Weekend Mirror 22-23 October 2022

National stakeholders’ consultation on electoral laws set for October 25th

The Ministry of Parliamen tary Affairs and Gover nance will be convening a na tional stakeholders’ consulta tion on the draft amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws on Tuesday, October 25, 2022, from 13:00hrs to 16:00hrs

at the Arthur Chung Confer ence Centre in Georgetown, Guyana.

A total of 157 organisa tions have been invited to the upcoming consultation.

These organisations, accord ing to the Ministry, repre

sent a broad cross section of society including political parties, constitutional bodies, civil society organizations in the labour movement, private sector, faith-based, youth, women, LGBTQ, ethnic/cul tural, health and rehabilita

tion organisations, and other civil society actors.

In a statement on the issue, the Ministry explained that this consultation is an integral element of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to implement

a consultative, inclusive and participatory process regard ing electoral reform.

The Ministry said, “The stakeholder consultation forms part of a continuous consultative process which began on November 6, 2021 when the Ministry of Parlia mentary Affairs and Gov ernance published the draft Representation of the Peo ple’s (Amendment) (ROPA) Bill and the draft Regulations made under the Representa tion of the People Act on its social media pages.

“The public was invited to peruse the draft documents and submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks, however, after requests for extensions, the Ministry ac commodated submissions of feedback well into 2022. Recommendations were re ceived from a variety of stakeholders including civil society actors, the Guyana Elections Commission, some political parties, and other interested individuals and organisations. These recom mendations were consolidat ed and provided to the At torney General, who in May 2022, facilitated in-person meetings with the respon dents.”

Notably, the proposed changes to Guyana’s elector al laws were circulated since November 5, 2021.

Notably, updated ver sions of the ROPA Bill and Regulations have been made available once again, and the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made accessible for public perusal via a link published on the Ministry’s Facebook pages.

At the upcoming con sultation, the Honourable Mohabir Anil Nandlall, SC, M.P., Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, will make presentations and lead discussions on the draft amendments to the electoral laws including the aforemen tioned Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill 2022, Regulations Made Un der the Representation of the People Act 2021, and Nation al Registration (Amendment) Bill 2022.

This consultation will be live streamed on the Depart ment of Public Information’s Facebook page. The public is invited to tune into these con sultations via the livestream to gain more information about the proposed amend ments and become further

immersed in the legislative reform process.

“The Government of Guyana remains committed to creating more robust and coherent elections legisla tion as part of the constantly developing democratic archi tecture of our One Guyana,” the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance said.

NON-PARTICIPATION

The Parliamentary Op position has not participated in the public consultation process on proposed electoral reform.

The APNU+AFC Co alition, in addition to its GECOM Commissioners, have maintained a position of calling for a review of the March 2020 Elections, before any legislative changed are advanced.

In a statement, on May 10, 2022, the Coalition-nomi nated GECOM Commission ers said, “We further reiterat ed our previous position that GECOM should conduct a review of its conduct of the 2020 elections as the precur sor to making any submission on electoral reform.”

On May 17, 2022, during a news conference, Leader of the Opposition, Aubrey Norton, called for a com prehensive review of what took place in March 2020.

Opposition Parliamentarian and General Secretary of the PNCR, Geeta Chandan-Ed mond, who was with Norton for the press conference, said, “A thorough review by GECOM of its performance in managing recent elec tions. 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 thorough and honest review must be con ducted 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 sion it.”

Notably, 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 interna tional Election Observer Mis

S TA B R O E K | M A I N S T | C A M P S T | S H E R I F F S T | N E W A M S T E R DA M

Coalition’s Election Petition 99 completely lost – CCJ ruling

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), on Wednesday (October 19, 2022), ruled that the Court of Appeal (CoA) in Guyana does not have the jurisdiction to hear and determine the appeal filed to challenge the dismissal of the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Election Petition 99 of 2020.

Justices Jacob Wit, Mau reen Rajnauth-Lee, Denys Barrow, Winston Anderson and Peter Jamadar presided over the case at the CCJ, which is Guyana’s final court of appeal.

Justice Anderson while delivering the court’s ruling said that Guyana’s appeal court did not have jurisdic tion to hear the case since the matter was thrown out by the High Court. As such, he ex plained there is no statutory or constitutional instrument granting jurisdiction to the Court of Appeal to hear an appeal of an election petition for procedural impropriety, or any other reason not stat ed in Article 163 (1) of the Constitution.

Further, the Court em phasised that Article 163(3) of the Constitution limits the right to appeal decisions of

the High Court in election petitions to only two cir cumstances. However, since the decision of the Chief Justice to strike out the pe tition on the basis that there was improper or late service on the former leader of AP NU+AFC, David Granger, this did not fall into either of those circumstances, and an appeal was not possible.

Consequently, the CCJ made clear that “jurisdiction” could not be founded in Article 123 of the Constitution and Sec tion 6 of the Court of Appeal Act since the “special elec tions” jurisdiction created by Article 163 of the Constitu tion, the Act and Rules must prevail over the general “civil law proceedings” jurisdiction contemplated by Article 123 and Section 6 (2) of the Court of Appeal Act.

“It could not be accepted that proceedings which began in the High Court under this exclusive, exclusionary, and special jurisdiction for deal ing with election petitions, suddenly transmogrified into ordinary civil law proceed ings and appeal. Neither is it permissible to depart from or import into, by implication, a jurisdiction not created,”

Court action fails…

Justice Anderson said while delivering the CCJ’s ruling.

As per the ruling of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Petition 99, one of two elec tion petitions filed by the APNU+AF Coalition, is now completely lost.

PETITION 99

Petition No.99, which challenged the final election results, was nullified by the Acting Chief Justice on the grounds of non-compliance of service on the second named respondent, former President Mr. David Granger.

Petition 99, argued that fraud was committed in the March 2020 Elections and over 115,000 votes were af fected, benefiting the PPP/C. So far, Petition 99 has been thrown out and the other will move forward.

Petition 99 of 2020 was filed on September 15, 2020, by APNU+AFC Coalition agents Monica Thomas and Brennan Nurse. Thomas and Nurse named Chief Elec tions Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; David Granger – APNU+AFC Coalition; Horatio Edmonson – Federal United Party; Bharrat Jagdeo – People’s Progressive Party/

Civic; John Flores – Liberty and Justice Party; Asha Kis soon – The New Movement; Vishnu Bandhu – United Republican Party; Adebin Kindi Ali – Change Guyana; Patrick Bourne – People’s Republic Party, Jonathan Yearwood – A New and United Guyana; Shazam Ally – The Citizenship Initiative; and Gerald Perreira of Organ isation for the Victory of the People as respondents. The Attorney General Chambers also joined the proceedings.

In Guyana’s High Court, Acting Chief Justice Roxane George’s dismissed Petition 99 on June 14, 2021.

The Appeal Court on De cember 21, 2021, ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear the appeal of Elections Petition 99, which was dismissed by the High Court. While the matter was at the Appeal Court, Jagdeo’s lawyers ar gued that there can only be an appeal after a determination is made in manner and this was not done in the case of Election Petition 99.

Prior to handing down its judgement on Wednesday (October 19, 2022), on July 19, 2022, the CCJ reserved its ruling on whether Guyana’s

Court of Appeal can hear and determine an appeal sur rounding the dismissal of the Election Petition 99 of 2020.

Justice Jacob Witt, speaking on behalf of the five-member panel of the CCJ that heard the submissions, said “we will have to consider them of course and as soon as we are ready to give the decision, we will do so…you will be noti fied when that is the case.”

GECOM, on August 2, 2020, finalised results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections pro cess. Those results showed that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) won the Election with 233,336 votes, while the APNU+AFC se cured 217,920 votes.

PETITION 88

ONLY CHALLENGE REMAINING

Petition 88 was dis missed in the High Court by Acting Chief Justice, Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire. Delivering her almost twohour long virtual ruling, she underscored the fact that the petitioners had presented not a single piece of evidence to substantiate purported irregularities they sought to

advance.

The Coalition, on June 3, 2020, filed an appeal in the case of Petition 88, arguing that the ruling judge erred in the decision that was handed down. The matter is still be fore the Guyana’s Court of Appeal. November 1, 2022 has been set as the date for a report on the status of the records including the full judgment by Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire.

Petition 88 argues that the Recount Order was ille gal and unconstitutional and therefore the declaration of results based on the recount is illegal and unconstitu tional.

The petitioners, Ms. Claudette Throne and Mr. Heston Bostwick were ask ing the Court to declare the election results null and void. In further seeking to do so, the petitioners are challenging the national vote recount process, Section 22 of the Elections Laws Act and Order 60 of 2020, which governed the recount.

Thorne and Bostwick are represented by Attor ney-at-law and Coalition Parliamentarian, Roysdale Forde.

APNU+AFC MPs remain suspended without benefits

Efforts by the Members of Parliament representing the APNU+AFC Coalition to have their suspension from the National Assembly lifted, until a decision in their case, which is currently before the High Court, failed.

The Full Court on October 14, 2022 denied an application by the Coalition’s Roysdale Forde, which challenged the High Court’s refusal to grant an interim conservatory or der to allow eight Opposition Members of Parliament who have been suspended, to at tend sittings of the National Assembly, and to receive their salaries.

As per the decision, the suspension from the House, as well as the consequent non-payment of salaries, stand until the determination of the matter before Justice Damone Younge in the High Court.

The substantive case be fore Younge comes up on November 1, 2022 for hearing on the issue of jurisdiction. The court will also hear an applica tion filed by Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall, for the case to be dismissed.

The Coalition Parliamen tarians facing sanctions are: Christopher Jones, the Op position Chief Whip; Ganesh Mahipaul; Sherod Duncan;

Natasha Singh- Lewis; Annette Ferguson; Vinceroy Jordan; Tabitha Saraboo-Halley; and Maureen Philadelphia.

COMMITTEE REPORT

The 78-page report of the Parliamentary Privileges Com mittee found that eight AP NU+AFC Coalition’s Mem bers of Parliament “were in violation of the Standing Or ders, established Customs and Practices regarding acceptable behaviour” of Members in the Assembly. “The Com mittee determined that an ap propriate sanction available that the National Assembly can

apply would be suspension from service in the House,” the report said page five.

The committee recom mended the suspension of Ferguson and Jordan, Sara boo-Halley, Philadelphia for six consecutive sittings. It also recommended the suspension of Jones, Mahipaul, Duncan and Singh-Lewis for four con secutive sittings.

Notably, each Member,

according to the report, was written to and asked to "show cause" why sanctions should not be meted out to them. Their responses were received and considered by the Committee. Each of the eight embattled officials claimed that they were “unaware” that their behaviour in the National Assembly was different from other MPs and therefore should not amount to grounds for disciplinary action.

The Committee's findings were based on video record ings, statements by staff of the Parliament Office and the Ar thur Chung Conference Centre, eyewitness accounts by other Members of the House, media reporters and the public, both locally and internationally.

The Committee met five times, on: Friday, 18th Febru ary, 2022; Tuesday, 1st March,

(Turn to page 15)

APNU+AFC Coalition’s hypocrisy on shameless display

The APNU+AFC Coalition’s Parliamentarians ignore the fact that Guyanese remember the five years of hardships that were imposed on the people and nation by the former Coalition government. This is seemingly only logical conclu sion, if one manages to endure their ramblings. The hypocrisy of the APNU+AFC Coalition was astounding.

First, instead a contest of ideas and policy, Coalition to continues to try to defend its track record – an impractical task.

Secondly, the ramblings of the Coalition expose the fi nancial policy of the People’s National Congress (PNC) of the 60’s onwards – one of spend now, without a thought for future development. The PPP/C is not the now PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition and its financial philosophy is differ ent – it is to balance addressing people’s livelihoods, creating jobs, expanding our economy, and enhancing welfare of our people, while preparing for the future.

Thirdly, the deliberate peddling of misinformed notion with shameless bravado served the interests of no one – save that of the APNU+AFC cabal who clearly seemed more focused on showboating. This prevents an honest, factual debate and exchange of ideas that would serve the purpose for which leaders are elected – service to the people.

Probably one of the most repeated lines relates to that of cost of living. Admittedly, all Guyanese are affected by the increase in cost of living. But to ignore the facts for the sake of political points is irresponsible. The issue of increased costs and its link to the global COVID-19 pandemic has been explained ad nauseam.

Fourthly and very likely the most hypocritical what the move by the Coalition to champion a menu of socio-economic measures, which they claim necessary for Guyanese to live a “good life” – the same good life they promised but never delivered. However, again, the calls that ‘sound nice’ on camera ignore reality. Pensioners in 2022 have $72B more in their pocket compared to the Coalition’s last year in office; while the ‘We Care’ programmes puts billions in the pockets of Guyanese; the uniform allowance adds another $600M; and public assistance adds some $840M to Guyanese. In these four areas alone, Guyanese are benefitting from $14B.

Fifthly and upsettingly, the questioning of the investments in human development are shameless. Arguments that the in vestment of time and money are wasted because the recipients of the scholarships are not bonded to work in the public ser vices are ludicrous and ignore the drive to improve Guyana’s human capacity, be it in the public or private sector; or be it young Guyanese pursing higher education.

What must be remembered is that what the APNU+AFC Coalition is the Parliamentary Opposition, they remain rep resentatives of their constituents and opposition for the sake of opposition serves the interest of no one – except that of their own political grandstanding for ‘five’ minutes of fame.

Guyanese deserve better and on a daily basis the people’s decision to repose their confidence the Dr. Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C government is validated.

