Weekend Mirror 26-27 November 2022

Op-Ed: Guyanese are capable to reason between Ali’s and Norton’s policy for development

By Kwame McCoy, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister

Aubrey Norton, who aspires to lead Guyana as Presi dent, wants the Irfaan Ali-led PPP/C administration to aban don its national agenda. Norton

wants the government to halt its build-out of the traditional sectors which the Granger ad ministration utterly degutted and tragically ruined. He wants the PPP/C government to ignore the economically sustainable convention of using the bulk of early oil revenues to build a

multi-dimensional economy, robust enough to sustainably improve the livelihoods of all Guyanese. His economic alter native calls for the government to pause the building of new highways that are opening land for new businesses that will create good-paying jobs across

the country.

He wants the government to not bother with building a new four-lane bridge across the De merara River that will ease the suffering of hundreds of thou sands of Guyanese and expand economic development and opportunities beyond George-

town. Norton wants President Ali to not prioritize a fully reha bilitated highway for the people of Linden, nor the Pan-Ameri can Highway to South America that will potentially transform that town into a thriving city. He thinks Lindeners do not deserve an Industrial Estate nor one thousand turn-key homes within the first term of the government, or the hundreds of millions in road rehabilitations currently underway. He would rather the residents of South George town, Belladrum, Buxton and New Amsterdam remain under employed, unempowered and hopelessly deprived of clean, green recreational spaces and fa cilities, improved infrastructure, and economic opportunities.

Aubrey Norton could care less about the thousands of Amerindians whom Granger rendered unemployed and pen niless, and for sure, he would rather see the thousands of sugar workers who were sent packing into nothingness remain there, wither away with their families, and die. The vacuous mind that is Guyana’s shadow Opposition Leader conveniently refuses to see anything or anyone beyond the welfare of public servants whom his party hypocritically, shamelessly, and falsely claims as its own and claim they were empowering. It is an ask of virtual impossibility, for Norton to begin to comprehend the very basics of how a country that wants to leapfrog from the outer bands of perpetual poverty to the upper echelons of wealth for all its citizens, must prudently and strategically manage its development agenda to achieve constant, exponential, and sustainable growth for both its people and its sector webs, concomitantly.

Surely, if Guyana were to heed the advice or contemplate the little-league leadership of Aubrey Norton and his advi sors, this country would most assuredly fall prey and dinner to not only the Dutch disease but also the PNC’s rice flour and breadfruit scorn all over again. The hopes of its citizens to benefit from free university edu cation by 2025 would be dashed against the exorbitant fees the APNU+AFC introduced and planned to keep increasing; the government would spend sixty billion of oil revenue in one-off payments of $300,000 to each household annually and con demn them to continue suffering in blackouts, falling waist deep into potholes, receiving only a chest sounding and a prescrip tion at every hospital and clinic, drinking coliform from their taps, and receiving education on slates under the flickers of flambeaus.

Because he would see no merit in bringing gas to shore and building hydroelectric plants to halve people’s elec tricity bill; no refinery; no new

hospitals or water treatment plants or modern smart schools; no modern sports facilities or new city for that matter; and he certainly would give no cash grants to our children. Our sea defenses would crumble, our water conservancies would con tinue washing out the farmers, our loggers and miners would keep paying taxes to use bad roads, our Amerindian brothers and sisters would get no titles to their lands or funds for their development, and our youths would have no forum, resources nor hope to contribute to deci sion making. According to his short-sightedness, all the myriad cost-of-living cushioning given to every sector and citizen to weather the storm of the global meltdown over the past two years would have been left to the magic and economic gymnastics of his one-off $300,000 to each household, full-stop.

Then according to my grandmother, everything else ‘wudda suck salt.’ My fellow Guyanese, look around for yourself, reason logically, or better yet, ‘talk de ting straight up’… Does the all-rounded, careful approach by President Ali to national development and transformation, where everyone and every sector grow together at an even pace make sense to you; or Aubrey Norton’s plan to share out all the oil money at $300,000 a household, then be able to do nothing else for the country’s sustainable develop ment, nada? I have every con fidence in the intellectual ability of every Guyanese to easily reason this out, whether from an academic or a street-smart point of view, to see an 8% retroactive increase for public servants along with adjustments to all categories of salary scales to be announced in the coming days, and all the other support programs already enacted and with more to come, as prudent fiscal management.

Add the reduction in mort gage rates for new home con struction to that; add the removal of VAT from almost every food and household item to that; add the removal of excise tax from gasoline to that; add the regular support to those with disabilities and those on dialysis to that; add the home construction manage ment and materials assistance programme to that; then ask yourself what in the world is Aubrey Norton really grand standing about. My Guyanese brothers and sisters in the public service, my brothers, and sisters in the rice fields, those in the cane fields, those in the mines, those of you in the interior, and those of you who can see through and through Norton’s useless diatribes; I trust that you would think for yourselves, choose for yourselves, and de termine which is the smarter path to your Guyanese future of wealth and empowerment.

Guyanese will continue to forcefully reject Coalition’s race-baiting, deceptive actions – Phillips

Prime Minister, Mark Phil lips, on Wednesday (No vember 23, 2022) rapped the APNU+AFC cabal and af filiated groups for persisting with desperate attempts at race-baiting, with the hope of inciting civil unrest against the democratically elected Peo ple’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government and end the tremendous benefits being experienced by all Guyanese.

Phillips said, “It is against this backdrop that I offer my response to a most mischie vous letter issued by a group calling itself the Institute for Action Against Discrimination in which the purported author, Lelon Saul, who identifies as the secretary of the group, makes incredibly fraudulent and misleading statements that the Government is pushing Guyana to the ‘brink of civil unrest’.

“Since the letter is ad dressed to a United States (U.S) Representative, one can only conclude that the author

is under the illusion that using false claims will trigger a U.S. intrusion into the affairs of a democratic sovereign state such as Guyana. I wholeheart edly believe that whom the gods would destroy they first make stark crazy.

“Mr. Saul is like so many of the delusional men and women in the failed AP NU+AFC regime, who failed to deliver a ‘good life’, espe cially Afro-Guyanese, whom they now misguidedly seek to exploit for political rele vance.”

The Prime Minister re minded that Saul is a former senior officer of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) who later served as Chief Executive Officer of the Central Hous ing and Planning Authority (CHPA) where he failed to implement a viable govern ment housing programme. “In less than two and a half years in office, our government has rescued the housing develop ment programme and turned it

around where to date we have issued over 11,000 house lots and low-income houses. The beneficiaries are over 50 per cent Afro- Guyanese. Every relief grant paid by govern ment saw Afro-Guyanese benefiting. Payments made in the sugar industry benefited over 20% of Afro-Guyanese, which is contrary to what the APNU+AFC would have Guyanese believe. Many Af ro-Guyanese are involved in rice, other crop production, and livestock, and benefited from flood relief and oth er support programmes for farmers. Recently, this au thor was the only person who hid behind a mask among a group that received agricul tural equipment less than 96 hours after President Irfaan Ali’s recent visit to Belladrum on a political outreach to the Mahaica-Berbice region. He had the temerity to ask ques tions of the President about security when visiting PNC strongholds as if to suggest

that the President should not visit these areas. The author is obviously a confused in dividual who also serves as Vice-President of the Guyana Veterans Legion, an organi zation that was addressed by President Ali at last Friday’s wreath-laying ceremony at GDF headquarters, Camp Ayanganna. During his ad dress, the President promised to have the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) deployed this week to address all issues re lated to benefits for veterans. That promise was kept by our President as employees of NIS are working at camp Ayan ganna resolving issues for veterans that the APNU+AFC inexplicably chose to ignore while in office,” he said.

Phillips charged that the

author is an “obsequious ten tacle affixed to the scheming, manipulative and depraved APNU+AFC” Coalition that plunged Guyana into chaos, and on the brink of civil unrest following a clumsily hatched plan to strangulate our de mocracy at the 2020 regional and general elections. “They would have gotten away with the heist of our country through stolen elections had it not been for the vigilance of contesting political parties, the media and the diplomatic mis sions of the ABCE countries in Guyana,” he said.

According to the Prime Minister, the APNU+AFC is on a treacherous road that they hope will create civil unrest and allow for the breakdown of democracy in Guyana which

happened under the PNC in the 70s and 80s. “Leaders in the APNU+AFC continue to push for civil unrest through attacks on the media, physically block ading Government officials from engaging with whole communities, unruly behavior in the National Assembly, and adopting a confrontational ap proach to the President when there should be discussions on key national issues. Plans to railroad the country were not achieved in 2020 and cer tainly law-abiding Guyanese along with civil society will continue to forcefully reject the deceptive actions of the APNU+AFC and call for polit ical maturity which will ensure greater unity and prosperity for all Guyanese,” Phillips declared.

EDITORIAL

The APNU+AFC Coalition’s hypocrisy continues to be exposed on an almost daily basis, as the embattled cabal and elements aligned to it take positions – regardless of the inherent contradictions – that suit its agenda of the day.

Among the most topical is the issue of the Voters’ List. Currently, the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition contends that the List needs to be “sanitized”, even as it insists that the legal process of Claims and Objections is an inadequate mechanism to do it.

Notably, on May 15, 2022, during the Coalition’s attempt to deny the will of the Guyanese people that led to a fivemonth delay in the declaration of the March 2020 election results, the AFC’s Cathy Hughes, said: “IF there was a Claims and Objections, the List would have been sanitized and we would have made all these objections and it would have been sorted.” If Claims and Objections was sufficient then, why not now?

Further, the Guyana Elections Commission’s (GECOM) Claims and Objections, which commenced on August 22, 2022, ended on September 25, 2022, exposed Norton’s bloat ed list claims. During the process there were: 1,032 requested changes and corrections; 1,862 requested transfers; and 3,009 persons used the opportunity to make a claim that they were not registered. Region Four recorded the highest numbers of transactions, with 1,819 transactions, followed by Region Three with 1,282 transactions and Region Six with 805 trans actions. Region 8 recorded the least number of transactions, a total of 101. Replacement of national identification cards and retakes of photographs were also addressed. A total of 5,903 transactions were recorded in the Claims process alto gether. As at September 27, 2022, a mere 18 objections were recorded, of which nine were upheld and the other 9 were denied. The objections included: one each in Anna Regina, Region 2; Nouvelle Flanders; Diamond and Coldigen, Region 4; Corriverton and New Amsterdam, Region 6; and Annai, Region 9. Three objections were recorded in Mackenzie, Region 10 and eight were recorded in Soesdyke, Region 4. If, as the Coalition has been claiming that the Voters’ List is bloated, why were there only 18 objections?

The line about the Voters’ List is not a new one.

In fact, the Coalition’s David Granger had held a line that the Voters’ List is flawed – bloated by some 200,0000 – a line that Aubrey Norton, the current leader of the PNCR and the APNU+AFC Coalition repeats. However, it was none other than the former Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, now facing electoral misconduct charges, who rejected this notion. When asked to comment on Granger’s assertion that the voters’ list is bloated by about 200,000 names, Lowenfield, on July 23, 2019 said: “You are saying my List is bloated….bloat is not a word it would affix to it (the List).” The former Chief Elections Officer also stated that Granger’s claim is based on speculation. Lowenfield had said: “It’s speculative.” If the List is bloated, how is Lowenfield’s comment explained?

Importantly too, Granger, when pressed with facts, backpedaled on his claim that the List was bloated. Having definitively claimed that the List was bloated, he changed tune to clarify that what he had meant to say was that: “If the List is flawed it must be corrected.” If the List is bloated, why did Granger backpedal on the issue?

Additionally, the List that Norton and his cabal now complains about was the pulled from the same database, the National Register of Registrants (NRR), that was used: one, for the 2011 General and Regional Elections, which have the APNU and the AFC a majority in Parliament; and, two, for the 2015 General and Regional Elections, which saw the APNU+AFC Coalition winning the government office. How can the list that the Coalition was happy with to secure wins in 2011 and 2015 be a problem because of their 2020 electoral loss?

In all the contradictions, the things that continues to be ignored are facts.

The fact is that, as per Guyana’s constitution and a ruling of the High Court, Guyanese who were registered to vote, but have since migrated cannot be removed from the Voters’ List.

GECOM on track to host transparent LGE in 2023

Dear Editor,

Since August 2020, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has undertaken several concurrent ac tivities aimed centrally at re-modelling and improving the organization’s pre viously sullied image, while readying itself for the hosting of the overdue Local Government Elections (LGEs). The associated success of the work of the Commission led by Chairwoman Justice (retired) Claudette Singh is par ticularly relevant and merits objective discussion, or the award of credit where applicable.

Notable is the concomitant exis tence of a created volatile environment strongly influenced and characterized by numerous continuous irrational positions being directed from the ‘core hub’ of leading Opposition political elements and their agents. One must therefore associate GECOM’s initial tricky period of cautious incremental progress with the need to recover from the debacle of key operational manag ers placed before the Courts to answer charges associated with electoral fraud; their flagrant abuse of discretion, dis regard for adopted precedence or legal decisions, and the need to reverse the impact of these persons on required organizational culture.

In examining the significant work undertaken and completed to ready itself and the nation for the March 2023 scheduled LGEs, one must appreci ate that the Commission’s measured success and delivery thus far were not without conflict and challenges. Guy anese by now are fully aware of the rollout of the PNC’s book of tricks to create a mirage of problems due to their general unwillingness to contest LGEs. These are evidenced by the consistently destabilizing pursuits when in and out of power. Historically, after more than two decades of the PNC Government of Guyana, the PPP/C held LGEs in 1994,

almost immediately after winning the support of the electorate in the dem ocratic process of 1992. The PNC did everything to prevent the holding of LGEs under the PPP/C Government. However, immediately after they went into Government in 2015, they went to the National Assembly and all by themselves passed the laws to amend the Continuous Registration process making the Voters List legal for six months to hold LGEs. They did what they wanted with the List, and held LGEs in 2016 using sinister manoeu vres to create subtle strategic advan tages such as gerrymandering with the boundaries of Local Authority Areas (LAAs), without consulting with the PPPC or other relevant stakeholders.

Notwithstanding, the PPP/C, while observing the anomalies, never made excuses and went to the polls on both occasions and whipped all the other contestants. In the current setting, the Guyanese people are also witnessing the convenient excuses emerging from other “pseudo” contestants and acolytes of the Coalition, such as the WPA and AFC, who have joined the bandwagon trying to survive under a camouflage of pretending to be relevant.

They will not contest because they are shell organizations.

The WPA has been reduced to a pa per group, while the AFC, according to Ramjattan, is a “deadwood”, or rather effectively ‘Dead meat’, given their demonstrated loss of purpose. The few remnants of the remaining hopeful in their Executive are currently hanging on depending on the now-and-then forms of condescending and baseless media critiques. As for the PNC, they will contest the LGEs because they will be looking to stay afloat in the po litical stream. The PNC will not want to remove themselves totally, because they do not want to fall by the wayside without having a measure of the work they need to do going forward. Moreso,

Party and Opposition Leader Aubrey Norton does not want to be replaced by default in the PNC.

