Weekend Mirror 2-3 April 2022

PNCR’s renewed claims of bloated Voters’ List a ‘smokescreen – Jagdeo 2-3 April, 2022 / Vol. 12 ‒ No. 16 / Price: $100

Email: mirror2018.gy@gmail.com

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Ramjattan put on blast for ‘convenient’ representation of rice farmers Proposed changes to electoral laws likely for next sitting of House PAGE 15

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PPP/C will not expose itself to Coalition’s duplicity

‒ Jagdeo says engagement must be based on principles

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SEE INSIDE

Financial assistance for dialysis patients to roll out this week PAGE 7

‒ Health Minister calls on persons to get registered

Hinterland Regions get cryotherapy machines to treat cervical cancer PAGE 9

Efforts to PAGE 10 finalise draft LCDS 2030 moving apace

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Granger still to write GECOM on replacement of Harmon, Henry as MPs S

peaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, has written to the Head of the APNU+AFC Coalition List of Representatives, former president David Granger, on the two vacancies in the House to be filled.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) was also copied on the communication. This was confirmed

by GECOM Commissioner, Bibi Shadick.

As per the process, given that the House Speaker has written to Granger, Granger is now expected to write to GECOM to have two names extracted from the APNU+AFC List of Candidates and approved. Once this is done, Granger is expected to inform the Speaker to move forward with the swearing in of the new Parliamentarians.

Notably, Granger has not moved to write GECOM on the matter as yet.

The APNU+AFC Coalition will remain short of two representatives in Parliament, until the vacancies are filled – a shortage that translates to diminished voting power in the House.

Nicolette Henry’s resignation took effect on March 31, 2022, while embattled Joseph Harmon’s resignation was effective from March 15, 2022.

Norton is expected to take over as Opposition

Leader, but only after – and if – Granger, extracts his name. Reports are that Granger has been written

to informing him that Norton should be named as a replacement. While it is clear that Norton will take

Harmon’s seat in Parliament, there has been no indication on possible candidates to take Henry’s seat.

GECOM records over 26,000 transactions so far M ore than 26,000 transactions have been completed since the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) commenced its continuous registration exercise as of March 30, 2022.

These transactions range from new registrations, replacement identification cards, changes and corrections and transfers.

GECOM has indicated that, as of March 30, 2021: • 9,637 persons, who are 18 years and older and are therefore eligible to vote, have been registered;

• 10,317 persons between the ages of 14 and 17 years have been registered and will be issued national identification cards; • 1,175 persons have applied for transfers to new addresses; • 2,370 persons made changes and/or corrections to their particulars; • 2,061 persons sought to have replacements for their national identification cards; and • 500 persons sought to have their photographs retaken.

GECOM has 29 offices across the country. Each registration office operates from Monday to Friday between the hours of 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. On the weekend, persons can visit the offices between 10:00 am to 2: 00 pm.

Some $4.1 billion has been approved for GECOM this year, to carry out its work programme. From this amount, over $700 million has been earmarked to host this year’s LGE. The continuous registration exercise is expected to conclude on May 29, 2022.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

PPP/C will not expose itself to Coalition’s duplicity ‒ Jagdeo says engagement must be based on principles

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he People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is committed to inclusive governance and will work with the Parliamentary Opposition, but any engagement must be based on principles and a long-term commitment to the same, according to Party General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“We were not born yesterday, and we are not gonna be duped. We genuinely want to work with the Opposition, but it got to be on the basis of some principles and long-term commitment,” he charged.

According to him, engagement with the APNU+AFC Coalition will not be pursued by the PPP/C “just for show”. “We can’t go that route. So, we are not going to just for the public show of getting APNU or that we are consulting,” he said.

Jagdeo pointed out that the PPP/C has suffered from the “duplicity” of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) – now the leading the APNU+AFC Coalition. He said, “We suffered because of the duplicity of the PNCR when we decided to use the ID card for election for voting purposes.

“And you recall he told the people Claudette Singh is pro-PPP…I saw it reported somewhere that Norton told the deputy Assistant Secretary (Deputy Assistant

Secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein) that Claudette Singh is pro-PPP. Well, if Claudette Singh was the judge at that time when APNU agreed with us we held the elections using ID card and then they filed a case just after the elections when we won and went to the court and said we acted unconstitutionally; ID cards are not needed to vote, and it was just Justice Claudette Singh who shortened our term by two years.

“People don't remember that we had a three-year term then. We had to go to elections early because of that ruling. So, I don't trust them. We’re not tying no bundle with them. The people of this country have to decide through the public consultations untrustworthy.

We have done that.”

The matter referred to is the High Court case of Esther Perreira v The Chief Elections Officer and others, where current Chair of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), retired Justice Claudette Singh, while on the bench, had ruled that the a national identification card is not a constitutional requirement for Guyanese to vote. She had ruled: “It is axiomatic that no right is more precious in a free country than that of having a voice in the election of those who make the laws under which, as good citizens, we

must live. Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined….it becomes clear then, that any prohibition, restriction or limitation on the right to vote must be viewed with a close and critical eye since any such encroachment would be a bar to that voter’s right to have a voice in the elections of his representatives in government.”

Notably, the Parliamentary Opposition’s continued refusal to recognise or acknowledge the legitimacy of the PPP/C Administration remains a sticking point when it comes to engagement.

The Parliamentary Opposition’s refusal to recognise that the Government was duly elected stems from the protracted March 2020 Elections debacle.

The APNU+AFC Coalition itself had said the voting process was free and fair. They embraced this position and on March 3, 2020 – a day after Guyanese went to the polls when they had claimed victory at the 2020 Elections. On March 5, 2020, former President David Granger, at a rally, went as far as saying. “We are here to serve you for the next five years…I thank you from the bottom of my heart. When the sun rises ... the president is sworn in again." Granger, March 15, 2020, said, “The General and Regional Elections of 2nd

March 2020 were conducted peacefully and in accordance with the Constitution and laws of Guyana.” The APNU+AFC Coalition’s own dossier, which was circulated to the international community, on page 11, said, “The various comments from the observer missions convey that the voting process in the elections was well managed, peaceful, proceeded largely without incident and was free, fair and transparent. It is therefore, reasonable to conclude then that the voting process was not fraudulent.”

This position changed when the national recount commenced and it was clear that there was manipulation of the votes in Region Four – for which sacked Region 4 Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo declared fraudulent results on March 5, 2020 and March 13, 2020. The recount showed that Mingo, not using the numbers on the Statements of Poll, increased votes for the APNU+AFC and decreased votes for the PPP/C. The March 2020 Elections was observed by the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organization of American States, the European Union, the CARICOM and the Carter Centre – all of whom concluded that March 2nd Elections Day had been

conducted in a free, transparent and fair manner. Further, it was the Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), Bruce Golding, who, in addressing the Permanent Council of the OAS on May 13, 2020, had said: “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an Election. More than a dozen copies of the Statements of Poll are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on election night. One copy is posted on the wall outside the polling station and each party representative – and there were nine in all – each party

representative is entitled to receive a copy. It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present documents with fictitious numbers when there is such a sturdy paper trail exists.” Also, during the five months following these elections, 100 countries – including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the European nations and Canada, representatives from the United National, Commonwealth of Nations, Organization of American States, European Union and the CARICOM – supported efforts to ensure the will of the Guyanese people was not thwarted.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

EDITORIAL

Guyanese must be wary of the PNCR-led Coalition’s efforts to mislead

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ver the weekend, leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton, admitted to the disorganization within his camp, nothing that the challenges the party faces cannot be met “If we are not organized as a Party.”

However, the more curious outcomes of the PNCR’s most recent internal engagement stems from an alleged document from the event that addresses its ‘messaging’. Titled ‘Messaging for PNCR leadership’ the document details 13 points that the PNCR seeks to peddle as the core of its propaganda.

Most prominent on the list is the call for PNCR members to “spread the message that the PPP does not serve Guyana; it serves the elites in the PPP/C, family and friends.” Important to note, as has been mentioned in this column before, facts about track record – whether or not the political party in power delivered on their promises made in its manifesto – matter.

Facts about performance – how well the political party served the Guyanese people – matter. Facts related to whether the Guyanese people can trust the political party in power matters.

The track record of the PPP/C government on engagement with Guyanese, in order to effectively respond to issues affecting them, can stand up to scrutiny. The PPP/C government’s approach has been, and continues to be, the conduct of community oriented meetings, bottom house meetings, town hall meetings, as well as meeting organised civil society, whether it is the regional business community or religious bodies, as well as the national bodies. This way the PPP/C ensures that it is tuned into the issues that Guyanese are most concerned about and, also, to hear what their suggestions are. In comparison, the track record of the APNU+AFC Coalition is dismal, given that communities did not see any official for years. It would be curious to observe how the PNCR intends on peddling this lie, in the face of all the work done by the PPP/C since August 2020, as well as the manifesto promises that have been fulfilled – from the removal of the 200-plus hardship taxes imposed by the APNU+AFC to the delivery of thousands of scholarships to Guyanese.

A second call from the PNCR is for arguments to be made that “people are worse off under the PPP/C.” Discerning Guyanese are clear in their minds that this is a fallacy. In fact, in the first two national budgets the PPP/C government commitment to Guyanese was proven with the effort to not only rebalance the economy, but also make efforts at enormous cost to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and improving social support networks. Budget 2022 has seen spending on capital works more than doubled, as efforts continue to improve the quality of life for Guyanese. Even now, as the still world hurts from the lingering impacts of the global pandemic, new challenges have arisen as a result of the war mounted by Russia in Ukraine and the result has affected everything from fuel prices to cost of basic goods. Yet every effort has been made

by PPP/C leaders to ensure that Guyanese are cushioned from the worst of the impacts and these efforts include last week’s further reduction of excise taxes on fuel from 10 per cent to zero. Earlier, there was a reduction from 20 per cent to 10 per cent as a measure in Budget 2022.

Thirdly, among the outrageous calls, the PNCR seeks to advance the notion that the PPP/C is “dictatorial”. Does the PNCR really believe that Guyanese have short memories? The most poignant reminder of the last effort to throw Guyanese under a dictorial regime headed by former PNCR leader and president, David Granger, is evidenced in the comments of the then Chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission (EOM), Bruce Golding, in his address to the OAS Permanent Council on May 13, 2020. He had said: “I have never seen a more transparent effort to alter the results of an Election. More than a dozen copies of the Statements of Poll are prepared at each polling station after the ballots are counted on election night.

One copy is posted on the wall outside the polling station and each party representative – and there were nine in all – each party representative is entitled to receive a copy. It takes an extraordinarily courageous mind to present documents with fictitious numbers when there is such a sturdy paper trail exists.

And this is being illustrated now as the recount proceeds,” he said. Important to remember was that the OAS Electoral Observation Mission was one of five international Election Observation Missions accredited to observe Guyana’s General and Regional Elections on March 2, 2020.

It is clear that with Local Government Elections around the corner, the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition will ramp up its rhetoric, but Guyanese must be wary of the efforts to mislead.

Citizens are responding positively in this continuous registration Cycle Dear Editor,

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he feedback from scrutineers and other reliable sources, confirms that approximately over 15,000 transactions have been completed since the commencement of this current Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Continuous Registration Cycle. Persons have already visited the GECOM Offices around the country and are benefiting from the many other related update transactions that are available to our citizens during this period.

It is indeed heartening to see that our young people, age 14-years-old and over, are making genuine efforts to get registered. GECOM must also be complimented for their Public Relations efforts, which also targets the audience at the grassroots and the school levels.

Notably, GECOM’s mobile response during this Continuous Registration is strengthening the process. Our young persons between the ages of 14 and 17-years-old, will become first-time additions to the Register of Registrants.