Tactics to frustrate GECOM

Dear Editor,

I t is increasingly obvious that the PPP/C Government must be more aggressive in the pursuit of exposing the PNC/APNU/AFC’s desperate at tempts and their role in the rigged 2020 Elections.

It was not so long ago that this PNC cabal led the most offensive attempts at suppressing our nation in full view of the world. They now pretend to be having a pious right to exercise, from a moral high ground that is non-existent. These treacherous actions the Guyanese people will not forget, and they must not be allowed to slip by the wayside.

It is for a lack of exposure that current administrators of the lead party in the APNU/AFC Coalition are be coming emboldened as they continue the use of tactics to frustrate all efforts by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) concerning the holding of legitimate Local Government Elections (LGEs). A strengthened GECOM must be supported by all, and the slippery immorality of the PNC-led cabal is highlighted.

Within the framework of our appli cable electoral legislation, GECOM has advanced efforts to realise the institu tion’s Constitutional mandate towards transparent conduct of the overdue

LGEs. Albeit a little slow, GECOM conducted the cycle of Continuous Registration and subsequent Claims and Objections Process. The Chief Elections Officer of GECOM, with the full support of his staff, has produced a particularly excellent work plan for the holding of LGEs, targeting before March 2023.

GECOM was able to generate a verifiable Preliminary List of Electors after the smooth Claims and Objection process, with a one-week extension requested by the PNC/APNU+ AFC. The foregoing serves to ensure that GECOM is now ready to hold Elections with the best possible Voters List. It is also noteworthy that GECOM has already commenced the training of Polling Day staff in preparation for the LGEs. The institution is deserving of the necessary kudos in this regard.

On the Opposition front, the ad ministrators have been busy producing unjustified criticisms just for the sake of opposing. Having participated in the various processes by having repre sentative scrutineers, they are hardly in any position to proffer any meaningful condemnation. Notwithstanding, the APNU/AFC have submitted claims of 2020 elections anomalies that they suggest affect the final List of Electors.

In keeping with the Ruling of the

GECOM Chairwoman, the APNU/AFC must also quickly give to the Police the addresses of all the voters that the APNU/AFC claims were either dead or out of Guyana, and therefore could not vote in the 2020 National and Regional Elections. The Opposition now has an excellent opportunity to produce to the Police all those claims of imperson ation in the 2020 Elections.

Further, Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton must not hesitate to produce his party’s statements of poll.

The disgruntled and malicious leaders in the PNC are looking very spineless in their struggle to counter the building of the ‘One Guyana’ platform. The allegations of voter impersonation and bloated List are now rubbish. The deliberate, reckless excuses that the PNC are making since they lost the Elections must stop. Their false and exaggerated claims of marginalisation and discrimination are now falling on deaf ears, as our people are getting immune to their lies.

The PNC’s failures and inability to produce proper leaders are certainly a hindrance to that party’s development.

Guyana is ready for Local Govern ment Elections.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

Dear Editor, Reference is made to Honourable Member of Parliament Amanza Wal ton-Desir’s missive on Guyana’s need for marine spatial planning.

The “information” expounded on by Ms Desir is too much guesswork to be taken seriously. Ms Desir is obviously not adept with the current state of the maritime sector, or international affairs, for which she has responsibility for Opposition constituents.

Her ignorance was also recently highlighted when, in her zest to criticise His Excellency President Ali, she wasn’t aware that the country formerly known as Turkey is now Turkiye.

Nevertheless, I digress, and will use this opportunity to educate Ms. Desir and the people of Guyana on the Govern ment’s interventions made on the mari time landscape since assuming office in 2020, and its plans for the sector.

Marine spatial planning (MSP), as referenced by Ms. Desir, is a practical way to create and establish a more rational organisation of the use of marine space and the interactions between its uses, to balance demands for development with the need to protect marine ecosystems, and to achieve social and economic objectives in an open and planned way.

(UNESCO MARINE Spatial Planning

– A step-by-step Approach towards Eco system-based). It should be noted that this is an interactive process that takes time.

Ms. Desir’s missive propounds that the Government of Guyana has made no plans for the Maritime Sector. The average Guyanese knows this is far from the truth. The Honourable Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, in his Ministerial Statement on behalf of the Government of Guyana in the introduction of Guyana’s Maritime Economy Plans, reiterated the Government’s commitment to managing this space in a sustainable and responsible manner for the benefit of all the people of Guyana, and humanity generally.

(Maritime Economy Plan, Guyana: Commonwealth Marine Economies Programme; March 2022). The Vice President also alluded to the fact that shipping is the most economical mode of transportation, and intimated the Gov ernment’s continued effort to create and implement a National Maritime Strategy that is aligned with the Low Carbon De velopment Strategy (LCDS) and Guyana’s overall development objectives.

To further dispel Ms. Desir’s uncer tainty about the Commonwealth Marine Economy Plan, the Government of Guy ana has been constantly organising and executing various elements of this Plan. MARAD is in constant contact with the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office

(UKHO), which has been lending support to our Hydrographic Surveyors. In fact, although sensitisation of this project com menced in 2017, and training for the use of multi-beam echo sounder technology equipment was conducted in 2019, little work was done in the updating of hydro graphic information.

Since 2020, the Government of Guy ana has invested heavily in the updating of navigational charts to facilitate the rapid progress being made in port devel opment. It therefore cannot be said that issues surrounding the maritime space are not being addressed. It should be emphat ically stated that since assuming office in August 2020, the President Irfaan Ali-led Administration has invested substantially in the Maritime Sector.

One such example of substantial investment is that on port infrastructure in Guyana. While port infrastructure is mainly privately-driven, the Government of Guyana has rendered tremendous sup port, having recognised the importance of ensuring that our ports are resilient.

Further, the Government’s recognition of the demand for port facilities in Guy ana, and the strain placed on Port George town have led to repeated declarations of its intention to develop a deep-water port in Berbice River.

Concomitantly, MARAD and other

Govt committed to transforming maritime sector to operate in modern economy (Turn to page 18)

Full throttle for the coconut industry

Dear Editor,

Istarted thinking when I read that a “$4.3M coconut nursery (was) commissioned at Hosororo.” After all, coconut is a ‘big deal.’ In fact, the coconut tree, in many places, is acknowledged as the ‘tree of life’, or ‘Kalpavriksha’, because of the endless prod ucts derived from its various parts, which contribute to people’s survival on earth.

Coconut is grown in more than 80 coun tries worldwide, but the truth is that the majority of the world’s inhabitants have not exploited its full benefits and potential. For example, the value-added products from coconut include coconut water, coconut oil, virgin coconut oil, coconut meat, coconut milk, coconut desiccated powder, and coconut flour. So, Guyana will not miss out, thanks

to the agriculture sector, which is quickly catching on in this area.

The details show that Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha commissioned a new co conut seedling nursery in Hosororo Village, Barima-Waini (Region One). Located in the compound of the National Agricultural Re search and Extension Institute (NAREI), and constructed at a cost of $4.3 million, the nurs ery would be able to produce some 206,000 seedlings annually. What is nice about this facility is that farmers in the region would not have to travel to Georgetown to purchase quality seedlings. This translates to ‘ease’ in doing business in terms of cost and travel.

Minister Mustapha also pointed out that the project constitutes part of Guyana’s coconut decentralisation programme.

Editor, I want to add to what Minister

Mustapha said as regards the benefits of, and the growing demand for, coconuts and co conut by-products. He stated, “We all know the benefits of coconuts. The world is also cognisant of the benefits of coconuts and all of their many uses.” And he is so right. As far as I have read, in terms of coconut oil alone, it is the most favoured opportunity from the coconut tree. It is the healthiest oil available for human consumption, and the best means of reaping all the health benefits of the co conut. It solves many health-related issues within and outside of the body. Coconut oil also helps people lose body fat, get leaner, and improve their cholesterol levels, hair quality, and strength.

The Minister’s list mentions the follow ing: coconut fibre, oils, soaps, lotions, beauty supplies, pharmaceuticals, and cooking prod ucts. Since Guyana is blessed with fertility and adequacy of land, I see no reason why its coconut industry would not flourish. I mean, the Government is fully pushing for stability and expansion. In terms of the universally loved coconut water, it is ubiquitous, and my hope is that, here in Guyana, bottled coconut water would outsell all other forms of bever age, many of which are not even close to the health benefits of coconut water.

Going beyond the local scene, I am glad that the Minister gave assurance to our farm ers that “…access to markets will now be a thing of the past…as the Government is

currently engaging the CARICOM Member States to remove the non-tariff barriers to many of Guyana’s traditional products.” This is great, as the demand for coconut is con stantly increasing in the region and globally, and “Guyana is among three of the major coconut-producing countries in the region, producing some 20 per cent of the region’s demand, while the Dominican Republic pro duces some 59 per cent, and Jamaica some 12 per cent.”

To close my little missive, I shift my attention to the coconut flour, since regular wheat is not that healthy, and many are moving away from it. The coconut flour is grain and gluten-free flour, which is essen tially dried coconut meat in powdered form. It packs a whopping 5 grams of fibre per 2 tablespoons, and lowers the glycemic index in baked goods (which is a plus for those with diabetes). Coconut flour is an excellent choice for those with celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, or wheat allergies. The product is made completely of pure coconut. The milk must be separated from the meat in order to produce the dry flour. Once the separation is complete, the meat is baked at a low tempera ture to dry it out, and creates a powdery flour made entirely of coconut. Amen! We cannot go wrong in investing in the coconut industry.

Yours truly, H Singh

The government has left no one behind since 2020

The PPP/C government and the Ministry of Ag riculture have proactively implemented this their vision for improved food and nutri tion security, both locally and regionally since it took office in August 2020.

This government has worked diligently, and en dured sleepless night to re solve the plethora of debil itating issues which have threatened to annihilate the agriculture sector. What would have happened to this sector if the ‘Coalition’ had managed to successfully rig the 2020 Elections and remained in power? The an swer is obvious.

The ‘Coalition’ had been mercilessly slashing the ag riculture budget since they took office, and displayed complete disdain for this sec tor which they perceived as the PPP support base. Apart from the insane and mali cious budget cuts, they taxed the sector with increased land rent and VAT on machinery and related supplies. With the windfall from oil, the shortsighted ‘Coalition’ saw no need for agriculture.

Agriculture crops are al ways invariably affected by adverse weather conditions, and the recent floods, four in

all in 2021 and 2022, have devastated and almost wiped out crops such as sugar. But timely intervention by the Minister of Agriculture and his government, and the de ployment of much-needed resources have rescued the sector. The Minister of Agri culture and all the other min isters, including the President and the Vice-President, visit ed all the affected areas and provided on-the-spot relief.

Never has this massive scale of government intervention ever taken place in Guyana.

The government spent bil lions of dollars on drainage and infrastructure, roads, cash grants and relief, sub sidies and free distribution of seeds, plants, chemicals and fertilisers. Today, the sector has fully recovered, with production in tradition al and non-traditional crops increasing rapidly, and sugar production is increasing at an enormous rate. It must be mentioned that the entire world was engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic for the past three years, but this government has overcome this as well. Moreover, the minister is convinced that the sugar industry will achieve 100,000 tonnes in the next three years, thanks to this

government’s tenacity and persistence. Today, also, our Regional Leaders have full confidence in the ability of our Agriculture Sector to drive the food security of the region. Minister Mustapha has stated in his address on World Food Day that Guyana is well positioned to become the breadbasket of the Ca ribbean.

In order to make this a reality, this government has implemented both short and long-term policies, and made increased budgetary alloca tions to ensure not only the survival but the continued progress of the sector. The Minister of Agriculture Mr. Zulfikar Mustapha empha sised the fact at Albion when he stated that the government has worked above and beyond to strategically place Guyana on the road that leads to the realisation of ‘Vision 25’, which is aimed at reducing the region’s food import bill by 2025. The minister never looked at things in isolation. He stressed that in fulfilling this vision, there will be sus tainable employment oppor tunities for youths, women and other vulnerable groups, and he even went further when he said that it is not only about increasing food

production, but making food accessible and affordable, and improving the nutrition of all Guyanese, thereby leaving no one behind. This encapsulates the very theme of World Food Day, and, quite remarkably, the very objectives the gov ernment has been vigorously pursuing over the past two years, and even before the advent of the ‘Coalition’.

The FAO Director-Gen eral, in his World Food Day message, spoke about the ‘need to empower the most vulnerable, including smallscale producers, and improve access to training, incentives, science, data, technology and innovation so that small-scale holders can be at the center of this transformation’. This is exactly what Minister Mu

stapha has been emphasising since 2020. He realised that the small-scale farmers have a major role to play in the transformation of the agri culture sector, and he must be applauded for his keen perception and wisdom of what is required.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

Labour Minister debunks claims by Lincoln Lewis

over

Afro-Guyanese trained in two years

T he Labour Ministry, through the Board of Industrial Training, has qual ified over 7, 500 persons, 60 per cent or 4, 500 of whom are Afro-Guyanese.

To date, a total of 7,839, including 4,909 females and 2,930 males, have benefited from vocational training un der the Board of Industrial Training. The programmes range from auto body re pairs and agro-processing to plumbing and interior design.

Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton said he is proud that his ministry’s skills training has provided young Afro-Guyanese with skill sets they did not have under the APNU+AFC Govern

ment.

The skillsets are in high demand for Guyana’s bur geoning economy.

