).
Aprobe into the supply of erroneous immigra tion and registration data of citizens to the former AP NU+AFC Coalition govern ment – data that was then sent to the Guyana Elections Com mission during the national recount of ballots from the March 2020 Elections – has beenThisannounced.isaccording to Attor ney General, Anil Nandlall, who said, “Perhaps we should have done it before, but it is not too late. These concocted and fabricated allegations continue to be made by that rigging cabal who tried re lentlessly to pervert those elections. They manufactured records from the Immigration Department and the GRO office. “…the PPP went around and found many of those per sons whom they claim those persons were in North Ameri ca, but voted…many of these persons whom they claimed were dead were also found.
CLAIMS OBJECTIONSAND PROCESS During the Claims and Objections period, any per son who will be 18 years and older by the October 31, 2022, and is a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or naturalisation, or is a citi zen from a Commonwealth country living in Guyana for one year or more, can make a Claim on or before Septem ber 11, 2022 to be included on the OLE, providing that he/she was never previously registered.Persons desirous of mak ing a Claim to be included in the OLE are required to visit the GECOM Registration Of fice responsible for their area of residence with the appli cable source document such as original Birth Certificate, valid Passport, Adoption Certificate, or Naturalisation Certificate or Certificate of Registration to be registered for inclusion.Personswho are required to update their registration records such as changes or corrections to their names and occupation, or to apply for a transfer concerning their addresses are advised that those transactions would also be facilitated during this exercise.Therelevant source doc uments such as an original Marriage Certificate, Deed Poll with Birth Certificate, or a new Birth Certificate reflecting the changes must be presented in the case of an application for a change or correction.Objections against the inclusion of names in the PLE can be tendered to the Registration Officer of the RegistrationObjectionsArea.can be made by an Elector who is listed in the same Division list or Sub Division list in which the person being objected to is listed.Objections can also be made by approved Scru tineers of Political Parties provided that any such Scru tineer has monitoring respon sibilities for the Division or Sub Division in which the person being objected to is listed.The relevant original doc uments such as an original Death Certificate must be presented at the time of the hearing to support the basis upon which the objection is made.The Commission is urg ing all eligible persons to ensure that they use this opportunity to be registered for inclusion in the Revised List of Electors (RLE) and ultimately the Official List of Electors (OLE) to be eligible to vote. “Persons are also encouraged to object to the inclusion of the name of any person whom they believe should not be on the list, based on the legal provisions. Persons who were registered in the recently concluded Cycle of Continuous Regis tration need not reapply to be registered,” the Commission said.This exercise, according to a GECOM press release, will be conducted at all of GECOM’s permanent Reg istration Offices in the ten Administrative Regions. The process ends on September 15, 2022.
to
CLAIMS PERSONSTHATNOT IN GUYANA VOTED During the March 2020 election debacle, the AP NU+AFC Coalition had writ ten to the Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commis sion (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh and produced the false data to back up their unfounded claims. The GECOMC Chair had confirmed that the immigra tion authorities had confirmed that 172 of the persons she enquired about were not in the country on elections day, March 02, 2020. Also, several persons had come forward who were on the list, to state that they were alive and did vote at the March 2, 2020 elections. Persons were even upset that they were being used in the AP NU+AFC alleged plot to delay the results when they were not winning anymore.
Investigation of supply of erroneous data to GECOM to commence shortly – Nandlall
Elections CoI to commence before the end of the year (Turn page 19)
The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has urged caution among the Guyanese public, noting that it is once again in receipt of information that persons purporting to be employees of this Commission have been visiting homes seeking information about data in the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE).Astatement from the Commission on Tuesday (August 30, 2022), said, “It must be categorically stated that GECOM is not currently engaged in any such exercise, nor has the Commission au thorized anyone – employee or otherwise – to collect information from any person for any reason whatsoev er through house-to-house visits.“An integral component of the ongoing Claims and Objections exercise requires Registration Staff and Scru tineers to visit the given residential addresses of ap plicants for registration to verify that the applicants actually live at the addresses they would have provided. The applicants are informed of this mandatory visit at the time of the registration trans action, and based on the es tablished Standard Operating Procedure (SoP), GECOM Staff and Scrutineers must display their respective iden tification and accreditation badges throughout all such visits.”The Commission stated that citizens are, therefore, encouraged to be “extremely cautious and to verify the identity of persons visiting their homes before providing any solicited” information. GECOM noted that po litical parties are currently engaged in their own field activities.Persons are asked to con tact GECOM on telephone numbers 225-0277-9, 2239653, 225-5808, or 2255868 to report or clarify any concerns.
CLAIMS THAT DEAD PERSONS VOTED Claims by the AP NU+AFC Coalition that it has evidence to support the contention that dead persons voted at the March 2, 2020 Elections remain unsubstan tiated.The Coalition’s Amna Ally had said, “We have quite a lot more [death certificates] in our possession, [but] I can’t give you a count right now [of] how much. At the time, in response, GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, made clear that no evidence has been presented to the Commission. He said, “I sat through a meeting [with the APNU+AFC] that was al most two hours long. It started just after 2pm and it ended just before 4pm and absolutely no evidence was presented at that meeting…what the delegation sought to do was to raise the same bare allegations about electoral irregularities with out proof. As I indicated to you, not a single allegation or document has been brought to the Commission level in support of any allegation; and I keep stressing on this word allegation because it is a Com mission decision as well that any insertion into the Obser vation Report at the instance of a stakeholder must be out of necessity termed an allegation, because no proof is being pro vided from the person….I’ve been here every day. I walk around every day and nothing as far as I’m aware has been presented. Nothing has been presented to the Commission level, absolutely nothing.”
The international Elec tions Commission of In quiry (CoI) is expected to commence its investigation before the end of the year, ac cording to Attorney General AnilCurrently,Nandlall. efforts are moving apace to finalise the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the international Commis sion of TheInquiry.Terms of Reference will govern the work of the Commissioners who were named by President Dr. Ir faanAliAli.announced an In ternational Commission of Inquiry into the debacle that was Guyana’s March 2020 General and Regional Elec tions on June 16, 2022. He had said, “We, and particu larly your President, prom ised an international CoI, so I say to all those who struggled and sacrificed, all those who worked in protecting the democracy, that we have, in your honour, before dawn on next Tuesday, your President will name the members of that international CoI…those who subverted democracy, those who cannot present their SOPs, and those who struggled against the will of the people, the CoI will set the truth free from the untruth and the CoI will set those who dwell in the house of democracy and those who dwell in the fire of undem ocratic rule and norms…in honour of the these martyrs too and in honour of all the Guyanese who fought for freedom and democracy, who fought relentlessly in those five months to en sure our country never ever was allowed to go down as an undemocratic nation, in honour of your sacrifices, I committed that we will have an international CoI into the last Theelections.”members are Jus tice Stanley John, Retired Justice of Appeal in Turks and Caicos (Chairman); Justice Godfrey P. Smith, SC, former Attorney Gen eral, High Court Judge and Acting Justice of Appeal, Eastern Caribbean Court; Justice Carl Singh, former Chancellor, Guyana; and Dr. S.Y. Quraishi, former Chair and Chief Elections Commissioner of India. Dr. Afari Gyan and Dr. Nasim Zaidi will serve as resource personnel.