Significantly, many other persons who submitted a request for the replacement of lost Identification (ID) Cards or to have other changes before the 2020 elections are now uplifting their ID cards. This is given that GECOM did not complete the issuance in the expected period following the last continuous registration exercise before the March 2020 Elections. It is also known that many young persons registered during the suspended House-to-House exercise, but some did not satisfy the age criterion for being on the 2020 Final Voters List were not updated. Hence, these youths have the opportunity to re-register and no doubt, are looking forward to having their ID Cards.

Against the highlighted positives and basis for the legitimate expectation of the use of the Continuous Registration as the legally endowed and precedent-setting approach, one must note the

Opposition’s persistent and pretentious advocating for a new House-to-House in an attempt to disenfranchise thousands of Guyanese who for justified reasons may not be in Guyana at the time of such an exercise.

They do so knowing that the Houseto-House method as an approach to updating the Register of Registrants, will take over three years and in so doing, is likely to suppress any elections scheduled to be held within the period. Further, they are also aware that this method conflicts with the Court’s decision on the removal of registered persons from the List.

Notwithstanding, our citizens are not falling for this ‘bobby trap’ and are responding positively in this continuous registration Cycle. This is particularly since they are aware of the necessity to visit the GECOM permanent offices and get all their necessary transactions done.

GECOM staff overseeing the process so far has done remarkably well and must be congratulated. Albeit the PNCR’s hypocritical complaints, their representative Scrutineers are involved at all of the GECOM’s Continuous Registration Offices.

This position augers well for transparency and the process will enable GECOM to produce an updated List for the Claims and Objection process.

As such, it must be supported as an inclusive approach that allows a verifiable purpose of queries, checks, and approvals. It is critical to note that after the Claims and Objections period, GECOM will embark on the necessary Cross Matching for the elimination of duplications and other anomalies, and then print the present List along with the newly registered persons.

The Claims and Objection period will also enable our registered citizens, the opportunity to make sure that they check and verify that their names are on the List which GECOM will post up in the various Communities for public

scrutiny. After cleansing of that List based on responses from the resulting public queries, GECOM will then move to produce the Official List of Voters for the Local Government Elections in this case.

All interested stakeholders should assist to bring awareness to our people and in motivating citizens to get registered in their respective communities so that our people could enjoy easy access to the corresponding Polling booth on Election Day. Further, getting citizens must note that when one is registered at the place where he or she resides, it will enable the empowerment of one to vote, support, and elect representatives of their own choice to function as community representatives councilors on the Neighborhood Democratic Council in which that Community fall. One cannot be a representative Councillor if he or she resides outside of the specific local authority area (LAA).

Consequently, the updating of the List is very critical and all stakeholders also must do their groundwork to get all our people on the corresponding List for that LAA. Local Government Elections are overdue and we need to hold LGEs so that the most suitable persons could be elected to give quality leadership at the local level.

All those who are calling for a better Voters List must use the opportunity to get our people to register and do what is necessary to get ‘dead’ persons off the List following the accepted procedures.

We must note that names cannot be removed at the whims and fancy claims

by Jokers. Hence, this process is very important for our people to get their names on the list.

GECOM must continue to ensure the smooth flow of its work in this regard as this will guarantee the strengthening of our necessary democratic re-building.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

PPP/C is working constantly to respond to the challenges facing Guyanese Dear Editor,

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he PNCR Leader Aubrey Norton praised the PPP/C for having the foresight to set aside $5 Billion in the 2022 Budget to cushion cost-of-living adjustment and lent support to the decision to tap Natural Resource Fund after years of APNU indecision and inertia.

However, while this is good news; the bad news is that Norton wants the PNC to have a say in how the money is spent. After five years of APNU+AFC profligacy including billions on takeout food for Ministers; Gold Bangles for Ministers paid for by taxpayers; Houses as drug bonds; Barber chairs for

non-existent barbershops: Contracts for Cathy; Multiple house-lots for Annette and none for the people; Thousands of ghost employees in every nook and cranny; firing of 7000 sugar workers one can only hope that Norton’s delusions are not incurable.

The PPPC is working constantly to respond to the challenges facing the people of Guyana, to date solutions and relief measures include: OVER 200 TAX CUTS • Over $50B was returned to the economy as a result of these tax breaks including the removal of value-added tax

(VAT) on electricity, water, domestic air travel, cellular phones, and medical and educational supplies, and the zero-rated status applied to essential and household items.

EASED THE SQUEEZE AT FUEL PUMPS • February 2021: The excise tax on fuel reduced from 50% to 35% • October 2021: The excise tax on fuel reduced from 35% to 20% • Budget 2022: The excise tax on fuel reduced from 20% to 10% REDUCED FREIGHT COST (Turn to page 5) • Freight costs

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

PNCR has demonstrated that it cannot be taken seriously, nor keep its word Dear Editor,

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t is very sad and unfortunate that the Peoples National Congress Reform (PNCR) seeks to talk about improving race relations in Guyana now by pledging its so-called commitment to good governance and fairness in the allocation of state resources.

The PNC/R party cannot be taken seriously or at its word, because it has had three periods in the Government: from 1964 to 1985 under the ruler of the late President Forbes Burnham, from 1985 to 1992 under the late President Desmond Hoyte, and from 2015 to 2020 under President David Granger. It did absolutely nothing of consequence to improve race relations, deepen social cohesion, or end discrimination. All the previous regime did was talk through the side of its mouth, before it spent $50M to sponsor

Buju Banton tickets and concert.

Also, all of the abovementioned elections were fraudulent in nature, processes, or form. The elections from 1964 to 1992 had a suspicion of external forces at work in them for the PNC/R to emerge victorious other than the vote of populists. Also, all of those elections had serious ethnic and racial undertones, because the PNC/R had no shame in its use of racial appeal to get supporters on its side when it came down to the wire.

There was no fairness, no transparency, and no good governance, even though the PNC/R had signaled its commitment to these principles at various time spans, whether out of office or in Government. The rigging of elections each time took on various methods, but culminated in March 2020 with a sustained and direct threat to our democracy.

It is my considered view that the PNC/R

PPP/C is working constantly to respond to the... (From page 4) were restricted to the pre-COVID level, effectively saving consumers and businesses nearly $4B since being implemented in August 2021.

COVID CASH SUPPORT TO AFFECTED HOUSEHOLDS • $25,000 COVID cash grant to every household amounting to $7.5B • $1.73B to 220 Amerindian communities • $250,000 to nearly 5,300 severed sugar workers amounting to $1.3B • $25,000 to 90,000 people benefitting from old age pension and public assistance, and persons living with disabilities, amounting to $2.2B UTILITY SUPPORT • Over $200M in electricity credit was provided to vulnerable households • Old-age pension: a total of 49,966 households, including pensioners benefited • A total of 27,436 pensioners received water subsidies INCREASES TO OLD AGE PENSION, PUBLIC ASSISTANCE • 2021: $4.5B supported the increase of oldage pension from $20,500 to $25,000 monthly and public assistance from $9,000 to $12,000.

• 2022: $2.3B catered for increase in old age pension from $25,000 to $28,000; while $432 million moved public assistance payment from $12,000 to $14,000 MORE MONEY FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS • 2020: $1.1B in one-off payment for 19,000 health workers and members of the Disciplined Services • 2020: $25,000 one-off payments to public servants, amounting to $2B • 2021: 7% across the board increases for farmers servants • 2021: $600M in two-week bonuses for

9,200 health workers • 2021: $1.2B in one-month bonuses for disciplined services • 2022: $1.3B for increase of income tax threshold from $65,000 to $75,000 RESTORED, INCREASED, AND EXTENDED SCHOOL CASH GRANTS • 2021: Over $3.2B in school cash grants were distributed to 172,000 public school children, and $320M to 17,000 private school students.

• 2022: An additional $2B to be distributed this year.

RAISED LOW-INCOME LOAN CEILING THRICE • 2020: from $8 million to $10 million; • 2021: from $10 million to $12 million; • 2022: from $12 million to $15 million.

AID TO FARMERS • Over $7 billion in flood relief cash grants distributed; • Thousands of bags of seed paddy provided to rice farmers; • Over 150,000 in breeding stocks distributed to livestock farmers; • Over 75,000 food hampers were provided to affected households.

MONTHLY FARMERS MARKET • Helping farmers sell their products while consumers benefit from lower prices.

While President Irfaan Ali has promised wide consultation on future relief measures it is highly unlikely that anything of value to the public will emerge from the bowels or mouths of the PNC; Aubrey Norton needs to take several seats until David Granger decides if he will get the one he covets on the Opposition benches in parliament and with it the office and budget to splurge bam-bam alley fare.

Sincerely, Todd A. Morgan

is again talking about improving racism in Guyana because the PPP is in power now.

The coalition, the APNU/AFC, of which the PNC/R is part, did absolutely nothing to quell the fears of Guyanese for five years, particularly those ethnicities that were considered as not being in power then, like the Indian-Guyanese, Amerindians, Chinese, Portuguese, Europeans, or mixed-Guyanese.

The PNC/R of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 2015 offered no serious solution or lasting remedy for dealing with the ethnic or race problem that rears its ugly head in Guyana at elections time. So, I do not have any confidence in its statement of intent, released on UN International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It is just platitudes or talking, but no decisive action is being done, except for what we have witnessed the party leadership engaging in acts of racism, discrimination, and poor governance.

It is a known fact that the PNC/R has discriminated against its supporters and other groupings with the distribution of state resources and opportunities such as land, licences, subventions, and local government budgets. I have seen the countless reports and scandals, with some that have engaged the attention of the courts running to the heart of discrimination and equality of opportunity in Guyana during the reign of the PNC/R. I have no confidence in the PNC/R acting as a responsible political party in Guyana, committed to upholding the rule of law and

Constitution, specifically Article 13, when it engages in deceitful reporting of facts and information; engages in blatant propaganda, and spreads fake news on social media.

The PNC/R cannot be serious about its pledge when it has a mentally lazy and neo-racist in the USA making all manner of racist and discriminatory claims against people of its party, and is utilising the unfounded fears about PPP to organise pickets and protests for his black-supremacist views painted as equality.

When the PNC/R is serious, if ever, I believe it can find a partner in the leaders of the PPP to deal with, once and for all, the issue of racism and discrimination, which does exist in Guyanese society, but not at the alarming rate that the PNC/R is alleging.

Finally, the PNC/R and its paper party, the APNU+AFC Coalition, must end their political and diabolical plot shenanigans using their pseudo concerns about racism and discrimination. We see it for what it is.

This empty pledge is nothing but the PNC/R wanting to pull the wool over our eyes.

The PNC/R should start with an admission of the use of rigging in the last elections and apologising. Then and only then would anyone take the PNC/R seriously! Good try with the statement. The intellectual authors are smart, but not smart enough, because we see right through it.

Yours truly, Michael Younge

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

P P P /C D E L I V E R I N G O N ‘ P L A N F O R P R O S P E R I T Y ’

Over $2B in contracts signed as part of Agri Ministry 2022 work programme S

everal agencies attached to the Ministry of Agriculture signed 32 contracts totaling some $2,121,486,609 for the construction and rehabilitation of several pump stations and drainage structures, the procurement of critical machinery, and the maintenance of several canals across the country.

Of the 32 contracts signed, the National Drainage and Irrigation Au thority (NDIA) signed a $544,890,203 contract with Adamantium Holdings for the construction of a pump station at Charity, Region Two (Pomeroon- Supenaam).

This structure is expected to provide flood control for approximately 400 families and farmers by draining more than 200 acres of farmland for the cultivation of cash

crops.

NDIA also signed a $261,080,869 contract with the same contractor for the rehabilitation of a pump station at Cozier on the Essequibo Coast. Presently there is only one pump in operation at the pump station. This project, therefore, caters to the rehabilitation of the existing structure and installation of an additional pump that suffered damages some years ago. Upon completion, some 500 acres of cash crop and in excess of 2,500 acres of rice farms and residents in the area will benefit from improved drainage.