Minister Hamilton dis closed this while he was responding to accusations levelled against him by the General Secretary of the Guyana Bauxite and Gener al Workers Union (Union), Lincoln Lewis. The union head claimed that the min ister is taking part in what he described as the “oppres sion” of Afro-Guyanese. This accusation was levelled in an online media publica tion, stemming from illegal strike action by workers of the Linden Utility Ser vice Coop Society, Limited (LUSCSL) which the union

represents.

The minister said these allegations lack credibility. Hamilton said, “The general secretary of the union is trying to take over a co-op society. A co-op society that was mismanaged, to present and proport himself as a representative of black people. However, Mr Lewis lacks credibility, and integri ty, and continues to present himself as a moral barome ter; even though accusations have been levelled on him by union members of selling them out. ”

Further, the Labour Min istry has been proactive in addressing the illegal labour dispute called by Lewis. “We stand by our record of

early and proactive interven tion and preventative strike action in industrial relations. This particular action is be ing taken in breach of the Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services (Arbitration) Act (Essential Services (Arbitration) Act), Cap.54:01 and is also not in keeping with good industrial relations norms and practic es” the Ministry said in a press statement.

It said the union and its general secretary are using the media to level accusa tions against the ministry as a means to concretise the illegal strike. Hamilton said, “High-handed actions on the part of either employers or trade unions do not bode well for good industrial rela tions. In this case, the union has acted precipitously by calling a strike without first exhausting its grievance to either the management or the ministry.”

Minister Hamilton noted that Lewis fails to com prehend the impact the strike action will have on

Afro-Guyanese in Wismar, Region 10. He said thou sands of Afro-Guyanese residents of Linden will be without power if the utility coop society strikes.

This includes business owners, single parents, and school children who will suffer because of an illegal action. He said, “The Lin coln Lewis’ of this world does not speak for thousands of Afro-Guyanese. We must end this conversation in which they think they do. They must be called out every time they speak be cause they do not speak on every Afro-Guyanese behalf. It’s ludicrous to think that Afro- Guyanese Leaders in government, such as myself oppressing our friends, our cousins, our family, our chil dren, our neighbours, and our school friends, it is an idiotic conversation that can become potent and it must be stopped.”

The PPP/C Government remains committed to its manifesto promise to create 50,000 jobs. In keeping with

this promise, new jobs have already been delivered in the mining town of Linden, Re gion 10. Midas BPO (Kara Kara Call Centre) has al ready employed hundreds of youths and aims to employ as many as 1,000 workers. In a meeting hosted ear lier this year by Vice Pres ident, Dr Bharat Jagdeo, he said the government is prepared to build other call centres and even factories in the region, as part of its co-investment initiative, while he was announcing 1,000 part-time jobs for Lin dener’s at Watooka House. Dr Jagdeo also said that training is a priority of the government. Oil companies have also been approached about recruiting persons out side of Regions Three and Four. In addition, Dr Jagdeo announced that some 200 to 250 small grants will be provided to small businesses in the region and a major programme to improve the water supply system and other infrastructural works for the region have begun.

The international Elections Commission of Inquiry (CoI) is set to commence planned public hearings on November 3, 2022.

The Government is in viting persons who wish to give evidence to contact the Secretary of the Commission.

In a public notice, the Government of Guyana has advised that any person who wishes to give evidence on matters relating to the Com mission’s Terms of Refer ence can contact the Sec retary of the Commission, which is situated at 95 Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, Georgetown. The Secretary can also be reached on tele phone numbers 592-2319820 and 592-231-9828 or via email: commission@ coinre.gov.gy.

COALITION’S CRITICISMS

The APNU+AFC Coali tion, in the past few weeks, griping about the setting up of the international Elections Commission of Inquiry.

The Coalition’s Roysdale Forde claims that there was a lack of consultation on estab lishment, Terms of Reference (TORs), staffing, and funding the Commission of Inquiry

Notably, the President is empowered under the law to do just that in the exercise of his deliberate judgment.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in response, has rubbished Forde’s criticisms. In recent public comments, he said, “Not that [former] President [David] Granger is any standard bearer, but he established many Com mission of Inquiry under his presidency and none of them enjoyed any form of con sultation. I do not recall Mr. Forde expressing any form of criticism to the exercise of Granger’s presidential power, isn’t it interesting he gets a voice now?” He added that Forde’s arguments are unfounded.

The PPP/C government official made clear that the Coalition’s disapproval of the CoI is akin to a perpetrator’s objection disguised as criti cism. He said, “In the same way that any perpetrator of a crime will object to that crime being investigated, the APNU+AFC would always find a Commission of Inquiry into the 2020 elections ob jectionable. The reasons are obvious…what transpired must be permanently record ed so future generations can

learn about it and it can act as a deterrent for future elec tions.” He reasoned that the Coalition’s objections to the international Elections CoI are clearly tied to concerns about their implication in the activities being investigated.

The Attorney General said, “It is the electorate who made first the call for a CoI and criminal charges… calls also came from observer missions, the international community as well as import ant stakeholder organisations such as the Private Sector Commission, religious bod ies, labour movement and the Guyana Bar Association.”

RESPONSE TO CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

Notably, several high-lev el officials of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and the AP NU+AFC are facing charges before the courts for issues relating to the elections. Fur ther, Elections Petition is cur rently before the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Ali announced an Interna tional Commission of Inquiry into the debacle that was Guyana’s March 2020 Gen eral and Regional Elections

on June 16, 2022. He had said, “We, and particularly your President, promised 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 ensure our country never ever was allowed to go down as an undemocratic nation, in hon our of your sacrifices, I com mitted that we will have an

international CoI into the last elections.”

The members are Justice Stanley John, Retired Jus tice of Appeal in Turks and Caicos (Chairman); Justice Godfrey P. Smith, SC, former Attorney General, 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

Persons wishing to give evidence to Elections CoI provided chance to come forward (Turn to page 17)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

Local Government Elections set for March 13th

The Government of Guy ana is committed to the upholding of democracy and believes that the holding of Local Government Elections (LGE) is an important pillar in our democratic political system, according to Min ister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharamlall

And he disclosed, on Thursday (October 20, 2021), that March 13, 2023 has

been appointed as the date for LGE.

Dharamlall has since written to Justice (Retd) Claudette Singh, Chairper son of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ap pointing the date based on the work plan submitted by GECOM.

“Please be informed that pursuant to Section 35 (1) of the Local Authorities (Elec tions) Act, Chapter 28:03,

I appoint March 13, 2023, as the day on which elec tions of Councillors for Local Authorities shall be held,” Dharamlall wrote to Justice Singh.

Accordingly, an Order under Section 35 shall be published in the Gazette ap pointing the date.

It is the responsibility of the Minister of Local Government to officially declare the date for LGE

based on correspondence from GECOM on when it would be ready to conduct the elections.

APNU+AFC COALITION HIDES FROM QUESTIONS

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, when questioned about the Parliamentary Opposition’s readiness for Local Govern ment Election, Leader of the PNCR-led Coalition, Aubrey Norton, refused to proffer a direct response. “We will de cide at the right time what we will say in terms of participa tion and non-participation,” Norton said, when pressed.

Minister Dharamlall maintained that government is forging ahead with the elections, notwithstanding the delaying tactics being em ployed by the APNU+AFC Coalition.

He said, “As government, we are moving ahead with the LGEs; it is up to the PNC and Mr Norton to decide whether they will participate or not. But as government and as the

governing party, we are fully prepared to have LGE.

“…I believe that the com ments of the leader of the op position are counterproduc tive to the democracy-build ing that we are pursuing, they are raising extraneous issues that have no bearing on the conduct of the Local Gov ernment Elections. I believe it’s that they are not com fortable with a democratic, transparent process. So they have basically been trying to stymy that process, raising all manner of issues which is not to the benefit of the country but to the detriment of the country.”

MOVING FORWARD

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 mis conduct and electoral fraud.

LGE, which are usually due every two years, was last held in 2018. At the last LGE in November 2018, the then People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Oppo sition had secured 52 of the 80 Local Authority Areas (LAAs). This followed the holding of the LGE in 2016, during which the PPP/C also claimed the majority of the LAAs.

PNCR-led Coalition bent on frustrating GECOM’s effort to hold LGE – Rohee

Local Government Election (LGE) will not be held this year (2022), but from all indica tions, it can certainly be held in the first quarter of 2023 given recent developments according to Guyana Elections Commis sion (GECOM) Commissioner, Clement Rohee.

However, he called atten tion to the efforts by the PNCRled APNU+AFC Coalition to block Local Government Elec tions from taking place.

Rohee said, “As prepara tions proceed, the opposition sponsored representatives at GECOM, continuously persist in throwing up obstacles at the weekly statutory meet ing of GECOM. Clearly, they have embarked on a wrecking exercise aimed at blocking GECOM’S efforts to hold of LGE in the first quarter of 2023. The targets of attack are three-fold; the Chairman, the CEO and the work plan for the elections.

“Because of their distract ing efforts and spurious claims to prove the CEO incompetent, while taking advantage of the Chairman’s tolerance and pa tience, the CEO was compelled to return to the drawing board on nine (9) occasions and to return to the commission with nine (9) revisions of his work plan aimed at guiding the com mission, GECOM’S Secretar iat and elections staff with the statutory and administrative guidelines for the realisation of

LGE 2023.”

The GECOM Commis sioner noted that the GECOM Chairperson, retired Justice Claudette Singh, must be commended for bringing an end to the tortuous back and forth, engineered by the Co alition-nominated GECOM Commissioners.

Rohee said, “The AP NU+AFC’s attempts to throw a spanner in the works was reinforced when, during a re cent exchange of views on GECOM’s Current and Capital Budget Estimates for 2023. In the course of that exchange, attempts were made to include provisions for a fresh houseto-house registration exer cise, an additional Claims and Objections period as well as the procurement of electronic equipment and software for fingerprint capture for biometric identification at the place of poll. Accepting these demands would mean no local gov ernment elections in 2023 or none at all. This attempt, long suspected in coming, was met with staunch opposition from the three government-nominat ed GECOM Commissioners. From all appearances, the AP NU+AFC alliance, working through their three Commis sioners, are bent on frustrating GECOM’s commitment to hold an early LGE in 2023 election.”

Meanwhile, GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunrak, welcomed the move by the

GECOM Chairperson to inform the minister of the possible dates for LGE. He said that the move comes despite repeated attempts by the Opposition Commissioners to stall the announcement of a date for the elections. “I am happy that despite the several attempts to delay, we forged ahead and almost finalized the work plan. The work plan has been fi nalized sufficiently to allow us to write the minister with a window period within which we can have the elections. The period is within the statutory time frame to undertake the processes within the election period. While we are anxious to have the process started, there are still efforts to slow down things. We are looking forward to the successful implementa tion of the work plan,” he said.

GECOM, this week, ad vised on its readiness for Local Government Elections between March 13, 2023 and April 24, 2023.

Local Government Elec tions were deferred, among other challenges, because of the absence of key senior GECOM staffers, including a Chief Elec tions Officer, given that the former CEO, Keith Lowenfield, was fired and placed before the courts on changes related to public misconduct and electoral fraud.

LGE, which are usually due every two years, was last held in 2018.

POSITIONS FROM VICE PRESIDENT

BHARRAT JAGDEO

Over $105M in cash grants distributed to Essequibo fisherfolk

– Vice President spearheads distribution

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday (Oc tober 17, 2022) delivered on a promise of the PPP/C Administration, as he spear headed the distribution of the $150,000 one-off cash grant to Region Two fisherfolk at the Rice Producers’ Asso ciation (RPA) Bond, Anna Regina.

Grants were distributed to 706 fisherfolk and represents an approximate $105 million investment.

The Vice President, who has been spearheading the distribution across the coun try over the past weeks, ex plained that this is part of the government’s efforts to cushion the effect of the ris ing cost of living due to a number of external factors, including the Russia/Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pan demic, which have affected the global supply chain.

Reference was made to the part-time jobs initia tive which enables persons to earn up to $40,000 per month for at least 10 days of work in government min istries and other agencies, the COVID-19 and farmers’ flood relief grants, which were also part of efforts to supplement household in come.

He also urged the fish erfolk to take advantage of the many opportunities for self-improvement, while re iterating the government’s continued commitment to

supporting their entrepre neurial efforts, for which small grants and other assis tance through the Small Busi ness Bureau are available.

Further, due to the chang ing nature of the fishing in dustry, the vice president ad vised the fisherfolk to ‘think outside the box’ and consider other training programmes, since enormous job opportu nities exist in the growing oil and gas sector. “I just want to urge all of you, if you see a training programme, even if you haven’t finished school, we have now on the schol arship programme through GOAL [Guyana Online Academy of Learning], you can do a remedial programme and then go on to the tech nical programme and those who have the qualification can do tertiary level, universi

ty type training, even in your homes,” he said.

Jagdeo also spoke about the government’s co-invest ment programme, which will see the administration collab orating with private compa nies to establish call centres ad other businesses that will create employment in the region. “So, there are going to be changes here and you have to be prepared for that. We are prepared to work with you…We don’t want people to be left behind if they put in the effort, but you have to put in the effort. I’ve seen people make the effort and they are making it,” the VP added.

The Vice President also addressed concerns raised by the fisherfolk. He was accompanied by Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mu stapha, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Nigel Dharam lall and regional officials.

Hundreds of youths engaged by Jagdeo

Vice President Hon. Bharrat Jagdeo, on Monday (October 17, 2022) engaged with hundreds of youths during a meet and greet activity at Anna Regina Secondary

School in Region Two yesterday. This is one of a series of community out reaches undertaken by Jagdeo over the past several months.