Consequently, the PNC surprisingly are now forced to accept that Consti tutional change is required before the removal of the alleged impugned names from the Voters List. It was the PNC leaders who institutionalized election rigging machinery in Guyana. It took almost three decades for the people in Guyana to resist election rigging in this country. Again, it took five months of keen struggle and a united people along with the unflinching support of the in ternational community to stop the PNC/ APNU+AFC from stealing and rigging elections in this country in 2020.

While Guyana is a God-gifted country, thousands of our citizens were forced to flee our dear land because of the brutal, murderous, and discrimina tory practices orchestrated by the PNC. To undermine the role of GECOM as a key player in the cycle of democratic establishment of power, Granger made a desperate attempt to give back total control of GECOM to the PNC. His illegal self-imposition of Patterson as Chairman of GECOM, coupled with the employment of riggers, particularly those before the Court for fraud and highly questionable activities, evi dences the confirmation of the PNC’s attempt to re-institutionalize rigging in this country.

As our country continues to develop economically and politically, thousands of persons in the diaspora are returning to their homeland. Guyana is a safe and strong paradise, with no recurring threats of earthquakes! No hurricane! And a rejected PNC! So let us welcome our people back home with open arms as proud people, and allow them to contribute.

GECOM must bring on the LGEs.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

McDonald herself proclaimed that life for teachers was better under the PPP/C Government

Dear Editor,

and government pensioners as well as his intention to announce an adjustment to the salaries of lower categories of public sector workers in the coming week.

The fact is that the international Election Observer Mis sion (EOMs) lauded the mecha

(Turn to page 19)

The APNU+AFC continues to operate in an alternate universe, completely insensitive to the anguish, pain, and suffering Guyanese endured during their tenure which was marred by inhumane economic policies. This notion was ce mented as I read a statement issued by the APNU+ AFC’s Coretta McDonald, in which she attempted to criticize the recent announcement by President Ir faan Ali of an 8 per cent salary increase across the board for public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, constitutional office holders

McDonald’s willingness to sacrifice truth at the altar of political expediency to fulfill the APNU+AFC’s misleading narratives is extremely disheartening. She deliberately inflated the inflation rate to 50 per cent which is another spurious claim used to buttress her argument against the salary increase an nounced by the President. The inescap able truth is that McDonald knows all too well the unjust and harsh treatment

teachers endured at the hands of David Granger and the APNU+AFC regime. McDonald and her party believed that all of Guyana were asleep between May 2015 and August 1st 2020. They believe that Guyanese forgot that it was McDonald herself who proclaimed in 2018 that life for teachers was better under the PPP/C Government.

In fact, so good and attractive are the PPP/C policies towards workers that McDonald advanced her desire, through discussions, to become the PPP/C’s 2020 elections, prime ministerial candi date, up until a different approach was

Inexplicable hypocrisy, contradictions from the Parliamentary Opposition

Equity is foundational to Govt’s policies, programmes

Dear Editor,

The incessant cries by PNCR operatives and some opposition elements over al leged racial discrimination in allocations of state’s resources could hardly find support in available evidence. Recycling the old cliché: “Govt must avoid repeating the fundamental mistakes that led to justifying the oppression of Africans”, does not enhance the Guyanese people’s understanding or edification of the PPPC Government’s pursuit of equity. What would satisfy people’s heightened social consciousness are rationality and evidence.

The claim that the PPPC Government is creating an “apartheid” state is astonishing. Invoking this system and trying to apply it to Guyana is dangerous, self-serving, and devoid of reason and scholarship. Apartheid is an institutional system based on convoluted values and an ideology of racial superiority/ inferiority, which regulates social stratifica tion according to skin colour. Guyana is a de

mocracy based on constitutional rule, and it subscribes to the various UN conventions on freedoms and individual rights. The country’s stratification system is determined mainly by open market forces, and not by executive fiat and authoritarian rule, which are central to apartheid. This obnoxious system exists only in the fuzzy minds of critics.

The evidence is abundant: Guyana is on the track of equity (fairness). There is still some distance to travel on this path, but it is in the right direction. The Government’s position is that development must touch all Guyanese. This is encapsulated in its phi losophy of “One Guyana.” Accordingly, the Dr Irfaan Ali Government has established several projects, such as on infrastructure (roads, bridges), housing, land titles, jobs and education, that reflect equity (fairness).

Two of the most powerful tools of empowerment are housing and education. Owning an asset like land and a house is crucial for a person’s/family’s self-worth and

APNU+AFC has never been about development

Dear Editor,

The APNU/AFC have never been serious about socio-economic development of our country, whether they are in Govern ment or in Opposition.

When in Government, the PNC squan dered, mismanaged and siphoned off billions of dollars through a multitude of corrupt practices and harebrained policies, which consequently eroded the economic gains made previously by the PPP Government. This resulted in appalling deprivation and sufferings for Guyanese. This is well-doc umented during the 28 years of the PNC in Government, from 1964 to 1992.

This repeated itself again from 2015 to 2022, when the PNC-dominated Coalition were in Government and reversed the prog ress of the PPP Government.

When the PNC are in Opposition, they do everything, mostly illegal acts, to stymie the socio-economic progress of the coun try. For them, the end justifies the means, and they unleash violent streets protests, commit sexual assaults, rapes, daylight rob beries, damages to properties and physical violence on all Guyanese perceived as PPP supporters.

In Parliament, they obstructed all the developmental projects of the PPP Gov ernment from 2011 to 2015. From 1992 to 2015, these nefarious acts are well-doc umented, and from 2020, after losing the General Elections, the PNC again began to display their destabilising agenda.

The recent walkout from Parliament by the Opposition Leader and his gang is another misguided attempt to gain some publicity and attract sympathy of their sup porters, and this is aptly described by Par liamentary Affairs and Governance Minister Gail Teixeira as failing their constituencies by not participating in law-making to the betterment of the society. She rightfully concluded that the APNU/AFC are becom ing more irrelevant and “it is at its lowest

tide as Opposition” and that “it has nothing to contribute”.

A truer statement is hard to find when this is juxtaposed with the action and ut terings of Opposition MP Vinceroy Jordan, who blocked Minister Sonia Parag from access to the CDC Building at Belladrum in Region 5. He frankly told the Minister, ‘We don’t want development’, and he cannot be blamed, since he is simply carrying out the mandate and directives of the Opposition, which have always been to stymie progress and development in our country.

Moreover, the Opposition can no longer mask their intent to destroy the country in their bid to gain power once again, and the President and his Government have laid bare this ominous intent. He made it clear that the developmental thrust of his Government would continue in all communities despite political directives from the Opposition.

They cannot continue to shout marginal isation and discrimination, since their own supporters are seeing the truth. No doubt, the APNU/AFC are the sinister architect of marginalising and impoverishing their own people.

The Guyanese people welcome the Government’s developmental drive, which is actively transforming each and every community across the country, and this is what the APNU/AFC are deathly afraid of. The Coalition have nothing to contribute to Guyana’s development, and will certainly die a natural death as they continue to block the socio-economic development of even their support base.

We, as Guyanese, must heed the fervent plea of President Ali, ‘All of us together must reject them’. He truly and firmly be lieves in his Government’s ability to achieve ‘One Guyana’, and this is being manifested each day. We must not allow the PNC to play their destabilisation games again.

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

self-fulfillment. While the PPPC Government inherited, in 2020, a huge backlog of 70,000 house lot applications, its leaders insist that they will meet their 50,000-manifesto target by 2025.

Minister Susan Rodrigues says that the Government is committed to equity in house lot distribution, and the data provided by the Prime Minister on the first 11,000 house lot allocations are supported by the Minister’s position. Afro-Guyanese have a house lot allocation rate of 19.98 per 1,000 population and Indo-Guyanese have a rate of 15.46 per 1,000, while for Mixed and Others, there is a rate of 5.63 per 1,000 population. Also, the Government has initiated 37 housing schemes nationally that reflect the ethnic and regional diversity of the country.

On the question of equity, one would recall that in Region 5 (West Coast Berbice), the PNCR coalition seized legally titled lands from Afro-Guyanese farmers, and it was left to Mr. Anil Nandlall to fight to restore those lands to the 50 farmers through the Court system. Was this a classic case where the PNCR coalition discriminated against their own supporters?

Beyond this case, Mr. Nandlall, in his capacity as Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, is leading an initiative to sort out land titling and African ancestral land

issues in Regions 5 and 4. “We are doing reg ularization now for Afro-Guyanese villages in Berbice, where residents are going to get titles for land that they are living on for cen turies since slavery.” The PNCR regimes (of 1964-1992 and 2015-2020) never regularised those lands.

Another powerful empowerment tool is education. The Guyana Government knows that one of the quickest ways to develop the country is through the strengthening of its education system. Accordingly, one approach has been the grant of 6,000 GOAL schol arships that cover all disciplines and at all levels, in the first batch allocation. Mr. Aaron Pires conducted a content analysis and found equity in the allocation. Afro-Guyanese have a rate of 10.69 per 1,000 vs 8.07 per 1,000 for Indo-Guyanese and 5.46 per 1,000 for Mixed and Others. Space would not allow for the presentation of more data on equity.

While discrimination of any kind is re pulsive, allegations by Opposition political operatives must be founded on evidence (empiricism) and not based on polemics and platitudes. The Government’s foundational principle is equity (fairness) in the allocation of resources.

Sincerely, Dr Tara Singh

AFC’s new MP decries ‘vile, rabid’ behaviour in National Assembly

The APNU+AFC Coa lition’s newest Parlia mentarian, AFC’s Beverly Alert, in public comments on the happenings in the National Assembly decried the “vile” and “rabid” be haviour seen in the House.

Alert, who replaced Ra phael Trotman, is one of nine AFC Members of Par liament (MPs) in the oppo sition benches. “We have to get back to quality debate… I refuse to get into anything ugly in the National Assem bly,” she said.

Currently, eight Coali

tion Parliamentarians have been sanctioned by the Na tional Assembly. Those facing sanctions are: Chris topher Jones, the Opposition Chief Whip; Ganesh Mahi paul; Sherod Duncan; Nata sha Singh- Lewis; Annette Ferguson; Vinceroy Jordan; Tabitha Saraboo-Halley; and Maureen Philadelphia.

The 78-page report of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee found that eight APNU+AFC Coalition’s Members of Parliament “were in violation of the Standing Orders, estab

lished Customs and Prac tices regarding acceptable behaviour” of Members in the Assembly. “The Com mittee determined that an appropriate sanction avail able that the National Assembly can apply would be suspension from service in the House,” the report said page five.

The committee recom mended the suspension of Ferguson and Jordan, Saraboo-Halley, Philadel phia for six consecutive sittings. It also recom

mended the suspension of Jones, Mahipaul, Duncan and Singh-Lewis for four consecutive sittings.

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

The Committee's find ings were based on video re cordings, statements by staff of the Parliament Office and

the Arthur Chung Confer ence Centre, eyewitness ac counts by other Members of the House, media reporters and the public, both locally and internationally.

In an effort derail the debating and passing of the Natural Resources Fund Bill, the Parliamentary Op position hijacked the sit ting – blowing whistles and chanting – while its MPs, Ferguson and Jor dan, attempted to seize this ceremonial symbol. Other Opposition MPs attempted to do the same too, in the presence of the entire Na tional Assembly.

Also, Opposition MPs ambushed the control room of the Arthur Chung Con ference Centre (ACCC)

and wildly unplugged the connections in the electri cal systems room, which led to an internet discon nection and audio failures. Members of Parliament who had joined processions virtually were even discon nected from the feed as a consequence of this. The Coalition’s Saraboo-Halley was named as responsible for this.

Further, a parliament staffer, Ean McPherson, was assaulted. He has since moved to the Ethnic Rela tions Commission (ERC) with a complaint.

The APNU+AFC Coa lition has consistently been cited for disruptions and behaviour that is not con structive.

World Bank disbarred Consultant hired under

APNU/AFC – Contract was terminated in September 2020 by PPP/C

The Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Natural Resources, rebuffed the claims by the APNU+AFC Coalition, and made clear that the services of Mr. Carlos Barberán Diez, an individual consultant was terminated by the current government on September 13, 2020, in con nection with a corrupt prac tice as part of the Petroleum Governance and Management Project in Guyana.

The statement said, “The Guyana Petroleum Resources Governance and Management Project which was launched

in 2019 was created to sup port the enhancement of legal and institutional frameworks and the strengthening of the capacity of key institutions to manage the oil and gas sector in Guyana. Mr. Carlos Bar berán Diez was awarded the contract to provide consultan cy services under the portfolio of “Natural Gas Negotiations Specialist” on January 31, 2020.

“The consultancy came into effect on February 3, 2020, and the objectives of this assignment were to pro vide advisory services and

technical support towards the establishment of a natural gas negotiations function within the then-defunct Department of Energy under the Ministry of the Presidency

“However, owing to Mr. Diez’s conflicts of interest and solicitation, his contract was terminated on Septem ber 13, 2020, by the current Government of Guyana in accordance with Clause 19.1.1 (e) of the General Conditions of the granted contract. As a result, the World Bank Group announced a three-year debar ment with conditional release,

which results in Mr. Diez’s ineligibility to engage in World Bank Group-financed projects and activities begin ning November 16, 2022.”

The Government of Guy ana and the Ministry of Nat ural Resources stressed that it remains committed to the sustainable, transparent, and

accountable management of Guyana’s petroleum resourc es in compliance with inter national standards and best practices.

Mustapha says Guyanese paying hefty price for APNU+AFC’s incompetence

The incompetence of the APNU+AFC Coalition has left challenges for the current Administration to resolve.

And Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, charged that the Guyanese people are paying the prince for the Co alition’s incompetence

He lamented that his min istry is working along with the Office of the Attorney General to have Apollo In ternational Limited fulfil its obligations. But the company appears unwilling to fulfil its obligations as substan

dard pieces of equipment were already accepted by the APNU+AFC. Apollo International Limited is the Indian company with which the APNU+AFC Government entered into an agreement for the supply of nine fixed and three mobile drainage pumps.

The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), which falls under the Min istry of Agriculture, was the agency responsible for over seeing the US$3,602,014/ G$753.397 million contract. The pumps were supposed to be “high capacity,” but turned

out to be quite the opposite.

Mustapha said that Apollo International’s posture is that it does not want to replace all the defective pumps. “They want to replace some, not all. Our position is firm: we want them to replace all the pumps because they are defective,” he said.

The Minister added that all of this could have been avoided if only APNU+AFC had the competence to ensure value for money. “They ought to have made sure that the pumps and engines sup plied were in keeping with

what was specified within the contact; that is fundamental,” he said.