Works on the construction of the farm-to-market road on the right bank of the Mahaicony Creek is also expected to commence this year with the signing of a

$307,155,890 contract with Well Built Construction Services. This will see the construction of 4.5 km of road which will provide improved access to over 15,000 acres of farmland to rice farmers and residents in Esau and Jacob, and Mora Point. Upon completion of this project, farmers traversing this road will benefit from a reduction in transport cost, thus lowering their cost of production.

Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha said there is a direct link between the completion of these projects and the livelihoods of not only farmers but residents in these communities. He said, “Last year we were able to achieve over 94% of our work programme and that shows the kind of we have been pushing this work

programme. In the Ministry of Agriculture, we also have very critical programmes that people depend on. So when our agencies execute a programme, there are a number of people that will benefit and depend on these

programmes for their livelihood. For example, the D&I system; in the country, we know for a fact that not only farmers depend on the D&I system, but residents too. So when there is heavy rainfall people call on the Minis-

try of Agriculture through the NDIA. When there is a drought people call on the Ministry of Agriculture because they need irrigation.

So you can see the linkage that we have in terms of the (Turn to page 16)

38 Adolescent mothers graduate from MoE’s reintegration programme

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hirty-eight mothers are now equipped with skills in cosmetology to gain employment or become entrepreneurs in the field.

This was made possible through the Re-integration of Adolescent Mothers into the Education System programme executed by the Ministry of Education. The

programme was coordinated by the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) Unit of the Ministry and the Carnegie School of Home Economics in Georgetown, and Kevin’s Reflections in Region Ten. The programme benefited young mothers from Regions Three, Four and Ten.

Following a symposium on resilience recently, the young mothers were given start-up kits and care packages at the graduation ceremony. The young women were congratulated on successfully completing the programme and were encouraged to position themselves to take advantage of future opportunities.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

P P P /C D E L I V E R I N G O N ‘ P L A N F O R P R O S P E R I T Y ’

Financial assistance for Stronger regulatory framework for fishing industry – Minister Edghill dialysis patients to roll T ‒ Health Minister calls on persons this week to get registered T

he Government of Guyana in the 2022 budget has allocated approximately $180 million to alleviate the burden of expensive dialysis treatment for persons with chronic kidney disease.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, announced that the initiative will be rolled out in the coming week, providing $600, 000 annually to all patients on dialysis treatment. He said, “Right now, there are a number of persons who require dialysis and generally these persons would have end stage renal failure…the challenge however is that persons are not able to pay for their dialysis treatment. So, we want to start sometime next week to

start distributing the cheques to these patients.”

The Health Minister said even with a number of non-governmental organisations providing dialysis to patients and subsidising the cost, it remains a challenge especially for persons receiving dialysis three times per week. He is calling on persons to visit the Ministry of Health and get registered as soon as possible. “We’re right now in the process of registering those patients, so anyone who knows of anybody who needs dialysis you can get them to register with the ministry,” he said.

Minister Anthony added that a medical document and the persons biodata will

be required, to confirm that person is on dialysis or is recommended for the treatment.

He said, “We of course will have to validate that that person is actually on dialysis or was recommended for dialysis so a medical document to verify that will have to be produced and once we have that and the person’s biodata, then we’re able to put them on a database and we’ll be able to issue them with the funding.”

Additional information can be accessed through advertisements in the newspapers, social media, the health ministry’s Facebook page along with telephone numbers for further queries on the initiative.

he regulatory framework governing the fishing industry and the use of Guyana’s waterways will have to be examined to ensure safety remains a priority.

Minister of Public Works Bishop Juan Edghill said going forward there can be no guessing or business as usual as it relates to that matter.

The announcement was made recently after receiving the report of the Board of Inquiry into the marine incident that left three fishermen missing. The report was received from Chairman of the Board, Captain John Flores.

Minister Edghill said strong minimal standards will be established to ensure safety and the capacity to respond to such incidents are clearly defined. He

said, “Some of the things that were established was that a call was received at Noble House early the morning indicating that the boat was taking in water.

The Maritime Administration, whether it is contacting officers or the Light House, they were not notified until several hours after.”

That failure, he said, resulted in a significant delay in the rescue response mechanism of the state. The minister said the captain of the vessel was not issued a licence by the Maritime Administration (MARAD).

In fact, there is no record that he was licenced to operate the vessel. The findings, he said, will see the examination of the licencing system at MARAD. “I was advised by the Board of Inquiry when they

briefed me that neither the captain nor the crew had any certification or training in terms of safety and responding to emergencies and things of that nature… and if there was not a requirement for training, then we have to start looking at safeguarding the welfare and the lives of people before we put them out there in dangerous waters,” he relayed.

The minister said he understands the vessel went into dry dock, but was not inspected or recorded by MARAD. He said it means there is no evidence that a certified marine surveyor, surveyed the boat and indicated that it was sea worthy. “So, a boat that has disappeared and gone down, we do not know because there is no record (Turn to page 19)

8

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

P P P /C D E L I V E R I N G O N ‘ P L A N F O R P R O S P E R I T Y ’

Students to be introduced to AI Technology as Spark Programme launches T

he Spark Programme which aims to introduce students to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology was launched at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD).

The programme is a product of the collaboration between the Ministry of Education and the LEAD Mindset, JASECI Labs and BCS Technology.

Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand said that such programmes ensure that rounded individuals are produced by the school system who can take up

their space in the world, own that space and be creative. According to her, the Government of Guyana believes that citizens, especially young people, should be given the platform and the environment to flourish and to be all that they can be for themselves, their families, communities and the world.

“So this programme here, this partnership that we’re entering into, we jumped on it immediately because we see the potential in it. Not only will this allow you to be creators and innovators, but we hope it is going to make you all into leaders,”

she said.

She told the students present that it is her hope that they exit the programme with more consciousness about how their skills, talents and God-given abilities can be used to make changes, provide solutions and to improve their wellbeing. A total of 136 students will be participating in the programme.

According to the founder of JASECI Labs, Mr. Jason Mars, explained that the programme will run for eight weeks with two tracks, one that focuses on developing the leadership and innova-

tive mindset while on the other, participants will be exposed to the AI technical track. He said that the AI track which will teach the students how to code and use the same instruments used by the biggest companies in the world to build AI products and services. He said that along the AI track, students will be required to build a real AI product that could be launched to the world. According to Mr. Mars who is also a Professor of Computer Science at the University of Michigan, such products when sold to the world on a global scale

can funnel economic outcomes and value from the global market into Guyana and the region.

The training will be facilitated by himself and Chief Executive Officer of the LEAD Mindset Ms. Dennise Hilliman, who will both spend 90 minutes each week in virtual classrooms with students. The participants will also benefit from question and answer sessions along with a series of assignments. At the end of the course, he said that there will be a showcase where students will present their creations.

The participating schools are Christianburg-Wismar Secondary School, Mckenzie High School, Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High School, St. Joseph’s High School, St. Rose’s High School, St. Stanislaus College, President’s College, Berbice High School, New Amsterdam Secondary School, West Demerara Secondary School and the Anna Regina Secondary School.

Students from the Government Technical Institute and Teacher Trainees from the Cyril Potter College of Education will also be participating.

Estimated $249M for enhancement works between UG road to Ogle

T

he space between UG road and Ogle, East Coast Demerara will see a major facelift as the Ministry of Public Works is set to expend around $249 million for massive enhancement works in the area.

The area which has been divided into three lots, with lot one catering for the construction of a parking lot at Ogle at an estimated cost of $77 million. Lot two will see the construction of a promenade from UG road intersection to the arch at Industry, while lot three will see the construction of a promenade from the arch at Industry to Ogle. The two promenades will be done at an estimated cost of $86 million each.

Invitation for bids have

been placed in several local newspapers inviting interested eligible bidders.

The idea behind the project is to create a safe space similar to that on the Lamaha corridor. The area which was once filled with debris and covered in bushes, is the brainchild of President Dr. Irfaan Ali. Budget 2022 has an allocation of $3.3 billion to finance improvement and enhancement of the aesthetics of the environment across major urban areas across the country, with particular focus on the capital city. The area will be outfitted with lights, seats, a parking lot, art gallery and food court.

In January, President Ali spearheaded ‘operation clean up’ in Georgetown

which has since rapidly spread across the country.

The initiative which has been adopted by residents in various communities, has restored a number areas that were once unpleasant to the eyes.

Further, government has several beautification projects ongoing around the city.

First Lady, Mrs. Arya Ali and Minister of Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill have collaborated to beautify the Kingston seawall.

Additionally, phase one of the geometric improvement project along Vlissengen Road has been completed. The $42.6 million project will improve access to pedestrians.

Phase two of the project will commence this year.

122 Corentyne youths graduate from BIT programmes

T

he Ministry of Labour’s Board of Industrial Training (BIT) Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programme on March 15, 2022 graduated another batch of youths in a variety of skill sets.

During the graduation ceremony of the 122 youths in Corentyne Region Six, Labour Minister, Joseph Hamilton, M.P commended the batch on their achievement. “There is no time for skylarking. You have to do everything possible for your development and

the development of your community and your country. You should be proud of yourself that you can say at least, I started something and I finished it, that’s a very positive thing. The certificate is just a piece of paper, it is the attitude, it is what you do with the talent after the certificate. It is how you see yourself progressing and developing,” he said.

BIT offers technical and vocational courses tailored to meet the economic needs of the regions. Programmes offered include cosmetolo-

gy, heavy-duty equipment, garment construction, Information and Communications Technology, general building construction, small engine repairs and more.

Minister Hamilton highlighted the importance of being multi-skilled as Guyana is experiencing steadfast economic growth.

He said, “One talent and one skill person will not be able to survive the world in the next five to ten years.

You have to be multiskilled and multi-talented; you have to be prepared (Turn to page 18)

9

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Amerindian Development…

FOCUS ON GUYANA’ S FIRST PEOPLE Hinterland Regions get Region One CSOs begin training in water system management cryotherapy machines to treat cervical cancer T S

ix cryotherapy machines to Regions One, Five, Six, Seven, Eight and Nine

by Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, to enable treatment of cervical cancer in the regions.

The machines were purchased by the Ministry of Health, through its non-communicable diseases programme. This is part of the ministry’s efforts to eliminate and reduce the burden of cervical cancer in Guyana.

“Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer among women in Guyana, and we believe that this is one of the cancers that if we work very hard, that we’ll be able to eliminate from Guyana,” he said.

Minister Anthony said there are more than 20 Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) clinics across

the country, however when persons are diagnosed with cervical cancer, the clinics are unable to treat these patients due to the lack of cryotherapy machines.

“Very often when we detect some abnormality in the cervix, the clinic very often does not have a cryotherapy machine to do the treatment.

“This is the start of correcting that because we are going to offer to the different regions these cryotherapy machine,” he related.

He stated that in order to prevent cervical cancer, females between the ages of nine to 14 must receive their Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. Dr. Anthony said even with the availability of these vaccines, a lot of persons are still unvaccinated. To this end, the minister said, “during this year, one of the

things that we want to do is to have a more dedicated programme to roll out HPV and we hope that we can get the support of the general public as we do so.”

Additionally, Minister Anthony said as government continues to expand VIA clinics across the country, they will not only do testing for cervical cancer, but will also be equipped with cryotherapy machines to treat patients.

Further, healthcare workers have already been trained to use the machines to deliver adequate services to the regions.

The cryotherapy machines will reduce the time for patients to travel to Georgetown for treatment and also reduce the loss of persons who were diagnosed and did not show up for treatment.

New school at Tassiwini to end truancy

T

he construction of a new school in Tassiwini, located within the Matarkai sub-district Region One, will bring an end to the high incidence of absenteeism in the village.

The school, will house nursery and primary students, and is expected to be ready for the new school term in April.

Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, made the disclosure recently. He said construction of the new edifice is delivering on a promise made to residents who had complained of the distance students have to traverse daily to attend school.