[A review of Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent engagements]

National stakeholders’ consultation on electoral...

sions, including the CAR ICOM team, detailed what took place at the March 2020 Elections – every Guyanese is aware of what took place during the March 2020 elec toral process, civil society is aware, the international com

munity 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, 2022.

The 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.

FOCUS ON REFORM

People’s Progressive Par

ty (PPP) General Secretary and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking at a news conference recently, had said, “The idea is to make more transparent and to define responsibilities in the Act that are unambiguous and… to put in place a set of pen alties for people who may try to steal the elections… any right-thinking person will support that. That’s the objective...we will look at issues right from registration to declaration of the results, so everything that is not un ambiguous, not transparent etcetera.”

In prior comments, Jag

deo had said that the electoral reform process is necessary to ensure Local Govern ment and other elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

Referencing proposed changes to the ROPA, he had said, “In that Act, which requires a simple majority to pass, there will be some key reforms, so there is no ambi guity in how things are con ducted. So, the areas which we have issues in are recruit ment of staff… We have to build into the legislation a clear process for recruitment and placement of staff that is fair, open, transparent, ran

dom placement, so it favours none of the parties.” Jagdeo added this should include substantial penalties, a clear definition of how recounts are to be conducted and pub lication of the Statements of Poll (SOPs) before tabulation begins. “A lot of changes along these lines will have to take place,” he said.

Guyanese were subject to a five-month wait for the final results from the March 2020 General and Region al Elections because of the actions of several persons involved in the process at the GECOM Secretariat and other elements.

In Focus: Advances in the Agriculture Sector

Expanding and modernizing agriculture in Guyana

Thousands of acres of farmland accessible via #58 Village Guyana, Moroccan delegation discussing digitizing soil data

The PPP/C Government will continue to make a number of critical invest ments that would ensure that food production becomes one of the main pillars of Guyana’s economic future, according to President, Dr. Irfaan Ali.

He said that these investments would encompass modern strategies to decrease the cost of production and increase the yield. “Food production and agriculture is a major branch of the development transformation of our country… for us to increase our productivity and for us to increase our yield and reduce our costs of produc tion, there are a number of things that must occur. The state of the infrastruc ture to support agriculture and food production must be transformed to support a more effective transportation and production system…”

The Head of State made this asser tion during his address at the Commis sioning of the #58 Village farm-to-mar ket access road on Friday afternoon. The road is 6.4KM (approximately four miles) long and was completed to the tune of $1,018,000,000.

The President also pointed to the importance of research and devel opment, which he said is critical to delivering “better yields, better crops— better variety”. He also stated that sys

tems will be put in place to ensure that the Government utilises the best pos sible technology to enhance sustain ability and resilience. “We know that we are faced with many challenges, including climate change. So our meth od of agriculture must be resilient so as to mitigate against the consequences of climate change. Another important aspect is our human resources.”

The Government, President Ali emphasised, has addressed these important considerations in the devel opment of strategies for the agriculture sector. He reminded of the tremen dous investments in the sector, in every region, over the past two years while reiterating that his administra tion remains focused on enhancing productive capacity and making the “right investments” that will ultimately broaden the economic base, create job opportunities, provide a medium for new investments and also “support the expansion of our economy and the growth and development of our people”.

The newly commissioned farm-tomarket road, he said, is part of a “large infrastructure plan that will lead all the way to Canje Creek and in totality will open up over 50,000 acres of land for production.

Ateam of scientists from the National Agriculture Research Institute (NRAI) and the Morocco International Cooperation Agency (AMCI) is currently in Guyana to present, explore and assess the impact of the Soil Fertility Map Project.

The project will see the Govern ment of Guyana collaborating with the two institutions to expedite the digitization of soil data which includes soil types, description, crop suitability, and chemical data such as organic carbon.

The project, which was launched in Guyana and Surina me, will involve extensive soil data exploration activities to build an inventory of soil information using local soil datasets.

During the meeting, Mr. Ra chis Moussadek of the Moroccan National Agriculture Research Institute explained that the project was structured into different com ponents. “The first component, which is very important, will see us gathering information about the soil and its fertility. This data

will be compiled in a digital format that can be used by policymakers. This data will assist farmers with receiving better productivity and efficiency,” he explained.

The project, which will run for four years, will involve the collec tion of information as well as the development of a methodologi cal framework for reviewing and updating soil data including soil organic carbon, after which, a platform will be developed that can be used by farmers to guide their cultivation.

Since taking office the govern ment has maintained that technol ogy will play an integral role in the agriculture sector. Minister Mus tapha, on several occasions, has said that technology was needed to improve production and expand the sector.

He also said that the use of generated Digital Soil Maps (DSM) for selecting sites where data on the full environmental variability including soil forming factors, lat itude, longitude, soil depth, time, and land use history is required.

Modernisation remains a necessity for further development – Agri Minister

With major budgetary allocations and financial injections into the agri culture sector over the past two years under the PPP/C Government, Guyana is poised for major development in the sector. This was reiterated by Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, recently.

Citing major developmental projects in the sector, the Minister lauded the revamping of the agricultural extension system, which will see officers being more responsive to farmers’ needs, and offering advice on the best practices for their undertakings.

He also alluded to President, Dr Irfaan Ali’s push to consolidate and expand traditional crops through the involvement of young people in agriculture. “Tradi tionally, when you look around Guyana, you find mostly mature and older people are doing agriculture. And you have a number of young people who would have gone to the university, studied agronomy, have their degree, qualify, and are sitting behind a desk, not doing anything. Just writing and taking notes. So, the Pres ident wants to change that, so what he has done is he has implemented a new,

smarter way of doing it, and where we have a number of young people now, they are involved in high-value crops; crops that they can grow and have a better price for them,” the Minister said.

These crops include broccoli, cauli flower, carrots, and lettuce. Mustapha said, “Those things are very expensive in the hospitality industry. Those things will be needed in the oil and gas sector. We are seeing more and more workers going into the oil and gas sector. That is more opportunity for the farmers, because more and more people going into the oil and gas sector, we will have to produce more food for them to supply.”

As such, the minister underscored the need for large-scale transformation and modernisation in the agriculture sector. “We in Guyana here are producing 60 per cent of the food we are consuming, but the president and the government are not satisfied with that. He said we must ramp up production, especially in the traditional crops. Increase the rice crop. Move the acreage. Increase the yield. Cash crop, fresh fruits and vegetables. Increase the livestock sector. But what we must also

do is go into other crops. We must go into new crops so that the country can grow more diversified crops in our country,” he said.

Further detailing the importance of moving away from traditional practices within the agricultural sector, Minister Mustapha highlighted the improved yield recorded with the new variety of rice being distributed by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), GRDB 16. The Minister said, “We were able to move the National average from 39 bags per acre, and some of the farmers are reaping between 55 and 60 bags per acre in the GRDB-16 variety. And we are moving to develop something called bio-fortified rice. This rice is a variety that contains the supplement zinc…. We are now growing it in rice. And very shortly, we will dis tribute that to the farmers to grow. That variety will attract preferential prices,” the minister explained.

As it pertains to a marketplace for Guyana’s produce, the President has been working with a number of leaders within the Caribbean to remove the non-tariff barriers that affect the move

ment of Local produce into places like Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Eastern Caribbean countries. These barriers, the agriculture minister said, are currently in the process of being removed, “so, you the farmers now will have more opportunities, you’ll have better prices for produce.”

The government is currently working to develop a new packaging facility at Fort Wellington, where farmers can take their produce, have it packaged and prepared, and have a market found where their produce could be exported in a more profitable way. “So, we have to prepare ourselves, we have to modernize the sector to be smarter, and do agriculture in a smarter way. We have to use shade houses. We have to use drones. Those are the things we have to bring into the agriculture sector. Those are the things we are implementing,” he said.

Minister Mustapha said. Agriculture continues to play a major role in the gov ernment’s transformational agenda, to further its goal of becoming the premier food producer of the Caribbean Commu nity by 2025.

POSITIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT

Ali shuts down Opposition’s racism agenda

A modern progressive Guyana has no place for the narrative of rac ism being peddled by the opposition, as the govern ment has its focus on the all-around development of the country, according to President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.

“This old nonsensical narrative that makes abso lutely no sense in a modern progressive Guyana, of race and racism, has no place in our society our country, and those who continue to use it are misguided and far divorced from the reality of this country and where this country is going,” President Ali said during his address at the launch of the Berbice Expo and Trade Fair.

He added, “I have no time to waste with it, the development trajectory of this country is about lift ing everyone together into prosperity. When the false prophets come about racism let them give you an anal ysis of every sector, of in vestments we are making in every region. That is why I said today I can touch down anywhere, anyhow, and any time because I don’t have a different message depending on the time of the day.”

The Head of State not ed that the government is about one message and that is to transform the country together, noting that the de velopment agenda must take place with aggression and support from every Guya nese. He said, “There is no room for failure, this agen da, with the grace of God, must be fulfilled, we must put in the hard work now, we must make the sacrifices and commitment now.”

The president reminded patrons of the five-monthlong political standoff sur rounding the 2020 General and Regional elections, a period held captive by the now opposition. He said, “People forget that in the last two years we came into government fighting off a group of people who parade themselves today as virtues of the truth, who try to steal an election, who try to steal people’s vote and they pa rade themselves as the mas ters of honesty, they never apologised for what they did, only two years ago.”

The PPP/C Adminis tration entered office at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the country was ill-equipped to handle the pandemic. The presi

dent noted the strides made since then in establishing an equipping an infectious diseases hospital. Added to the pandemic, the presi dent highlighted the supply chain crisis which has in flated shipping costs by up to 2,000 per cent.

Despite all of these chal lenges, the PPP/C Adminis tration has delivered more than 90 per cent of its man ifesto promises.

He noted that the future is undoubtedly bright and the prospects enormous. Ali said, “This government has no intention to make a mess of this opportunity for Guyanese and those who are stuck in a narrative that has no place in us achieving this, I say to them, rethink your strategy and narrative, it will not work and I will ensure with every ounce of energy I have in my body that it will not work, you will not divide the people, you will not spread racism, you will not spread hate and you will not separate our people,” President Ali said.

The Guyanese leader has vowed to work in every community and deny any one with the ‘dreadful, evil agenda’ the ability to pursue it in Guyana.

President Ali calls for adaptation fund for vulnerable SIDs, low-lying coastal states

Calls have been made by President Dr. Irfaan Ali, for a special adaptation fund for Small Island Developing States (SIDs) and low-lying coastal states, to meet their peculiar needs relating to cli mate financing and address their vulnerabilities.

He was at the time de livering remarks to the Food and Agriculture Organi sation’s (FAO) Hand-inHand Investment Forum on Monday (October 17, 2022). “SIDs and low-lying coastal states have peculiar and special needs, especial ly about climate financing and the interlocking food security challenges. SIDs and the low-lying coastal states need climate adapta tion financing on soft terms, more grants, concessionary interest rates, and long-term repayment periods. It is my hope, therefore, that the FAO can conceptualise and facil itate the establishment of a special adaptation fund for SIDs and low-lying coastal states, disburse based on

vulnerability index on tradi tional measures relating to the gross domestic product,” President Ali stated in his virtual address.

The Guyanese leader also called for a Climate Vulner ability Fund to help SIDs and low-lying coastal states to boost their food security.

“Climate Change is too crit ically interlinked with food production, climate change is too critically interlinked with the sustainability of the food production system and agriculture as a whole,”

President Ali said.

SIDs and the low-lying coastal states, he added, face particular challenges to their food security, especially with their small land resources, remoteness to larger markets, susceptibility to external shocks, and vulnerability to climate risks such as flood ing, and other natural di sasters.

Ali said, “Extreme weather events including droughts and floods disrupt food systems and cause de

struction to crops and agri cultural infrastructure, criti cal resources needed to sup port production often have to be diverted to climate adaptation. In the face of these challenges, financing for food security, therefore cannot be delinked from climate financing.”

Regarding climate fi nancing in SIDs, close to half of the limited bilateral fi nance provided was through loans, Dr Ali pointed out.

He noted that given the scale of climate financing needs and common trends, it is anticipated that the largescale transfers to match those needs will continue to be raised through debt rather than grants.

Dr Ali said this trend is concerning, particularly for SIDs in CARICOM, given the worsening debt situation that many face, compound ed by COVID-19, global inflation, rising fuel prices, and the Russia/Ukraine war, ‘crowding out’ climate fi

(Turn to page 21)

‘Every community is part of the govt’s development plan’ – President Ali

P resident Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, on Tuesday (October 18, 2022), visited Independence Boulevard (Punt Trench), to assess the ongoing enhancement project.

Dr Ali said this forms part of the government’s national approach to de velopment, “This is one of the major transformational projects we’re doing in this community. This project will not only uplift the entire community, it will provide new areas for recreation, the boulevard, the new lanes of road, the new walkway, it will enhance the general appearance of the commu nity.”

President Ali noted that the government will work together with the people to ensure that they have equal access to development op portunities. “But impor tantly, this project is going to enhance the value here

and it’s not only about this project. We’re going to look at all the cross streets and all the drains in Albouystown upgrading them into con crete walkways and path way. And concrete roads where the space allow. We are going to clean back all of the drainage and we’re going to set aside the piece of land,” the Head of State said.

This is not only geared towards ensuring the lives of all Guyanese are improved but also aligned with the ‘One Guyana’ vision.

The President asserted, “We’re going to take all of the services and give people small areas to have common services so that they will not lose their economic income. So, this is part of what we’re doing to transform every community in our country to brig value, to create greater prosperity to improve living standards and the livelihood

of everyone.”