The matter was further highlighted in the Auditor General’s report of 2021. The Audit Office noted that the contract was signed on September 3, 2018. Amounts totalling $495.899 million were paid as at December 31, 2020, while amounts totalling $104.987 million were made in 2021, bringing the total payments on the contract as at December 31, 2021 to $600.886 million. The Audit Office stated that

the pumps were received in March 2020 and the instal lations were completed in 2021. The fixed pumps were installed at Hampton Court, Devonshire Castle, Den Am stel, Hope, Nootenzuil, Mora Point and Rose Hall. The mo bile pumps were stationed at Church Street, Sussex Street, and Ruimveldt South. How ever, 10 of the 12 engines supplied were determined to be undersized and incapable of running the pumps on a long-term basis. The Audit Office further noted that the government ordered an as

sessment to be done on the engines by a technical team. “The team recommended that 10 engines be replaced with adequately rated engines and the remaining balance on the contract be used towards replacing these engines and remedying other defects on the various supplied equip ment. The team noted that no data for the Rose Hall and Mora Point pumps engines has been provided by the contractor. This position was communicated to the contrac tor by the Attorney General on 24 August 2022.”

Op-Ed: No nexus between dead persons and fraudulent voting

By Anil Nandlall, SC MP, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs

Mr. Vincent Alexander’s recent letter published in the Stabroek News, under the caption “No mechanism has been activated to re move dead persons from the voters’ list”, allows me the opportunity to put the coup de grâce on the ‘bloated’ list’ debate.

Mr. Alexander is de monstrably more adept than Messrs. Aubrey Norton and Sherwood Lowe on the le gal issues pertaining to the voters’ list, and in particu lar, regarding what cannot constitute ‘bloat’ on that list. I am fortified in this view by Mr. Alexander’s omission to respond to my key and critical contention that persons lawfully on the list cannot constitute ‘bloat’. I construe that omission to be both a recognition and an acknowledgement of the unassailability of my legal contention.

Unfortunately, Mr. Alex ander dilutes his letter by his approbation of Regulation 40 promulgated under the National Registrations Act in 2005. He fails to appre ciate that insofar as that Regulation authorises the removal of names from the National Register of Regis trants (NRR) on the basis of residency, it collides with the Constitution and is unlawful, null, void and of no effect.

In any event, the ratio deci dendi of the Chief Justice’s ruling on this issue in 2019, to which repeated reference has been made on previous occasions, has likewise out lawed that Regulation.

Mr. Alexander concurs with me that dead persons are disqualified from the list and ought to be removed. He and I are ad idem on the pivotal issue that those names constitute ‘bloat’. However, any alleged failure of the Chief Registration Officer to cleanse the list of those persons is a matter for which Mr. Alexander cannot escape responsibility.

The registration of citizens, the de-registration of those disqualified, and the prepa ration of a voters’ list are

all part of the duties of the Guyana Elections Commis sion (GECOM) imposed by the Constitution. Mr. Alexander is the most senior Commissioner at GECOM and perhaps one of the lon gest serving members on that Commission since its cre ation. A post, for which he is remunerated. Therefore, he cannot adopt the posture of an officious bystander proffering critical commen tary. Rather, he should plead mea culpa and claim at least partial responsibility for the problem. Were he diligent ly prosecuting this cause during his protracted tenure at GECOM, we may not be having this exchange.

In respect of the removal from the list of persons who have died within the juris diction, the Government’s proposed statutory reforms will create a network of du ties devolving upon the Reg istrar of Births and Deaths, the Chief Medical Officer and the Commissioner of Police, to supply information regarding deceased persons to the Chief Registration Officer at periodic intervals. The latter two officers will furnish information that will enable the system to capture deaths not registered with the former. Additionally, information received per taining to these unregistered deaths, will be published by the Chief Registration Officer and become part of the Claims and Objections mechanism, thereby pro viding an opportunity for political parties, as well as the public, to play a part in sanitising that information. A criminal offence with a hefty penalty is created for the non-removal of known dead persons from the Register. This wide array of measures ought to comprehensively address the removal of local dead persons from the NRR.

Mr. Alexander also raises the thorny issue of the ab sence of a mechanism to re move from the database, per sons who have died overseas. He raised this very issue last month at the Government’s public consultations on stat utory electoral reforms held at the Arthur Chung Confer ence Centre. As I candidly

said to him then, and I reit erate now, I cannot conceive of a measure to address that dilemma at this point in time. There is simply no in stitutional framework which exists between Guyana and its diaspora through which such data can be accurately collected and transmitted. As I did then, I hereby repeat my request for Mr. Alexander to recommend a mechanism which can be utilised for that purpose. The fact that he did not offer one then, and does not offer one now, conclu sively demonstrates that he has none to offer.

However, the solution CANNOT be to disenfran chise tens of thousands of living persons by removing their names from the list, because of an inability to remove a segment of dead persons therefrom. This di lemma is neither unique nor peculiar to Guyana. It obtains throughout the Ca ribbean where the registra tion system is similar. Like us, they have not resorted to the disenfranchisement of qualified electors in order to remove dead persons from their databases.

This brings me to the final issue raised by Mr.

Alexander. It is the alleged nexus which Mr. Alexander makes between dead persons on the voters’ list and voter impersonation or fraudu lent voting. Mr. Alexander makes a gargantuan leap by suggesting that the presence of dead persons on the list results in fraudulent voting, presumably, by voter imper sonation, as it is obvious that dead persons cannot vote. This is an unfounded and fanciful conclusion, which Mr. Alexander’s political party continues to make and propagandise as the basis for their loss at the March 2020 elections. They continue to peddle the excruciatingly nonsensical narrative that some 15,000 ballots were cast at the 2020 Elections in the names of deceased/ migrant persons on the list by impersonators on E-Day. How this monumental feat of thousands of persons voting multiple times could have occurred without being de tected by APNU/ AFC lead ers/ activists and supporters, members of the public, Elec tion Observers, the Press, the Guyana Police Force, the Presiding Officers, Assistant Presiding Officers, Polling Clerks, Polling Agents for

each political party, and indeed, the entire GECOM machinery, remains a be fuddling mystery of gigantic proportion. That all of these allegedly fraudulent votes were ONLY in favour of the PPP and that they totaled the same number of votes that the PPP received over and above APNU/AFC, adds greater bewilderment to this hair-raising saga.

Were one to follow the plot line of this cryptic tale, it means that after voting for himself, each imperson ator would then have vot ed multiple times (perhaps hundreds), as they the case may be. Every voter knows his name will be identified on the list of electors at the Polling Station by a Poll Clerk. The voter produces an acceptable form of ID or swears an oath of identifica tion. This is checked against a folio containing the per sonal information of the vot er, including a photograph. This folio is in possession of all the staff in that Polling Station. When the elector’s identity is confirmed, his name is then ticked off on the list of electors in possession of each staff in that Station. After voting, his index finger

is then stained with an indel ible ink – all of this taking place within the full view of a Presiding Officer, an Assis tant Presiding Officer, a Poll Clerk and multiple Polling Agents representing the po litical parties. It is APNU/ AFC’s contention that this person then returned, pos sibly dozens, hundreds or thousands of times during the course of that very day and voted multiple times for other persons without detection! Just imagine this occurring 15,000 times in a 12-hour period across the country in broad daylight! This is the level of asininity to which the APNU/AFC have descended.

In conclusion, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the presence of dead people on the list results in voter imperson ation or fraudulent voting. There are sufficient checks and balances in place which are going to be furthered strengthened by amendments already tabled in the Nation al Assembly, along with the creation of a series of offenc es carrying penalties as high as 10 years’ imprisonment, to prevent voter imperson ation.

Consultations underway for Budget 2023 − Finance Minister

Ministerial consulta tions have already begun in preparation for

the 2023 National Budget. Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh revealed during an

interview. “That work has started. As you know, the budget cycle is an ongoing

one. We issued the budget circular some months ago, we have already started in ternal work in government across ministries, minis tries have already prepared their preliminary submis sions, and we are having inter-ministerial meetings right now, inter-ministerial consultations. So, the work has started, and is ongo ing,” the minister related.

He explained that the government has been pre

paring for the 2023 budget since the tabling of the one in 2022, and has re cently been intensifying its efforts, as it usually does towards the end of the year. “People are working very hard. My team, and of course the teams in the var ious ministries, are working very hard to push that work along. So work is ongoing on the budget,” Minister Singh said.

In January, the govern

ment unveiled its $552.9 billion transformative bud get, with the theme ‘Stead fast against all challenges, Resolute in building our One Guyana’.

It saw several measures implemented to improve the lives of Guyanese while helping them to build wealth. The budget suc ceeded the $383.1 billion national budget in 2021 and was the largest fiscal plan to date.

APNU submits symbol for LGE while AFC drops out of contest

Political parties have met the deadline set by the Guyana Elections Commis sion (GECOM) to submit symbols ahead of Local Gov ernment Elections, which are set for March 13, 2022.

The deadline for submis sions was midnight, Novem ber 21, 2022.

Among the confirmed submissions are that of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), which is set to contest the elections in all 80 Local Authority Areas – 70 Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and 10 Municipalities.

The APNU has also con firmed that it submitted its symbol. Leader of the PNCR and APNU, Aubrey Norton, said, “When it comes to sym bols, we have we have sub mitted a symbol and we have encouraged groups to submit

symbols…we know is that we are not going to allow the PPP to take over strongholds.”

Notably, the APNU has been raising issues as reasons for Local Government Elec tions, set for March 13, 2023, to be delayed. The AFC has reiterated this. The APNU spent weeks not confirming whether or not it will contest the upcoming elections. The AFC last week dropped out of the contest.

Meanwhile, the Elections Commission is expected to reviewed the submissions soon.

Pursuant to Section 41(1) of the Local Authorities Act, Cap. 28:03, the Guyana Elections Commission has appointed 12th December 2022 as Nomination Day for the Local Government Elections to be held on 13th March 2023. In this regard,

all Political Parties, Volun tary Groups, and Individuals desirous of contesting the said Local Government Elections were required to submit their respective Lists of Candi dates, and pre-approved Sym bols, on Nomination Day.”

Additionally, GECOM said that political parties and voluntary groups contesting the proportional representa tion component of LGE must complete and submit their lists of candidates using Form 12 accompanied by Form 13, which is the statutory declaration to be made on Nomination Day. In the case of political parties, voluntary groups, and individuals con testing the first-past-the-post or constituency component of the election, they must com plete Form 2A accompanied by Form 13A, which is the statutory declaration.

Norton-led team fails to attend meeting it requested with GECOM

The seven-member Guy ana Elections Commis sion (GECOM), initially expected to meet with Op position Leader, Aubrey Norton, is not set to engage him and team next week on November 29, 2022.

In an attempt to distract from the misstep, PNCR Chairman, Shurwayne Holder, attempted an ex planation by saying the

Latest claims on

missed meeting was due to procedural problems.

GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj, in a comment on the issue, said, “Nor ton and his APNU delega tion fails to show up at a GECOM Meeting, which they requested…GECOM indicated that they had a signature of someone who received the letter on behalf of Shurwayne Holder so

I’m perplexed as to their non-appearance.”

Meanwhile, GECOM Commissioner, Clement Rohee said, “Confusion in the APNU camp: major disagreement in leadership over attending and what to raise at meeting with GECOM.”

Issues related to the Voters’ List are expected to be discussed at the meeting.

Publication of the Registers of Voters for LGE

not overdue – GECOM

The People’s Progressive Party Civic Government is moving to the National Assembly to have all the boundaries of local author ity areas and communities revert to what they were as at 2016, before they were changed by the APNU+AFC Government.

This will give more cit izens the opportunity to get local leadership because the areas will also have more councillors, with the correct ed and extended boundaries creating a greater represen tation.

Local Government and Regional Development Min ister, Nigel Dharamalall said the paper was already presented to the House on November 7. He explained that they are on the order pa pers as subsidiary legislative amendment to local author ity boundaries. “In 2018, the APNU+AFC changed many of the local councils (Neighbourhood Democratic Councils) reducing constit uencies and forcing people into constituencies where they [APNU+AFC] had the majority … [ gerrymandered the boundary lines]. So, what we have basically done, is to revert all those constit uencies that were changed in 2018 back to the 2016 [election] boundaries lines,” he confirmed.

He further stated that these necessary actions must occur if local government organs and areas are to con tinue functioning smooth ly. “In Region One, where

Mabaruma is concerned we have extended that boundary to include the residents of Wauna because they have basically been living with out local government rep resentation. It is important to bring them into the local government system so that they are part of the local authority area and they can benefit from the investments through local government… in Region Three there are villages which are not part of a local authority area, and we have decided to in clude them because they also require services that are usually provided by the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC),” he said.

Moreover, in Region Five additional communities are being streamlined for rep resentation, where there are non-existent. The minister however pointed out that “it is not a massive amount of people, but what we want is to reach every single person in terms of our development agenda”.

In Region six, the leg islation is being amended to create two NDCs which will improve representation. “We have done consultation across these specific areas and everyone is happy to revert firstly to the 2016 boundaries, and in the area that is being extended [citi zens] are happy be included [where they will now receive representation]” minister Dharamlall contended.

The changes, the minister noted, will maintain the num

ber of NDCs, which is 70, with no modification in terms of contesting boundaries, and it is the opposite of the action of disenfranchisement un dertaken by the previous ad ministration. “Again in 2018, the APNU+AFC divided one NDC into two in Essequibo. Now we are merging those NDC back into one because of the population size so that they can benefit again from investment through local government and this was done in consultation with the residents of the area” he said.

Further, these changes will enable the government to provide even greater levels of support to every NDC.

“Every year since President Ali has taken office, we have provided greater support to our Neighbourhood Dem ocratic Councils as well as the municipalities, and we have done so through direct transfers to these local au thorities’ areas and we have also done so through indirect support as well as greater investment,” he said.

He highlighted that “for example, in Georgetown, the government is spending near ly $800 million to restore city hall.”

The PPP/C government continues to improve the entire road network across the country as well as the drainage network, includ ing investments, upgrades, and repairs to all the outfall pumps and sluices through the Agriculture, Public Works, and Local Govern ment ministries.

The Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has taken note of the dis information that have been propagated by small groups of placard-bearing persons who were protesting in front of a few of the Registra tion Offices of the Guy ana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Monday (No vember 21, 2022).

The wording of some of the placards included: “GECOM it’s long over due”, “21 days and still no OLV List,” “GECOM stop the nonsense and clean the list,” “21 days to Nomination Day, where is the OLV,” “We need sanitized voters list” and, “clean the voter’s list”.

GECOM, in a statement, said, “The wording of some of the placards displayed grossly inaccurate informa tion…with specific refer ence to ‘OLV’ as written on the placards, it is assumed that this is the acronym for ‘Official List of Voters’ for Local Government Elec tions, which is, according to the statutory description is really the Registers of Voters (RoVs).

“Members of he public could easily form the im pression that the RoVs are overdue having read the placards which proclaim ‘GECOM it’s long overdue’, ‘21 days and still no OLV List’. Nothing could be fur ther from the truth.”

GECOM has posted the Revised List of Electors (RLE), in the public domain for scrutiny in compliance with the Regulation which mandates that this be done for the statutorily required twenty-one (21) days, with effect from November 4,

2022.

Notably, posting of the RLE precedes extraction of lists of electors for Local Government Elections.

GECOM’s Secretariat is currently implementing the tasks delineated sequentially in its Work Plan for the con duct of Local Government Elections (LGE) which is scheduled to be held on 13th March, 2023.