Minister Croal was at the time conducting an outreach in the area and met with a small group of residents. He was accompanied by Regional Chairman, Brentnol Ashley, Regional Executive Officer (REO), Tikeram Bissessar, Chairman of the Matarkai Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Orlando Thorne and newly appointed Regional Education Officer, Chiveon Bovell-Success. “This area, when we visited two years ago, one of the issues was the

children’s attendance at school and the distance that a child had to go to attend school at Matthews Ridge.

Today, you will have a new school right within your community. That is development,” Minister Croal asserted.

He said initially, a request was made for transportation to take students to school, however, given the number of students in the area, the regional administration decided that it would be more feasible to construct a new school in the community.

The minister added that the school will not only advance development in the mining community, but will result in the children

being able to pursue their education in a comfortable environment close to home. “That for us at the governmental level, is a big plus…We want these children to complete school and take up various positions within their regions and the country,’ he told the residents.

The initiative forms part of the PPP/C Government’s manifesto promise to improve access to education at every level through the construction and expansion of educational facilities across the country. It also falls in line with the administration’s thrust of bridging the gap that exists between the hinterland and coastland.

hirty (30) Community Support Officers (CSOs) from 16 villages within the Moruca sub- district, Region One (Barima-Waini) are participating in a two-day water system management training to operate and maintain systems in their respective communities.

The training session is being facilitated by the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI). The CSOs will be engaged in sessions covering water purification processes, water sampling, and basic sanitation and hygiene, among other areas.

During the official launching of the training in Santa Rosa Monday (March 28, 2022), Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal, emphasised the importance of ensuring proper management of operations of water systems, as government continues to invest billions of dollars to ensure hinterland communities have 100 percent water coverage.

“We are investing in the hinterland in the delivery of potable water. We have already assessed what needs to be done in order to achieve the objective of 100 percent access to water in the hinterland and the CSOs play an important role in this development,” he noted.

There are over 70 communities spread across the three districts- Moruca, Matarkai, Mabaruma, in Region One, and according to Minister Croal, only 55 percent of the entire area has access to potable water.

With a number of wells scheduled to be drilled this year in the Barima Waini Region, the minister said that the percent of potable water access will move to over 70 percent.

O ver the next eight months, several wells are expected to be drilled in the communities of Waramuri, Himacraba, Hobodiah, Kaburi, Manawarin, Kwebanna and Santa Rosa. The PAT

well drilling rig has arrived in the sub region to commence the drilling of these wells.

Minister Croal said the projects are in keeping with the government’s commitment to provide water and sanitation for all, in keeping with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) #6.

The initiative is a collaborative effort between the Ministries of Housing & Water and Amerindian Affairs, with GWI being the agency responsible for execution.

UNICEF and the UNDP are also contributing significantly towards funding for the capacity building exercises.

Earlier this month, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministries of Housing and Water and Amerindian Affairs, for the training of Community Service Officers (CSOs) in the operation and maintenance of water supply systems in hinterland communities.

10

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

POSITIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT

Efforts to finalise draft LCDS 2030 moving apace W

ork on finalizing the draft Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 is progressing and the second meeting of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee (MSSC) took place on Monday, March 28, 2022 at the Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive.

The MSSC is chaired

by President, Dr. Irfaan Ali. The Committee includes representatives from the: Guyanese Organisation of Indigenous Peoples Amerindian People’s Association; National Amerindian Development Foundation; Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana (TAAMOG); Private

Sector Commission; Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana; Forest Producers Association; Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association; Ministry of Human Services and Social Security; the Guyana Forestry Commission; Guyana Geology& Mines Commission; and six key ministries.

As was done with the 2010 LCDS, the role of the MSSC relates to overall guidance and strategic direction for consultations on the LCDS 2030, as well as implementation.

The first meeting of the MSSC was held on February 14, 2022.

Launched by President Ali in October 2021, the draft Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 can be accessed at the following website: https://lcds.gov.gy/ The draft LCDS 2030 is expected to create a newlow-carbon economy in Guyana by establishing incentives which value the world’s ecosystem services, and promoting these as an essential component of a new model of global development with sustainability at its core.

In Guyana’s case, harnessing the value of the country’s ecosystem services can build a long-term, low- carbon diversification opportunity.

UG’s Master’s in Strategic Development Studies hailed as ‘transformative’

T

he introduction of the new Master’s Degree in Strategic Development Studies at the University of Guyana is one of the most transformative aspects of the institution, according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali. “This programme is geared towards the development of the minds in a policy framework, in an analytical framework; bringing the output to a level in which they (the graduates) can apply themselves to very complex problems and complex issues,” he said on Monday (March 28, 2022) during his keynote address at the launch of the programme at the George Walcott Lecture Theatre, at the Turkeyen Campus.

The President pointed to the significance of holistic development and the way the programme unearths a strategic level of thinking. He said, “This programme is about aligning theory with practice, with real-life problems and developing the capability of each individual to strategically deal with those challenges and prepare you to understand future challenges by appreciating the

evolution of such challenges.”

On this note, President Ali emphasised that national development cannot be contextualised in isolation from regional or international development, as illustrated by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and its implications regionally and internationally. He said, “We cannot build resilient, sustainable, strong, national development programme or a national development agenda without understanding and contextualising it in the wider global environment.”

This course, he added, allows us to take a deep dive into what shapes us as a region along with the threats as well as the opportunities that exist.

REGIONAL AGENDA The programme will also cater for all CARICOM nations since, according to the Head of State, it is imperative to have regional integration and a structural regional agenda.

The programme, he stressed, is integral to understanding the relationships that exist at a country-to-country

level within the region and under the broad umbrella of CARICOM. He called these components “critical” to enable future leaders to have a realistic overview of the current environment and its dynamics.

The President also underscored the importance of strategic development with issues like food security, climate change and water scarcity.

IMPORTANT PARTNERSHIP He acknowledged the importance of the partnerships created by the programme, not only between UG, the security apparatus and the National Development apparatus, but the partnership with Guyana’s international partners.

“The partnership that this programme has already created is worth celebrating, but there are a lot of opportunities down the road for an even greater and stronger partnership.

This programme will look at national development in the context of globalisation—national development cannot be isolated from globalization,” (Turn to page 18)

Guyana/UAE to partner in boosting agriculture production

T

he United Arab Emirates (UAE) has expressed interest in helping Guyana to boost its agriculture production, a move, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali said would be in keeping with government’s vision to make Guyana the food basket of the Caribbean, and build a framework that would ensure Guyana has the greatest level of productivity.

Dr. Ali made the disclosure on Sunday (March 27, 2022), as he launched the black belly sheep project in Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).

The UAE produces an average of three million barrels of petroleum and liquids per day and has oil reserves of 100 billion barrels.

President Ali disclosed that during his recent participation at the Caribbean Investment Forum (CIF2022) and the Global Business Forum LATAM, agriculture

was the main focus.

Ali said, “I just came back from the UAE and 90 per cent of the conversation with the leadership of the UAE and the private sector, was not on oil and gas- 90 per cent of the conversation was on food security and agriculture diversification and production. We had discussions with three of the largest state-backed institutions that are going to be here to work with us, to partner with us.

The Emirate future group, the Al Dahra Group and the Elite Group, are three of the largest players in agriculture and food production.”

Dr. Ali stressed that Guyana has all the competitive advantages, noting that the only task now is catalysing it into action so that the country and its people could benefit. “This journey is so important not only for Guyana and the region; we are already leaders in many

areas whether it is on the environment and climate change, oil and gas, our human resource capacity, we must not only dream, but it is now in our reach to be the leader in food production,” he further stated.

The Head of State also disclosed that, “next week we have a team coming in that we met in the United Arab Emirates and are part of West Jet Cargo to look at adding the cargo facility for direct export to North America. These are all initiatives that we are fast tracking and we are going after in a very aggressive manner.”

President Ali said this is all part of building relationships so that the vision of Guyana becoming a net food exporter can be realised. He stressed the revenues from oil and gas must be used to build the country’s agricultural system, infrastructure and technology.

Region Five must be the livestock capital of CARICOM G overnment’s vision is to make Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) the livestock capital of CARICOM, as Guyana continues to lead agricultural development and food security at the Regional level. This is according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali. To achieve this, the Head of State pointed to the need to increase production, quality, technology and infrastructure. He gave assurance that the process has begun while launching the Black Belly Sheep Project at the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA-ADA) in Onverwagt, West Coast Berbice.

The project, which would aid Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice) farmers and bolstered its ruminant industry, has a special focus on women and youth development.

The Head of State was clear that the venture, which has so far attracted 80 farmers with land, must be led by at least 20 per cent female farmers with at least 35 per cent youth involvement (farmers 35-years-and-under). He said, “This is part of building the future. This is part of empowerment.

These are real targets and a real approach in the involvement of people. Not only must agriculture be about food production, it must be built on erasing biases. Agriculture must demonstrate that it has the ability to create an equal society.”

LOW-HANGING FRUIT The President said that although it will take some amount of investment and effort to advance the project, it is a “low-hanging fruit” with tremendous potential.

He said that Guyana imports approximately 18 metric tons of mutton annually, which costs roughly US$130,000. This market will be absorbed by Region Five, while significant attention will be placed on the regional markets and, in due time, the international market.

The CARICOM market, according to the President, is worth approximately US$48M with 7900 metric tons imported annually from Australia and New Zealand.

The idea, according to the President, is to build capacity to ensure that within the next five years, Guyana is producing enough mutton to supply most of the

region’s needs.

He listed Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Barbados as the region’s top consumers of mutton and mutton products and spoke of the importance of getting into those markets.

Barbados, he said, is already on board. A joint project between the sister nations will see Guyana supplying Barbados with mutton.

Although the black belly sheep, originally cross-bred on the island, is native to Barbados, space and other logistical issues have resulted in the island importing approximately 1000 metric tons annually, at a cost of US$6.8M for its residents and tourists.

To kick-start the Black Belly Sheep Project in Region Five, 1000 breeding black belly sheep will arrive from Barbados in the next two weeks.

The Government will lend great support to the initiative, but farmers are tasked with ensuring that their lands have the needed grass for the animals. “I want to assure you that we in the Government will be side by side with you on this journey.”

11

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

POSITIONS FROM VICE PRESIDENT

BHARRAT JAGDEO [Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo addressed several issues during a recent news conference]

Proposed changes to electoral laws likely for next sitting of House T

he proposed amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws will “hopefully” be tabled at the net sitting of the National Assembly, according to Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“That will determine, or help to determine, transparency around the conduct of elections, tabulation of results, and announcement of result,” he said, during a news conference on March 25, 2022, while addressing the intent of the proposed changes.

Amendments to the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA), both the substantive act and the regulations, have been in public circulation since November 2021.

“We’ve had a number of

comments from different persons,” he said, adding that the APNU+AFC Coalition is not among the groups and individuals who have responded to the public consultation.

He explained that these have been complied in a matrix. “So we’re going through them, clause by clause… these have been sent to the AG’s (Attorney General’s Chambers) and we have to have the policy discussion to see which of the proposed amendments are useful – that would enhance transparency and accountability on the part of GECOM. And trust me, if they will do that and they don’t confer an advantage to any political party we are open to inclusion on the final draft. So we are going through that process now,”

the Vice President stated.

Notably, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on October 2021 made clear that the long-awaited legislation to improve Guyana’s electoral system is a priority for the PPP/C administration. He also assured that there be an efficient timeframe for the processing of the legislation.

Ali had committed, since his first day of assuming office that the five-month-long elections process that Guyanese painfully endured, will never again occur.

FOCUS OF REFORM Further, Jagdeo, speaking at a prior news conference, 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 penalties 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 unambiguous, not transparent etcetera. We made it clear that we want SoPs [Statements of Poll] in the public domain before the tabulation starts, that sort of thing. “…this is an open process…every person will have a chance to have an input.