Dr. Ali reiterated that the PPP/C Administration has been working tirelessly to create a future in which all Guyanese, regardless of where they live, would have equal opportunities for progress.

The president has been travelling to various com munities around Guyana to spread the concept of ‘One Guyana’ and to address the concerns of citizens. “I’m very pleased to walk through the entire community today. As I said, every single com munity as far as time gives us the opportunity, we’ll be visiting to ensure that we walk with the people, walk with all the people of the country to uplift their lives, to bring development to ev ery community,” he added.

Minister within the Min istry of Public Works, Deo dat Indar also accompanied the President.

Guyana deepens cooperation with UK – President

With the visa-waiver for Guyanese travelling to the United Kingdom (UK), more opportunities will be come available, which the Government of Guyana will capitalise on.

President Dr Irfaan Ali highlighted that Guyana will now seek more financing from the UK for transforma tive infrastructural projects, “The idea of this visa waiver for visitors is not only about strengthening the relationship and building out the expan sion of the economic oppor tunities between Guyana and the UK.”

He was speaking on Tuesday (October 18, 2022) at a joint press conference hosted the British High Commissioner’s residence. “These days, it is getting very complex to financing market, especially with the volatility that exists. And we are pursu ing very, very strong terms in favour of Guyana, fixed rate financing and less than three percent, and that is how we have been pushing for financ ing. It is difficult to achieve in this market but we are still pursuing this,” the head of state pointed out.

President Ali emphasised the economic potential of

Guyana and spoke extensive ly about opportunities in the infrastructure, tourism, and other sectors with significant development potential. “Just like the EXIM bank of the US, the UK also has facility in which they build finance and transfer. There is also an export credits available and we are pursuing these elements. One of the projects from the last trade mission, that we’re still pursuing, is that of the new technology to build concrete drains in Guyana at a very fast pace.”

The President empha sised that the drainage system in Georgetown needs to be rehabilitated.

He asserted that this forms part of government’s determined efforts to ensure Guyana’s drainage capacity is improved “and we are looking at the best technol ogy available to do this in a very efficient manner.”

These concrete drains would be constructed by the gov ernment in an effort to reduce flooding. The government is looking at innovative ideas that can get the work done efficiently.

Dr Ali stated that by taking this action, the two nations would be able to

conduct more commerce and business. “I know that today’s announcement will open up immense opportuni ties, not only for infrastruc ture and economic activities as a result of trade. But also now, looking at Guyana as an important hub in servicing the region itself. This is what this type of decision allows,” President Ali related.

Meanwhile, British High Commissioner, Jane Miller, during her remarks, stated that, “this visa-lift is a real sign of the confidence that the UK has in the growth of our relationship and together with the direct flight that will be happening at the end of March with the British Air ways.” High Commissioner Miller underlined that this move will further strength en the relationship between Guyana and the UK. “In mid-November, we’ll be hav ing a trade mission here when British businesses will be coming here to experience all the opportunities in this won derful country. We hope that with this visa lift, we look forward to welcoming many British and Guyanese busi nesses to the UK to explore farther opportunities,” the High Commissioner added.

Amerindian

FOCUS ON GUYANA’S FIRST PEOPLE

Government will continue to invest in sport

Prime Minister Phillips at 2022 Amerindian Heritage Games

P rime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d), Mark Phillips told indigenous Guyanese, who were gathered at the Everest Cricket Club ground for the start of the 2022 Am erindian Heritage Games, that the Government will continue to make the nec essary investments in sport.

The Senior Govern ment Official declared the much-anticipated Games opened earlier on October 14, 2022. He said, “As you partake in these activities, do so with the confidence that

this Government will contin ue to invest in sport. More over, as this event serves as a highlight on the calendar of activities for Amerindian Heritage Month, we must be reminded that the op portunities and investments in the sporting sector will not only be limited to the people on the coast but to all Guyanese, including our Amerindian people.”

At the event, Prime Minister Phillips reaffirmed the Government’s commit ment to the development of

Amerindian and hinterland communities. He added hat Guyana’s growing economy will help to develop the so cial sector, which includes the promotion of culture and sport in order to develop a well-rounded population. “It is said that the value of sport is such that it teaches us uni versal soft skills and learn ing values that all contribute to our sense of responsible citizenship. For this reason, our Government has pledged to invest heavily in sport in Guyana, as it contributes to

building all-rounded citizens who lead fulfilling lives.”

The Prime Minister also announced that the winner of the female cricket com petition will be sponsored to compete in the Prime Minis ter’s Cup later this year.

Prime Minister Phillips reminded that $250m was set aside in 2022 for the de velopment and improvement of a number of community grounds across the country and that in 2021, 25 com munity grounds in Regions One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Ten were upgraded. He said,

“Guyana’s growing econo my must be able to support the development of the so cial sector and part of that includes the promotion of culture and sport to develop a well-rounded population.”

Thus far, the Government has invested in the develop ment of sport infrastructure, including the completion of synthetic tracks in Regions Six and Ten; Multi-purpose sport facilities in Regions Two, Six and 10; the erec tion of stands at the National Track and Field Centre; Rehabilitation works at the National Stadium; and con

tinued maintenance works to sport facilities including the McKenzie Sports Club, the Kwakwani Recreational Centre, the National Aquatic Centre and Colgrain Pool.

Also present at the open ing of the Heritage Games were the Minister of Am erindian Affairs, the Hon ourable Pauline Sukhai; the Minister of Local Govern ment and Regional Develop ment, the Honourable Nigel Dharamlall; Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Lenox Shuman and several members of the diplomatic community.

MPs remain...

2022; Tuesday, 8th March, 2022; Friday, 3rd June, 2022; and Thursday, 9th June, 2022.

The Parliamentary Ses sional Select Committee of Privileges is one of four Ses sional Select Committees that the National Assembly estab lishes at the commencement of each Session of the National Assembly. Standing Order 88 expressly provides for the establishment of this Com mittee and all of the Sessional Select Committees. Standing Order 91 states ''There shall be referred to this Committee any matter which appears to affect the powers and privileges of the Assembly. It shall be the duty of the Committee to con sider any matter so referred, and to report thereon to the As sembly." The Committee, in keeping with its mandate, met to consider the following: “(i) Whether the named Members committed to the Committee of Privileges, have violated any of the Standing Orders, Customs, Practices, and or Conventions of the National Assembly,· and (ii) To deter mine the sanctions available that the National Assembly of Guyana can apply and make recommendations on the ap plication thereof.”

INCIDENT ON DECEMBER 29, 2021

In an effort derail the

debating and passing of the Natural Resources Fund Bill, the Parliamentary Opposition hijacked the sitting – blowing whistles and chanting – while its MPs, Ferguson and Jordan, attempted to seize this ceremo nial symbol. Other Opposition MPs attempted to do the same too, in the presence of the en tire National Assembly.

Also, Opposition MPs am bushed the control room of the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) and wildly un plugged the connections in the electrical systems room, which led to an internet disconnection and audio failures. Members of Parliament who had joined processions virtually were even disconnected from the feed as a consequence of this.

The Coalition’s Saraboo-Hal ley was named as responsible for this.

Further, a parliament staff er, Ean McPherson, was as saulted. He has since moved to the Ethnic Relations Commis sion (ERC) with a complaint.

McPherson, in prior interview, explained that in his attempts to protect the mace, not only was he verbally abused by members of the Opposition, but he was also physically assaulted. “I held on to the mace and it was fling to the floor… and I overheard people screaming. “Kick he! Lash He! Drag He! Let’s Throw he over

the rail. All I said, was throw me over the rails because I know when I’m going over the rail, I am going with the mace,” he said. “They throw me on the ground, they kicked me, they dragged me outside and then Ms. Philidelphia, Member of Parliament start to abuse me with a series of words like ‘House Salve’, but the one that caught me and I don’t know how I become a ‘House Negro’. So, I prepared a letter and I dropped it up stairs and I showed my con cern about how I was treated,” McPherson added. In addition to Philadelphia, the Coalition’s Singh-Lewis was also named as being responsible.

The Minister of Parlia mentary Affairs and Gover nance, on January 24, 2022, had moved the motion in the House, which also called for the Privileges Committee to act with “alacrity” on the mat ter and report to the House within one month. Minister Teixeira’s in her motion had made clear that the actions represented “gross disorderly conduct” and “contempt and breaches of privilege” by Op position Parliamentarians, and such abhorrent actions cannot be condoned.

The APNU+AFC Coali tion has consistently been cited for disruptions and behaviour that is not constructive.

ON ‘PLAN FOR

National laboratory strategy being developed – Dr Anthony

The Ministry of Health is improving its laboratory capacity to meet the needs of patients at different levels of the health system.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, at a recent forum, said a national laboratory strategy is being developed to ensure local labs can process samples promptly and pro duce accurate results. “One of the things we have been working on in the ministry, is also to develop a national laboratory strategy, and we want to look at it just like how we have different layers in our health system, health posts, health centres, district hospitals, regional hospitals, referral hospitals, along that continuum, we want to en sure that at each level, that we can do the appropriate types of testing for each of these levels,” Dr. Anthony said.

The ministry, with the help of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO)

is also developing an essen tial package of services at the different levels, including a comprehensive laboratory service.

It was determined that at least 216 different types of diseases must now be detected at the health centre level, therefore, Dr. Anthony stressed, laboratory support is important. “While we have CARPHA (The Caribbean Public Health Agency) in the region and we can send samples to CARPHA, we would also like to develop our national capacity, we started some years ago by de veloping the national public health reference lab, but over the years the lab, as I would say, fallen short in many dif ferent departments,” he said.

He noted that a sub-strat egy of the national laboratory strategy, would focus specif ically on the national public health reference lab and how to upgrade the various de partments within the facility.

The health minister said assistance was requested from other partners of CAR PHA to help with evaluation to ensure the lab is equipped and persons trained to man the various departments. “We will be working systemati cally to make sure that we can equip it, and train people to run these departments so that we could offer a wider range of services than what is happening currently, of course, we can send some of our samples over to CAR PHA but if we can do this in house, it is important that we do that in-house and we can always use CARPHA as that reference body,” the health minister said.

The ministry will also in troduce newer services such as genomic sequencing.

Minister Anthony noted that the transformation that will occur in the coming years is not accidental but is planned and will be imple mented strategically.

Belvedere Business Incubator Centre

operationalised – a commitment of gov’t fulfilled – Min Walrond

Small business owners of East and West Berbice will now benefit from im proved access to business production resources with the official commissioning of the Belvedere Business Incubator Centre.

While the centre was constructed and commis sioned in February 2020, the building was not staffed or equipped with the necessary resources.

As such, provisions were made in the PPP/C Gov ernment’s 2021 budget to provide equipment and staff for the facility, and the cen tre was officially opened for public use on Tuesday.

The investment totals over $100 million.

While delivering the fea ture address at the Belvedere Industrial Site in Region Six, Tourism, Industry and Com merce Minister, Oneidge Walrond, highlighted the blatant disregard exhibited by the previous government in its failure to operationalise the centre. She called the prior opening a farce and

attributed the inaction to the former government’s lack of care for the region. “During my first budget speech, I gave my firm undertaking that this facility would be operationalised within this first term of our PPP/Civic Administration. I did so with the understanding that the failure to operationalise it before that time had nothing to do with available resourc es. Rather, there was a lack of political will, a lack of strategic direction, a lack of insight, and a lack of concern for the people of this region,” she said.

Despite this, Minister Walrond expressed her ela tion at being able to present the much-needed facility to the community and declared it open. “Various pods have been outfitted with high-quality agro-process ing machinery, constituted production lines for cooking oil, tea bags, indigenous flours and packaged food products. “The equipment in the facility contains coconut deshelling and grinding ma

chines, tea bag packaging equipment, filling machines, and a root tuber peeler for the washing and peeling of ground provisions,” the Min ister outlined.

The centre also contains a dehydrator and mill, which the minister said can be used for the production of dried seasonings.

The Small Business Bu reau (SBB), an agency which falls under the purview the ministry, will continue to examine ways of expanding the operations in the county, Minister Walrond commit ted.

Soon, a warehouse facili ty, as well as additional staff will be added to the facility to aid in the realisation of the government’s vision for the region.

The commissioning of the centre is a testament to the PPP/C Government’s commitment to helping small businesses and developing the agro-processing industry. Several small businesses have been identified to utilise the centre’s facilities.

Guyana signs air services agreement with China

With the government’s commitment to ex panding bilateral relations, Guyana, on October, 13 2022 signed an air service agreement with the People’s Republic of China.

The agreement was signed by Public Works Minister Bishop Juan Edghill, and Ambassador of China to Guyana, Guo Haiyan, and is meant to pro mote expanded international air services between the two countries.

The agreement address es matters relating to the grant of rights, airline des ignation, and authorisation, revocation, suspension of an authorisation, capacity and frequency provisions, rec ognition of certificates and licenses, aviation safety, and tariffs, among others.

Ambassador Haiyan not ed that the agreement has been in the pipeline since 2019, and is testimony to the secure and cordial relation

ship between Guyana and China. “Today’s signing of the agreement represents an important step to implement the consensus of President Ali and President Xi Jinping on deepening bilateral co operation, and to lay a legal foundation for the deepening of their civil aviation cooper ation and will strongly sup port economic and trade co operation as well as facilitate people to people exchanges between China and Guyana,” the Ambassador noted.