Section 23(4) of the Lo cal Authorities (Elections) Act, Chapter 28:03 stipulates that “the register of voters for the local authority area shall come into force at such time as shall be prescribed by the Elections Commission by notice published in the Gazette and shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times at the offices of the local authority, and copies thereof shall be printed.”

Consequently, the date earmarked for the extraction of the RoVs is November 26, 2022 i.e. two days after the end of the period of display of the RLE.

This will be followed by printing and distribution of the Registers to Returning Officers so that they could be opened for inspection by members of the public as is statutorily required. Opening of the Registers for public scrutiny is scheduled in the work Plan to commence on December 1, 2022.

GECOM said, “It is, therefore, wholly misleading for any person or organiza tion to perpetuate the disin formation that the publica tion of the RoVs is overdue.”

SANITIZED VOTERS’ LIST

Further, the Guyana Elections Commission

also addressed calls for a “sanitized voters’ list” and charged that GECOM’s op erations continue to be guid ed by the applicable Consti tutional and legal provisions.

The Commission said, “In this regard, it is oblig atory for us to repeat that the eligibility requirement for registration is that one must be a Guyanese citizen by birth, descent, or natu ralization; or a citizen of a Commonwealth country liv ing in Guyana for one year or more. Providing persons met those requirements and have been registered, their registration in the Nation al Register of Registrants (NRR) is and remains le gitimate. Accordingly, any removal of their names from the NRR, without legal ba sis, would be unlawful and unconstitutional.

“Existing legislation pro vides that the removal of names from the NRR can be done only through the established methodology comprising (i) the receipt of monthly death reports from the General Registers Office (GRO) and (ii) through the Objections aspect of any Claims and Objections ex ercise, which allows for any elector, or suitably accred ited Scrutineers of Political Parties, to object to the in clusion of the names in the Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) who may not be eligi ble inclusion.”

GECOM has since called on all concerned persons/ organisations to desist from peddling misinformation and disinformation, as this could seriously impact citi zen’s participation at the up coming Local Government Elections.

Voters’ List ahead of LGE rejected…

Gov’t to revert to 2016 boundaries for LGE

– Bill tabled in parliament to get more councillors, local leadership

POSITIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT

Local artistes earnings to be doubled for One Guyana show

P resident Dr Irfaan Ali announced that the Gov ernment of Guyana will dou ble the earnings made by local artistes from the One Guyana Concert during this year’s Cricket Carnival held in Guyana.

At a meeting with local artistes, on Monday (No vember 21, 2022) at State House, the President said that the Government will continue to make the need ed investments to further propel and develop the en tertainment industry. “We had 89 local artistes on the One Guyana stage, 89 lo cal artistes. The cost of the production was borne com pletely by the Government. We brought in the corpo rate sponsors to get them to sponsor tickets. Every single cent in revenue, $6.9m went to those 89 artistes ranging from between $100,000 to

– Ali says gov’t will continue to develop the entertainment industry

$300,000, as promised,” he said.

To complement this and to ensure that the artistes ful ly benefit, the President said that the Government will provide an equivalent $6.9m.

President Ali also point ed out that the concert had an online viewership of more than 100,000. He said, “I want to say to you that we continue to be your partner in your own development, in the development of our culture, the development of your talents and the pro motion of ‘One Guyana’ as a destination that is not only diverse by people and culture but is rich in talent and ready to explode on the international stage.”

President Ali also used the opportunity to express his delight in the develop ment of local talent. He said, “I wanted to tell you

today how very proud I am of Guyanese talent…Our talent might still be raw and fresh in many ways, but we never and will never lack the capacity and capability to make it on any stage. And I intend to invest in talent that we have, to make it regional and global.”

The President said the Government has been able to build a product that brings economic prosperity and artistic and cultural devel opment.

The Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, the Honourable Oneidge Wal rond; the Minister of Cul ture, Youth and Sport, the Honourable Charles Ramson Jr; the Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, the Honourable Kwame Mc Coy and other Government officials were also at the meeting.

US EXIM Bank ready to assist Guyanese businesses

The Government of Guy ana in collaboration with the US EXIM Bank held a round table discussion at the Arthur Chung Confer ence Centre on Access to financing and US EXIM Bank Products for the Private Sector.

The initiative follows the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the government and the bank during the President Dr Mo hamed Irfaan Ali’s visit to Washington back in July.

Delivering his remarks at the engagement on Novem ber 17, 2022, President Ali expressed the government’s commitment to elevating the private sector and empha sised that they should make the most of the opportunity by thinking outside the box. “The role of the government is to do exactly this… we are to open the doors and create an environment in which the local private sector can grow and prosper and that is exactly what is being created here, an opportunity for you to reach out to EXIM at a very high level and for you to participate and partner with EXIM and US companies… in the direction in which the economy would want to go,” he noted.

Addressing the mul

titude of American and Guyanese business own ers, Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh noted Guy ana’s transformative trajec tory and the expectations of more US partnerships to advance Guyana’s devel opment. “Guyana is open to business to the world… this is literally the most incredibly transformative and exciting time in Guy ana’s history. There are a few countries if any, that would’ve gone through as rapidly and as steeply as Guyana is currently under going. We would like to see more US companies present in Guyana and playing a part in that transformation,” Dr. Singh stated.

Meanwhile US Ambas sador to Guyana, Sarah- Ann Lynch noted that the US is Guyana’s main commercial partner. She also promoted US businesses as beneficial partners for Guyanese, point ing out that the largest US trade delegation in history is currently in the country. Lynch encouraged businesses to maximise the opportunity.

“As Guyana’s largest trading partners, US companies want to make deals. As one of the fastest growing economies in

the world, the Guyanese want to make deals,” she noted.

The main purpose of the engagement was to explain how the export credit agency works and how Guyanese businesses can benefit from their financial assistance.

Meanwhile, Acting Se nior Vice President of the Office of Small Business at the US EXIM Bank, Tamara Maxwell spent a great deal of her presentation highlighting the bank’s services and its role in Guyanese business es seeking to expand their partnership to the US. She also announced that special emphasis will be placed on Guyana at the US EXIM Bank. “We need to create a Guyana team at EXIM Bank simply because we saw all of the opportunities and we met with a lot of businesses, so we are going to create a team who are only going to handle Guyana authorizations ap plications so that you’re not waiting for anyone to call you back… and they’re com mitted to making sure that the transactions coming from Guyana are not missed,” she noted.

Early next year, US EXIM Bank Chairman, Reta Jo Lewis is expected to visit to create further partnerships with Guyana.

President Ali lauds UK’s interest in partnerships and investments

– Highlights opportunities available in Guyana

President Irfaan Ali told investors from the Unit ed Kingdom (UK) about the multiplicity of investment opportunities currently available in Guyana.

During his address to participants of the Guy ana-UK Partnership Ar rangement Forum, held on November 17, 2022 at the Marriott Hotel in George town, the Head of State said that among the key platforms outside of oil and gas are food security, infra structure, technological ser vices, education, healthcare and tourism.

He said that systems are also being put into place to reduce the cost of elec tricity by 50 per cent in the coming years, which would further enhance investment opportunities.

There is also a rigid and strong system in place to build out the economy as the Government aims to catapult Guyana into a pow erhouse position by 2030.

Ali said, “Guyana is going to become a major industrial manufacturing, agro-processing hub, and

we’re going to give incen tives during this phase of development for investors who are coming in to make use of this opportunity. But that phase won’t last forever.”

He noted too that there has been “tremendous, positive energy”, interest and aggression from the UK while lauding its High Commissioner to Guyana, H.E. Jane Miller, OBE, for being a “champion of Guy ana”. He said too, that both the UK and Guyana have “great trust and confidence in each other”, which is a strong platform for collab oration.

The President expressed confidence that the forum would produce positive out comes, especially since the two countries had signed the Guyana-UK Partnership Arrangement earlier in the day. He said, “The private sector could not want a bet ter platform ready to partner and to move forward than the platform that has been established.”

In his remarks, the Se nior Minister within the

Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, the Honourable Dr Ashni Singh, urged British compa nies to also be aware of the opportunities in the non-oil sectors. He added that edu cation and healthcare have been identified as priority areas in the Government’s development plan; as such, the Government is open to private investors supporting its push for world-class public and private services.

“We want more world-class companies, world-class pro ducers of goods, and worldclass providers of services present in Guyana, and we anticipate and look forward to as many of those coming from the United Kingdom,” the Minister stated.

High Commissioner Miller and His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner to Lat in America and the Carib bean Jonathan Knott, along with other visiting officials, were also at the event.

The Forum featured pre sentations by Sector Leads and UK Industry as well as Ministerial interventions and discussions in several priority areas, including infrastructure, housing, ed ucation and agriculture.

Adjustments to salaries for Disciplined Services ranks announced

In keeping with a commitment made during his announcement of the eight per cent across-the-board salary increase payable to public sector employees for 2022, President Dr. Irfaan Ali on Thursday (November 24, 2022) announced, additional adjustments to the salaries payable to members of the disciplined services. These adjustments are to take effect from January 1, 2023.

Public hearings of Elections CoI to resume on November

28th – seven witnesses testified

The Presidential Commis sion of Inquiry (COI) into the events surrounding the March 2 General and Regional Elections and the events leading up to the dec laration of the results, will resume public hearings on November 28, 2022.

Secretary of the COI, Javed Shaddick, explained that the proceedings were paused to ensure that the commissioners digest infor mation from the witnesses who would have testified.

Seven persons have tes tified so far, since the COI began its proceedings on November 4, 2022.

“As the evidence un folds, you will find that you might need to call back

witnesses to clarify stuff, you will need to maybe get more witnesses on a certain point as you go along, you find those things. So, that was a good point to pause, gather as much as we can and then during this period, we’ve been working, trying to speak to the witnesses who have passed, see if there is more information that they may have gotten because the process has now started so we’re now understanding more,” the Secretary ex plained.

Shaddick further noted that when the proceedings resume the COI will be able to go indepth into the testi monies where necessary.

Members of major polit

ical parties, local observers, as well as Guyana Elections Commission Officials are expected to take the stand when the hearings resume.

“What you would have noticed from the evidence and the witnesses that have come so far is that you will see a lot of small parties came forth…you would have not seen the major parties as yet and that will be some thing that we’re looking to get on this go-round, to get more of the parties who would have been there,” he added.

Shaddick reminded that this is a fact-finding exer cise and no one should feel like their reputation will be harmed.

to date

The COI is expected to complete the inquiry into the elections by January 2023 and, “So far, we are on track for the deadline,” Shaddick noted.

Meanwhile, the Admin istrator of the COI, Colonel Ronald Hercules told DPI that the security aspect of the process has been running smoothly, a commitment made at the start of the exer cise. “We promised to have a very secured environment so the witnesses can come forward and give their ev idence, so during this peri od we have seen witnesses coming forward, they have given their evidence and statements in a very condu cive environment, we had no

breaches to security and we would continue in that vein,” Hercules said.

The joint services will continue to provide security during the sessions.

On September 13, the commissioners took their oaths of office before Pres ident Dr Irfaan Ali. Retired Justice of Appeal of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Stanley John was sworn in as Chairman of the COI by President Ali.

Former High Court Judge and Acting Justice of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, Godfrey P Smith SC; and former Chair and Former Chancellor (ag), Carl Singh took are commissioners.

According to the Terms

of Reference (ToRs), the COI is to inquire into the process of vote tabulations and the public declaration of election results by the Returning officer of District Number Four. In addition, the commission will be able to establish what attempts were made to subvert the results that prevented the Guyana Elections Com mission (GECOM) from discharging its statutory functions as prescribed by law. The Commission of Inquiry is also expected to examine the conduct of the Chief Elections Officer, other elections officers, and persons as it relates to the execution of their duties during the elections.

Myers wants lawyer to cross-examine witness, not to appear before CoI

Counsel for former Guy ana Elections Commis sion (GECOM) Deputy Chief Elections Officer (DCEO) Roxanne Myers, whose name has come up several times in witness testimonies at the 2020 elections Commission

of Inquiry (CoI), is seeking to cross-examine said wit nesses.

However, her Attor ney-at-Law Nigel Hughes of Hughes, charged that it is unlikely that Myers would make herself available to

appear before the CoI.

Notably, Chairman of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, Jus tice (rtd) Stanley John, has indicated that persons are

welcomed to appear before the CoI, if they believe that evidence unfolding in the in quiry adversely affect them. In a statement, the Chair man said, “The Commission advises that, as evidence unfolds in this inquiry, state ments and comments may be made that adversely affect individuals. Those persons are entitled to appear before the commission and be heard if they so desire. Anyone who is interested in appear ing before the Commission and/or to be represented be fore the Commission should write to the Secretary to the Commission making that request. As the inquiry pro ceeds, the Secretary of the Commission will write to those persons against whom any allegation of impropriety has been made, setting out the details of the allegations and inviting such persons to appear before the Com mission and providing a fair opportunity to such persons to comment on any adverse comment or allegation made against them.”

The international Elec tions Commission of Inquiry (CoI) commenced hearings on November 4, 2022.

The hearings are being done at the building located at 92 Middle Street, George town, which was rented and equipped to facilitate the CoI. Evidence during inquiry is being led by Trinidadian Se nior Counsel, Sophia Chota. The other legal personnel in clude Natasha Veira and Ke

oma Griffith. The Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) is Javed Shadick.

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

President Dr. Irfaan Ali announced an International Commission of Inquiry into the debacle that was Guy ana’s March 2020 General and Regional Elections on June 16, 2022. He had said, “We, and particularly your President, promised an inter national CoI, so I say to all those who struggled and sac rificed, all those who worked in protecting the democracy, that we have, in your honour, before dawn on next Tues day, your President will name the members of that interna tional CoI…those who sub verted democracy, those who cannot present their SOPs, and those who struggled against the will of the people, the CoI will set the truth free from the untruth and the CoI will set those who dwell in the house of democracy and those who dwell in the fire of undemocratic rule and norms…in honour of the these martyrs too and in hon our of all the Guyanese who fought for freedom and de mocracy, who fought relent lessly in those five months to ensure our country never

ever was allowed to go down as an undemocratic nation, in honour of your sacrifices, I committed that we will have an international CoI into the last elections.” Ali stressed that the Elections CoI is a promise made by the PPP/C Administration and his Ad ministration is pleased to be able to deliver. “I promised a CoI. So that is why there is a lot of work going on now on how that Terms of Reference is developed,” he said.

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

Persons who wish to give evidence on matters relating to the Commission’s Terms of Reference may contact the Secretary at 95 Middle Street, South Cummingsburg, or on Telephone numbers: 592231-9820 and 592-231-9828.

FOCUS ON GUYANA’S FIRST PEOPLE

Committee to revise Amerindian Act to be established before year-end

– Sukhai says direct consultation to begin next year

The People’s Progressive Party/Civic government has always sounded its com mitment to revising the Am erindian Act 2006, to ensure the indigenous peoples’ rights are legally protected.

As such, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs in collaboration with the Min istry of Legal Affairs will be establishing a committee that will be responsible for consultations before the end of this year.