So, we are soliciting these views…APNU will get a chance to give their input there and several civil society organisations. And then when that’s done, a draft bill would be had, taking into account

the input made and it will be presented to the parliament, where the Parliamentary Opposition will once again have an input…. when the debate takes place it will Guyanese who finally decide.”

FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS Also, in prior comments, Jagdeo had said that the electoral reform process is necessary to ensure Local Government and other elections are conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner.

He had said, “In that Act, which requires a simple majority to pass, there will be some key reforms, so there is no ambiguity in how things are conducted. So, the areas which we have issues in are recruitment of staff… We

have to build into the legislation a clear process for recruitment and placement of staff that is fair, open, transparent, random 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 publication 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 Regional Elections because of the actions of several persons involved in the process at the GECOM Secretariat and other elements.

PNCR’s renewed claims of bloated Voters’ List a ‘smokescreen’ – Jagdeo

T

he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is committed to working with all political parties, stakeholders and Guyanese citizens, as well as the international community, to strengthen democracy in Guyana, according to Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

However, he charged that stakeholders must be wary of undemocratic elements.

During a news conference on March 25, 2022, he explained that this was the main issue addressed during a meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Caribbean Affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein, as well as US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch, on March 25, 2022. Also present at the meeting were technical officers from the US Embassy Jagdeo said, “This (democracy) is not an alien value to the PPP. We have consistently, from the beginning of the Party, fought for and defended….I pointed out the track record of the PNCR (People’s National Congress Reform) on this matter. I pointed out that for the period 1964 to 1992 they stayed in office through rigged elections…. there is enough documen-

tary evidence that the Party (the PNCR) is essentially undemocratic…I said to the Deputy Assistant Secretary that that party (PNCR) cannot change; that the first chance it got to get back into power, it sought to rig the 2020 Elections. I pointed out too that until now, they have been unable to find their Statements of Poll.”

CLAIMS OF BLOATED LIST Also addressed with Feinstein were the claims of a bloated Voters’ List – claims that were trashed as false. Notably, leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton, over the weekend said, “What he did not tell the international community is that in the communities that are controlled by the PPP, they instill fear, and with a bloated list, the PPP can use it and do like they did in the last election – rig.

The PPP has a special skill, they rig and then accuse others of rigging. We must say to them, a clean Voters’ List is a must.”

Jagdeo referred to the robust mechanisms at the polling stations to ensure accuracy and added that the APNU+AFC Coalition’s polling agents signed off

on the Statements of Poll.

“So to claim today that they lost, or somehow impute that they lost, because of a bloated Voters’ List is patently false,” Jagdeo said.

Notably, the list of Guyanese registered for the 2015 General and Regional Elections – a number that was not much varied at the November 2018 Local Government Elections – was 570,708. If the list was reduced from 570,708 by 200,000 – a number that the Coalition claimed the Voters; List was bloated by – the final number would be 370,708 voters.

This 370,708 is less than the number of people who actually voted at the 2015 General and Regional Elections.

A total of 412,012 Guyanese voted at the 2015 Elections.

“They did not complain at that time (2015) that the Voters’ List was bloated,” Jagdeo said, given that the Coalition won the 2015 Elections.

Further, a total of 464,465 voted in the 2020 Elections, according to the Certificates of Recount for all 10 Regions – of which 460,352 were deemed valid.

In the face of renewed claims of a bloated Voters’ List, data from the Sweden-based International Institute for Democracy and

Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) make clear the false nature of the claims. International IDEA develops, shares and enables the use of comparative knowledge in our key impact areas of expertise: electoral processes, constitution-building, political participation and representation.

A review of the IDEA’s numbers on Voters’ Registration Lists from seven countries in the Caribbean make it clear that Guyana’s situation is not new. International IDEA numbers show that Guyana’s total population is 735,222 and there is a 77.67 per cent representation of Guyanese on the Registration List. In other countries the number is higher: St. Lucia – 98.43 per cent; Dominica – 96.04 per cent; Trinidad and Tobago – 89.93 per cent; and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines – 87.24 per cent.

SMOKESCREEN Jagdeo explained that Guyana has a system of Continuous Registration; a feature of this process to allow Guyana to be ready for General and Regional Elections at any time. With a continuous registration system in operation, GECOM

is able to update the register every six months, rather than producing one in the immediate run-up to the Elections.

That Continuous Registration ensures regular registration does not automatically translate to the Registration List being flawed.

Article 59 of the Constitution states: “Subject to the provisions of article 159, every person may vote at an election if he is of the age of eighteen years or upwards and is either a citizen of Guyana or a Commonwealth citizen domiciled and resident in Guyana.”

He said, “(Like Guyana), in some of the Caribbean countries, the number of people on the Voters’ List equates to the number of the population. It doesn’t mean that people are going to vote…years ago, they themselves (PNCR) know that we changed the system from house to house registration to continuous registration and that countries that have continuous registration, they tend to have large numbers on their Voters’ List. Take for example Barbados, or many of the Islands.”

The VP disclosed that Feinstein was informed that “there is very little” that can be done, given that it was the PNCR-led Coalition that sat

with the PPP/C in the early 2000’s and agreed to a constitutional change to remove the residency requirement from registration and voting.

“We jointly removed the residency requirement… this whole issue of a bloated Voters’ List is a smokescreen for their attempt to rig the elections,” he said.

Further, paragraph 129 of a ruling by the Acting Chief Justice, Roxanne George-Wiltshire, in the case challenging the constitutionally of the scrapped house-to-house registration attempted in 2019, states that: “The right to be registered to vote and the right to vote are sacrosanct and fundamental. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which Guyana has acceded and which is incorporated into our Constitution, (see art 154A (1) and the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution) establishes the right to vote as a matter of international human rights law and provides that every citizen has a right to vote.”

Guyanese, Jagdeo stressed, are firm in their desire for Guyana to advance as a progressive, democratic nation – a desire that the PPP/C government is also committed to.

12

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

PPP/C COMMUNITY OUTREACH…

FINDING SOLUTIONS, RESOLVING ISSUES

5,000 Region 10 residents encouraged 250 small grants, 800 part-time jobs for Region 10 to register for scholarships T W ithin the next three weeks 800 Region 10 residents will be employed by the government.

This announcement was made on Sunday (March 27, 2022) by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo as he addressed residents of the Region during a meeting at Watooka House in Linden.

The Vice President said application forms will be available for interested persons. This forms part of the administration’s plans to

subsidise household income in light of the rising cost of living.

Further, Dr. Jagdeo said the government is prepared to build other call centres and even factories in the region, as part of its co-investment initiative. Training, he noted is also a priority of the government. Oil companies have been approached about recruiting persons outside of Regions Three and Four.

In addition, VP Jagdeo announced that some 200

to 250 small grants will be provided to small businesses in the region.

Another major programme to improve the water supply system and other infrastructural works for the region are also in train.

The meetings hosted at the Watooka House are part of the administration’s efforts to engage people on the ground to get a better understanding of their issues with a view to resolving them.

Gov’t looking to begin resurfacing of Linden Highway before year end

G

overnment is awaiting the approval of over $24 billion (US $120 million) from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to resurface the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo said the administration is hoping for the financing to be approved in June, to start rehabilitation work along the 72-kilometre-long thoroughfare. “We are hoping that it would be approved at the board meeting in June of this year, so we can start reconstructing that highway before the end of the

year,” the Vice President said on Sunday (march 27, 2022), during a meeting with a number of Region 10 residents.

“That is what we are hoping to do, to pave the highway from the junction all the way into Linden. The highway is in a horrible state, it is in a bad state coming up here,” he added.

The Vice President said while the government was addressing the impact of COVID-19, emphasis was also being placed on developing the country’s infrastructure. The upgrade to the highway is part of

several key plans which the government has outlined for the Upper Demerara-Berbice region.

Within three weeks, residents there will benefit from 800 part-time jobs to enhance their household income. About 200 to 250 small grants will also be distributed to persons desirous of starting or expanding their businesses.

These interventions illustrate government’s determination to advance the living standard of citizens nationwide, the Vice President underscored.

he PPP/C Administration has committed to providing 20,000 online scholarships through the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL), however, Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, on Sunday (March 27, 2022) said government is willing to surpass this mark if more persons express interest in the programme.

While engaging students at the Watooka Guest House in Linden, the Vice President said the government stands ready to accept some 5,000 persons living across the Upper Demerara-Berbice (Region 10), into the programme.

Government is also seeking to assist the GOAL

recipients by subsiding their internet cost; ensuring there is effective service during classes. Similarly, help was extended to persons benefitting from the GOAL initiative along the Essequibo Coast.

Dr. Jagdeo pointed out that government will go the extra mile to ensure persons receive quality education. He said the administration is looking to assist vulnerable persons who cannot afford devices to meet the necessary requirements.

According to him, the government has not forgotten its commitment to making education free at the University of Guyana (UG). As such, the admin-

istration is considering implementing measures which could possibly reduce the financial burdens for those studying or have completed studies at UG. Among the possible strategies, the Vice President proposed, is having scholarship recipients participate in community activities.

The Vice President has already instructed that a permanent telephone number be established at the GAOL secretariat, so that students’ queries could be directly addressed.

Last year, the government awarded 6,000 GOAL scholarships to Guyanese to pursue courses at international universities online.

Licenses for hemp farmers to be issued

F

armers interested in cultivating hemp in Regions Six and 10 will be issued with licences, once the government approves the requisite legislation to make its planning legal.

This was communicated

by Vice President, Bharrat

Jagdeo, during an engagement on Sunday (March 27, 2022) with members of the Region 10 business community, on the lawns of the Watooka Guest House, Linden, Region 10.

He noted that the hemp industry can be a major pro-

vider of jobs and the government is targeting Regions Six and 10 to help fill their unemployment gaps.

Several farmers in Region 10 who were present at the meeting noted that the announcement was welcomed news.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

PPP/C COMMUNITY OUTREACH…

FINDING SOLUTIONS, RESOLVING ISSUES

Growth in every area, Region 10 included – VP Jagdeo T

he PPP/C Government has embarked on a transformational plan that will spur economic growth in every sector and the overall economy.

This was disclosed by Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, on Sunday as he addressed residents of Re-

gion 10.

Reflecting on this government’s track record, Dr. Jagdeo noted that Guyana’s macro-fundamentals are stronger than many of the other developed countries in the world.

The Amaila Falls Hydropower Project, which

will significantly reduce electricity cost, and investments in the education, health and infrastructure sectors, utilising funds from oil and gas will take Guyana further down a growth path, the Vice President highlighted.

“These are all things

that we have worked out within the last 15 to 18 months, raising money, putting together the projects, completing the feasibility study. We’ve done the feasibility study for the East Coast Road Widening too,” he pointed out.

Dr. Jagdeo mentioned

the investments that are being made in the livestock industry, as well as in corn and soyabean production.

He explained that,” These are all things that would be connected to Linden. The economic activities, the spin off benefits,

the supplies that you will meet will have a direct impact on Region 10 and people in Region 10.”

The Vice President also reiterated the importance of capital investments and prudent management of oil funds to secure long-term stability.

14

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

REMEMBERING JANET JAGAN

The role of the People's Progressive Party in the history of Guyana (Condensed version of address given by PPP Executive Member Janet Jagan at first session of the 25th Congress of the PPP. Re-published as part activities to mark the life of Janet Jagan who died on March 28, 2009)

By Janet Jagan

O

ur Party was the first stable political party in Guyana. We introduced politics to the masses, educating them about political life at public meetings and seminars, the first to be held on a wide scale in the country. It was the PPP which began the political education of Guyanese, making them aware of their rights, the need to run their own affairs and to have Guyanese, instead of expatriates, in positions of power.

In its first programme issued in April, 1950, the Party set out as its aims the objectives of winning independence and establishing a just socialist society.

The Party fought to bring full and genuine democracy to Guyana.

In doing so, our Party advanced the limited franchise to universal adult suffrage, allowing all adults to vote for the first time in the nation's history.