LETTER SENT Nandlall, this week, has since written the GECOM Chair on the matter. In his letter, he said,
Many of these persons were interviewed by the press and many of them also spoke on social media platforms, such as Facebook. This information is in the public domain and can easily be retrieved and verified. These are the very persons whom they claim were dead and outside Guy ana, but who were in fact alive and in “…theGuyana.police or the rel evant agency will have to investigate and tell the public where that document came from and who was responsi ble for compiling it and upon whose directions they were compiled. That will happen very shortly, in a matter of days.”The data was used by the Coalition to make several fictitious claims as part of its political campaign about dead people and migrants voting, as well as claims of multiple votes being cast at polls.
GECOM is only visiting homes to verify the addresses of registration applicants
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 11 11
The earliest date on which the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) can hold Local Government Elections (LGE), accord ing to the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Vishnu Per saud, is February 13, 2023. The disclosure came after GECOM’s statutory meet ing on Tuesday (August 30, 2022).Further, Persaud has been asked to revised the proposed workplan to allow for Local Government Elections to take place in January 2023. Last week, Persaud pro posed a date of December 12, 2022, for the polls. However, this date was outside of the statutory deadline of the Commission and the Chief Elections Officer was asked to reviewMeanwhile,it. GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, informed that no determi nation has been made at yet on the exact date. “We have a draft work plan that has a date for next year but we have not approved that plan as yet. We have not dis cussed and interrogated that plan as yet and only after we do that we can then decide on what date we can propose for elections,” he said. Once the Commission approves its work plan, it would then indicate its read iness to the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development and the pro posed date. The Minister would then, on the advice of GECOM, announce the date for Local Government Elections.Local Government Elec tions were constitutionally due at the end of 2021. LGE are constitutionally due ev ery two years in Guyana and were last held in 2018. GECOM is currently en gaged in a Claims and Objec tions process, which started on August 22, 2022 and will end on September 18, 2022. More than $750 million has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be undertaken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year. This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM’s in Budget 2022 and was ex amined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the 2022 Budget Estimates. Included in the $783 million for LGE is a more-than-$300 million increase in “other goods and services purchased”, which jumped from $250.8 million in 2021 to $575.9 million in the 2022 budget. Local Government Elec tions were deferred, among other challenges, because of the absence of key senior GECOM staffers, including a Chief Elections Officer, given that the former CEO, Keith Lowenfield, was fired and placed before the courts on changes related to public misconduct and electoral fraud.
ELECTION
LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS
AFC likely to go separate ways for upcoming LGE
CEO asked to further revise workplan for LGE
WATCH:
The upcoming Local Gov ernment Elections (LGE) may likely see A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change (AFC) going their separate ways.AFC Leader, Khemraj Ramjattan, when pressed on the issue said is still to be made.In2018, APNU left the AFC to go to the LGE alone. Nationally, at the 2018 Local Government Elec tions, results showed that the PPP/C almost doubled the margin of votes between the Party and APNU and AFC combined – moving from about 24,000 at the 2016 Local Government Elections to over 45,000 at this year’s Local Government Elections. The difference of votes between the PPP/C and the AFC was a whopping 113,000 votes. Between the PPP/C and the APNU, the difference of votes was over 50,000. Further, the APNU and AFC have been at logger heads about the sharing of seats and picking of key ap pointments in their majority RDCs since 2020 when the APNU members of the Re gion Four failed to support an AFC candidate for the Vice-Chairman post of that region.Leader of the PNCR and Chairman of the APNU, Aubrey Norton, on August 23, 2022, made it clear that his party will not allow the AFC to “dictate” the pick ing of the candidate for the Vice-Chairmanship of Re gion 10. “The issue was not whether it’s an AFC Vice-Chairman. As far as I know the APNU has been disposed to an AFC ViceChair but it must not be somebody who is dictated by the AFC who doesn’t have the confidence of the APNU,” Norton said. His comments are in di rect contradiction to com ments by AFC’s Cathy Hughes, who said, “The AFC is an independent polit ical party. We have our own systems. We have our own mechanisms for arriving at representatives that serve in our parliamentary system and serve as councillors that serve in the RDCs and NDCs. We went through our process and selected Coret ta Braithwaite to hold that position…the AFC abso lutely has always respected APNU’s right to select the persons they see fit to repre sent them in any position any official position. Similarly, we expect that the same right lies with our party and therefore only the AFC can select who it considers the best candidate to serve in a position that is deemed to be filled by a member or a representative from the Al liance For Change…they’re [APNU] not part of that decision-making process. Similarly, we have not been part of any kind of choosing on the part of APNU of any of theirAPNUrepresentatives.”andAFChave been fighting over a candi date for the position, which has been vacant since June 2021, when the then ViceChair, Douglas Gittens, died. In the past two years, several parties have left the Coalition, citing dictatorial behaviour by PNCR. One such group was the Working People’s Alliance (WPA). The WPA had said that the violation of the principles of Coalition politics has threatened to dismantle the APNU on several occasions, but very little have been done to address it. “In other words, we have had to live with PNC’s decisions being imposed on the rest of the APNU. Unfortunately, al though the Coalition is now out of power, nothing has changed for the better within the APNU,” the letter stated.
APNU,
The agriculture ministry will work with the community to locate 10 acres of land to be developed into a mixed farm to support the village’s food production. Masakenari is a Wai Wai community lo cated in the Deep South of the Rupununi, it is the most remote village in Guyana, and has a population of just under 300 persons. This community has a rich his tory of maintaining its cultural heritage and practices.
3. VILLAGE COUNCIL TO IDENTIFY PERSONS TO TRAINED AS TEACHER, HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
Some 600 persons who have been allocat ed low-income house lots in Lethem, Region Nine, will soon receive $1 million each, to commence constructing their homes.
Masakenari, a remote village in Deep South Rupununi, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo (Region Nine), could become a major organic honey production hub. President, Dr Irfaan Ali has already hint ed his government’s intention to invest in the community, which he said, has vast potential for apiculture practices and hon ey production. During a meeting in the Region Nine village on, Dr Ali proposed the new “One Guyana rainforest organic honey,” brand. He said once the project is up and running it will be pushed to an international standard.
Residents of Masakenari, one of the most remote villages in Region Nine (Upper Ta kutu-Upper Essequibo), will benefit from major infrastructure and other developments this year. The PPP/C government will make available $5 million to upgrade the Masakenari Airstrip to allow aircraft to land there during the rainy season.
11. ROAD FROM CRAB FALLS TO MASAKENARI TO BE COMPLETED
Responding to the needs
The Ministry of Agriculture will put systems in place to deliver a number of farming tools and equipment to the community to aid in the advancement of food cultivation there.
6. FARMING GROUP BE ESTABLISHED
Government has comprehensive plans to upgrade and rehabilitate the living quarters for healthcare workers and teachers across Region Nine.
1. 600 LETHEM RESIDENTS TO GET $1M FOR HOME CONSTRUCTION
4. BETTER FACILITIES FOR TEACHERS, HEALTHCARE WORKERS
7. SUPPORT FOR ORGANIC HON EY PRODUCTION
12. REGION 9 FOOD CULTIVATION TO BE SUPPORTED
President Dr. Irfaan Ali has said that the government will buy the weapons and residents will not have to pay no renewal for license. This applies only the members of the group. The group will work along with the regional police commander to acquire three shotguns before the end of the month.
2. $210M FOR ROADS, REVETMENT WORKS IN ST IGNATIUS Contracts have been awarded to complete revetment works at a cost of $130 million, and another $80 million to complete the two bridges and start the road from the St Ignatius Bridge to Stock Farm.
8. MASAKENARI TO RECEIVE SUPPORT TO ESTABLISH MIXED FARM
9. TRANSPORTATION SUPPORT FOR PARABARA Parabara will soon receive an aluminium boat, while a 25 x 25 boat engine will be delivered to the community by the end of September 2023.