Amerindian Affairs Min ister Pauline Sukhai while meeting with residents of Kaburi, Region Seven re cently made the disclosure. “The government gave us

$10 million this year to en sure that the mechanism is put in place for next year’s direct consultation with ev ery village, the committee will be set up and the secre tariat will be launched this year,” she said.

The Committee will be responsible for making recommendations and en gaging with every single Amerindian community to solicit recommendations that will eventually make up the amended Amerindian Act.

$10 million had already been earmarked by the Am erindian Affairs Ministry in 2022, to establish the com

mittee, the modalities of the consultation process and the training of facilitators.

The Amerindian Affairs Minister said, “We expect that secretariat of that com mittee to launch the consul tation so that we will be able to care and meet with each village to hear what is it, what you want to change in the act, because so far, the act is one of the modern act in the history of indigenous people across the world.”

This all ties in with the government’s commitment to have Constitutional Re form as it seeks to mod ernise the legal architecture in Guyana.

$15M Agro-processing facility commissioned at St Ignatius

A griculture Minister Zu lfikar Mustapha com missioned a $15 million agro-processing facility in St. Ignatius, Region Nine, on November 19, 2022.

During a regional out reach in 2020, farmers requested assistance with retrofitting the building, making it more modern.

During the commission ing exercise, Minister Mus

tapha told farmers that the government recognizes the importance of agro-process ing and as such this facility has been made operational for the benefit of all farmers who require assistance to process their produce.

The rehabilitated facility is expected to improve the socio-economic status of all within the region through the creation of employment

for approximately farmers and 40 women. The facil ity will also have a posi tive impact on neighboring businesses and the gov ernment’s school feeding programme.

The facility’s produc tion capacity is projected at 6,480kg of peanuts and ca shew nut butter, and 50kg of dehydrated fruits and vege tables on a monthly basis.

Amerindian land titling increased under the PPP/C Administration

Amerindian Affairs Min ister, Pauline Sukhai, told indigenous communities in Regions Seven and Eight that the PPP/C Government is moving ahead with its commitment to the Amerin dian land titling programme.

She said that the Amer indian Land Titling (ALT) team is moving from com munity to community as part of the verification process that began in 2014, but was later abandoned by the AP NU+AFC Administration.

Minister Sukhai, in speaking to residents, artic ulated that since her party took office in 2020, the pro cess has resumed. “The PPP/ Civic Government since we came into office, expanded the percentage of land owned by Amerindians from six per cent to almost fifteen per cent, [this is] more than 100 per cent [increase] in terms of square miles or acreage … and [we have] to bring onboard new communities who had applied for titling, and we are now back on track with our commitment,” she said.

The minister also re

minded residents that be tween 2015 to 2020 the AP NU+AFC Administration did not deliver a single new demarcation, extension, or titling of settlements.

She also said that prog ress on the community of ‘Four-Miles’ demarcation had begun under the PPP/C Administration with an end date for completion. As such, that was the only title that the previous administration could have claimed they delivered to the Amerindian communities.

Moreover, the Amerin dian Affairs minister spoke on the progress that the gov ernment through the ministry has accomplished to date.

“In less than a year, in fact within the first eight months of us taking office, we have already distributed two settlement extensions, and have completed five de marcations” minister Sukhai disclosed.

In its manifesto, the PPP/C government stated that the rights of Guyana’s Amerindians and their access to opportunities will be high on the its agenda because of

its track record – in working to improve the lives of indig enous people across Guyana.

The first promise that was made to the Amerindian people in the manifesto was to immediately resume land titling and this is a promise fulfilled by the government.

The ALT programme seeks to accelerate the le gal demarcation and titling of Amerindian lands. Im portantly under this ALT programme, 13 villages were issued with absolute grants, including Yupukari, bringing the total number of Amerindian villages titled with Absolute Grants to 109. Twenty-one villages were de marcated and 19 were issued with Certificates of Title in what is said to be the final step in the titling process. This brought the total number of villages demarcated and issued with Certificates of Title to 96.

Amerindians total ap proximately 14 per cent of Guyana’s population and currently own in excess of 15.65 per cent of Guyana’s territory, up from about 6 per cent in the early 1990s.

NICU services to extend to hinterland regions

In keeping with the gov ernment’s commitment to delivering access to quality health care, the Health Min istry will expand the Neo natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) service to regional hospitals in Mabaruma, Re gion One, Suddie, Region Two, Bartica, Region Seven, and Lethem, Region Nine.

This expansion will help save a number of premature infants and provide qual ity care to children in the hinterland regions. Prema ture, also known as preterm birth, is when a baby is born too early usually before 37 weeks. The earlier the baby is born, the higher the risk of death and disability.

This, Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony said has been a challenge and monies have already been allocated in the National 2022 Budget

to offset the expansion of the NICU services to these regions. “There is a plan for extending these NICU services, we have already set aside money to purchase the equipment and once the equipment comes in, we are going to put that equipment in the relevant hospitals,” he revealed.

Training will also be conducted with nurses and doctors to ensure that pre mature babies are properly cared for.

Many years ago, Guyana did not have NICUs and with the government’s in tervention, a NICU was de veloped at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) with the assistance of Kids First Fund, a Cana dian organisation.

“They donated a lot of equipment to the GPHC

and they did the training for the staff…both Doctors and Nurses. So, that they can manage these prema ture babies, because of that over the years, we have now been able to develop a Level Three NICU service at the Georgetown Public Hospi tal,” Dr Anthony relayed.

The NICU service was further extended to the New Amsterdam, Linden and West Demerara regional hospitals.

The government allo cated $73. 2 billion in the 2022 budget in its effort to develop the health sector and deliver quality health care. Just recently, the sod was turned for a €149M Paediatric and Maternal Hospital at Ogle, East Coast Demerara which will spe cialise in maternal, neonatal and paediatric care.

– Sukhai says “We are back on track with our commitment”

– Lethem, Bartica, Suddie, Mabaruma to benefit – Dr Anthony

DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’

Guyana is prepared for any future pandemic – Health Minister

Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, on November 17, 2022, highlighted that the multitude of strategies Guyana has implemented to combat the COVID-19 pan demic will help the country prepare for future pandemics. These include strength ening the laboratory systems, preparing better diagnostics, training people, strengthen ing surveillance, decentral ising laboratory training, and effective response systems.

The Health Minister said that people need to be mindful and take precau tions against COVID-19. He said the ministry formed a unit that can conduct rapid response. Within the unit, there are epidemiologists, public health specialists, and infectious disease specialists. “So, whatever presents itself, we have this team that can go out look at symptoms, look at signs, look at the epidemiolo gy, and then decides on how to respond. Look at signs, look at the epidemiology and then decide how to respond,” Anthony said.

Dr Anthony stated that the virus that causes COVID-19, SARS-COV 2, has many variants and sub-variants and it’s con tinuously mutating, “based on the sub-variants, we will see different types of clinical presentation.”

The health minister high lighted that Guyana is also connected to the International Health Regulatory System. He said if Guyana detects anything new, the country is obligated to report it, “like wise, if anything is happen ing around the world, that is also reported to us.”

Additionally, Guyana has been working with several multilateral institutions as it relates to pandemic pre paredness.

Dr Anthony highlighted that Guyana has had discus sions with the Pan Amer ican Health Organisation and World Health Organi sation (PAHO/WHO) about strengthening existing sys tems and developing plans for future pandemic pre paredness.

In the Americas, Dr An thony underlined that Guyana is one of the countries that is a part of the Pandemic Fund. The Pandemic Fund was es tablished by the World Bank to assist countries with access to funds to be able to better prepare for future pandemics.

The board has some $1.4 billion to help countries in this regard. “Locally, we have also formed, and depending on the illness, we also formed multidisci plinary teams. So, if there’s somebody that is sick, we can have people from dif ferent specialities that will be able to come together to work in the interest of that patient. So, there are lots of things that have been put in place. For future pandemics, we would be a little better prepared,” the Health Min ister related.

Dr Anthony pointed out, “We are seeing an increase in cases and an increase in hospitalisation. So, people ought to be very careful, and when possible, they should use their masks.”

First-ever advanced Emergency Medical Technicians certified

Guyana’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS) have been amplified as nine Emergency Medical Tech nicians (EMTs) graduat ed as advanced Emergency Medical Technicians after completing an eight-month training programme.

The training programme was initiated by the Health and Home Affairs ministries through the Guyana Fire Service in February and they partnered with the Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Tennessee. Training ses sions were facilitated by Dr Shannon Langston, MD and Andrea Fletcher, EMT-P, RN of the said University.

A simple graduation cer emony was hosted for the ad vanced EMTs at the Project Dawn Health Care Centre on November 16, 2022.

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn, Advisor to the Health Minister Dr Les lie Ramsammy, Chief Fire Officer (Ag) Gregory Wick ham, Director of the National Emergency Medical Services Dr Zulfikar Bux and repre sentatives of the University were in attendance.

Minister Benn gave words of encouragement to the advanced EMTs and said such service is an important

one to the lives of citizens; therefore, they must deliver with compassion and not focus on its benefits. “We’re not at a stage simply where we come for the salary or the entitlements and all of those things, that’s not the first issue, the first issue is to provide good, proper and efficient service to people and so I want to thank you all for being on this pathway,” the minister stated. He thanked the Vanderbilt Medical Cen tre for its contribution to the programme and implored the EMTs to apply the profes sional culture and discipline that they would have gained from the training.

Meanwhile, Advisor Dr Ramsammy reminisced on the times when there were ambulances in the country with no EMTs. He said the vision was always to have paramedics in the ambu lances. “I believe we are one step closer to that dream. And so, my job today is to come and tell this nationour instructions to Dr Bux and our friends … and all of our partners that sooner than later, we should formalise the Paramedic Programme and we should ensure that in all of our regions, our professionals in the hospitals

are supported by Paramedics that are on the frontline. This should be the standard of care that we provide to our people,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Bux said these EMTs are the first re sponders to an emergency, who can do an advanced medical intervention to save a person’s life in the pre-hos pital setting. “The graduates of the programme today are the ones who can do more interventions on the scene, they can give IVs, they can give injections, they can do more invasive interventions to save life on the scene,” he noted.

The Chief Fire Officer implored the advanced EMTs to serve with empathy and added, “I want to advise you that you offer to the public that service with the confidence knowing that when persons are in distress that you’ll be able to render them that assistance that is needed.”

The best graduating stu dents of the programme were Nandaram Dat and Cleveland King. The other graduates were Orletta Crandon, Nioka Deyounge, Kelving James, Klein Knights, Andrew Pat terson, Bhumika Sookdeo and Sandor Walcott.

GWI signs contracts for upgrade of 12 water treatment plants

Three hundred thousand (300,000) customers will be the beneficiaries of an improved water supply, following the construction new treatment plants, the rehabilitation of existing ones and installation of new in-line filters.

On November 16, 2022 contracts were signed for the upgrading of 12 existing wa ter treatment plants, which are slated to benefit 60,000 of the above mentioned figure. The contract signing ceremony between the utili ty and contractors took place at GWI’s Headquarters on Vlissengen Road.

The upgrading of these plants forms part of GWI’s Coastal Water Treatment Infrastructure Programme, which has an implementa tion timeline of 2021-2025. The total sum of these con tracts is just under GYD$6 Billion.

Addressing the contrac tors, media and GWI offi cials, Chief Executive Of ficer Mr. Shaik Baksh said the Company is moving ag gressively to provide treated water across the coastal belt

– 300k Persons will have Treated Water by 2025

of Guyana. He said that Government’s mandate for GWI is an ambitious and comprehensive one, which the company is on track to achieving.

In addition to water treat ment, the CEO highlighted that works are moving apace towards 99% potable water access countrywide, target ing unserved areas and new housing developments.

He noted that the major concern along the coast is high iron content and the programme is designed to address that. Baksh said, “Along the East Bank cor ridor, where there’s a huge housing development, we have been able to restore, to major communities, treated water. They have been de prived of treated water for over 6 years from 2015 to last year.”

The CEO pointed out that the Grove, Covent Garden and Eccles water treatment plants are now re ceiving an improved quality of water and residents are pleased. While this is so, further upgrades will still be done to these plants as part

of the contracts signed on Wednesday.

Mr. Baksh urged the contractors to put in good quality work in a timely manner, as GWI will be developing a quality con trol programme to monitor such projects. Supervision of these contracts will be done by GWI Engineers, as the company continues to strengthen its in-house capacity.

The plants identified for rehabilitation are located at Friendship, Mon Repos, Better Hope – ECD; Grove, Covent Garden, Eccles –EBD; Fellowship, Poude royen & Vergenogen – Re gion 3 and New Amsterdam, Port Mourant, Cotton Tree – Region 6. Upgrades and extension of transmission and distribution mains will complement the rehabilita tion works to allow for the expansion of treated water boundaries to an additional 60,000 persons.

These works are sched uled to be completed by 2025.

The companies award ed contracts are Compass

Engineering, H. Nauth & Sons, D&R Construction, Dax Engineering, Interna tional Import & Supplies, Singh & Sons, S. Jagmohan & Co. and Toshiba Water Solutions Inc.

Another component of the Coastal Water Treatment Infrastructure Programme is the installation of 10 new inline filters, which GWI in tends to advertise for bids in early 2023. This method of treatment is a new approach to Guyana and as a result, a pilot will be conducted with two inline filters to test the efficacy of this system in remote locations.

One month ago, GWI signed contracts to the tune of GYD$8.5B for the construction of seven new water treatment plants at Onderneeming in Region 2, Parika, Wales and Lust en Rust in Region 3, Caledo nia, Cummings Lodge and Bachelor’s Adventure in Region 4. These plants will serve in excess of 100,000 people and also comes under the Coastal Water Treatment Infrastructure Programme.

Major housing development for Kwakwani, Region 10

residents to get land titles, relocation for waterfront occupants

Residents of Kwakwani, Region Ten (Upper De merara-Berbice) will finally be able to access ownership documents for the lands they have been occupying for years, by the first quarter of 2023.

This assurance was given by Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal who led an outreach in the area on November 11, 2022, to address housing and wa ter-related matters. He was accompanied by a team of technical officers from the Central Housing and Plan ning Authority (CH&PA).

During the engagement at the Kwakwani Recreational Club, Minister Croal assured residents that the two housing developments will be resur veyed shortly and a new plan developed and gazetted. The ministry will later issue land titles or transports.

The minister said sev eral years ago, 162 house lots were allocated by the ministry, followed by the distribution of another 176 lots. However, no ownership

“We want development for our people. We want you to be uplifted. We want you to live in a comfortable environ ment and we at the Ministry of Housing and Water will work with you to ensure that happens,” Minister Croal told the residents.

Further, he said there were reports of persons il legally occupying an area known as Jeep Landing. Min ister Croal has asked those persons to desist from engag ing in unlawful activities as “there is no need for squat ting.” “Starting today, we have to arrest that situation… whatever is taking place there has to stop, we have to do things in a structured way. Be rest assured this PPP/C Government, we are com mitted to helping you and we will sort out the area, we will regularise the area, and we will make the area usable for housing purposes,” he said.