We began the long struggle to end dual control of schools, which forced Christianity, in a multi-religious society, on teachers and students. Eventually we won the change to a state-controlled school system.

We ended the system of nominated members being appointed to Parliament. We fought against the undemocratic system which allowed, for example, the nomination of the sugar boss, Mr. Seaforth to the Legislative Council when he

had lost the seat he contested in elections in 1947.

We fought against, and eventually won, the end of nominated members to the Executive Council of government, bringing in for the 1953 elections, the first cabinet system in Guyana.

Our party fought for, and finally won, the right of union members to choose, by free and fair ballot, the union they wanted for negotiations and representation. For years, sugar workers were forced to join the MPCA, the company union, until they finally won the battle to join the union of their choice, GAWU. The Party fought against the undemocratic system of the British in fiddling and gerrymandering our constitution and the boundaries of constituencies.

In our battle to restore full democracy, we fought against the British-imposed laws of detention without trial.

The PPP fought and won an overwhelming majority of seats and votes in the 1953 elections which ushered in universal adult suffrage, self-government, the cabinet system; these elections brought the unity of the Guyanese people as never before seen.

We saw the suspension of the constitution in 1953, becoming the cold war victims of US and British foreign policies. Constitutional life was ended until 1957, with a fully nominated Parliament taking over.

The British colonial government

worked tirelessly to divide the people's forces, succeeding in the split in the PPP and the formation,

by Mr. Burnham, of another party, which at first he called the PPP, later the PNC. His group lost heavily in the 1957 elections, winning only three of 14 seats.

This technique of dividing the party, mainly on racial lines, was the method used by the British to hold its colonies together. Nelson Mandela in his recent autobiography cites how, when in prison, the authorities gave better food and clothing to Indian and coloured prisoners as against Black prisoners, trying to divide them on racial lines.

Despite the split and the gerrymandering of constituencies for the 1957 election, our Party won.

An example of the gerrymandering was that Cheddi Jagan won his Corentyne seat with 23/143 votes, more votes than all of those won by the five parties other than the PPP which won seats in that elections.

(The PPP won nine out of fourteen seats).

During the period 1957-61, our Party in government worked with the British Governor and top officials here without problems; we led a successful government within the colonial system and brought greatly increased benefits to the working man and woman. This record was well remembered during the 1992 elections, as voters compared conditions of the two periods.

It was our third success at winning elections, in 1%1, that the cold war climate began seriously affecting our Party in government.

The USA greatly feared the influence of Cuba and charged that Guyana was going to be a second Cuba in this hemisphere. The US greatly influenced British colonial policy in Guyana. We then entered the period of activities by the CIA and British MI5 to destabilise our government. The opposition parties, the PNC and United Force, plus the TUC, worked closely with the CIA to undermine our Party and government, attempting to blow up Freedom House and fostering racial differences which led to the loss of lives and property.

The PNC, along with the UF, were catapulted into office in a coalition after the 1964 elections, brought one year beforehand and introducing proportional representation, which was aimed at removing our Party from government. Even though our Party won the largest number of votes of any party, the forced marriage of the PNC and UF kept us out of office.

Thus began 28 years of misrule and electoral fraud. Our members were harassed, imprisoned, searched, tortured, persecuted and suffered discrimination at all levels, bringing on the great exodus from Guyana. We experienced an economic downturn which created greater poverty, a severe drop in social services, the wrecking of

the country's infrastructure and the demoralisation of the nation's citizens.

The assault on democracy highlighted this period with the gross rigging of elections.

The long battle to restore democracy began, first with the PPP's exposure of the electoral fraud of the 1%8 elections. Little or no support was given to the PPP's struggle then, or even in the violent and heavily rigged elections of 1973. The Party boycotted the National Assembly for three years, protesting the electoral fraud. The Party eventually decided to return to Parliament, adopting a policy of "critical support" after extensive consultations with Party's rank and file.

The Party continued its exposure of electoral fraud, gradually bringing wider support for the restoration of democracy and the formation of the PCD after the 1985 elections.

Our General Secretary was successful in widening international support for our struggle to end electoral fraud, bringing in the Carter Centre, which gave such substantial help in changing the rules of the electoral process and in bringing free andfair elections to Guyana on October 5, 1992.

Our Party's role in the history of Guyana is uncontested, we helped form all the important changes in our country during the past 45 years.

WPO hosts wreath laying in memory of Janet Jagan T

he Women's Progressive Organisation (WPO) hosted a wreath laying ceremony to mark the 13th anniversary of the death of former President and party founder member, Janet Jagan, on Sunday (March 27, 2022).

Born Janet Rosenberg, she died on March 28, 2009.

Janet Jagan came to British Guiana in December 1943, and worked for 10 years as a Dental Nurse in Dr Cheddi Jagan's clinic. She almost immediately became involved in the labour struggle and was a member of the colony's first-ever union, the British Guiana Labour Union. She

worked with labour hero, Hubert Nathaniel Critchlow, to organise domestics.

In addition to being a co-founder of the PPP, she, with other women, also founded the Women's Political and Economic Organisation (later called W.P.O.)

15

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Ramjattan put on blast for ‘convenient’ representation of rice farmers C

omments by the Alliance for Change Leader (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan, saw him coming to blows

by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary and Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

Ramjattan on March 24, 2022, while admitting the negative impacts of global developments on Guyana’s productive sector, sought to call for action by the Dr. Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C government to ensure that rice farmers are supported.

Responding to his calls, Jagdeo underscored the fact that the convenient representation of rice farmers’ interests is transparent. “I am

happy that the AFC is now saying that we should help the rice farmers. You recall what they said before…the same Ramjattan supported (David) Granger when he said the rice sector was private industry. He supported the increase of the levy at GRBD. He supported the increase in water charges and D&I (Drainage and Irrigation) rates, and land changes.

The same Ramjattan supported VAT on fertilizer, VAT on machinery and equipment – tractors and combines. So, I pleased that today, he now wants us (the PPP/C government) to support the industry. “…when we tried to assist farmers who faced flood-

ing and households that faced flooding, they said we want to give money to our supporters. So I am pleased with this now that said we must support the rice farmers, because we have every intention of doing so and we’ve already done so. And not in convenient way to score political points or to get people to vote for you….(Minister) Zulfikar (Mustapha) visited more famers in 10 days than they did in five years. “…it goes back to what the PPP has always done, we’ve supported our industries when they are in difficult times. It happened in the bauxite industry. We’ve done it in sugar and we’ve

done in it rice. And we are doing it for farmers…they (the Opposition) are very convenient. They call on you to do things we’ve already done….it is the same thing about cost of living, how could they talk about that?

Having done what they did to people…we don’t have a problem with them making suggestions about how to address problems without destroying the fundamentals of our future. APNU and AFC comes up with wild things that they would never implement…they do it for the sound-bytes…any sensible solution that will bring relief to our people and is sustainable, and will not cause us

future problems, then we are prepared to do so.”

Notably, in July 2015, mere months after taking office, the APNU+AFC Coalition’s David Granger, addressing rice farmers made clear that his government – of which Ramjattan is a part – views the rice sector as private business. “We do not wish in the administration to usurp the role of the Private Sector. Rice production is a private business, and we support private enterprise. The administration does not want to bail out the rice industry.

We don’t want to become a banker for the overdraft exporters and millers. Our role is to establish a framework

to provide a level playing field so that the industry can prosper,” Granger had said.

Ramjattan, at the time, said nothing in defence of rice farmers.

In contrast, since taking office in August 2020, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha has said Guyana worked successfully to secure additional markets for rice exports. The two European destinations are Hungary and Latvia. The Government is investing heavily to ensure there is sufficient rice for new markets.

Further, with the push for public-private partnerships, the Ministry is cur(Turn to page 19)

16

Gov’t considering booster doses for adolescents – Health Minister

M

inister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, said the government is considering the recommendation by the Center of Disease Control (CDC) and the US’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States, to offer booster doses to persons 12 years and older.

According to the CDC, adolescents aged between 12 and 17-years-old should receive a booster shot five months after their initial Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination series. “…that’s something we will also be looking at because our population between 12 to 17, we’ve only been giving them the primary dose, that’s the first and second dose, and now

we’ll probably have to consider whether we should administer the booster dose,” he said.

Additionally, on March 29 the FDA recommended that countries can now administer a fourth COVID-19 booster dose to their population. “The recommendation is that the fourth dose should be administered to people who have underlying conditions that result in immuno compromise…the second condition is that they have generally recommended it for anybody 50 years and older,” Dr. Anthony said.

He said scientific data has shown that a fourth dose vaccine is ‘very protective’ as such the ministry will be considering the adminis-

tration of a fourth dose for persons 50 years and older.

The Health Minister also reiterated the importance of getting inoculated against the disease. “When you get vaccinated, you’re giving your body a chance to quickly react when it comes in contact with the virus. If not [vaccinated], it would take a long time, and during that period you can develop other complications so it is important to get vaccinated,” he said.

The Health Ministry has also advised the public that immunity drops approximately six months after taking the second dose of a primary vaccine, therefore it is important that persons be boosted against the disease.

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Over $2B in contracts signed as... importance of the sector. So I want to ask you here this afternoon, that like last year, let us continue to execute our work and on a timely basis.

Let us continue to ensure that the work is being executed in a way that we satisfy this

specification.”

Contracts were also signed for the construction of drainage structures in Vriesland, West Bank Demerara (Region Three), the rehabilitation of secondary channels in Number 50-52

(From page 6)

Acre Dairy Plots in Region, the supply and delivery of agro-processing equipment for the New Guyana Marketing Corporation’s (New GMC) Parika packaging facility, and the supply and delivery.

17

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Gov’t commits to acquiring oil spill response equipment P rime Minister Brigadier (R’td) Mark Phillips has said government is committed to acquiring equipment to prepare the country in the event of an oil spill.

He was speaking at a media briefing at the Pegasus Hotel, following a successful oil spill response simulation exercise held by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and other stakeholders on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister, who has responsibility for disaster risk management, said despite the ex-

ercise was a success, the equipment used is not what should be used in the case of an emergency. “From government side, I want to commit ourselves to working with you and to acquire the equipment that will be needed for the actual disaster,” the Prime Minister stated.

He added that, “the fact is that we as a country have been using petroleum for over 200 years now and therefore, we should have been ready for dealing with these types of disasters since then. We are moving fuel to keep

electricity on, we are moving fuel to keep our cars moving and therefore, we can have a disaster in any one of our harbours and we have to be ready to deal with it.”

The Prime Minister said government will ensure that the right personal protective equipment is made available to those responsible for responding to oil spills. “What we don’t need is we are faced with a disaster and we do not have the right equipment, we do not have the right PPEs, and therefore, people are putting on the PPEs

for the first time at the time of the disaster. So, we have to focus now on getting the right PPEs as Mr. Thomas mentioned and have people wear them and experience the comfort or discomfort that comes with wearing them and utilising the equipment,” the Prime Minister explained.

PM Phillips commended the stakeholders for their commitment. He said

the idea is to train hard so that in the event of an actual disaster, it will be easy as everyone would know their roles. The aim of the exercise was to test the country’s oil spill capabilities to a tier two incident to identify strengths, weaknesses and lessons using the recently completed National Oil Spill Contingency Plan.

The exercise was exe-

cuted in a real time stressful environment intended to mirror a real tier two incident. It also aimed to simulate reality by presenting complex and realistic problems that require critical thinking, rapid problem solving and effective response by trained personnel from all the various agencies. The exercise was undertaken both on shore and offshore.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

UG’s Master’s in Strategic Development... (From page 10) he said.

The policymakers of the future, the President said, must be able to understand the way in which international organisations operate and how the institutions themselves are governed and their importance to the framework of global development.

He also pointed to the flexibility of the course and its ability to analyse current events. This “practical nature”, he said, must lead to strategic

thinking, critical analysis, policy formulation, shared responsibility and threats, challenges and opportunities.