Minister Edghill ex pressed that the agreement would allow access to open markets, and the advance ment of air transport ser vices, trade, and cultural interactivity between the two countries. He said, “There is no direct flight between the two countries to date. The signing of the agreement puts the legal framework in place to address this chal lenge. So, China and Guyana would not only be friendly,

we would become nearer. It is anticipated that airlines of both countries will capitalise on the opportunities that exist for the movement of people and cargo between the two countries.”

Further, this year marks 50 years of diplomatic re lations with the People’s Republic of China.

The agreement will pro mote the expansion of air services between the two countries

This is only one aspect of the government’s dedication to connecting Guyana to the rest of the world. More than 50 air service agreements were signed with interna tional parties such as Saudi Arabia and Colombia.

Representatives of the Guyana Civil Aviation Au thority, the Chinese Em bassy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Interna tional Cooperation were also present at the simple signing ceremony.

181,000 residents to benefit from seven new water treatment plants – contracts valued at $8.5B

The Guyana Water Incor porated (GWI) on Oc tober 13, 2022 signed three contracts totaling $8.5 bil lion for the construction of seven new water treatment plants in communities along the coast which will benefit over 181,000 residents from various communities.

The treatment plants are to be constructed in On derneeming, Region Two; Parika, Wales, Lust-enrust and Caledonia, Region Three, Cummings Lodge and Bachelor’s Adventure Region Four.

Delivering remarks at the signing ceremony at GWI’s Boardroom, Hous ing and Water Minister, Collin Croal said the new treatment plants are part of the 13 expected to be con structed across the country at a total cost of $30 billion.

Other areas to benefit from water treatment plants include; Walton Hall to Charity in Region Two; Bush Lot, Region Five; and Tain to Number 50 Village, Region Six.

Further, Minister Croal said Cabinet has already

approved millions of dol lars in upgrades to existing treatment plants on the East Bank and East Coast of Demerara as well as the Essequibo Coast. There are 27 existing water treatment plants across the country.

“While we focus on these new plants, it is also equally important for us to increase the capacity of the existing treatment plants,” he under scored.

The overall aim, Minis ter Croal added, is to move access to treated water on the coast from 52 per cent to 90 per cent by the year 2025 in keeping with the World Health Organisa tion’s (WHO) standard.

It is also part of the gov ernment’s overall plan to improve the quality of life of citizens, the minister not ed. “We are able, as more resources become available, to invest at a much faster rate in this water sector so that by 2025, we can achieve our targets that have been set, that is to en sure that we have coverage across Guyana and to ensure persons can get treated wa

ter,” he said.

The project will be su pervised by GWI’s Water Treatment Infrastructure Unit. The newly established unit is manned by a team of qualified engineers.

GWI’s Executive Officer (CEO) Shaik Baksh said the project represents a massive development for the water sector, even as the utility company endeavours to meet the demand for quality water through the govern ment’s massive housing programme. Baksh antici pates that the project will be completed within two years in keeping with the contract stipulations. “We expect also that the execution of the project will be done in a record time bearing in mind the quality issues.”

The contracts were awarded to Sigma Engineer ing Limited, Bangladesh, Toshiba Water Solution, Toshiba Water Solution & Services Pvt. Ltd, India, and Hi-Pro Ecológicos, Mexico.

These initiatives form part of GWI’s five-year strategic plan.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ramesh Dook hoo, and other technical officers were in attendance.

PPP/C DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’

Gov’t continues to invest in expansion of coconut production

I n line with its promise to expand Guyana’s potential to manufacture value-added goods, with a budgetary in vestment of $66 million this year to increase resources and encourage growth, the PPP/C Administration is prioritising the coconut in dustry.

Led by President, Dr Irfaan Ali, Guyana has been leading the Caribbean in its food security efforts to lower the high food import bill by 25 per cent by 2025 in the region.

The government’s Na tional Coconut Decentralisa tion Programme was imple mented across the country to provide technical support and low-cost access to coco nut seedlings.

Agriculture Minister, Zu

lfikar Mustapha, highlighted the host of opportunities in the agriculture sector. He re iterated that the government has revitalised the industry with significant investments over the last two years while initiating new programmes to boost agricultural pro duction. He stated further, that the ministry has been working to develop coconut nurseries, and decentralise the production of coconut seedlings across the country. He said, “We are commis sioning a coconut nursery… This nursery here will allow you to get your materials right here in this region rath er than go out of the region. So, we want to decentralise the services that we are of fering in Georgetown. Peo ple must not see agriculture

based in the city alone. We want us to spread across this country…This coconut nurs ery, you heard the benefits of coconut today. Today, the entire world is looking at the benefits and the importance of a coconut… The coconut water industry, alone, in this world, is $2.2 billion.”

Minister Mustapha em phasised that farmers should begin cultivating coconuts because of the advantages and rising demand for the fruit and its bi-products. He said efforts are being made by the government to make available the resources re quired to expand the sector. “There’s an all-round trade (in the coconut industry), you can do oil, you could use the fibre to do other things, the raw materials,” the min

Electronic Medical Records System being designed for Guyana

T he Health Ministry is advancing efforts to digitise its records with in stallation of an Electronic Medical Records system soon.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said the system which will create more efficiency in the sector, should be implemented by this time next year, begin ning with hospitals. “There are numerous advantages to going to an electronic sys tem. One, we can be able to store large amounts of data, retrieve it, readily and have all the patients’ records in one place, but it’s also very convenient for both patient,

doctors, medical staff and so forth,” Dr Anthony said.

A working group has been established within the ministry which has collab orated with the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, to design the electronic patient record system. “What we en visage with such a system is that the patient when coming to the doctor, records will be available to that person, and if they go to the lab and they do a lab test, they don’t have to go back to the lab for the results. Those results would be integrated into their patient records. If they go do an x-ray or a CT scan, that imaging would also be

integrated into the patient’s records, so when you go to visit your doctor all your in formation is available,” the health minister said.

This, he noted, would reduce waiting time, and save patients a lot of hassle.

Doctors will also be able to access patients’ records, quickly and when a diagno sis is made, a prescription for medication will go di rectly to the pharmacists to dispense medication to the patient.

This is just one of sev eral measures the health ministry is taking to create a more efficient healthcare system in Guyana.

Persons wishing to give... (From page 7)

Zaidi will serve as resource personnel.

Ali stressed that the Elec tions CoI is a promise made by the PPP/C Administration and his Administration is pleased to be able to deliver. “I promised a CoI. So that is why there is a lot of work going on now on how that Terms of Reference is devel oped,” he said.

In October 2020, Ali dis closed that the Government of Guyana was in talks with the international community regarding a Commission of Inquiry into the events of the March 2020 Elections, which saw a five-month delay in the declaration of final election results. He had said, “We’ve

already started conversation with various international stakeholders on the subject matter and the international community is also very much interested…the international community was a key part in ensuring that democracy was protected…so the inter national community is going to play a key part in this and they are very keen and they are very interested…in rela tion to a timeframe in having the CoI, I would say that it is in the, not the medium-term, but the immediate-term plan for the Government as we proceed towards the end of the year.”

The first mention of an in vestigation into the elections

was made by Ali, during his inauguration speech on Au gust 8, 2020. “All of us have an obligation to the nation and to ourselves to ensure that, never again, should any generation of our people be subjected to such unlawful behaviour. Therefore, a re view of events related to the electoral process over the last five months will begin shortly to determine forensi cally exactly what transpired and to hold accountable any person who sought to pervert and corrupt the system.” The Head of State had said too that all necessary reforms will be pursued to make democracy stronger, and the electoral process more transparent.

ister highlighted.

Meanwhile, Country Representative of the Carib bean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI), Jhaman Kundun, lauded the government’s partnership and initiative to commission the coconut nursery in the hinterland region. The official said, “It is vital and important that in providing food and food security in our country but even our outline regions that we do these sorts of initia tives and we’re happy that it is at this location. Kundun underlined that Guyana is among the three major pro ducers of coconuts in the region. Guyana produces 20 per cent, the Dominican Republic 59 per cent, and Jamaica 12 per cent of the

region’s demand. “Initia tives, like these, will allow us to go beyond this 20 per cent that we supply in the region…with this here (co conut nursery), we have an excellent opportunity, and empowering small farmers at your level will enable your region and country to grow exponentially as a sector that could bring in signif icant earnings and foreign exchange,” he added.

At the end of June 2022, $34.6 million of the budget ed $66 million was expended to increase coconut cultiva tion and production.

With a 58 per cent in crease in coconut output to 27,598 tonnes in the first half of the year, the national initiative to improve the production of coconut water

and coconut-based goods has been successful.

The government con structed a coconut nursery at Fort Wellington, Region Five, and will complete the construction of a coconut nursery in Lethem, Region Nine by the end of the year which will be a total of 10 decentralised nurseries with a 206,000-seedling produc tion capacity. In comparison to 18,306 in the first half of 2021, 21,566 coconut seedlings were produced in the first half of 2022. The government spent $15.8 billion of the $32.6 billion allocated for agriculture during the first half of 2022 to improve cultivation and output to lower imports, boost exports, and promote diversification.

Gov’t formulating five-year mental health awareness plan − Dr Anthony

A s part of a collabo rative effort to raise awareness of mental health issues and mental health stigma in Guyana, the Health Ministry’s Ado lescent Health Unit, the Pan-American Health Or ganisation and the United Nations Children Fund, today launched the Men tal Health Awareness Ac tivities and the ‘Do Your Share’ Campaign.

In delivering brief re marks, Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony stated that the mental health environ ment in Guyana has seen significant changes, and noted that the ministry is formulating a five-year plan for mental health awareness and improvement in Guy ana. “Back then they used to see the patient as some one that needed to be tak en away from society and locked in an institution. Our approach is a rights-based approach that mental health patients have a right to be in society and therefore the new piece of legislation that we have passed has emphasised the rights-based approach to mental health,” the minister explained.

PAHO/WHO Represen

tative, Dr. Luis Codina ex pressed the importance of tackling the stigma against mental health through law reform, research and the provision of communi ty-based mental health ser vices. “PAHO will continue to work with all stakehold ers in helping Guyana in the strengthening of leadership, governance, effective men tal health services, support the movement to commu nity-based mental health, and in psychosocial support to improve preparedness, response, and resilience,” he pledged. He also noted that Guyana has succeeded in implementing some of these tactics.

Dr Timothy Morgan of the Mental Health Unit, noted the steps that have been taken to improve men tal health care throughout the country. “The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with our local and interna tional partners, continues to improve mental health care through progressive actions and policies. This includes expanding accessibility, improving mental health services, developing mental health research, and updat ing national policies and

legislation that ensure the protection of the rights of people with mental health illnesses.”

UNICEF Area Repre sentative to Guyana and Suriname, Nicolas Pron, expressed that the mental wellbeing of all in Guyana has been prioritised through partnerships with his organ isation and the government. He commended several key actions, such as the integra tion of interventions across the health, education and social protection sectors and the increased investment in child and adolescent mental health.

The health ministry’s Adolescent Health Coor dinator, Cilandell Glenn, Primary Health Care Direc tor, Dr Ertenisa Hamilton, Representative of Desert Flower Guyana, Abigail Fraser and Miss Guyana World 2022, Andrea King were also present at the event.

The theme for 2022’s World Mental Health Day is “Make mental health and well-being for all a global priority”, while the triennial theme for World Suicide Prevention Day is “Creating Hope through action”.

30 persons in Bartica benefitting from the BIT programme

The Board of Industri al Training (BIT) has commenced the heavy-duty operator and maintenance training programme in Bar tica, Region Seven.

The training programme has 30 participants including six females and 24 males.

Participants of the train ing programme have ex pressed gratitude to be a part of the initiative.

Meanwhile, Chief Exec utive Officer of BIT, Rich ard Maughn underlined that the training is a component of the government’s wider initiative to upskill Guya nese so they can be prepared with the current pace of development, “I’m happy

to see them, here, actively involved in the clearing of the lands in four and a half miles, Bartica. Country wide, there are 112 females conducting similar train ing.” He expressed gratitude to the government for the allocation of resources to push the programmes which have been benefitting Guya nese, including young peo ple and females which will help them to acquire skills that are desperately needed. To make sure people can take part in the developmen tal activities. We believe in a human-resource approach to development. In develop ing these individuals, they can add to developments.”

Maughnrelated that the par ticipants will be equipped with the necessary skills needed to further push the developments within their communities.

The BIT training pro gramme is aimed at em powering Guyanese with the skills necessary to meet the future needs of local industries.

The government allocat ed $448.5 million in 2022 to advance the work of BIT. Tags; DPI, Department of Public Information, Min istry of Labour, Board of Industrial Training (BIT), women training in heavy duty operators in Region Seven.

Duplex owners could start accessing titles by year-end – Min Croal

With the passage of the Condominium Bill 2022, owners of duplexes in Perseverance, East Bank Demerara (EDB) could begin applying for their ownership documents for their proper ties by the end of the year.

Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal said reg ulations under the Condo minium Bill are being gazett ed, while the administrative aspect between the Central Housing and Planning Au thority (CHPA) and the Land Registry is being developed.

The duplexes were con structed by the Coalition Administration which failed to implement the relevant legislation that guides the regulation of such structures.

This was corrected by the PPP/C Administration in

2022 with the passage of a ‘modern’ Condominium Bill which supports the develop ment of such units.

“The duplexes could not be recognised until we’re able to process it through the Condominium Act because it’s shared space and that’s what the condo act caters for. So, very shortly they will be sorted out under the act… that’s part of our programme for this year,” Croal said.