10. MASAKENARI VILLAGE TO GET $10M ROAD, AIRSTRIP UPGRADE
12 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022MIRROR
To allow easier access to goods and services in the Wai Wai village, the president said another $5 million will be invested to upgrade the road from Crab Falls to Masakenari.
5. GOV’T TO PROCURE
Several of the initiatives announced in Region
Young professionals in the hinterland will be supported to join the Guyana Public Service as qualified teachers and health care professionals. For health and education, the Village Council has been tasked with identi fying persons who are interested in working in the sectors and training will be provided. Following the training, those persons will return to the vil lage to serve.
During an outreach to Region 9, President Dr. Irfaan Ali, stressed that the PPP/C administration
300,000 CLAY BLOCKS FROM SOUTH CENTRAL RUPUNUNI Government is looking to start a $10 million project by procuring some 300,000 clay blocks from communities across South Central Rupununi, through the hinterland housing programme. The administration wants to create as much economic activities in that part of the district, allowing residents there to enjoy a more enhanced quality of life.
Some $15 million will be made available through the 2023 National Budget for the continuation of the extension of water distribution sys tem in Achiwib, in the Deep South Rupununi, Region Nine. The PPP/C Government has already injected more than $1.5 billion to increase access to safe, clean and reliable water in hinterland and riverine communities throughout Guyana, which resulted in more than 10,000 resi dents benefitting from first time access to potable water since August 2020. Since the PPP/C took office, approximately 20 new water distribution systems were completed in communities in Regions One, Seven, Eight and Nine, and communities in the coastal regions. This has resulted in a significant increase of hinterland water coverage from 46 per cent to 60 per cent.
18. PARABARA VILLAGE TO GET NEW NURSERY
Money will be set aside in the 2023 National Budget for the construction of a nursery school at Parabara, Region Nine. The small community which is located within the Deep South Rupununi district, currently has almost 20 children that meet the age for nursery education.
19. NEW GUYANA MARKETING CORPORATION (GMC) TO ENGAGE RE GION 9 RESIDENTS TO ADVANCE PEANUT PRODUCTION
14. SOLAR PANELS FOR MASEKENARI IN 2023
The PPP/C government will sup port the village to get the craft to the market through the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.
13. HINTERLAND CRAFT PROJECT TO BE SUPPORTED
17. $10M SCHOOL FOR SHEA VILLAGE NEXT YEAR
of hinterland residents
Some 30,000 hinterland and river ine households will receive 150 watts solar panels, and provision of batteries and lighting kits under that initiative.
A total of 70 households in Ma sakenari will benefit from the govern ment’s solar panels per household pro gramme which is expected to be rolled out during the first quarter of 2023.
20. LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION TO BE SUPPORTED
SCHOOL
The PPP/C government will distribute two pairs of black giant chickens to the ap proximately 70 households in the village to improve agriculture and livestock production. The government, through the agriculture ministry, wants to make the hinterland regions less reliant on the coast for their food supplies, more specif ically by targeting the hinterland residential schools. The black giant is a large dual-purpose chicken, which can produce up to 200 eggs annually, and about 4.5 kilogrammes of meat. The birds can graze and forage as well as eat leftovers from the kitchen and still produce reasonably well. Given these qualities, the bird is well suited for hinterland regions. administration is committed to closing the development gap between the Coast and the hinterland. 9 are expected to be replicated in other areas.
The PPP/C government will set aside some $10 million in budget 2023 for the construction of a new school in Shea village, Region Nine. With the aim of expanding the education system at Shea village, the PPP/C government will also pro cure a computer and printer for the nursery school.
The New Guyana Marketing Incorporation (GMC) will work with villagers on a longterm agreement, and collectively put systems in place to support the selling of the produce.
16. $15M FOR EXTENSION OF ACHIWIB WATER DISTRIBU TION SYSTEM IN 2023
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 13 13
15. MAJOR SOLAR PANEL PROGRAMME TO ROLL OUT IN 2023
POSITIONS
14 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022MIRROR
Higher levels of account ability and transparency will be delivered to Guy anese as the PPP/C Gov ernment delivered on yet another campaign promise to manage revenues from the oil and gas sector prudently, according to President Dr IrfaanHisAli.comments came on Monday (August 29, 2022) when he appointed mem bers of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) board, and the Public Accountability and Oversight, and Investment Committees.Themembers received their instruments of appoint ment at a simple ceremony at the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown.Themembers of the NRF board are; Chairman of the board, Major General (ret’d) Joseph Singh, Guyana’s Per manent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Am bassador Carolyn Rodrigues, former President of the Ca ribbean Development Bank (CDB) Professor Compton Bourne, Dunstan Barrow, and Ramesh Dookoo of the Private Sector Commission (PSC).The members of the Public Accountability and Oversight Committee un der the NRF Act, comprise Chairman, Clement Sealey, Wendell Jeffery, Abu Zaman, Ryan Alexander, Dawn Gar dener, Aslim Singh and Teni Housty. Other members Des mond Sears and Savitri Bal bahadur were unavoidably absent.
Atotal of 2,000 parttime jobs will be made available to persons residing across Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Region Nine. President, Dr Irfaan Ali made the announcement, recently, while addressing residents at the Tabatinga Sports Ground in Lethem. President Ali is currently leading a three-day ministeri al outreach to the region. “In the coming weeks Vice Presi dent [Dr Bharrat Jagdeo] will be here to launch another programme, that is the 2,000 part-time jobs programme for Region Nine,” he disclosed. Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had launched the massive employment drive in several regions across Guyana. The Vice President had said Guyana lost some 35,000 jobs due to poor gov ernment policies under the previous APNU+AFC. He added that the attitude also imposed significant hardships on Guyanese. As such, the major undertaking forms part of the administration’s plan to subsidise household income in light of the ris ing cost of living. Interest ed persons will have to get registered, after which they will sign a one-year contract before work commences. The programme caters for one person per household, with the long-term intention to hire as many persons as possible. To this end, the PPP/C Administration re vised its manifesto promise of providing 50,000 jobs, looking at other ways of cre atingAlready,employment.about 2,000 part-time jobs were made available to persons along the Essequibo Coast, while the same amount was made available to Region Three residents.Similar opportunities were also given to residents of Mahaica – Berbice, Re gionAnotherFive. 4,000 residents of Region Six (East Berbi ce-Corentyne) are benefitting from part-time employment, which is already fostering self-enhancement and com munity development. In Region Ten, several residents welcomed the ini tiative, many of whom said it will help to make ends meet.
The letters of appoint ment were presented to Shaleeza Shaw (chairperson), Michael Munroe, Richard Rambarran and Lauris Hu kumchand of the Investment Committee. The Committee is responsible for advising the NRF Board on matters that concern investment of the oil funds, in a way that maximises the benefits to Guyana.While addressing the ap pointees, President Ali said the government is pleased to be able to fulfill this import ant responsibility. He noted that the management of the nation’s oil and gas resources is now strengthened with the establishment of the board and committees. “As govern ment, we want to assure of our full support in ensuring that you can execute your mandate and you can per form your duties with ease, efficiency and the necessary impetus that is required to make your work efficient,” he told the members.