Ali said, “This is important, understanding our shared responsibility in dealing with threats, challenges and opportunities. More importantly, it should allow us to understand threats to development…it must equip us with the knowledge and the analytical capability to strategically align policies, national policies to

meet those threats, to mitigate against those strengths and challenges.”

President Ali emphasised that we cannot take our country to greater heights if we don’t have a vision, and the creation of something different requires a vision, which requires ideas which in turn require people. He said, “If we’re static in our thinking, we will not be able to develop ideas. If we cannot develop ideas, we cannot create a vi-

sion, and after you create that vision, it is important that we communicate that vision and bring everyone along with that vision. That is what brings success, and it’s not a topdown approach or a bottom-up approach. It is a circular approach, and the only thing that unifies the circle is the vision.”

Government ministers, Members of the Diplomatic Corps and high-level security officials were also at the launch.

122 Corentyne youths graduate... (From page 8) for the world so if a door is closed you can walk into another door because you have another skill, you have another talent.

This graduation ceremony is very significant for us in this region because the whole idea behind training our people is to ensure that they possess the requisite skill that will be needed by

industries and other areas of development.”

Data collected by BIT shows women dominating traditionally male dominated courses. Of the 122 graduates, 68 are women.

Meanwhile, the Basic Needs Trust Fund (BNTF) continues to collaborate with BIT in aiding human resource development.

19

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Ramjattan put on blast... (From page 15)

Stronger regulatory... (From page 7)

rently collaborating with the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to examine the possibility of producing a zinc candidate biofortified rice variety. Minister Mustapha relayed that the project, which is currently ongoing at the Burma Rice Research Station in Region Five, could allow Guyana to access preferential prices for rice. It was previously reported that

to show if this boat was adequately inspected by a competent marine surveyor, deficiencies were found or not found, corrective action was taken or corrective action was not taken but the company would have indicated that it went into dry dock. And the company has shown no evidence to the Board of Inquiry that they have in their employ someone of the competence as a marine surveyor to cer-

4,650 farmers nationwide and thousands more in CARICOM are expected to benefit from this project.

Also, major infrastructural works are ongoing, even as rice farmers benefit from direct cash transfers in times of crises, such as the 2021 floods that wiped out crops in some areas.

Importantly, steps continue to be made to ensure that production costs are not too heavy a burden on rice

farmers. As of October 1, 2020, the PPP/C Government reversed the drainage and irrigation charges imposed by the Coalition government to their original rates.

The Mahaica/Mahaicony/ Abary-Agriculture Development Authority (MMA/ ADA) rates were decreased from $15,000 per acre to $3,500 per acre. This single measure immediately left an average of $1.3 billion in the hands of farmers there.

tify the quality of a vessel in and out of dry dock to ensure that all the corrective measures were done,” the Minister stated.

It was also brought to light by the public works minister that there are about 1800 registered vessels and 87 trawlers that use the waterways, which indicate that thousands of people are on the waterways on a daily basis. With that, he stressed that the matter is

not a small one and that things that were taken for granted will be looked into.

Minister Edghill said he has made it clear that no vessel or individual using the vessels must go into Guyana’s waters if they are not properly licenced.

Additionally, members of the board were able to review MARAD’s systems and have made a number of findings and recommendations.

20

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

PPP/C gov’t has taken a realistic approach to revitalizing the sugar industry Dear Editor,

T

he PPP/C government’s realistic approach to the sugar industry has created uneasiness among some people, as the administration is moving away from traditional ‘stop gap’

measures (like subsidies) to limit the negative impact of high cost of production by proceeding to “re-imagine” the sugar industry.

Enmore sugar estate would be divested and become an industrial hub; Skeldon Sugar Estate will be divested with indus-

trial hemp cultivation and processing, acqua-culture, peasant cane farming, soya and corn cultivation (co-generation is not fiscally viable); Rose Hall Sugar Esate is being rehabilitated for sugar production and should become operational early next year; while the Wales Sugar Estate will be converted into an industrial zone under the direction of the Wales Development Authority (WDA) for which funds have already been allocated in the 2022 budget.

What is central to the re-imaging process is the need to avoid heavy subsidies in the future; ensure that workers do not lose their employment; rehire those who have been dismissed; and promote economic revitalisation of the four sugar estates that were closed by the previous PNCR-led government.

When the government says that it would re-open the three sugar estates (Enmore, Skeldon, and Rose Hall), it does not necessarily mean that the estates’ communities would be resuscitated based on sugar, even though that would have been the understanding of many people. I believe that the government conceived the re-opening of the sugar estates as viable economic entities, but not necessarily to be built around sugar cane cultivation, which is of course one option.

The lease of the Sugar Packaging Plant (SPP) facility to Guysons K+B Industries (GKB) for use as a fabrication factory, is one step forward in the implementation of the government’s re-imagine approach. At Enmore, the GKB facility will employ the 30 Packaging Plant employees, and projects a labour force of 500 employees in five years’ time. This project along with others will contribute towards the revitalisation of the sugar estate community, which has been hurled into an economic dead zone by the previous government. The SPP will be relocated at Albion Sugar Estate and put into production there. Agriculture Minister says that SPP workers will be given two months of severance pay.

However rational a plan or strategy may be (and the government has an opportunity to refine the re-imagine process with inputs from the technical team from Guatemala), it is not likely to sit well with some people. Mr. Samuel Gittens wonders why Indian Rights activists who had been critical of the PNCR-led coalition’s closure of sugar estates in 2017 have now gone silent over the Enmore SPP deal. One critic claims, “Ali is now using statistics and figures from another country, Guatemala, to buttress his arguments.” And Mr. M. Narine asks: “Is government moving away from sugar and agriculture?”

The Indian Rights group was critical because the coalition government refused to carry out the recommendations of their own COI which recommended a three-year year turn-around time for the industry. Worst yet, the coalition government did not provide the 7,000 dismissed sugar workers with alternative jobs and failed also to conduct a socio-economic impact study. The Indian Rights activists are aware that the PPP/C government has been providing relief to workers in the form of alternative jobs; the grant of $(G) 250,000 for workers still unemployed (to compensate them for the non-payment of annual productivity bonus and pay rise); as part of the process to build hope for the revitalization of the sugar estate communities. Indian Rights activists know that sugar estates have been losing money at an annual average of $(G) 8 billion during the period 2011-2020. They support the constructive measures set in motion by the PPP/C government to minimise and even to eliminate losses.

While Guyanese must continue to question the viability of projects and policies, their points of view could only gain answering reaction if these are well articulated and grounded in evidence or facts. The decision by the PPP/C government, for example, to lease the sugar packaging plant at Enmore to FKB Industries Inc. is based on several critical factors, namely, (i) the run-down state of the sugar factory, including its cannibalisation and its non-operational state for over six years; (ii) the abandonment of sugar cane fields for a similar period; (iii) the broken bridges and poor condition of dams; (iv) heavy annual losses averaging ($(G) 2.632 billion) over the period 2011-2016); (vi) and low levels of productivity (4-5 metric tonnes per hectare compared with levels of 10.7 metric tonnes per hectare in Guatemala).

These are powerful negative forces that should not be allowed to continue. The government has therefore decided that divestment which protects jobs and increases employment level, will also lead to the revitalisation of the Enmore sugar estate community. The same situation applies to Skeldon sugar estate.

Sincerely, Dr. Tara Singh

WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

21

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

COM M ENTARY

The PPP/C government is once again making significant moves to improve healthcare

By Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

L

ast year, Guyana performed more transplant surgeries than all the rest of countries in CARICOM combined. This year so far, Guyana is on pace to complete more transplants than we did in 2021. So far in 2022, the rest of CARICOM has not done any transplant surgery. Quietly from nowhere, Guyana’s health sector is on the move and taking some leadership in CARICOM. There can be no doubt as of now that Guyana is the leader in transplant medicine in CARICOM. Dr. Kishore Persaud is Guyana’s lead transplant surgeon. But the work of Dr. Carlos Martin and other vascular surgeons at the GPHC is also paving a way for Guyana to make its mark in medicine in CARICOM. On February 17th, 2022, doctors at the GPHC successfully completed the first-ever laparoscopy bariatric surgery in Guyana. The lead-doctor in the surgical team was Dr. Hemraj Ramcharran, an advanced laparoscopic surgeon.

Laparoscopy is a surgery whereby the surgeons do not have to make large incisions (cuts) to enter the patient’s body. One or more small holes are made for camera and instruments to enter the body and the doctors operate without too much invasion into the body. This is also referred to as Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS). More and more in Guyana MIS is being offered to patients.

Laparoscopy surgeries are also done at New Amsterdam Public Hospital and Linden Public Hospital. It is also available in private hospitals.

While laparoscopic surgery is becoming routine in

Guyana, the operation done on February 17th was the first time the technique was used for bariatric surgery.

Bariatric surgery is a surgery used to treat obesity. It is a special surgery in which the intestine (gut) is re-sectioned and rearranged to restrict food-intake. It leads to significant weight-loss. It was truly a milestone event and it was a record-setting event. The GPHC must be congratulated for this achievement. Dr. Ramcharran led a large team in achieving this success. In addition to the Team Leader, Dr. Hemraj Ramcharran, congratulations are extended to members of his surgical team: Nurse Roenita Grant, Dr. Zoilo Leon, Dr. Adikar Ramjoo, Dr. Delon Ramnarine, Dr. Bibi Hussain, Dr. Drohinauth Singh and Dr. Fiaaz Hassan.

The laparoscopic bariatric surgical team received critical support from the Head of the Surgical Department, Dr. Navin Rambarran and Ms. Djamilsa Lambert (Nutritionist), Ms. Karina Gonzalez (Psychologist), Dr. Kishore Ramdass (Internal Medicine Specialist), Dr. Yaquelin Ricardo (Endocrinologist), Dr. Andres Segura (Anesthesiologist), Dr. Yogeshwar Ethwaroo (Cardiologist).

Importantly, this milestone event was conceptualized, planned and completed entirely by a Guyanese staff. Most of the doctors and other support staff are graduates from the University of Guyana, the Nursing School of Guyana, Cuba.

Most of the doctors received their post-graduate training in Guyana. Some of them, like Dr. Ramcharran also benefitted from international fellowships.

The laparoscopic bariat-

ric surgery is not the first innovation Guyanese doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have accomplished.

Guyanese doctors, nurses and allied health professionals have combined for several other innovative surgeries. For example, late in 2021, the same surgical team completed first-ever laparoscopic adrenalectomy surgery. Three patients benefitted. One was to a patient with a condition called pheochromocytoma, leading to uncontrolled blood pressure. The second patient was one with gallbladder cancer needing special surgery known as cholecystectomy and hepatectomy. The third patient had a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). This surgery was led

by Dr. Kishore Persaud, our transplant doctor.

These are conditions that have led to rapid deterioration in a person’s health and early death. The surgeries have given the patients another lease on life.

There are other record-setting surgeries that have been done by neuro-surgery, transplant, vascular, orthopedic, ophthalmology and pediatric teams at the hospital. While some innovations are being pursued in the private sector, the GPHC continues to lead innovations in Guyana. Part of the success we are presently experiencing is as a result of the vision of the PPP/C government.

When the Bharat Jagdeo-led PPP/C government started the post-graduate program and began international partnerships to upgrade the experience and training of doctors, the government set the stage for the talented young Guyanese that are everyday making our country proud and making the health sector

better with each passing day.

But it is the government’s investment in health that is now beginning to pay off. In 1992, the per capita investment in health was less than $US7. Today, it is more than $450 per capita. This has led to more and better qualified healthcare staffing, especially doctors. But it has led to more and better equipped hospitals. Even as health staff are showing they are capable of doing medical care that is being done in developed countries, given the physical and technological infrastructure, the government of Guyana is ensuring that such infrastructure is available for the highly-motivated staff.