Further, Minister Croal said the government will be engaging residents on the relocation of those persons

ON

360 Berbicians get house lots in No. 75, No. 76

Some 360 Corentyne, Ber bice families received house lots as the Housing and Water Ministry took its house lot allocation exercise to Region Six on November 18, 2022.

An allottee selecting her house lot from Minister of Housing and Water, Collin Croal

Beneficiaries were al located residential lots in the low, middle and mod erate-income categories, in the Number 75 and 76 new housing schemes.

The allocation exercise held at the Classic Hotel Parking Lot, Upper Coren tyne, Berbice, was led by Housing and Water Minister, Collin Croal and Chief Ex ecutive Officer of the Central Housing and Planning Au thority, Sherwyn Greaves.

During brief remarks, Minister Croal said that in frastructure works – roads, bridges, drainage, culverts, electricity and water net works in the areas will com mence early next year as

allocations will be included in the National Budget. Once the works are completed, allottees will be able to iden tify their lots and commence the construction of their homes. “Similarly, right in front of the schemes, you have infrastructure work that is completed. So, people have already started to see their lots there,” he said.

Already, over $1B has been invested in infrastruc ture development in com munities across Region Six, with another $3.7 billion earmarked for 73 community roads.

Additionally, as part of meeting the housing needs of the region, CH&PA is constructing a number of homes at Williamsburg/ Hampshire and Ordnance/ Fortlands.

Last month, the ministry held its ‘dream realised’ exercise in the region which saw over 500 persons receiv ing their house lots, making it close to 100o houses lite distributed to Berbicians

over the past two years.

Minister Croal said that a number of persons in the region have already applied for the cement and steel sup port programme for home builders, to commence the construction of their homes. “I want to commend those who have applied for the programme and I urged per sons to capitalise on the programme,” Minister Croal told the residents. He said that the PPP/C Administra tion led by His Excellency, Dr Irfaan Ali is keen on ensuring all Guyanese are af forded the opportunities for achieving homeownership.

Regional Vice Chairman Zamal Hussein was also in attendance and lauded the Ministry’s effort in the delivery of the mandate to provide housing opportuni ties to the people of Berbice County.

In just over two years in office, this PPP/C Ad ministration has delivered over 18,000 house lots to Guyanese.

Gov’t inks $619M contract for phase three construction of Mon Repos Market

Minister of Local Gov ernment and Regional Development, Nigel Dha ramlall on November 16, 2022, overlooked the sign ing of a $619 million con tract, for phase three of the new Mon Repos Market.

The contract was signed by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary and a represen tative of Vals Construction – the executing contractor of the project.

Following the signing, Minister Dharamlall spoke with the Department of Pub lic Information (DPI) on the progress of the various phases of the construction and how it will improve the way business is conducted. “We expect that at the end of the construction of this

market, we will have a place conducive to the conduction of business properly. From this market just being an unregulated open space with a lot of ‘Hodge – Podge’ construction, this new ongo ing construction will mod ernise the community and modernise the way we do business in our country,” he said.

The local government minister noted that the Mon Repos Market will be “the most modern market” to date in Guyana, and is a promise being fulfilled by the PPP/C Government.

“This is a commitment that President Ali has made to the vendors of Mon Repos that we are going to have a modern market here …

this is going to be a modern structure, we intend to con struct a second level, some thing that is not available in any other market right now,” the minister also disclosed.

The completed structure will accommodate 490 stall holders and will eliminate vending from the roadways, making traffic flow easier, Minister Dharamlall under scored.

The 18,000 square foot, pre-fabricated multi-level building is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Earlier this year, construction of the two oth er phases began and has been completed to the point where displaced vendors are now being allotted their 4 x 5 ft. stalls.

50 Region Three residents get BIT certification to improve their livelihoods

Fifty (50) residents of Car ia Caria, Wakenaam and Leguan on November 18, 2022 received their certifica tion after they successfully graduated from the National Training Project for Youth Empowerment (NTPYE) delivered by the Board of Industrial Training (BIT).

Fourteen males and 36 females received their certifi cation from Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton, the Chief Executive Officer of BIT Richard Maughn and other officials at a graduation cer emony held in Leguan

They are now qualified in Small Engine Repairs, Garment Construction, Agro-processing and Infor mation Technology and can now improve their liveli hoods.

Labour Minister, while

addressing the ceremony, said the programmes offered ties in with the government’s commitment to improving the lives of people by en hancing their knowledge and skillsets. He encouraged the graduates to push for more success and not settle for the knowledge they would have gained from the programmes.

They were also told to utilise the Tourism, Industry and Commerce Ministry’s Small Business Bureau for guidance to ensure their busi nesses flourish. “You have to do the rest, you have to now also see how you can have the Chairman, how they can create conditions that you can approach the Small Business Bureau and the ministry of tourism to get trained. One of the greatest failures of per sons producing is that they

have no knowledge of how to market it,” he said.

Meanwhile, BIT’s CEO Richard Maughn said this forms part of government’s mission to empower persons with knowledge and skills so they can benefit from the myriad of opportuning emerging from new indus tries. “Indeed, we believe for us to move forward, for us to grow as a country, for us to see true development we must push towards making sure that people are skilled to make use of opportunities,” Maughn stated.

BIT’s Monitoring and Evaluation Officer Natei ca Garraway, Caria Caria Community Development Council’s Chairman Camp tom Klass and other officials were in attendance at the graduation exercise.

Verification process for steel and cement initiative underway

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) is in the process of verifying applicants who are qualified to benefit from the government’s cement and steel initiative.

Housing and Water Min ister, Collin Croal revealed that a total of 4000 persons across the country uplifted applications for the home builder’s support initiative which was announced by His Excellency Dr Irfaan Ali back in July.

To date, Minister Croal said 575 persons have reg istered. Of that amount, 450 applicants met the criteria and are awaiting the inspec tion phase.

“So, how it works is that they apply, there is a check

list that must be satisfied in terms of their ownership as well as, the approval of their plan along with their esti mates… we have, to date in spected over 101 locations,” Croal said.

Under the programme, persons constructing homes costing $6 million or less, will be given the steel need ed and one sling of cement for the construction of the foundation.

For home builders spend ing $6 million to $25 million, two slings of cement will be provided to them.

Once the verification process is completed, per sons will begin to uplift their vouchers at the approved suppliers.

“So, within a week, the

first set of persons will re ceive the voucher that will allow them to proceed and take that to the recognised and approved distributors to uplift their steel and cement,” the Minister stated.

Croal noted too that per sons continue to visit the respective offices daily. He anticipated that there will be an influx of persons over the coming weeks. “You have persons who want to benefit from the programme and are going through the process of getting their plans ap proved…those persons will be dealt with,” he said.

The government is ex pected to invest approxi mately $700 million in the programme by the end of the year.

The Government of Guy ana (GOG) has reaffirmed its commitment to making and supporting investments that will improve the coun try’s resilience to cybercrime and cyberattacks, against the backdrop of the major technological advancements being made in the country.

Prime Minister, Briga dier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, expressed this during the opening ceremony of the National Cyber Risk Assess ment (NCRA) Workshop on Wednesday (November 23,

2022) morning, at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.

The Prime Minister re minded of the government’s commitment to developing infrastructure and facilitating an enabling environment to promote the use of Informa tion and Communications Technology (ICT) across Guyana, in keeping with the drive to enhance global dig italisation and eliminate the digital divide.

He noted that Guyana’s ICT sector is rapidly evolving

due to its function as a key pillar for sustained econom ic and social development. However, these technological advancements could make Guyana more vulnerable to cyber threats which can quickly affect quality of life.

As such, the Prime Min ister stated, cyber security is key to securing Guyana’s digital assets. To achieve this, the government will continue to make and support investments that provide op portunities for all Guyanese,

Gov’t remains committed to improving country’s cyber resilience – Prime Minister

Guyana’s legal team pillories Venezuela’s arguments as ‘flawed’, ‘factually misconceived’

Oral pleadings before at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in the Guyana/ Venezuela border contro versy case, concluded this week.

The ICJ, having sat for four days of oral pleadings, is now expected to name a date for ruling on the matter, before proceeding to address the substantive issue of set tling the border controversy.

Both countries made submissions on two days each - Guyana on November 18 and November 22 and Venezuela on November 17 and November 21, 2022.

The International Court of Justice, the principal ju dicial organ of the United Nations, started public hear ings in the case concern ing the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy case on November 17, 2022. The hearings ran until Tuesday (November 22, 2022).

Guyana is represented in the case before the Court by: Sir Shridath Ramphal, OE, OCC, KC, Co-Agent and Counsel; Mr. Paul S. Reichler, Attorney-at-Law, Foley Hoag LLP, member of the Bars of the United States Supreme Court and the Dis trict of Columbia; Mr. Alain Pellet, Professor Emeri tus of the University Paris Nanterre, former Chairman of the International Law Commission, member of the Institut de droit internation al; Professor Philippe Sands KC, Professor of Interna tional Law at University College London, 11 King’s Bench Walk, London; Mr. Payam Akhavan, LLM, SJD (Harvard University), Pro fessor of International Law, Senior Fellow, Massey Col lege, University, of Toronto, member of the Bar of New York and the Law Society of Ontario, member of the Per manent Court of Arbitration; Professor Pierre d’Argent, Professor ordinaire, Univer sité Catholique de Louvain, member of the Institut de Droit International, Foley Hoag LLP, member of the Bar of Brussels; Ms. Chris tina L. Beharry, Foley Hoag LLP, member of the Bars of the District of Columbia, the State of New York, England and Wales, and the Law Society of Ontario; Mr. Ed ward Craven, Barrister, Ma trix Chambers, London; Mr. Juan Pablo Hugues Arthur, Foley Hoag LLP, member of the Bar of the State of New York; and Ms. Isabella F. Uria, Attorney –at-Law, Foley Hoag LLP, member of the Bar of the District of Columbia.

VENEZUELA’S ARGUMENTS

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, contended that it is not dis puting the jurisdiction of the ICJ to adjudicate the border controversy. It argued that its problem is that the case was brought to the ICJ by Guyana, it is the United Kingdom (UK) that should be a party to the case, since the UJ is a “land grabber,” that perpetrated a “fraud” and a “cover-up” in the Ar bitral Award on October 3, 1899 when territory was “given” to Guyana. Venezu ela’s position, according to her, is that in 1925, the UK recognized Gran Colombia, which included Essequibo, but in the 19th century, the British government sought to unilaterally assert new land rights by publishing what she said were “doc tored maps,” claiming “fal sified” border lines in its favour.

Venezuela’s Professor Christian Tams continued that the United Kingdom and Venezuela reached an agreement which stated that the Geneva Agreement was an “agreement to resolve the controversy between Venezuela and the United Kingdom.” Consequently, it was contended that it cannot be understood how Guyana now intends the escape from this commitment. In support of Tams, Professor Paolo Palchetti claimed that while Guyana asserts that the UK has no stake in the matter, it is "strangely silent" on the issue of the UK's obligations as a member of the interna tional community.

Venezuela’s Agent, Samuel Moncada, told the Court, “We were deceived in 1899, but today we know the truth. It is impossible to deceive us once again.”

Consequently, Venezu ela called for the ICJ to dismiss Guyana’s case.

GUYANA’A ARGUMENTS

Sands dismissed Vene zuela’s arguments as inco herent, legally misconceived and factually baseless. He said, “Venezuela’s Prelim inary Objections are the legal equivalent of a deus ex machina or, to use a sport ing analogy, an attempt to bring to an end, in the 89th minute, a football match that is being lost, by procuring a pitch invasion so grave that the referee has no option but to suspend the game. But like the most implausible

sudden plot twist in a decent novel, the reader can see right through the author’s intentions. And, like every football game, the 90th min ute arrives and the match is brought to a normal end — and the game is lost — by the referee’s final whistle.”

Sands also chronicled Venezuela historical accep tance of the award before it openly alleged fraud in 1962 and said, “As the Court knows, this is a document which was allegedly pro duced by one of Venezuela’s counsel from the 1899 arbi tration. It was supposedly written in February 1944 — almost half a century after the events which it purports to describe, but just one month after the 83-year old Mr. Mallet-Prevost received Venezuela’s highest national award, the Order of the Lib erator, bestowed in recogni tion of his service as a loyal and “long-standing” “friend and adviser” to Venezuela. The text of the memorandum was made public in 1949 — five years after it was allegedly written and one month after the death of its author. Importantly — and tellingly — the document was published 13 years be fore Venezuela first sought to invoke it as a basis for repudiating the 1899 Award, or indeed made any public reference to it.”

Guyana also argued that Venezuela’s contention that the UK is a proper party in the matter “absurd,” since the UK has no legal right nor interest in the matter or the disputed territory and has itself long stated this.

Professor d’Argent, another one of Guyana’s lawyers, stated that in the Geneva Agreement of 1966, the UK as a party thereto had itself consented to that provision which allows the ICJ to be the forum before which the controversy is finally set tled. Meanwhile, Reichler supported d’Argent’s con tentions the UK is not an indispensable party to the proceedings. He said, “The United Kingdom has no le gal interest, no legal rights or obligations.” Further, he noted that the UK gave its consent in Article 4 of the Geneva Agreement for the Court to resolve the dispute between Guyana and Ven ezuela.

A fourth attorney, Be harry charged that Venezu ela’s call for the case to be dismissed essentially sought to point out that what Vene zuela, via it preliminary ob jections, sought to “ask the

court to undo it judgment” which is now res judicata.

Concluding Guyana’s arguments before the ICJ, Sands said Venezuela rec ognised the need to establish wrongful conduct on the part of the arbitral tribunal, but failed to do so. Having failed, he contended that Venezuela has now shifted its arguments to say that the wrongful conduct which it ascribes to the United King dom (UK) in those negoti ations, invalidates the 1899 award to Guyana. “The UK has no interest in any point along the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela,” Sands said. He declared that Venezuela’s submission is “completely flawed”.

MOVE TO COURT

In March 2018, Guyana filed its application with the ICJ to confirm the validity and binding effect of the Ar bitral Award of 1899 on the boundary between the two countries and the subsequent 1905 agreement, follow ing the decision by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to choose the ICJ as the next means of resolving the controversy which stems from Venezuela’s contention that the award was null and void.

In its Application before the ICJ, Guyana requested that the Court adjudge and declare that:

• “(a) The 1899 Award is valid and binding upon Guy ana and Venezuela, and the boundary established by that Award and the 1905 Agree ment is valid and binding upon Guyana and Venezu ela;

• (b) Guyana enjoys full sov ereignty over the territory between the Essequibo River and the boundary established by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement, and Vene zuela enjoys full sovereign ty over the territory west of that boundary; Guyana and Venezuela are under an obligation to fully respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in accor dance with the boundary es tablished by the 1899 Award and the 1905 Agreement;

• (c) Venezuela shall imme diately withdraw from and cease its occupation of the eastern half of the Island of Ankoko, and each and every other territory which is recognized as Guyana’s sovereign territory in accor dance with the 1899 Award and 1905 Agreement;

• (d) Venezuela shall refrain from threatening or using

force against any person and/or company licensed by Guyana or engage in economic or commercial ac tivity in Guyanese territory as determined by the 1899 Award and 1905 Agree ment, or in any maritime areas appurtenant to such territory over which Guyana has sovereignty or exercises sovereign rights, and shall not interfere with any Guya nese or Guyanese-authorised activities in those areas;

• (e) Venezuela is inter nationally responsible for violations of Guyana’s sovereignty and sovereign rights, and for all injuries suffered by Guyana as a consequence.”