Higher level of accountability, transparency for oil revenues
Region Nine to benefit from 2,000 part-time jobs ─ President Ali announces during outreach
The president highlighted the importance of the NRF board to the management of Guyana’s natural resource. The members, he acknowl edged are persons with knowledge and experience in various fields. “It gives us, I think, a combined capacity and capability that will bring true value to the management of all resources of our oil resources,” he further stat ed, while referencing Major Singh, who dedicated years of his life to the development of Guyana at every level. The President clarified that initially, UK Member of Parliament David Lammy whose parents are Guyanese, was announced to serve as director of the board. How ever, he explained that due to changes in his requirements in the UK, Lammy has asked not be a part of the board at this time. As a result, Lam my was replaced by Profes sor Compton Bourne, whom President Ali described as “a man of great stature, a Guyanese we are all very proudTheof.”Natural Resources Fund Bill, No. 21 of 2021, was passed in the Nation al Assembly on December 29, 2021. Section 5 (1) of the NRF Act provides for a Board of Directors of the Fund comprising not less than three and not more than five members, who shall be appointed by the President, inclusive of a chairperson. According to Section 5 (2), the Directors are selected from persons who have wide experience in legal, financial, business or administrative matters, one of whom shall be nominated by the National Assembly and one of whom shall be a representative of the private Accordingsector.to the Act, the directors are responsible for the overall management of the fund, reviewing and approving the policies of the fund, monitoring the perfor mance of the fund; ensur ing compliance with the ap proved policies of the fund; exercising general oversight of all aspects of the opera tions of the fund and ensur ing that the fund is managed in compliance with this Act and all other applicable laws. Also present at the cere mony were Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Min ister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips and Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Fi nance, Dr. Ashni Singh.
–President Ali appoints NRF Board, Public Accountability, Investment Committees
FROM THE PRESIDENT
The minister further an nounced that the ministry will be expending another $52,264,800 on the Barti ca-Potaro Road (Denham Bridge to Cassandra cross ing) to improve access to the Worksarea. are being carried out by Eron Lall Civil Eng. Works.
$166M road upgrades for Daag Point
Development…
The ministry awarded R. Razac Business Enterprise. Some $63,110,876 to reha bilitate the Salbora road and bridges.This will see the rehabil itation of 9.8 kilometres of laterite road and the rehabili tation of nine bridges.
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 15
Amerindian
R esidents of Daag Point, an Amerindian village in Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni), will soon benefit from a $166 million infra structural upgrade on the community’s main access road.Rehabilitation on the main thoroughfare will be executed in phases, which will see the first phase span ning approximately 900 me tres starting from the back of the Publiccommunity.Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill said the works are commencing this way following requests made by residents. “So, we start from the back and we coming up to the front and the reason why it is being done in that fashion is…. because you have requested it that way. And that shows that we are a government that listens to the people and we respond to the people and whatever we do is for the benefit of the people,” Edghill stated. He was at the time deliv ering during a recent com munity outreach. The road works are being executed by CB Construc tion and are expected to be completed by December. The minister highlighted that the road is being done in rigid pavement concrete to ensure quality and longevity, so residents can fully benefit from monies being spent on infrastructural thatfrontthetheuntilonEdghillAdditionally,development.Ministerassuredthattheworktheroadwillcontinueitreachestheheadofvillage.“Thisphaseofroadwillnotgetustothebutyoucanbeassuredwewillnotbuildahalf
MAHDIA MAIN ACCESS ROAD Another $108,655,491 was awarded for the second phase of rehabilitation works on the Mahdia main access road. The works will see approximately 500 metres of work being done within the township.Theminister highlighted that all works will be con cluded by year end. The minister said, “All of these works are to be con cluded in 2022 as part of our project and just like we are doing here. Where we are seeking to engage the resi dents, we want the people all across region eight to benefit. Where ever we have people living it aint matter if people voted for us or they didn’t vote for us. The fact that peo ple live there we are going there and we are addressing theirInissues.”addition, the minister said the government is work ing assiduously to connect every village within the re gion to improve the overall road network.
The PPP/C Administration is spearing no effort to demonstrate its commitment to improving the lives of all Guyanese, by ensuring the opportunities afforded to persons living on the coast are also available to those in the hinterland, according to Public Works Minister, Juan Edghill.Tothis end, the govern ment is expending approx imately $700 million in in frastructural works to reha bilitate a number of roads in Region Eight (Potaro – Sipu runi). This major infrastruc tural project is part of the government’s commitment to upgrade 2,000 kilometres of hinterland roads. Some of the infrastructur al roads set to commence in the hinterland region include the Mahdia main access road, Salbora road and bridges, Muruwa community roads and others. MURUWA The Amerindian village of Muruwa received some $64,677,900 for the rehabil itation of 10 kilometres of roads.The works will be ex ecuted by Jemcorp Eng. & Imports and is expected to be completed by year end. Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Egdhill said the upgrades on the road is a direct demonstration of gov ernment’s effort to improve the lives of residents. This follows difficulties faced by residents to traverse the road. “Your government don’t sit in Georgetown and imagine what to be done in communities. We come out, we hear you, we listen to you and as far as is possible we respond to your requests. I am happy to announce today that we have also engaged a contract to do about ten kilometres of main access road in Muruwa and that will bring relief for the people,” Minister Edghill said during a community outreach on Friday in the Region.
FOCUS ON GUYANA’S FIRST PEOPLE
Residents of Karrau, an Amerindian Village in Region Seven (CuyuniMazaruni), will benefit from some $70 million in road works.The infrastructural works are some of the largest to be implemented in the village. Public Works Minister, Bishop Juan Edghill said the project is part of the PPP/C Administration’s commit ment to upgrade 2,000 kilo metres of hinterland roads. The minister was at the time delivering remarks on the major infrastructural project, set to begin with immediate effect, at the Kar rau Community Ground. “The reason why I am here is to bring you good news because we only bring good news. We have awarded the contract of almost $70 mil lion for the upgrade of roads in Karrau. And this is part of our commitment when we went to the elections in 2020, we said we will do 2,000 ki lometres of hinterland roads. We [government] put that in black and white,” he said. The road works will span approximately five kilome tres, covering all the internal roads in the village. The minister said, “not only did cabinet offer no objections and the National Procure ment and Tender Adminis tration Board offer the award but the contract has been signed.”Tothis end, the contrac tor carrying out the project is JBS Investment Inc. The minister noted that the contractor is expected to be fully mobilised within a fewAdditionally,weeks. the vil lage’s Toshao Shane Corne lius will obtain an unpriced bill of quantities within a fewThisdays.will enable the vil lage to monitor and inspect Karrau residents to benefit from $70M in road projects
SALBORA ROAD AND BRIDGES
ROADBARTICA-POTARO
Gov’t injecting millions to improve road network in Region Eight
(Turn to page 20)
road. When we are finished with this phase in 2022, we will continue the road in 2023 until we get out, the same rigid pavement con crete road. The development comes in phases and waves and we are committed to im proving the lives of people so you don’t get everything all at once but as the country develops and we get more revenue we will do more,” EdghillFurther,reasoned.theminister en couraged CB Construction to employ residents from the community.Residents will also be provided with an unpriced bill of quantities to monitor the works and ensure it is being done to specification. This is part of the gov ernment’s policy position to provide transparency and accountability.Inaddition, the PPP/C government has expended over $500 million to reha bilitate several roads in the region.Currently, there is an ongoing project in West Bartica amounting to some $84 million. Another in Five Miles to the tune of $94 mil lion is also ongoing.
DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’
R esidents on the East Coast of Demerara could soon see the estab lishment of another water treatment plant, as the feasi bility study on the use of the Hope Canal as a sustainable source of water is proving to be fruitful.Thestudy commenced back in May this year, as government remains com mitted to providing treated water to 90 per cent of resi dents on the coast by 2025. Housing and Water Min ister, Collin Croal, disclosed that “we will wait the final findings but so far, the incli nation is we will be able to eventually put a treatment plant somewhere in the vi cinity of Lowland.” The minister was at the time addressing residents at the Hope Secondary School on government’s plans to ensure the distribution of potable water.