At this very moment, the Ministry of Health and the PPP/C Government are finalizing arrangements for major upgrade of the GPHC, New Amsterdam and Linden Hospitals. Investments are to be made in upgrading these hospitals that would be the largest investments these institutions have ever had. Brand new emergency and accident departments are to be constructed and equipped, new operating theatres, with dedicated laparoscopic suites, new Critical Care areas are also planned for these hospitals. All these hospitals will be equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and imaging suites, including with CT scans and fluoroscopy equipment.

By 2025, these institutions will look and feel and deliver more than people can imagine.

At this moment too, there are plans to have new hospitals at Bartica, Skeldon, and West Demerara. While replacing these hospitals with new hospitals, the PPP/C Government is also planning new hospitals in areas

that never had any hospital.

These include at Anna Regina (Region 2), DeKendren (Region 3), Diamond (Region 4), Enmore (Region 4), and Bath (Region 5).

While not yet finalized, all hinterland hospitals are to be reconstructed or upgraded.

Already major works have been done with Leonora, Diamond, Lethem, Mabaruma, and Port Kaituma. But hospitals at Mahdia, Matthew’s Ridge, Aishalton, Annai, and Kato are to be upgraded in the coming years. Every regional hospital will have CT scans. All regional Hospitals will have upgraded operating theatres and ICUs. Already, more than $US5M have been budgeted to upgrade health centers and health posts.

Even as the government is significantly improving the physical and technological infrastructure, it is ensuring that specialized services are available. A new first-world specialized pediatric and maternal hospital is being constructed, starting this year.

Some know such hospitals as children and women hospital. Guyana will have one of the first such facilities in CARICOM. Even as we are completing this arrangement, Guyana has just signed an MOU to establish a full-time pediatric cardiac surgical program so that children with heart diseases can be treated on a timely basis. Guyana is also having discussions to establish a high-quality oncology center (cancer treatment center). In order to ensure Guyana has access to all levels of care, government is working closely with the private sector to ensure that some of the needed services are available in the private sector.

In order to make sure that the investment in physical

and technological infrastructure and our training programs bear fruits, Guyana is also expanding and strengthening international partnerships. These partnerships have helped Guyana reached where we are today. But presently, Guyana is pursuing even more partnerships with international prestige. These include partnerships with Mount Sinai and Northwell from New York, McMaster and others from Canada and with various UK institutions.

At the same time, Guyana is strengthening its relations for training with China, India and Cuba.

Training is critical. While enormous efforts are being made to improve doctors’ training, Guyana is ensuring a major revamping of nursing. We expect that hundreds more nurses are to be trained in the coming years, beyond the normal training Guyana has had for several years. The Ministry of Health is planning to increase incoming nursing classes by more than 300 by next year.

At the same time, Guyana is now profoundly changing of we deliver health care.

Guyana already has a strong digital health platform with teleradiology, teleophthalmology already connecting various health institutions to deliver remote health care.

Doctors at GPHC are delivering imaging diagnostics to hospitals across the country using the internet. Similarly, GPHC doctors are delivering diabetic eye screening to institutions that are far away from the GPHC by connecting patients and doctors through the internet.

Modern medicine is rapidly becoming routine in Guyana. The PPP/Cis delivering already a world-class healthcare for our people.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 2-3 APRIL, 2022

Adequate COVID-19 vaccines available – Dr. Anthony G uyana is not experiencing any shortage of COVID-19 vaccines to continue government’s immunisation exercise to address the spread of the deadly disease.

Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony, has said that the government has adequate COVID vaccines to fully immunise its citizens, as vaccines were procured from various sources.

He explained that the country “would normally get vaccines through COVAX because Guyana is one of the COVAX AMC (Advance

Market Commitment) countries and we have benefitted from those donations. “Bilaterally, we have also received vaccine donations from the US, Spain and some other countries who have given us vaccines, plus we went out and buy vaccines and, in this case, we have been able to purchase Sinopharm and Sputnik vaccines,” Minister Anthony added.

Government has been offered additional vaccines by other countries. “More recently, we have had a lot of countries offering to donate

vaccines to us, but they had short expiry dates… we did not accept those donations because we had adequate supplies,” Dr. Anthony explained.

In January 2021, Guyana received its first batch of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccines via the partnership between Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) the Vaccine Alliance, the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

How delta and omicron make the Frankenstein variant 'deltacron' (NPR) On February 16, Scott Nguyen went hunting. And what he found is a bit surprising: a coronavirus variant that looks like a Frankenstein virus. It has the head of the omicron variant stuck onto the body of the delta variant.

Officially, Scott Nguyen is a bioinformatician at the Public Health Laboratory in Washington, D.C. He tracks emerging coronavirus variants around the city. But on the side, Nguyen and a handful of scientists around the world have an intriguing hobby: "We're variant hunters," he says. "I think that's a pretty cool way to describe it."

Nguyen and other variant hunters search through millions of SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences in a massive database, called GISAID, looking to uncover strains that could shift the course of the pandemic – or simply give scientists a better understanding for how the virus evolves.

For instance, back in November one variant hunter found "a very weird set of ...mutations coming from a variant in South Africa," Nguyen says. "That became omicron."

Then early one morning in February, Nguyen detected not simply another variant but a whole new class of variants: variants that mix together parts of delta and omicron. And not just any parts, randomly put together. In some instances, the virus seems to be optimizing the combinations – picking the best traits from each for infectiousness and immune evasion.

Specifically, Nguyen found a variant that's mostly delta but contains the spike protein of omicron – the tiny studs on the surface of the virus that initiate infection.

"So a good chunk of the vi-

rus' spike protein is omicron but the body of the virus is still delta," Nguyen says. "So yes, that's the best way to describe it."

So far, this variant, called XD, is rare. So, scientists have detected it in only France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. But there are likely many of these deltracrons out there.

Scientists in San Mateo, California, have already found a handful of them in the U.S. At least one has emerged in the U.K. and Brazil.

Health officials, including those at the World Health Organization, are watching these hybrid variants closely.

Because they demonstrate how the virus can take its most successful parts and combine them quickly into a supervirus. This process is called recombination, and it's how dangerous strains of flu are made. "So very often recombination is the way in which we get pandemics of influenza. ," Dr. Mike Ryan with the World Health Organization said on Friday. "So we have to be very cautious ... we have to watch these recombinant events very, very closely."

For instance, omicron's spike protein is especially apt at hiding the virus from our immune system, especially our antibodies.

And so the XD variant is essentially the delta variant wearing omicron's invisibility cloak. "From the variant's perspective, it has the best of worlds," Nguyen says. ""It's surprising that the virus can really do this, and do it very well, as well.

HOW A FRANKENSTEIN HYBRID IS BORN So how does the virus do this? How does it create these Frankenstein hybrids?

For starters, a person has

to catch both omicron and delta at the same time, says Shishi Luo, a bioinformatician at the genomics company Helix. "So a person has to be exposed to both variants in a short enough time frame so that they have both of them in this system."

Luo and her colleagues recently analyzed samples from nearly 30,000 Americans infected with SARSCoV-2 during the rise of omicron in this country, from November until February.

They found 20 people co-infected with both delta and omicron. In other words, they were infected twice.

"Omicron happened around Christmas and New Year, when there were many social gatherings," Luo explains.

"So you can imagine, you go to one social gathering and got exposed to delta, and then you go to a different social gathering, and you catch omicron."

If both variants manage to infect the same cell, at the same time, then the virus can end up doing recombination, Luo says. In essence, during replication, one variant steals a chunk of genes from another variant. So the delta variant, in way, plagiarized part of omicron's genetic code. "If you're writing a document, you can have typos where you change a single letter," Luo says. "But you can also copy and paste and move big chunks of text. That's recombination, where one variant, in this case delta, takes a big chunk of text from omicron."

Grabbing chunks of code instead of just single letters makes the virus more malleable or flexible, Luo says, so it can quickly evolve new variants, including ones that can evade our immune protection. "It just shows how SARS-CoV-2 has many tools in its kit for changing itself."

PPP/C gov’t will remain engaged with Guyanese at the grassroots – Jagdeo T

he People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), since assuming office in August 2020 has spent a lot of time laying the groundwork for the transformation of the country to benefit all Guyanese people, according to PPP General Secretary

and Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo.

And he contends that with much of the groundwork completed, as well as with an improvement in the COVID-19 situation locally, Guyanese can expect more frequent face-to-face en-

gagements with government officials.

“Since we assumed office, we spent a lot of time indoors trying to put together the plan for the five years in a manner that would result in the transformation of people’s lives, as well as address the day to

day issues. It has not been an easy task,” he said.

Of the work done so far, the PPP General Secretary said, “We found very little (when we took office) in terms of plans and even less, in terms of financing for the long-term transformation of

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the country. In addition to that there were many problems we had to fix – like spending large sums of money illegally in the period after the no-confidence motion; a lot of liabilities that were left for people who supplied services in that period, addressing those liabilities…a number of other issues. So we’ve been heavily engaged in that.

And I must say that we’re seeing the light of day now.

A lot of our plans are now at the stage where we are at the verge of tendering or starting to implement and these will have long term benefits for the country…a lot of work has been done, which is often behind the scenes.

“Simultaneously, we have tried to fulfill our manifesto promises because that is very important for us. So when I told the people in Essequibo (last week) that we will fulfill about 80 per cent of our manifesto promises, I heard APNU (APNU+AFC Coalition) saying it’s not true…it is true, we have done quite a bit. We are not satisfied, we know that we need to do much more. What is sacred to us is fulfilling the promises we made to the electorate and we are diligently pursuing that.”

ENGAGEMENTS ARE QUINTESSENTIAL Jagdeo charged that engagements are quintessential to ensuring that the PPP/C government remains in touch with the issues affecting Guyanese, so that effective solutions and responses can be proffered. “There have been challenges with COVID, which we did not anticipate…we did not get to do the work on the ground we wanted. The President has been out, he has been very active on the ground and in the planning process. A lot of Ministers went out.

But we still had an issue of bringing large numbers of people together because of the pandemic. Now that the restrictions have been lifted we can hit the ground once again,” he said.

A key component of the engagements at the grassroots levels, the PPP General Secretary noted, was ensuring that the Government remains accountable to the Guyanese people. “On my visit to Essequibo (on Mach 22-23, 2022), I thought it important to give people explanations, like we did in 2015…we had to explain to people the challenges we face now in government, a bit of what APNU (the former APNU+AFC Coalition government) left us,

a bit about their philosophy – their negative attitude in government and now in Opposition – and a bit about the new challenges, like COVID and what it caused with the cost of living, etc….so we focused heavily on giving information to people.”

Critical as well, according to him, is ensuring that all Guyanese are fully aware of the opportunities that they can access. Notably, information on housing, the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) scholarships and other forms of support were a major part of outreaches that have been led by Jagdeo, as well as other government officials.

The PPP General Secretary made clear too that building on the progress made, particularly during the five months after March 2020, remains an important focus on the work being done by the PPP/C. “We have to ensure that our democracy stays strong and that we build on that, so there is no room for drifting backwards. So our people will see aggressive action, through new laws and strengthening of our democratic processes,” he said.

Currently, efforts are continuing to finalise the proposed amendments to Guyana’s electoral laws. Amendments to the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA), both the substantive act and the regulations, have been in public circulation since November 2021. Guyanese were subject to a five-month wait for the final results from the March 2020 General and Regional Elections because of the actions of several persons involved in the process at the GECOM Secretariat and other elements, hence the move strengthen the legal framework.

Looking ahead, the PPP General Secretary and Vice President assured that the PPP/C government will remain engaged with all Guyanese people in their communities, in the interest of working together to build a prosperous ‘One Guyana’.

PUBLISHED BY NEW GUYANA Co. Ltd., Freedom House, Robb Street, Lacytown, Georgetown, Guyana. Tel: [592] 226-2042 / 227-2095 / 655-0459 / 627-7432