The minister said another issue hampering the issuance of titled documents for the 42 structures, is ownership of the area where the units were constructed. There were also issues with surveys and the recognition of the name and where it falls. “The land where those structures are located, they were challenges

Govt committed to transforming maritime...

regulatory agencies are cur rently processing several ap plications for the construction of port facilities. This is not an overnight process, but one that calls for thorough research and planning, which is obviously foreign to Ms. Desir and her Opposition colleagues.

In preparation for the in crease in marine traffic, seven hundred and eighty-seven mil lion dollars ($787,000,000.00) has been spent thus far to remove the three (3) wrecks at the mouth of the Demerara River.

Dredging of the main ac cess channel is currently on going as well.

The Demerara Main Ships’ Channel is not the only area being dredged. Dredging ac tivities are currently ongoing in the Waini access channel. It is crucial to note that this area hasn’t been dredged since the early 1980s. MARAD is also in the process of organ ising dredging activities in the shallow areas up to Port Kaituma. This area will soon be cleared of debris and other obstructions that hinder safe navigation.

Ancillary to its plans to en hance the maritime sector, the Central Government allocated one hundred and seventeen million dollars ($117M) for the construction of fifteen (15) concrete beacons marking rocks in the upper reaches of the Essequibo River. The project is still underway, but, thus far, eleven beacons have been built at Sail Rock; Chou – Chou; Kujarou Rock; Rattle

Snake Rock; Bartica Grove Beacon; Hesper Rock; Negri Cop Island Rock; Lady Hope Rock; Arimari Island Rock; St Edwards Mission Rock; Palm er Pt. Mariners will tell you of how useful these beacons are when navigating through the Essequibo River.

In addition to enhancing safe navigation, this project will support increased tourism, with yachts and other pleasure craft in the area.

In anticipation of increased marine traffic and the need for additional Marine officers, MARAD has, since August 2020, certified and appointed nine (9) new pilots to conduct ships in the Georgetown Pilot age District.

Additionally, five (5) new Inspectors of Shipping were appointed to inspect and certify vessels operating in Guyana.

The Department is cogni sant that more manpower is needed in the sector to meet the exponential growth. As such, the Department is currently finalising plans to train scores of young men and women as cadets for service as ships’ officers, pilots, inspectors, surveyors, marine communi cations officers, etc.

To safeguard national in frastructure, MARAD’s pilots are also now required to be on all seagoing vessels transiting the Retractor Span of the De merara Harbour Bridge.

To accompany this influx in the demand for pilotage services, a total of five hun dred thirty million dollars ($530,000,000.00) was ex

pended towards the acquisition of a new pilot boat – ML AB DULLAH.

This is the first new vessel of such nature to be acquired since the early 1980s, and is expected to be delivered within the first quarter of 2023. This is a remarkable achievement by the Administration, and it is a demonstration of its com mitment to the development of the maritime sector in the face of the steady growth of marine traffic.

The Administration looks forward to acquisition of this vessel, since it can be seen as a saviour when compared to the previously acquired pilot vessel David P, which was bought in April, 2018 under the APNU/AFC Administra tion.

The David P, to date, has never worked to its full capac ity, and is a festering wound in the administration, since it has been costing the Depart ment huge sums of money to maintain.

This does not seem as if proper marine spatial plan ning was exercised in that era, when, approximately one year after its purchase, the APNU/ AFC Government spent an other $400 million in spares for the said vessel.

I will end as Ms. Desir started. It is no secret that the damage caused by the motor tanker Tradewind Passion on Saturday, 8th October, 2022 inconvenienced the entire country. The current adminis tration inherited a Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) that

was on the verge of collapse. Since assuming office in 2020, the Government has poured billions of dollars into the De merara Harbour Bridge Cor poration to literally keep the bridge afloat and operational.

His Excellency President Irfaan Ali has pledged his

(From page 4)

efforts for the speedy construc tion of the New Demerara Riv er Bridge, which this Adminis tration has commissioned. This is public knowledge.

The Government of Guy ana is not ignorant of the im portance and intricacies of the Maritime Sector. Since its

regarding the ownership of the areas it was not legally owned by CHPA,” he ex plained

The minister assured that “very shortly they will be sorted out under the act. Likewise, the area we are getting to the stage to recog nise there.”

The Condominium Bill passed in the National As sembly back in May, has paved the way for the con struction of condominiums and the conversion of exist ing buildings into units for individual ownership.

Since the passage of the legislation, the housing min istry has received over 70 Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the construction of con dominiums and town houses here.

return to office, the Govern ment has made it its duty to transform the maritime sector to ensure that it is prepared to operate in a modern economy.

Sincerely, Hon Juan Edghill Minister of Public Works

Myraid of tangible advances tell us the...

(From page 22)

a rock-star grand welcome, where people told him “you are our president and we want you to know you can come anytime”, rejecting Norton’s call to their sup porters to boycott President.

Everywhere our Presi dent, our VP and our minis ters go, every and each single day, there are new things happening, new develop ments taking place, new pro grams to benefit our people. This is the Guyana that the UK say “come and you are welcome, you do not need a visa”. It is because more than 20,000 young Guyanese are studying through govern ment scholarship programs for bachelors, masters and doctorate qualifications. It is because soon the Univer sity of Guyana will top over 10,000 student population going to university in person free-of charge. It is because the health and education of our children is top priority, with a combined 2022 budget of more than $150B. Instead of building and creating

squatters, we are nurturing and empowering our young minds. No longer are our people looking to foreign shores to ensure they and their families can eat, now they are looking at foreign shores for exploration and new horizons.

This is the Eldorado that Walter Raleigh and other spent their lives looking for. They found it; they did not know. Post-indepen dence Burnham, Hoyte and other PNC leaders made it look that Raleigh’s Eldorado was a myth, was an illusion.

Cheddi Jagan Bharat Jagdeo, Irfaan Ali and the PPP have made people recognize that Guyana is the genuine thing, that Guyana is indeed the land of Eldorado. New high ways, new roads, schools and hospitals, factories, new ag riculture schemes are sprout ing everywhere.

Young entrepreneurs and investors from around the world have made Guyana a preferred destination. But critically Guyanese in urban

and rural areas, from the hinterland are using their imagination and the oppor tunities they are being giv en to start their own small businesses. Suddenly, there are thousands of families across Guyana owning and flourishing with their own small businesses. Whether it is a salon, or a small catering business, whether it is an IT or coding business, whether it is a grocery or a construc tion company, Guyanese who were trying to eek-out a living just a few years ago are now owning their own businesses.

Never before has so many Amerindians own their own businesses. Never before has so many Afro-Guyanese own their own businesses. Guya nese of every ethic group, in every region of Guyana have adopted a new posture – they can be perpetrators of their own destiny, in a land of opportunity.

This is the legacy of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).

Coalition’s ‘David Patterson should acquaint himself with the truth’ − PM Phillips

P rime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips has responded to what he termed ‘concocted lies and false claims, embedded in elements of the APNU + AFC cabal’, being peddled by David Patterson.

In a letter to the editor, the prime minister said it is not shocking that Patterson seeks to divert attention from his “failed ad hoc approach es to power generation in Guyana, during his tenure as the minister responsible for the sector.”

The former public in frastructure minister under the APNU+AFC Admin istration has accused the PPP/C Government of not having a strategic plan for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), claiming that his government had developed a plan and executed several projects to enhance the gen eration capacity of the power company, improving the transmission and distribution network without financing from external loans.

The prime minister not ed, that in contrast to Pat terson’s claims, the govern

ment has approved the GPL Development and Expansion Plans for the years 2021 to 2025 and 2022 to 2026, which are publicly available on GPL’s website.

He noted too that while in office, the previous gov ernment failed to approve and publish the statutory Development and Expansion Plans for years 2017-2021, 2018-2022, 2019- 2023, and 2020 -2024, and only ap proved the plan for the year 2016-2020.

Further, the PPP/C had published the Develop ment and Expansion plan for the year 2015-2019 be fore demitting office in May 2015.

Moreover, the prime minister stated that “major projects quoted by Mr. Pat terson, for the upgrade of the transmission lines, etc, were birthed by the PPP (His Excellency President Don ald Ramotar’s) Administra tion with funding secured from the EU and the IDB in 2014 for the execution of the Power Utility Upgrade Programme (PUUP).”

Clearly, PM Phillips

said, APNU took credit for the PUUP which, contained the Strengthening GPL’s Management Capabilities, Operational Efficiency, and Infrastructure Investments for Loss Reduction, and component three of the proj ect which was done in two (2) phases.

All are aimed at reducing technical and commercial losses and improving the reliability of service.

While responding to the contention that the projects were completed without financing from any exter nal loans, PM Phillips not ed that loans related to the IDB-funded PUUP project were from an external source contrary to the statement made by Patterson.

“The significant reduc tion in the world market fuel prices during the period of 2015 to 2016, allowed for the self-financing of these generation projects (Bartica, Anna Regina and Wake naam), and also allowed for the 15 per cent fuel rebate and the five percent tariff reductions that customers benefitted from,” the PM

President Ali calls for adaptation fund for vulnerable...

nance-related issues.

Investments, therefore, the President said, will help SIDs reduce vulnerabilities and diversify production, ex pand and modernise agricul ture, and foster climate-smart innovations and climate-re silient agriculture. He said, “Investment is needed to transition production higher up the value chain, through

food processing, investment is needed in developing hu man resources, particularly in making agriculture more attractive to young people. SIDs and low-lying coastal states require a substantial injection of resources for climate adaptation to ensure a more resilient sector, with out this investment, food se curity will remain imperilled

in SIDs and the low-lying coastal states.”

The Head of State also welcomed the Hand- inHand initiative, noting that it is an important platform to help countries source and attract resources for greater food security and that the timing is favourable as the world faces ‘one of its grav est food crises.’

stated.

He reminded, that the government introduced a 5 per cent fuel rebate in 2015 before demitting office.

The prime minister said the financial records of GPL revealed that at the time

APNU/AFC demitted of fice in August 2020, GPL’s loans had increased by more than G$21 billion, which represents a 65 per cent increase.

Additionally, when the PPP/C took office in 2020,

government receivables had increased by more than $10 billion, “due to the APNU administration not ensuring the timely and full payment of its government’s electric ity bills,” the prime minister stated.

COMMENTARY

Myraid of tangible advances tell us the story of how far we have come as a country

By Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

This week, the Govern ment of the United King dom (UK) agreed that Guy anese can travel to the UK without a visa. Guyanese would be able to have an entry permit once they arrive

at the airport for up to sixmonths to conduct business or just to have a vacation. This is one of the indepen dent yardsticks that measures the upswing and the econom ic development of a country.

The UK government, by its action, has said to the world

that Guyana socio-economic development has attained a level that provides confi dence to the UK that Guya nese will not remain illegally in their country.

We expect soon that oth er countries will follow the example of the UK. Already

more than 50 countries per mit Guyanese to travel vi sa-free.

In just two years, Presi dent Irfaan Ali and his PPP government has turned Guy ana away from its pariah status, put the shame of a country in which not even three years ago, its govern ment was trying to steal an election in plain sight of the world.

Not so many years ago, Guyanese children were un der-nourished, and rats were biting the feet of children in the country’s main hospital. There were thousands of families starving, depending totally on handouts. Poverty and hunger stalked the Guy anese landscape. Squatter communities dotted the coast like an epidemic of sores. The Caribbean Commis sion headed by Sir Shridath Ramphal described the sit uation in Guyana as “hope lessness”. Not so long ago, Guyanese made themselves second-class citizens as they went through stormy, deadly waters, climb mountains, hid in the back of traffickers’ trucks and lived in hiding, under the most horrendous conditions in other people’s country, lived as “illegal aliens”. It has been an amaz ing story of how a country turned its fortune around and it all started with the restoration of democracy on October 5, 1992. In 1992 we lived in a country where consulates and embassies of countries like the UK, USA and Canada, even Caribbean countries, denied even legit imate businessmen visas be cause everyone of the Guya nese citizens was suspected a suspected “illegal alien”.

How far have we come as a country where today, net, more people are flowing into Guyana, wanting to be here than are leaving our beautiful country? How far have we come as a country because now countries in CARICOM are beating their chests trying to tell us that the “Guyana Bench”, where they placed so many of us and treated us with disrespect, assaulting our dignity and our integri ty, no longer exists in their countries? How far have we come that we dare today to tell countries like America that the time has come for them to allow our citizens to travel visa-free to their

countries?

There are myriad other measures that tell us the story of how far we have come as a country.

When a country abandons a policy and a necessity for squatter community to adopt a policy and a development trajectory of housing all its citizens, it is a measure of a trajectory of development that lifts the living standard of every citizen and of every family. Aubrey Norton who himself and whose political party have had a history of squatter development, whose idea of housing every family is to create more squatters out of every citizen is now rejecting developments such as gated-communities, saying it’s a class division policy. It is a concrete example of the difference between the polit ical parties and the leaders of political parties.

The PPP, President Ir faan Ali, General Secretary of the PPP and Vice Presi dent, Bharat Jagdeo, support housing schemes around the country, some with starter homes that make it possi ble for even poor families to own homes, some with gated-communities with upscale homes. Norton and the PNC would rather everybody lives in squatter-communi ties. That was the country they created which caused countries like the UK to de mand visa for travel by our citizens. The country the PPP has been developing is now a country where the UK and others want us and appeal to us to visit.