Gov’t to provide transportation for PWDs to attend ‘Learning Lab’
32 youth apprentices benefit from reforestation training
The Hope Canal was constructed to provide drain age from the East Demerara Water Conservancy into the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the ministry’s macro plan to improve the quality of water Guyanese receive on the coast, a $28 billion investment. “When we are finished with the current plan that we have for East Coast, we will see a level of service that is very satisfactory for every household,” Minister CroalOnlysaid.recently, the hous ing and water ministry re ceived $3.8 billion in sup plementary funding for the establishment of water treat ment plants in Regions Two, Three and Four. “Our main target in cludes the construction of seven new coastal water treatment plants… These new plants… we have al ready advertised for them.
16 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 PPP/C
The tenders are closed… They are going through the evaluation process and then by the end of this month, we expect to have awards,” Minister Croal disclosed as he defended the funding.
Persons living with dis abilities (PWDs) will be provided with free transpor tation to attend the ‘Learn ing Lab,’ a training centre established by the Human Services and Social Security Ministry.Persons living with disabilities will travel has sle-free to and from the government’s technical and vocational training centre which is currently being constructed in the Mahaica HospitalHumancompound.Services and So cial Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud recently made the announcement on the side-lines of a $100,000 ‘Special Needs Fund’ distri bution exercise. “So, this was a commitment that was given and I know right away that the Ministry of Human Ser vices and Social Security will be getting two buses. The buses will be used primarily for the training centre.” The learning centre is the first of its kind and will allow adolescent and adult persons living with disabilities to benefit from a number of training programmes to be gainfully employed. The minister encouraged persons to take advantage of the opportunities provided. “People wanted to be in school, people wanted to be learning, people wanted a skill, technical vocational skill so that they can go out and earn and be included in the labour market and labour force. I want persons living with disabilities to utilise it, it is there for them.”
The minister highlighted that the centre is expected to be constructed and furnished before the end of the year.
Little India benefitting from $41.8M road, drainage upgrades – a commitment by VP Jagdeo fulfilled
Courses to be offered in clude Information and Com munications Technology (ICT), with special emphasis on the jaw’s software for visually impaired persons, garment construction, and marketing, among others.
Contractors who exe cuted works include F&I Custom Brokerage Services, Nitesh Contracting, Fizal El monden, D&D Contracting and Tejmohal Enterprise. As part of the ministry’s policy, a number of persons from the community were also hired to execute the projects. The involvement of residents will ensure they play a role in the develop ment of their communities. Some $4 billion was ear marked for infrastructural works in Region Six as part of government’s push to ensure every Guyanese has improved access. In budget 2022, some $76.7 billion was allocated for the construction of roads and bridges countrywide. Some $15.2 billion of that amount was earmarked for miscellaneous roads which saw a number of com munity roads constructed in Regions, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and 10. The public works minis try recently received supple mentary funding, approved by the National Assembly to further improve the lives of Guyanese. The money will be expended in the local authority areas across the country.
Government will also ex pand and upgrade 12 water treatment plants in Regions Three, Four, Five, and Six. A total of $340 million will also be used for the expansion of the Sophia and Friendship water treatment plants, the replacement of transmission mains, exten sion of distribution mains, as well as extension of distribu tion mains on several areas along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.Anew well will also be constructed at Turkeyen Shelter Belt along with the expansion and upgrade of the Linden water treatment plant.
Feasibility study on Hope Canal as sustainable water source bearing fruit – Croal R esidents of Little India, Region Six (East Berbi ce-Corentyne) are now ben efitting from $41.8 million in road and drainage works. Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo made a com mitment to residents back in June to have concrete roads built and their drainage im proved.The completed works include 782 metres of con crete roads measuring eight feet wide and the construc tion several culverts. Works were undertaken in First, Second, Third, Fourth and Last Street, Little India.
The centre is also being built to resolve the issues of anxiety faced by persons liv ing with disabilities with the creation of a safe space and recreational school,”childrenmentgoingattendlivingtransportationisPersaudAdditionally,facilities.Ministersaidthegovernmentalsoworkingtoprovideforchildrenwithdisabilitiestoschool.“Wearealsotolookat,asagovernathavingbusestotaketothespecialneedsshesaid.Theministryhasbeen offering free training courses since the PPP/C Adminis tration returned to office in AugustGovernment2020. aims to train some 600 persons living with disabilities before the end of the year.
Thirty-two apprentices from the Youth in Nat ural Resources 2022 (YNR) programme, under the Natu ral Resources Ministry, ben efitted from forest reforesta tion and mine reclamation training.The training, part of a collaborative effort be tween the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), was conducted at the Yarrowk abra Forestry Training Cen tre, along the Soesdyke-Lin denItHighway.aimedto edify partici pants on the importance and preservation of Guyana’s forests and is part of the GGMC’s mandate to main stream mine reclamation in Guyana’s extractive sector. It also aligns with Guy ana’s Low Carbon Devel opment Strategy (LCDS) 2030 strategy in keeping with sustainable forestry and low-impact mining. The joint GFC/GGMC Project aims to create a cen tralised seedling bank of na tive forest species to support sustainable and responsible practices within Guyana’s mining and forestry sectors. A Seedling Station, which was also commis sioned recently, aims to aid in the reforestation effort as well. It is located at the Yar rowkabra Forestry Training Centre.
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 17
Sixty-four persons of Zee lugt Phase one and two, Region Three, are now legal owners of lands they have occupied for decades after receiving titles on Friday. From as far back as 1999, they were allocated lands by the Guyana Sugar Corpo ration (GuySuCo) through the Sugar Industry Labour Welfare Fund without having legalGovernmentownership. understand ing the importance of such a document, intervened to ensure they are the rightful owners.Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall spearheaded the exercise along with Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal. The Attorney Gen eral said the distribution of titles is government’s way of empowering people. He said it now affords them op portunities they did not have for over two decades. “For the first time in your life you can add the name of any per son you wish to that title, to make them the owner of the land and the building. That is what is called empowerment and our government is com mitted to empowering all of our people,” he explained. Minister Croal in brief remarks said the handing over of the title demonstrates why the people of Guyana elected the PPP/C adminis tration. He further explained that the process to get the ti tle was a collaborative effort 64 Zeelugt residents now legal owners of their lands (Turn to page 20)
R oad works on Aubrey Barker Road have com menced, fulfilling a commit ment made by President Dr Irfaan Ali who visited the community back in June. The $95.3 million works include widening the road to ease congestion, and the construction of drains to ad dress the issue of flooding, which severely affects the community when it rains. The works are being executed by Surrey Paving Aggregate Company Ca ribbean Limited, and are expected to be completed by yearUponend. completion, the road will be about seven me tres wide which will provide two lanes for comfortable use of the road. This is one of many commitments fulfilled by the government following community meetings. Since taking office, the Presi dent Ali-led administration pledged to work along with every community to ensure their issues are addressed.