Further, in March 2022, Guyana submitted its Me morial on the Merits of its border controversy Case against Venezuela – as re quired by the Court fol lowing its decision of 18 December 2020 confirming its jurisdiction to decide the merits of Guyana’s claims.

The Ministry of Foreign Af fairs, after the Memorial was submitted, said, “Guyana seeks from the Court a deci sion that the Arbitral Award of 1899 determining the boundary is valid and bind ing upon Guyana and Vene zuela, and that the boundary established by that Award and the 1905 Agreement demarcating it, is the lawful boundary between Guyana and Venezuela. The Court has agreed in its earlier deci sion that it has jurisdiction to do so. Guyana now looks to the Court’s judicial process and its settlement of the mat ter under the rule of law.”

JURISDICTION

The ICJ on December 18, 2020 delivered its Judg ment in the case concerning the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) – relative to the question of the Court’s jurisdiction. The court ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear Guyana’s case seeking the validation of the 1899 arbitral award establishing the boundary with Venezu ela. Venezuela did not take part in the proceedings.

The judgment found that both Guyana and Venezuela had conferred authority on the UN Secretary General under Article 4, paragraph two of the February 17th 1966 Geneva Agreement.

That agreement allowed the Secretary General to choose a means of settlement under Article 33 of the Charter of the United Nations which included judicial settlement.

A press statement from the ICJ said, “In its Judg ment, which is final, without appeal and binding on the Parties, the Court, by twelve votes to four, finds that it has jurisdiction to entertain the Application filed by the Co-operative Republic of Guyana on 29 March 2018 in so far as it concerns the validity of the Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 and the related question of the definitive settlement of the land boundary dispute between the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela…(the Court) unanimously, Finds that it does not have jurisdiction to entertain the claims of the Co-operative Repub lic of Guyana arising from events that occurred after the signature of the Geneva Agreement.”

BEFORE THE ICJ

Under the United Na tions Charter and the Court’s own rules, final judgments from the ICJ both on juris diction and the merits will be legally binding on Guy ana and Venezuela, whether or not Venezuela partici pates in the proceedings.

Efforts over more than half-a-century, including a four-year Mixed Commis sion (1966-1970), a twelveyear moratorium (19701982), a seven-year process of consultations on a means of settlement (1983-1990), and a twenty-seven-year Good Offices Process under the UN Secretary-General’s authority (1990-2017), all failed to end the border controversy.

The move to the ICJ was advanced there was no suc cess with a further attempt, using the United Nations’ Good Offices process, to resolve the matter of Ven ezuela’s renewed claim to Guyana’s territory, the Esse quibo County. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in 2015, charged that the signing of the 1966 Geneva Agreement rendered the 1899 Arbitral Award null and void.

On 30 January 2018, United Nations Secre tary-General António Gu terres, acting under the authority bestowed upon him by the Geneva Agree ment, chose adjudication by the Court as the means for resolving the controversy with finality. Guyana com menced proceedings before the Court on 29 March 2018 in accordance with the Sec retary-General’s decision.

McDonald herself proclaimed that life for...

taken. Therefore, the slap in the face McDon ald refers to in her statement should really be directed inwards to her colleagues in the AP NU+AFC because of the treatment workers faced in this country during the tenure of the Granger-led regime. Teachers were forced to take strike action in 2018 following 3 years of delay in renewing the five-year salaries and benefits agreement first signed under the PPP/C and which had expired in 2015.

Their suffering, like every other Guy anese except for the coalition elites, was further compounded by the imposition of, an increase of over 200 taxes and fees. And for daring to stand up for their rights they were called “selfish” and “uncaring” by a sitting Minister in the APNU+AFC government. Instead of focusing on the overall well-being of public sector workers, officials of Coretta McDonald’s party rewarded themselves with a 50% salary increase three months after tak ing office. They spent billions of dollars on food, fancy vehicles, and upgrading offices for themselves.

On the other hand, since returning to of

fice the PPP/C government is implementing holistic economic policies to lower prices for goods and services which have increased globally. At the same time, we have reversed the punitive taxes that had been imposed by APNU+AFC on electricity, water, medical services and educational supplies, basic household necessities, and basic construction materials. The salary increase should not be viewed in isolation, but in unison, with the several other measures, we have implement ed since assuming office, all with the aim of improving disposable incomes for public sector employees and Guyanese at large. As announced by the President, the increase, retroactive from January 2022, is part of Government’s wider efforts and also includes adjusted salary scales for various categories of workers to be announced next week. The APNU+AFC willfully omits to mention this information in their haste to be critical.

Sincerely, Joseph Hamilton Minister of Labour

Inexplicable hypocrisy, contradictions... (From

nisms in place to ensure that no person who is not eligible to vote does so. The Europe an Union Election Observer Mission in their final report, on page 16, said: “Overall, existing safeguards – notably the use of voter lists with ID pictures by polling staff and party agents – were robust enough to prevent the risk of voter impersonation on election day.”

The fact is a second major cause for the total number on the Voters’ List is persons who have died, but are yet to be removed from the List. Removal of

persons from the Voters’ List must be done on legal grounds. Death is one such legal ground. However, it requires death certificates to be sent to the Guyana Elec tions Commission by the General Registrar’s Office for this to be done. Where this is not done, relatives with the death certificate can take advantage of the Claims and Objections period to make file an objection and have their relative removed from the Voters’ List. Also, the National Registration (Amendment Bill), tabled in the National Assembly on

Major housing development for...

occupying the flood-prone waterfront area in Kwakwani to higher grounds.

This is in keeping with a commitment made when President, Dr Irfaan Ali and Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo met with a group of persons who had indicated their willingness to relocate. He said the issue will be dealt with through a collaboration with the housing and natural resources ministries, with

support from the residents.

On the issue of water, Minister Croal committed to sending a technical team to the area to assess the water distribution networks. From all indications, the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) will have to seek an alterna tive water source, since the main water source, the river, is at risk of being contaminat ed during the rainy season.

“This has to be done quickly

page 4)

November 7, 2022, provides for the Registrar General of Births and Deaths to the Commission to, once every month, produce a list of all persons 14-year-old or more whose deaths have been registered to facilitate the removal of that person from the National Register after verification. The Bill also created several offences for providing false registration information.

These are the facts and the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition’s contradictions, hypocrisy and obfuscation will not change the facts.

(From page 16)

so that we can put it in our 2023 budget,” he stated.

The Housing Minister af firmed that this process forms part of the government’s national housing programme which allows persons the opportunity to achieve home ownership in communities that are equipped with all necessary amenities. The team also met with residents of Ituni to address similar issues.

Gov’t remains committed to improving...

especially those organisations that make up the country’s Critical National Infrastruc ture. “It is our aim to develop a robust cybersecurity pos ture that will not only enable the protection of Guyana’s people, digital assets and digital reputation but will also improve our country’s cyber resilience while foster ing a culture of good online behaviour… The government welcomes the national cyber risk assessment and care initiative, as it will foster our current agenda to use ICT

to catalyse the development in our Critical National In frastructure organisations,” Brigadier Phillips said.

He said the workshop is also a monumental oppor tunity to strengthen Guy ana’s longstanding bilateral relations with the United Kingdom. “The Government of Guyana extends profound gratitude to the government of the United Kingdom for this timely initiative as we seek to strengthen our coun try’s cyber resilience through the protection of our critical

(From page 17)

national infrastructure assets from cyberattack.

The workshop is a collab oration between the United Kingdom government, and the Government of Guy ana, through the National Data Management Authority (NDMA). It aims to identify risks and vulnerabilities to cybersecurity in Guyana, illustrate ways of improving the country’s cyber resil ience, and strengthen the country’s cyber posture and Critical National Infrastruc ture (CNI).

Hamilton defends eight per cent retroactive salary increase

Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton re minded public servants on Tuesday (November 22, 2022), that the opposition APNU+AFC, while in office, once referred to workers as “selfish and uncaring.”

The minister was re sponding to a statement issued by APNU+AFC’s Coretta McDonald, who attempted to criticise the well-intentioned eight per cent salary increase across the board, retroactive to January 2022 for all public sector employees. “Instead of focusing on the over all well-being of the public sector workers… Coretta

McDonald’s party rewarded themselves with a 50 per cent salary increase, three months after taking office. They spent billions of dollars on food, fancy vehicles, and upgrading offices for them selves. The inescapable truth is that McDonald knows all too well the unjust and harsh treatment teachers [who are public servants], endured at the hands of David Granger and the APNU+AFC re gime,” the minister said.

He further pointed out that McDonald, the opposi tion operative, had advanced her position in 2020 to be come the prime ministeri al candidate for the PPP/C

– says APNU+AFC focused on themselves, not the Guyanese

government because of its attractive and wholesome policies towards Guyanese workers, versus the harsh policies of the opposition.

“McDonald’s willingness to sacrifice truth at the altar of political expediency to fulfill the APNU+AFC’s mislead ing narrative is extremely disheartening,” the minister said.

Minister Hamilton chas tised the opposition and its cabal for operating in an alternate universe, reminding that during its 2015-2020 tenure, they were insensitive to the anguish, pain, and suffering they inflicted on Guyanese workers – through

Parity, sustainability among factors considered for 8 per cent increase – Finance Minister

The government took a number of factors into consideration when finalis ing the eight per cent salary increase for public sector workers.

Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, defended the decision during a re cent interview. He said that among the factors consid ered were the sustainability of an increase across the sector and issues of parity— including parity with the private sector. “So, what ever level of salary increase

is granted will reflect an optimal balance of all the factors that are under con sideration… we have an obligation as a responsible government, to be mindful of the consequences that flow from the salary increase that we grant. We have to ensure that it doesn’t create distortions in the economy, more broadly, we have to ensure it doesn’t have infla tionary consequences,” Dr Singh explained. Therefore, he said, all of those considerations are weighed by the government when determining the final

salary increase to grant.

On November 17, Pres ident, Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, announced an eight per cent across-the-board ret roactive increase to public servants, teachers, members of the disciplined services, constitutional office hold ers, as well as government pensioners.

The announcement marked only one in a num ber of government incen tives aimed at providing and improving disposable incomes for public sector employees and Guyanese as a whole.

their inhumane policies.

Moreover, he said the op position operative deliberate ly falsified the inflation rate in her missive, when in fact, the Dr Irfaan Ali-led gov ernment has implemented several measures to improve workers’ disposable income. “Since returning to the office the PPP/C government is im plementing holistic econom ic policies to lower prices for goods and services, which have increased globally”. We have also reversed pu

nitive taxes imposed by the APNU+AFC.”

The salary increase an nounced by President Ali is part of the government’s wider efforts and includes adjusted salary scales for various categories of work ers, which the president will further announce next week.

The government has also reversed punitive taxes on electricity, water, medical services, educational sup plies, basic household neces sities, and construction mate

rials and the salary increase must be viewed in unison with these measures.

“The APNU+AFC plunged the economy into free fall. They governed in a way that brought hopeless ness and despair to Guyanese workers. The unabated theft of state resources and trauma of the five-month period… spent on trying to rig the 2020 elections was not just a slap in the face, but a stab in the back of Guyanese” min ister Hamilton added.

Cooperative Republic of Guyana MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Invitation for Bids

Extension of Time

A. Manual Maintenance (MM) Cleaning 2023 of Drainage and Irrigation Channels within George town, Demerara Mahaica, Region No. 4: Lots 1-58

• Lot 1 MM Cleaning of Bel Air Springs Drainage Channel (4,390 Meters).EE: $ 6,848,400

• Lot 2 MM Cleaning of Dennis Street (1,250 Me ters). EE: $3,750,000

• Lot 3 MM Cleaning of Eastern Highway Drain age Channel (1,015 Meters). EE: $ 2,436,000

• Lot 4 MM Cleaning of Hadfield St. (4,388 Me ters) EE: $ 8,951,520

• Lot 5 MM Cleaning of Lamaha St. Canal (2,521 Meters) EE: $ 8,537,400

• Lot 6 MM Cleaning of (690 Meters) of Drain age Channels within Lamaha Springs Georgetown EE: $ 1,242,000

• Lot 7 MM Cleaning of Middleton &Lamaha St. (1,320 Meters) within Kitty Georgetown.

EE: $ 3,960,000

• Lot 8 MM Cleaning of North Road Drainage Channel (1,740 Meters).EE: $ 6,660,000

• Lot 9 MM Cleaning of Ruimveldt North to Rui mveldt South Crossing (821 Meters). EE: $ 1,477,800

• Lot 10 MM Cleaning of South Road Drainage Channel (3,000 Meters).EE$ 7,320,000

• Lot 11 MM Cleaning of Tucville Drainage Channel (1,285 Meters).EE: $ 3,855,000

• Lot 12 MM Cleaning of Vlissengen Road Drain age Channel (310 M) within East Ruimveldt G\T. EE: $ 744,000

• Lot 13 MM Cleaning of Vlissengen Road Drain age Channel (1,876 Meters).EE: $ 4,938,000

• Lot 14 MM Cleaning of (1,396 Meters) within East Ruimveldt and Guyhoc Gardens Georgetown.EE: $ 4,188,000

• Lot 15 Daily Cleaning of Drainage Channel (650 Meters) within Avenue of the Republic Georgetown.EE: $ 6,387,500

• Lot 16 MM Cleaning of Carifesta Avenue (2,622 M).EE: $ 6,922,080

• Lot 17 MM Cleaning of Church St. Drainage Channel (2,200 Meters).EE: $3,960,000

• Lot 18 MM Cleaning for South Ruimveldt Al leyways from David Rose street to El Dorado (850 Me ters) Georgetown.EE: $ 1,530,000

• Lot 19 MM Cleaning South Ruimveldt Alley ways from David Rose street to El Dorado (700 Meters) Within Georgetown.EE: $ 1,260,000

• Lot 20 MM Cleaning of Downer canal to Ogle Crossing Drainage Channel (2,203 Meters). EE: $ 4,758,480

• Lot 21 MM Cleaning of Durban Park Drainage Channel (1,460 Meters).EE$ 3,504,000

• Lot 22 MM Cleaning of Houston North Drain age Channel (2,520 Meters).EE $ 5,052,000

• Lot 23 MM Cleaning of (660Meters) within La maha Gardens Georgetown.EE: $1,980,000

• Lot 24 MM Cleaning of (1,855 Meters) Border ing Le Repentir Cemetery Georgetown. EE: $ 4,692,000

• Lot 25 MM Cleaning of New Haven (1,800 M).EE$ 4,320,000

• Lot 26 MM Cleaning of Princess St. Drainage Channel (3,900 Meters).EE $9,360,000

• Lot 27 MM Cleaning of Princess St. South (2,721 M).EE: $ 6,912,000

• Lot 28 MM Cleaning of Drainage Channels (3,120 Meters) within Rome Georgetown.