We have become a coun try where people are not just talking about building homes, people are talking about building homes of a higher standard. The talk of gated-communities is not a talk of a gutter-country, where people build walls to protect themselves. The gated-communities in Amer ica, in Canada, in the UK and European countries are because these countries have reached a stage of develop ment, for some time now, that a sizable population of their citizens can afford up-scale living. There are now gated-communities of up-scale homes being de veloped in our own country. These up-scale homes in gated communities are not driven by a class- orientation

promoted by a government. It is simply that more of our citizens and families are able to live to a higher standard than our country could have supported previously. It is not an elite-class policy.

Aubrey Norton, the lead er of the opposition bemoans this development. This is not shocking, although still rep rehensible. This man comes from a political party steep in the DNA of squatter commu nity. The party that he leads has a history of promoting squatter communities across Guyana.

Today, Sophia is a bus tling community, with some homes that are clearly homes that people have developed into middle-class homes. Angoy’s Avenue today has left behind its ugly history of a squatter community and is today where many people have built homes they can be proud of. President Ali and the PPP is the steward of a history and a program that make it possible for all families to own homes, whether it is a starter-home or up-scale homes. Norton is driven crazy because their policy of keeping every fami ly poor, in poverty and living in squatter-communities and in squalor is being erased from our landscape.

There is a telling differ ence between the political parties in Guyana. President Irfaan Ali in two years have been to more communities in Guyana, interacted with more families on a one-to-one ba sis than Presidents Burnham, Hoyte, Granger and Aubrey Norton as the Leader of the Opposition combined. Pres ident Ali has taken pictures with his sisters and brothers in Guyana, with children ev erywhere. More people have pictures with a cardboard image of David Granger than with the real man. Our people can touch us, interact with us. It is the reason why people in Albouystown, who voted for Granger and the PNC, today can flock around in the hundreds to scream out to President Irfaan Ali “we love you”. It is the reason President Ali can go into Belladrum, where the PPP had a grand total of 2 votes in the 2020 elections and where Norton and his colleagues claimed 30 dead people vot ed for APNU/AFC, and had

Visitation ban to be lifted at Infectious Diseases Hospital

The Health Ministry will be lifting the vis itation restrictions in place at the Infec tious Diseases Hospital as early as next week.

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony said there are few COVID-19 patients at the in stitution.

The hospital is also now accommodating patients with other infectious diseases.

“The majority of patients that we have there are for other diseases. We have taken a decision that we are changing the visitation rules because when we only had covid-19 patients, we were not allowing people to visit patients in the hospital, so we are changing the rules, we will be allowed visitation,” the minister noted.

The health ministry will lay out the ground rules for visitation in the new week.

Minister Anthony said there are several other infectious diseases in Guyana which may require hospitalisation.

In that regard, persons visiting the facility must meet some requirements.

Persons will be required to wear Person al Protective Equipment (PPE) which will

be provided by the hospital. “So, there are several infectious diseases that we would normally work on and unfortunately some of the patients would require hospitalisation. So, in cases of TB, for example, some of these patients require hospitalisation and we have been using the facilities that we have at ocean view to hospitalise some of these infectious disease patients…So that’s why anybody who is coming there should take protective measures. When we open it up, we hope that the general public would cooperate with us,” Minister Anthony stated.

Dr Anthony announced too that the re quirement for persons to do PCR tests before surgery has also been lifted. “This is just an additional requirement for them to know maybe the status of the patient, but what we found sometimes it has become now a barrier preventing people from accessing surgery that has been planned, causing numerous delays and so forth. So, we think that we can change it, make it easier for these patients who require surgery to be able to access that surgery,” Dr Anthony said.

What does the future look like for monkeypox?

(Nature) On April 29, 2022, a person in Nigeria developed an unusual rash and then travelled to the United Kingdom —carry ing monkeypox with them. Since then, the virus has reached more than 70,000 people in over 100 countries. That has surprised health-care specialists around the world, because the sustained spread doesn’t re semble the sporadic pattern of previous monkeypox outbreaks in people, caused by a virus that lives in animals in Africa.

Almost six months after the virus start ed to spread, however, vaccination efforts and behavioural changes seem to be con taining the current strain — at least in the United States and Europe (see ‘Monkeypox cases’). But the situation could still play out in several ways, say researchers. At best, the outbreak might fizzle out over the next few months or years. At worst, the virus could become endemic outside Africa by reaching new animal reservoirs, making it nearly impossible to eradicate. “There are so many factors at play that are working in opposing directions,” says Jessica Justman, an infectious-disease physician at Colum bia University in New York City.

Specialists don’t expect that this year’s outbreak will cause the kind of worldwide disruption seen with COVID-19. The mon keypox virus doesn’t seem to be airborne like COVID-19, highly transmissible like smallpox or long-lasting in the body like HIV. It spreads mostly through sexual contact, and has been diagnosed mainly in men who have sex with men, particularly those with multiple sexual partners or who have anonymous sex. And although it caus es severe, painful rashes, it is rarely fatal; the outbreak is a strain descended from the milder ‘clade 2’ monkeypox virus in West Africa. (A more deadly ‘clade 1’ virus is found in Central Africa.) It is not clear that the strain causing the current outbreak is any more intrinsically transmissible than its clade 2 ancestors; rather, a form of the virus could have reached a population whose behaviours led it to spread more rapidly, says Elliot Lefkowitz, a bioinformatician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“I think we are in a good position to control this epidemic, but it will mostly rely on the behaviour of the population,” says Gerardo Chowell-Puente, an epidemiologist at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

With so much unknown about the latest monkeypox strain and so much contingent on how people respond, it is difficult to predict future trends. Still, researchers have developed scenarios to help plan for the different ways the outbreak might progress. Here are some of the big questions about monkeypox’s future.

WHAT ARE THE CURRENT TRENDS?

In the United States and Europe, con firmed monkeypox infections have been declining since mid-August.

Public-health experts credit behavioural change: a study by the US Center for Dis ease Control and Prevention (CDC) that surveyed men who have sex with men found that around half had been curbing risky sexual activity because of concerns about the virus. Also probably helpful were public-health campaigns that told people what symptoms to look for and encouraged them to report cases, as well as vaccines that were offered to people at high risk (although the vaccines’ efficacy at reducing infection or spread is unclear).

Still, the monkeypox case numbers have serious caveats, Justman says. Many

people — and their physicians — probably do not recognize the symptoms or might be afraid to report an infection because of the stigma. “I have no confidence that all the people who need to be tested are being tested,” she says.

And some countries in South America and Africa are seeing the opposite trend. “It’s too early to say we have defeated it,” says infectious-disease physician Dimie Ogoina at Niger Delta University in Wil berforce Island, Nigeria. In that country, where the current outbreak is likely to have started, cases continue to rise, with a week ly record of 56 reported in September. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control in Abu ja says the country has seen more than 400 cases. That is a small number compared with the United States’ 26,000 cases, but is almost certainly a vast undercount; it is likely that many more are being missed in Nigeria than in the United States, Ogoina says. Nigeria does not have a strong dis ease-surveillance programme, and Ogoina expects that many people who catch the virus might not recognize the symptoms or go to physicians.

Reported case numbers will always be undercounts, especially in areas that don’t have good surveillance programmes, agrees Rosamund Lewis, technical lead for mon keypox at the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland.

WOULDN’T VACCINATION QUASH THE OUTBREAK?

Hundreds of thousands of doses have been distributed in Europe and the United States to help vaccinate people at high risk, such as men who have sex with men and people who have been in contact with someone exposed to the virus. Vaccinating everyone isn’t an option: the United States anticipates that fewer than two million doses of the most widely used vaccine — a repurposed smallpox jab — will be avail able this year.

But it is unclear how much this has contributed to the slowdown in case num bers. One preprint2, for instance, has sug gested that, in people who have never had a smallpox inoculation, the vaccine does not seem to greatly boost levels of anti bodies that can neutralize the monkeypox virus, and which are one component of an immune response. By contrast, the CDC has released crude case-rate data from US jurisdictions suggesting that monkeypox incidence — among those people recom mended to receive the vaccine — has been more than ten times higher among unvacci nated than vaccinated individuals. Several clinical trials testing vaccine effectiveness are under way.

It is also unclear how long vaccine effects will last. In an unpublished paper, Ogoina reports finding one unvaccinated person who was reinfected just nine months after recovering from his initial infection, suggesting that immunity might wane more quickly than scientists had anticipated.

But specialists don’t expect that the vaccine will become useless. The smallpox vaccine was invented some 180 years be fore the disease was eradicated, but in that time, the variola virus that causes smallpox — a relative of the monkeypox virus — never evolved to resist the jab, Lefkowitz says. And although there are no currently approved treatments for monkeypox, a few antiviral drugs used for smallpox are cur rently being tested for their efficacy against monkeypox.

Norton engaged in attempt to distract from Coalition’s failures

Dogged by its mismanage ment of the Sustainable Livelihood Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Pro gramme, which included the awarding of a $4.98M grant to now Parliamentary Chief Whip, Christopher Jones, the Aubrey Norton-led People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has been actively trying to divert attention from its failures.

The latest attempt at dis traction came with Norton calling for an investigation into the SLED programme which is now being managed

by the PPP/C.

Notably, members of the APNU+AFC Coalition. who sit on the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), have been attempt ing to rush Parliamentary scrutiny of its spending of taxpayers’ money during 2019 and 2020.

Public Works Minis ter and PAC member, Juan Edghill, noted that the PPP/C Government is opposed to this.

According to the Auditor General 2019 report: “Audit examination of a sample of

beneficiaries’ files revealed that application forms were not completed despite it be ing a requirement. In addi tion, no criteria or checklist was seen as utilised for the appraisal and approval of grants. As a result, it was difficult to ascertain the rea son(s) for granting approval to the beneficiaries.”

The Auditor General 2020 report noted that a Special Audit into the SLED Projects would be launched and a separate report will be issued. “Audit examination of a sample of beneficia

ry’s files under the Sustain able Livelihood and En trepreneurial Development (SLED) Projects revealed that no application forms were completed despite it being a requirement as stated in the notice inviting applica tions published in the news papers. In addition, there was no criteria or checklist seen as utilised for the appraisal and approval of this grant. As a result, it was difficult to ascertain the reason(s) for granting approval to the respective beneficiaries,” the 2020 AG report reinforced.

2020 FINDINGS

After taking office, it was found that a whopping $250plus million from the Sus tainable Livelihood and En trepreneurial Development fund cannot be accounted for, according to Minister of Local Government and Re gional Development, Nigel Dharamlall.

He made this revelation on the floor of the National Assembly during consider ation of Estimates and Ex penditure of the 2020 Bud get. At the time, Dharamlall was being questioned by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul about $105 million being allocated for the programme.

The Minister said, “SLED is a project under this Ministry because we want to reach out to commu nities to rebuild lives. I must indicate to you that when we conduct the audit of SLED in its previous life, many on the Opposition side are going to face prosecution. Under the previous SLED, over $250 million last year, there is no record. As a matter of fact, our investigations have so far revealed that the paperwork for the $250 million last year, a lot of it was deposited at Haags Bosch.”

He noted that some of the disbursements from the SLED programme were tracked to a shop built by a councillor on Government reserves. He also referred to the case of Opposition Chief Whip Christopher Jones.

On August 21, 2020, ranks from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, Georgetown, swooped down on Jones’s home to carry out a search after an audit at the then Social Pro

tection Ministry revealed that the Ministry approved $4.8 million under the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) administration for the pro curement of equipment for a barbershop under the SLED programme. The monies were all spent by December 2019; however, $1 million in items were not delivered and the project was not ex ecuted. Police Headquarters had said that items fitting the description of the State assets were recovered from Jones’s residence. Jones was arrested and placed on $100,000 bail, pending investigations. He subsequently filed a lawsuit against the State for what he termed as “wrongful arrest” and the trespass on and un lawful search of his home which led to the seizure of his 18 barber chairs and two air conditioning units.

Dharamlall said, “SLED had no system when we got into Government, so a system will be put in place. It is apparent that in the last administration of SLED, there was no criteria in terms of its implementation. And that is why you find high officials of the last regime benefiting to the tune of millions of dollars. That is why you find that over $250 million cannot be accounted for. And that is why you will find that those who misspent the resources of the taxpay ers, are going to be held accountable.”

The SLED programme, which was implemented through the former Social Protection Ministry, is a pro gramme which was supposed to give grants to coopera tives and friendly societies to equip them to engage in sustainable, entrepreneurial ventures. Specifically, it was supposed to be used to uplift disadvantaged youths.

The People’s National Con gress Reform (PNCR), led by the increasingly embattled Aubrey Norton, is under fire from its own dishonest and undemocratic actions.

PNCR member, Annette Ferguson, has called on the PNCR to “rise to the occasion of practicing fairness, hones ty” and for it to act in a man ner that is “democratic when it comes to its internal business or affairs” of the Party.

The comment came as she called for the PNCR to investigate the conduct of its Georgetown District election.

Ferguson lost her bid for the chairmanship of the George town District, at its conference on October 2, 2022.

The position of was held by PNCR Chair, Volda Law rence, who is currently before the court on charges relat ed to electoral fraud. While

Lawrence did not contest the elections, she was tasked with running the Elections.

Ferguson reported the election irregularities were being swept under the rug. Based on media reports, the PNC executive member, in a letter to the CEC, said that some 211 ballots were cast, but at the end of the electoral process, some 213 votes were recorded with the majority being in favour of Troy Gar raway.

Ferguson, herself an AP NU+AFC Coalition Parlia mentarian, is currently on suspension of from the Na tional Assembly after being found to be “in violation of the Standing Orders, established Customs and Practices regard ing acceptable behaviour” of Members in the Assembly by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee.

Norton-led PNCR under fire from its own over ‘dishonesty, undemocratic’ acts