More improvements for New Amsterdam hospital, other health centres
Residents on the Island of Leguan, Region Three will be benefitting from two major road projects awarded recently by the Public Works Ministry.Oneof the contracts for $14.9 million was awarded to local Leguan contactor Khan’s Enterprise. The contractor is em ploying residents to conduct works on a 100-metre earth en dam called the Waterloo Cemetery Road on the west ern side of the island. The dam is also being upgraded to asphaltic con crete, which will benefit resi dents who are predominantly rice and cash crop farmers. Minister within the Pub lic Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, who was visiting the island on Friday noted that improving the road network across Leguan is part of the PPP/C Government’s prom ise of providing a supportive environment to promote ag riculture expansion. This is all part of the government’s commitment to the CARICOM food se curity agenda, which is to increase food supplies and enhance food and nutrition security by reducing food imports by 25 per cent by 2025. Minister Indar also in spected several local street upgrades that were complet ed recently to rigid concrete pavements. These streets included Garoo Street in Goed Intent, Robert Street in Bleinheim, and Yally Street in LaTheBagatelle.Crematorium dam worksite was also inspected by Minister Indar on the trip. A Contractor from Essequibo, Pooran Manman was awarded the contract for work on the dam to the tune of $43.6 million.
PPP/C DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’
$95.3M works on Aubrey Barker Road commences
Leguan benefitting from over $58M in road works – Waterloo Cemetery, Crematorium dams to be upgraded to roads N ew Amsterdam Hos pital is scheduled to undergo more improve ments as the PPP/C Gov ernment stands committed to ensuring there are major health sector upgrades and reforms.Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said there is a lot of misinformation and spurious claims being made about the hospital’s condition. He noted a slew of rehabilitative measures is already in place for health facilities across the country while noting that the hospi tal is no different. Dr Anthony noted that there were false claims about the state of the hos pital operating theatre in a section of the media which needs to be addressed. “One of the things that were men tioned in the article was that the theatres have mould in them. There is no theatre right now at the New Am sterdam Hospital that has any mould in it because if it has mould, we have to shut the theatre down”, the Minister said. He noted that the PPP/C Government would never place the health of patients at the New Amsterdam Hos pital at risk. “It would not be fit for us to operate in such a theatre. We are not going to put any patient at risk to operate in such an environment,” Anthony said.Notwithstanding this, the minister explained that several other mechanisms were re-established at the New Amsterdam facility, including dialysis treat ment.The construction of a new isolation facility, addi tional technical equipment, and the implementation of solar energy systems are also among the measures implemented to improve the facility. “What was painted in the article is far from the reality of what exists on the ground, and it is unfortunate that that has happened,” Dr Anthony clarified. Additionally, Advisor to the minister, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, in a recent statement, explained that the information mentioned in the article included the areas the Ministry of Health identified for improvement and upgrade. “The descrip tion that [was] used in an editorial…and in earlier articles that they claimed the IDB now has found in a study refers to the condi tions the MOH was address ing from August 2020 and used as the basis for rehabil itation and upgrading plans that were put together since that time,” he explained. Not only has the gov ernment set aside more than $1 Billion for rehabilitative works at hospitals across the country but has already set the foundation for the construction of several new healthcare facilities. On July 31, the sod was turned for the construction of a 256-bed Pediatric and Ma ternal Hospital at Goedver wagting, East Coast De merara.
Health Minister pours cold water on spurious claims
10 allocatedfamilieshouse lots in Region Three
Ten families from Esse quibo Islands-West De merara (Region Three) were allocated house lots in the new Stewartville Housing Scheme on AccordingSunday.tothe min istry, after selecting their house lots, the informal set tlers were issued with their allocation letters. They sub sequently participated in the CHPA’s lot identification exercise.Meanwhile, some 13 per sons are squatting at the Zeelugt Sideline Dam area. The other three persons have already been allocated house lots in Stewartville and other nearby schemes. The com munity development depart ment will continue to provide guidance and support to the families during the relocation and resettlement processes, the ministry stated.
F our hundred and fifty house lot beneficiaries of Region Five can now access their lands in the Experiment Housing Scheme and begin the construction of their homes.Minister within the Housing and Water Minis try, Susan Rodrigues visited the scheme on Wednesday to have a first-hand look of the ongoing infrastructure works which are about 85 per cent completed.
“We are taking full ad vantage of the sunny weather that we are having… If there are people in the region who have paid for their house lots but have not been shown their lots, they can go to the regional housing office and they will be guided as to who will come and identify their lots,” Minister Rodrigues said during the inspection. The infrastructure works catered for the construction of access roads, bridges, culverts and the installation of water supply networks. “We don’t want to hold back progress; we don’t want to hold back people from coming to occupy their house lots. So, we need them to get in touch with the office so that the surveyors and clerks can bring them on the ground to identify their house lots” the minister re lated. Some 513 lots were al located in the Experiment housing scheme last year. When the infrastructure works are completed, the re maining allottees will access theirThereland. are about 4,000 applications for house lots in the ministry’s database. However, government is well on track to deliver on its 50,000 house lots distribu tion by 2025. In the first two years of the PPP/C’s term in office, over 15,000 lots were distributed.In2022 alone, the min istry anticipates over 14,000 house lots will be distrib uted.Government is also im plementing several measures to make homeownership for Guyanese more affordable.
PPP/C
Road works have com menced on the reha bilitation of Ballfield Main Access Road in Crabwood Creek, Region Six (East Ber bice-Corentyne).Theworkswhich began on August 24, cost some $19.7 million. They are be ing executed by the Public Works Ministry’s Special Projects Unit. It is also the fulfilment of a commitment made by Min ister, Bishop Juan Edghill back in June, to have roads done in Crabwood Creek. Over the next two months, some 75 metres of the road will be upgraded with reinforced concrete, while the carriageway will be widened from nine to 14 feet, along with other miscel laneousPersonsworks.from within the community are also em ployed to execute the project. Only recently, the public works ministry completed $41.8 million of road works in Little India, Region Six. The works include the con struction of 782 metres of concrete roads and improved drainage via the construction of culverts. That was the fulfilment of a commitment made by Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.
The PPP/C Administra tion has committed to im proving community roads across the country. In the 2022 budget, $4 billion was earmarked for infrastructural works in Re gion Six as part of the gov ernment’s push to ensure ev ery Guyanese has improved access. It also forms part of the $15.2 billion earmarked for the construction of mis cellaneous roads in Regions, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, andThe10. ministry recently re ceived supplementary fund ing, approved by the National Assembly to further improve the lives of Guyanese. The money will be expended in local authority areas across the country. The ministry through budget 2022, re ceived a mammoth allocation of $76.7 billion for the con struction of roads and bridges countrywide.
450 lots ready for occupancy in Experiment housing scheme
18 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022
Over $455 million in contracts was awarded to four contractors to develop the housing scheme last year. Shortage of materials and the extensive rainy period had delayed the works.
DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’
$19.7M road works commence in Crabwood Creek
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 19
Investigation of supply of erroneous data...
OTHER CLAIMS In May 2020, current leader of the PNCR and the Coalition, Aubrey Norton, had made wild claims that at a polling station in Bush Lot, Region 5, the People’s Pro gressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) secured 199 votes and the Co alition secured four votes – but there were only 199 registered voters for that polling station. He had said: “I want to point out that in Box number 5083 at Bush Lot, Region Five, the official list of electors had 199 persons.” The polling station in ref erence was at the Bush Lot Nursery School [Division 52213C (ii)]and the number of registered voters whose ballots would have been placed in Ballot Box number 5083 is 257 – not the 199 that Norton claimed.