EE: $ 7,587,600

• Lot 29 MM Cleaning of Ruimveldt South Drain age Channel (5,480 Meters).EE: $ 13,161,000

• Lot 30 MM Cleaning of Sussex Street drainage channel (5,615 Meters).EE: $ 13,442,000

• Lot 31 MM Cleaning of Thomas Lands Drain age Channels (2,420Meters).EE: $ 6,488,000

• Lot 32 MM Cleaning of (1,290 Meters) Border ing UG Turkeyen within Georgetown.

EE: $ 2,322,000

• Lot 33 MM Cleaning of (1,090 Meters) within West Ruimveldt Georgetown. EE: $ 3,270,000

• Lot 34 MM Cleaning of Drainage Channel (1,600 Meters) within Young street Georgetown.

EE: $ 6,432,000

• Lot 35 MM Cleaning for Atlantic Ville Drainage Channel (1,405 Meters).EE: $ 4,215,000

• Lot 36 MM Cleaning for David Rose St. South Ruimveldt Drainage Channel (342 Meters).

EE: $ 1,026,000

• Lot 37 MM Cleaning for Cummings Lodge Northern Drainage Channel (1075 Meters).

EE: $ 1,9,35,000

• Lot 38 MM Cleaning for Alleyways within Ste vedore Housing Scheme (1,650 Meters) in Georgetown. EE: $ 4,356,000

• Lot 39 MM Cleaning of Cummings Lodge Drainage Channels (2,894 Meters).EE: $ 6,380,400

• Lot 40 MM Cleaning for Drainage Channels (1,780 Meters) within Meadow Brook Georgetown.EE: $ 5,340,000

• Lot 41 MM Cleaning for Harpy Drive North East La Penitence Drainage Channel (180 Meters). EE: $ 475,200

• Lot 42 MM Cleaning for La Penitence South Drainage Channels (5631 Meters).EE: $ 13,735,800

• Lot 43 MM Cleaning of South Ruimveldt Alley way Between David Rose Street and High Palm Road (1,360M).EE: $ 1,958,400

• Lot 44 MM Cleaning of South Ruimveldt Alley way Between High Palm Road and Fern Drive (1,360 Meters).EE: $ 1,958,400

• Lot 45 MM Cleaning of South Ruimveldt Alley way Between Sunflower Circle and Crane Place (1,360 Meters).EE: $ 1,958,400

• Lot 46 MM Cleaning of South Ruimveldt Alley way Between Crane Place and Achievement Place (1,360 Meters).EE: $ 1,958,400

• Lot 47 MM Cleaning of South Ruimveldt Alley way between Unity Place and Rosa Place (1,360 Meters). EE: $ 1,958,400

• Lot 48 MM Cleaning of North Ruimveldt Al leyways between Perry Street and Mittleholzer Street (1,630 Meters). EE: $ 2,347,200

• Lot 49 MM Cleaning of North Ruimveldt Al leyways between Blue Mountain Road and Spring View Avenue Street (1,600 Meters).EE: $ 2,304,000

• Lot 50 MM Cleaning of North Ruimveldt Al leyways between Spring View Avenue and Well Road (1,600 Meters). EE: $ 2,304,000

• Lot 51 MM Cleaning of North Ruimveldt Alley ways between Well Road and Ruimveldt South to Rui mveldt North Crossing Channel (1,890 Meters). EE: $ 2,721,600

• Lot 52 MM Cleaning for Drainage Channels (3,640 Meters) of drains within Bel Air Park, George town.EE: $ 9,609,600

• Lot 53 MM Cleaning for Turkeyen (2,066 Me ters). EE: $ 6,198,000

• Lot 54 MM Cleaning for seawall façade from camp street to Monument (1,465 Meters) Within Georgetown.EE: $ 4,395,000

• Lot 55 MM Cleaning for North Ruimveldt Al leyways from Mittleholzer street to Well Road (595 Me ters) Within Georgetown.EE: $ 1,785,000

• Lot 56 MM Cleaning for Guyhoc Gardens/ Shirley Field Ridley Alleyways (1795 Meters) Within Georgetown.EE: $ 5,084,400

• Lot 57 MM Cleaning for Cummings Canal (4,414 Meters) Within Georgetown.EE: $ 8,701,400

• Lot 58 MM Cleaning for Downer Canal (4,300 Meters) Within Georgetown.EE: $ 7,965,000

2. Bidding will be conducted through the National Competitive Bidding (NCB) procedures, specified in the Procurement Act 2003.

3. Interested eligible bidders may inspect the Bid ding Documents and obtain further information from the Procurement Office during normal working hours.

4. Bid documents will be available from Novem ber 04, 2022 and can be uplifted from the office of the NDIA cashier’s cage in the NDIA Building, Ministry of Agriculture Compound, Regent & Vlissengen Roads upon payment of a non-refundable fee of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000) in favour of NDIA for each bid docu ment on Mondays-Thursdays between the hours 8:30am to 3:30pm and Fridays 8:30am to 2:30pm.

5. Bids shall be submitted in a plain sealed en velope bearing no identification of the Bidder and marked on the top left hand corner “Tender for __________________”.

Bids shall be addressed to: The Chairman National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Tender Committee Ministry of Agriculture Regent & Vlissengen Roads Georgetown. and deposited in the tender box at the above address no later than 13:30 hours on Tuesday November 29, 2022. Electronic bidding will not be permitted. Late bids will be rejected.

6. Bids will be opened in the presence of those bidders or their representatives who choose to attend at 13:30 hours on Tuesday November 29, 2022 in the boardroom of the National Drainage and Irrigation Au thority Tender Committee at the above address.

7. All bids must be accompanied by valid certifi cates of compliance from the Manager of the National Insurance Scheme and the Commissioner of the Guyana Revenue Authority.

8. The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority Tender Committee reserves the right to reject any or all bids without assigning any reason whatsoever and not necessarily to award to the lowest bid.

9. Please be advised that all works are to be execut ed in keeping with the National Covid-19 Guidelines.

Chief Executive Officer

National Drainage and Irrigation Authority

The National Drainage and Irrigation Authority, Ministry of Agriculture invites bids from suitably qualified and experienced bidders to undertake the following projects:

COMMENTARY

The PNCR and their sycophants resort to attacks when their narrative is not supported

By Leslie Ramsammy

There are a few things that the Guyanese people and the world know about the PNCR and, particularly, its present leader. First the at tack people for speaking the truth. They have an obsession against anyone speaking the truth. Second, they use lies, obfuscation, misrepresen tation and misinformation as their basis for wanting to become the government of Guyana. They are clueless, they are devoid of any kind of policy, other than use misin formation and misrepresenta tion and the old, discredited, wasted bogey-man mantra of race.

When President Irfaan Ali announced an 8% pay increase across the board for all public servants and con stitutional office holders, with retroactive payment from January 1, 2022, the PNCR, its leader, Aubrey Norton, and their sycophants went on a blaze of public criticism, condemning the government for two things. First, they criticized the government for not engaging the unions in bargaining for salaries, and second, for the 8%, de manding that the government should have increased salaries by a much larger quantum. Reminded that the process of announcing the increase was the same used by the APNU/ AFC government between 2015 and 2020, he finally conceded that they made a mistake. Thank God for small mercies – Norton admitted for once they made a mistake.

Now he can also do the same for their behaviour be tween March 3 and August 2, 2020, when they tried to steal a whole election. As far as salary increases are con cerned, the PPP has a record of granting annual pay in creases every year it has been in government, before 1964 and after 1992. The claim that the PPP did not grant a 2020 increase is misrepresentation and misinformation – public servants were given a 2020 pay increase as an election gimmick. The David Grang er-led APNU/AFC govern ment announced in December 2019 pay increases for 2020 as part of using its incumbent advantage to shore-up its elec tion chances. In terms of the quantum, they were in gov ernment between 2015 and 2020, after promising in the 2015 elections that they would

give dramatic pay increases, even promising 20% annual increases.

They did give themselves a between 50 and 100% pay increase and chastised the workers for not being pa tient and wait their turn. As it happened, the workers turn for dramatic increases never occurred.

But such hypocrisy, such brazen misrepresentation and misinformation by Aubrey Norton and the PNCR are old news – it is the way they function. Our colleague and friend, Clement Rohee call it a Don Quixote behavior. Don Quixote was a dreamer, build ing “castles in the air”; he was not a liar and a hypocrite. Everything about the PNCR is hypocrisy. A good example in recent times is their hyp ocritical attacks against two of the ABC diplomats, the British High Commissioner and the US Ambassador. The British High Commissioner two weeks ago reiterated what all right-thinking people have been saying.

APNU+AFC lost the March 2020 elections not because of a bloated voters list, not because of a rigged voters list. They lost because the people of Guyana had no confidence in their gover nance. All the British High Commissioner stated was that as long as there are enough safeguards no one whose name is not on the list would be able to vote and as long as those safeguards are in place no one who is not present on election day would be able to vote. On March 2, 2020, every party had polling agents at every single polling station. There were also GECOM staff and observers. Not a single party complained on election day, not a single observer saw anyone trying to vote illegally. Even the then Pres ident Granger at the end of voting praised the process and emphatically stated that the elections went off smoothly. Even days later, when the con spiracy of rigging the results had already been rolled out, none of the parties challenged the voters’ list. Days after elections as the wickedness of the PNCR began to be revealed, no one raised the issue of a bloated voters list, no one raised the issue of dead people. The voters’ list, the dead people voting allegations only began to take shape after the conspirators realized that rigging the numbers in plain

sight was not going to be easy and that that crazy scheme was not going to work. Out of desperation with no plan B in place, the conspirators raised the issue of the dead voting and began to raise the question of a bloated voters’ list only when the recount of the boxes started. This was simply a bogus claim.

The British High Commis sioner was simply stating the obsession of Aubrey Norton and the opposition with the voters’ list can easily be man aged by these parties by en suring that they and every one else take the necessary steps to ensure that only legitimate voters cast a ballot on election day. Anyone who have voted and had to endure the meticu lous scrutiny that takes place at the polling stations know that it is impossible for anyone to vote for someone else.

Each party has represen tatives at the polling stations. There are observers. In addi tion, it requires all GECOM staff members to be cooper ative and in the conspiracy together. If they want addi tional provisions in place, they have an opportunity to engage GECOM for more provisions to ensure no one cheats.

By now, everyone knows that even engaging GECOM has become part of a clumsy and brazen attempt to claim GECOM is not engaging them. Aubrey Norton and the PNCR had a meeting scheduled this past week with GECOM. That scheduled meeting was based on a for mal request by the PNCR itself. But they never showed up and now trying to make it appeared that GECOM did not want to meet with them. Instead, a handful of people were picketing in front of GECOM claiming that the Official Voters List or the Register of Voters had not yet been published. They tried to convey a message that there are less than 21 days before the LGE, even when there are more than 100 days before the LGE.

Their unfair criticism of the British High Commission er in Guyana was still fresh when they went on a clumsy tirade against the US High Commissioner. Guyana’s economy has been acknowl edged as “firing on all cylin ders” by the World Bank, the IDB, the IMF, the Caribbean Development Bank, Guy ana’s Private Sector, inves tors across the world and the

Diplomatic Corp. When the US Ambassador praised the Guyana government for the aggressive economic growth strategy it has been pushing, she was simply echoing a truth that credible organiza tions in and out of Guyana have spoken about. We know that Guyana’s economy grew more than 36% in the first half of 2022. We know that the second-place country for GDP growth in the first half was way behind Guyana. We also know that the prediction for overall GDP growth in 2022 is now estimated to be over 56%. No country will come close to this.

The US ambassador was treated to a blistering attack by the PNCR and their syco phants. She was speaking the truth. But this is a recipe for attracting the PNCR to go in their attack mode. Essentially, the PNCR did not question the accuracy of what the British

High Commissioner and the US Ambassador were say ing. They questioned their legitimacy for speaking the truth. For the PNCR, both distinguished ladies crossed the line and interfered with our internal affairs and with our sovereignty. The PNCR and Aubrey Norton and their sycophants do not have short memories; they simply ignore the truth. These are the same people who in 2014/2015 praised the ABCE diplomats for their criticism of the PPP government at the time for its decision to prorogue parlia ment when APNU/AFC sub mitted a motion of No-Confi dence against the Donald Ra motar government. The PPP then had argued, justifiably and correctly, that they were simply using their options under the constitution.

It is hypocrisy to attack the diplomats for speaking the truth. In no way have these

diplomats breached their dip lomatic privilege and respon sibilities. They did not in any way diminish the opposition or “big” up the government. They merely spoke the truth. The real problem is DNA. The DNA of the PNCR is they only know how to attack anyone who speak the truth. Within their own ranks people know this. It is why the AFC itself has found it necessary to run away from the PNCR. The AFC know that if there is even a very slim chance that the AFC can survive, they must get as far away from the PNCR as possible.

They realized now what the Guyanese people have known for a long time – the PNCR is faced with an exis tential crisis because no polit ical party cannot survive if it relies only on misinformation and obfuscation and nasty at tacks against those who speak the truth.

Norton admits that former APNU+AFC gov’t failed public servants

Leader of the PNCR, APNU and the AP NU+AFC Coalition, Au brey Norton, has admit ted that the former AP NU+AFC Coalition failed Guyana’s public servants.

Pressed on the issue at a news conference on Tues day (November 22, 2022), he said, “The the track re cord showed that we began negotiations with them, and they weren't conclusions.

“I'm saying to you, the Guyanese public must be lieve us, because first of all, we are acknowledging a change in the situation. Two, we are saying that it's a mistake that has been made. And moving for ward, we should rectify that mistake, and ensure that we, we become involved in collective bargaining.”

However, even as Nor ton promised collective bar gaining, he gave himself an out to say there is no guar antee that such an approach will yield results. “A future Coalition government will work to ensure that there is collective bargaining. That is not to say in the process of collective bargaining, you will not have differ ences, you're going to have differences.”

During its time in Of

fice, between 2015 and 2020, the Coalition had a dismal record of relations with trade unions, including the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), and Guyana Bauxite and General Work ers Union (GBGWU).

In 2017 the GPSU led by union President Patrick Yarde, had come out say ing that it felt “betrayed” by the then APNU+AFC government’s disregard for the collective bargaining process.

Again in 2018 the union had called out the Coalition government as being “dis

respectful.”

The APNU+AFC, during its time in office, also often found itself run ning afoul in negotiations with the GTU. In 2018, teachers went on a mass strike action after feeling disrespected by the then government. The then Min ister with responsibility for Labour, Keith Scott was on record referring to the teachers as “uncaring” and “selfish,” despite his position as mediator be tween the teachers’ union and the Ministry of Ed ucation. Though he later apologized the damage had already been done. [SEE RELATED REPORTING ON PAGE 21]