Also, the almost fourweek long process of Claims and Objections, which preced ed the March 2, 2022 General and Regional Elections, pro vided an opportunity for the names of persons who died to be removed from the Official Voters List and the Coalition has not been able to say why it did not make objections during this period, as opposed to making them now, after the votingImportantly,process. the report from the Caribbean Com munity (CARICOM) team on the national recount of votes cast on March 2, 2022 concluded that the Coalition had embarked on a “fishing expedition” with its claims. the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) three-person ob server team, which witnessed the national recount of votes from the March 2020 Elec tions, said clearly that: “… nothing we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 2, 2020 elections. “….the team categorically rejects the concerted public efforts to discredit the polls up to the disastrous Region 4 tabulation…the numerous requests for information on several serial numbers were so bizarre that on one observed occasion, an APNU/AFC agent was prepared to query serial numbers on the OLE (Official List of Electors) in a work station where no one had noted. These challenges were often made on the ground of death and migration…the team viewed much of the ex ercise as a fishing expedition designed to gather data for a possible election petition and which resulted in considerable time being wasted during the recount. Furthermore, the net was cast extremely wide in the hope of at least making a small catch and at times the anticipated harvest ended in slim pickings.”
FISHING EXPEDITION
(From page 10)
“These allegations continue to be peddled in the public domain by leaders and rep resentatives of the aforesaid political entity. At the time and until now, the impression con veyed is that these documents and/or data were generated by and obtained from the official lawful repository of the spe cific information, for example, the immigration department, the Guyana Police Force and the General Registrar’s Office. “…it is important that the relevant State agency enquires into the source of this infor mation, upon whose direc tions they were sourced and, perhaps, most importantly, to officially reconfirm their inaccuracy, for public record. In the circumstances, I hereby request a copy of these docu ments to initiate this process.”
Notably, it had been point ed out that each political par ty had polling agents would could have objected to any suspect voter, given that they had access to information of every voter listed to vote at a particular polling station – in the form of voter folios.
Karrau residents to benefit...
20 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 and the Auditor General information relating to all gifts received from time to time. However, although there was evidence of the receipts of numerous gifts during the year, there was no evidence of adherence to these procedures.” The AG’s report noted that as a result, the amount of $5.233 billion representing Miscellaneous Receipts was understated by an un determined amount. The Auditor General’s office has recommended stringent measures to en sure compliance with reg ulation on how gifts should be treated.
Patterson, Ferguson still... (From page 7) (From page 17) (From page 15) between several ministries and government agencies.
“You elect a government to ensure that we work every day possibly in our lives to help you and to help fix your issues and to help resolve your issues. But ultimately, the ulterior objective is to make your life better,” Min ister Croal stated. The President Dr Irfaan Ali-led administration since taking office has been work ing across the country to en sure people have legal rights to lands they have occupied for years. 64 Zeelugt residents now legal owners... the project to ensure it is being done within the spec ifications. The minister highlighted that this is being done to of fer transparency to citizens. “We are a government that is committed to transpar ency. We believe in good governance. We believe in accountability. The people who are the beneficiaries must know what the govern ment is spending the money on, and if it isn’t correct bring it to our attention to ensure that you are getting proper delivery,” Minister EdghillContractorssaid. who carry out infrastructural works on behalf of the government are also being urged to employ residents from within the communities they are as signedThiswork.isbeing done to fos ter community engagement and economic growth within the area while residents ben efit from improved roads. “We have said to contractors all across the country that when you get a job and go into a local area, employ people from the area because infrastructural development must mean better infrastruc ture, but it must also bring employment to the commu nity while you are benefiting from a new road”, he noted. Residents were assured that the ongoing works will be inspected and monitored.
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 21
22 WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022
T he government’s do mestic violence ‘Imatter App’ is now easier to down load with the development of a QR code that will be placed on banners country wide for persons to scan. This is being done to further provide support to victims of gender-based vi olence while improving the nature of reporting violence in Guyana.Human Services and Social Security Minister, Dr Vindhya Persaud on Wednesday (August 31, 2022), highlighted the new feature available on the app, as she encouraged persons to fully utilise the many services made available on the “Whatapp. we are adding to it is the QR Code. We have the ‘Imatter app’ and I en couraged you to download it on your phones and once you download it you have all the resources available in the entire country at your disposal. Banners will be all across the country just scan it and you get the app im mediately,” the minister an nounced on the sidelines of the $100,000 Special Needs Fund distribution at Fort Wellington, Region Five. The government is as siduously working to make the ‘Imatter App’ accessible offline to further provide support to victims of gen der-based“Currentlyviolence.weare work ing to make the 914 ‘Imatter app’ offline. So that if you have a phone and you don’t have data you can still utilise this offline. This is to end gender-based violence… we can only stop it if all of us is involved if we know where to call and where to get help,” the Minister said. Meanwhile, the app falls under the government’s 914 24-hour toll free hotline, which was conceptualised last year to mitigate gen der-based violence in Guy ana.It also has a panic but ton which immediately con nects to the 914 hot line if a person is unable to do so. Persons can utilise the hotline to report physical, mental, verbal and sexual abuse. Immediate response and action are offered when a person reports a case of violence.Upon using the hotline persons are provided many forms of support such as counselling, shelter, legal aid and many more. In addition, survivor advocates are also accessi ble to persons through the 914 hotline and have the responsibility of informing victims of their rights and the services available to them.As part of the pro gramme, victims will be offered ‘survivor kits’ to get them back on their feet. The kits contain essential items for persons, who may be forced to evacuate their homes because of an abu sive relationship.
Domestic violence ‘Imatter app’ now scannable – Min Persaud
The minister assured citizens that the health min istry is doing all within its remit to ensure the virus is contained here in Guyana. “So, we have had several calls, we checked it, we ran tests and many of those persons, fortunately, did not have monkeypox,” he stated.More than a month ago, a special unit was estab lished at the infectious dis eases hospital to accom modate anyone who might test positive for the virus locally.The administration has also set up a steering com mittee and trained several regional health officials at the National Public Health Reference Laboratory. The monkeypox virus is transmitted through close contact with an infected person. Once infected, the incubation period can last from 7 to 21 days. Before the appearance of lesions, infected persons can experience symptoms like myalgia, swollen lymph nodes, swelling in the neck and headaches. To date, over 42,666 cases were de tected in 95 countries world wide, with over 13 deaths beingThereported.health ministry has also made it easier for per sons to call and seek med ical advice relating to the disease by repurposing the COVID-19 hotline. Persons can also call 0449, a toll free GTT number if more infor mation is needed. monkeypox cases in Guyana unlikely – Dr Anthony
High number of
WEEKEND MIRROR 3-4 SEPTEMBER, 2022 23 23
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, has said that only persons considered to be high-risk would be el igible for the monkeypox vaccine.Guyana is expected to receive its first set of ‘Imva mune’ vaccines for the viral infection by the end of Sep tember from Canada, through the Pan American Health Organisation
Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony maintains that he does not foresee a large number of monkeypox infec tions in Guyana. “I don’t think we will have large numbers of peo ple being affected and that’s why, once we are able to identify persons with mon keypox, that’s why we have been isolating them to pre vent further spread, and we will continue to do that so we don’t expect large numbers,” he said.The Health Minister, however, is urging the pub lic to continue efforts to curb infections by taking all the necessary precautions. “If any one has any rashes… and suspects that it might be monkeypox then they should come into one of our health institutions, so that the doctor there can do a proper evaluation and we can do the laboratory test and to make a determination,” he said. The minister is advising persons to avoid contact with others who have rashes and urge those persons to seek medical attention. “We prefer to err on the side of caution, so many cases that would be reported to us people with skin rashes are not going to be monkeypox and that’s fine, I don’t mind, we are going to screen them nev ertheless, we are going to run the test and so forth and that’s important for people to know, so we rather err on the side of caution, rather than not doing anything about it,” the health minister said. The minister said it is difficult to trace the source of the first recorded infection. “We have been in touch and so with the names and so that the patient has given us, it is hard to find some of the contacts because he does not have any particulars on those persons, but the immediate family members and persons who he has been in contact with regularly, those persons are in quarantine,” he noted. So far, none of those persons have shown any signs of infection.
CAUTION URGED Guyana recorded its second case of the virus on Monday (August 29, 2022). “We have diagnosed a second person with mon keypox. That person is now at Ocean View Hospital receiving treatment. The person is stable and we have started doing contact tracing for that person. People need to take precautions. If you have somebody with rashes you should call the health authorities so that we can have somebody go out there and examine what it is and be able to guide the person,” the Health Minister said. Meanwhile, Dr Frank Anthony is urging citizens to take the necessary steps to safeguard themselves against monkeypox.
Only high-risk persons eligible for monkeypox vaccine
“Iftheexposedthatsmallpox.tionsagainst‘Imvamune’(PAHO).protectsorthopoxvirusinfecsuchasmonkeypoxandDrAnthonyexplainedpersonswhohavebeentotheviruswillbefirsttobevaccinated.someoneisathigh-risk, meaning that you would have been in close contact with somebody who has monkey pox, then your chances of getting monkeypox would be quite high. The criteria to administer the vaccine would be that the person must have been exposed, and be at high risk for getting monkeypox,” he said.The health minister said Imvamune is a modified vaccine and the health min istry will be working to see how protective it is against monkeypox.Hesaid similar to the COVID-19 vaccine, there may be some temporary side-effects to the monkey pox vaccine. These include swelling or redness at the vaccination site, headaches and some muscle pain. He also explained that there are two types of mon keypox virus: namely, Clade I and Clade II. “The clini cal picture may not be very different. However, with Clade II, we have observed that mortality is higher. Generally, all the signs and symptoms are the same,” he explained.Heurged persons to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves against the Currently,virus. there are over 45,000 monkeypox cases and over a dozen deaths in some 96 countries.
OBLIGATIONSREPORTING Teixeira explained that in terms of Guyana’s report ing there are two areas under which this is done. The Inter-American Con vention against Corruption (IACAC) under the Organisa tion of American States (OAS) was the first multilateral an ti-corruption treaty instrument negotiated in the world. The Committee of Experts of the Follow-up Mechanism for the Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (MESICIC) of the OAS is the Follow-Up Mechanism for the implemen tation of the IACAC. The UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) was adopted by the UN Gen eral Assembly on the 31st October 2003. The UNCAC entered into force on the 14th December 2005.The UNCAC is the only legally binding uni versal anti-corruption instru ment. There was two reporting cycles since. Cycle 1 (2010 to 2015) addressed chapters 3 and 4 (Criminalization & Lawenforcement and International Cooperation). Cycle 2 (2015 to 2020) addressed chapters 2 and 5 (Preventative Measures and AssetTheRecovery).Minister explained, “As a new Ministry, we needed to find a national mechanism –the National Coordinating Committee on Anti-Corruption – to address our obligations.”
As the PPP/C Government forges ahead to eradicate fraudulent conduct in all sec tors across Guyana, its second anti-corruption framework workshop was opened this week, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC). Organised by the Parlia mentary Affairs and Gover nance Ministry, the two-day seminar will see intense dia logue between representatives of the government, the private sector, and civil society on transparency and accountabil ity n each of these sectors.. Following the hosting of the first anti-corruption workshop, a framework was established, focusing mainly on the gov ernment and the agencies that deal with accountability and transparency in the govern mentParliamentarysector. Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira, during remarks at the session on Tuesday (August 30, 2022), said the government’s ultimate aim is to strengthen its robust an ti-corruption framework and build effective collaboration between the various regulatory and oversight agencies and the public. “The importance of what we are doing here today is taking us to another step… when we finish this workshop depending on what comes out of it and the experiences, we may produce fact sheet number two … and to create constantly until we are able to build a total framework,” Minister Teixeira stated. Minister Teixeira noted that it is essential for people to be aware of the decision-mak ing processes of government and non-governmental organi sations. This, she added, is one of the significant elements of good governance at all levels of society.Importantly, the Minister underscored that transparen cy is especially significant in the process of sustainable development, which impacts on all players. “When there is corruption, the poor and vulnerable suffer the most, women, children, elderly, and youth suffer the most. All sec tors must have transparency in their decision-making and its implementation of laws, policies and projects, which ultimately should be aligned with the principle of democra cy,” she Accordingly,contended.she believes that transparency has the po tential to narrow the gap be tween what an organisation or group seem to be doing versus what they are actually doing. A growing number of re searchers have discussed the multiple dimensions of trans parency, including facilitating maximum public participation, improving social morality, de termining corruption, building political trust and the realisa tion of human rights. Minister Teixeira under scored that government has a framework which provides for the public and media to access annual public reports of constitutional bodies and state boards which are tabled in the National Assembly and posted on websites. Another, she dis closed, is the Auditor Gener al’s Annual Report is publicly available and the entire budget ary process in the National As sembly is livestreamed. There is also the mid-year review which the Finance Minister takes to the National Assembly after recess, that reports on government performance in the first six months of the year. Moreover, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC’s) hearings are now also live-streamed for the general Throughpublic.improvement in connectivity and against to the internet, people receive information is power, peo ple make decisions based on information, and if they are given accurate information or evidence-based information, they are more able to make decisions with regards to their lives,” Minister Teixeira add ed. FRAMEWORK Minister Teixeira ex plained that there is a frame work that exists, under which Guyana has different reporting obligations.Guyana ratified the In ter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC) on February 15, 2001. “The IACAC is actually the oldest and the first and oldest conven tion dealing with corruption globally, in fact Guyana was one of the first ratifier and has played a role in respecting that Convention and building our capacity. People may not rec ognize the importance of the Convention to us, in a sense that it has helped us to become more sensitized and build our structures. It’s all about incremental development and not shame and blame,” the MinisterAlso,said.Guyana acceded to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) on April 16, 2008, and the Convention was entered into force for Guyana on May 16, 2008.Guyana adopted the Lima Commitment in April 2018. Guyana committed to the UNGASS Political Decla ration on Corruption in June 2021.Guyana committed to the CELAC Working Group spe cialized in Preventing and Combating Corruption, estab lished in 2021.
The National Coordinat ing Committee (NCC) on Anti-Corruption involved a cross-section of government agencies and works on, not only ensuring that Guyana is compliant with its reporting obligations, but also on capaci ty building and maximizing on the synergies that exist among agencies.The NCC meets on a monthly basis and 16 agencies are currently represented on the Committee.Teixeiranoted that work on the anti-corruption is linked to building trust and confi dence, since act of corruption undermine public trust and confidence in government and also had an impact on democracy. “It is important to recognise that this is not the responsibility of one person alone. It is all of our respon sibility to reduce corruption and to be able to make our anti-corruption mechanism work,” she said.
The Ministry of Parliamen tary Affairs and Governance recently published ‘Guyana’s Anti-Corruption Framework’, which is being circulated wide ly and held its first workshop in June 2022.
framework – Teixeira
NATIONAL COORDINAT ING COMMITTEE
PUBLISHED BY NEW GUYANA Co. Ltd., Freedom House, Robb Street, Lacytown, Georgetown, Guyana. Tel: [592] 226-2042 / 227-2095 / 655-0459 / 627-7432
Gov’t pursuing robust anti-corruption
