13-14 August, 2022 / Vol. 12 No. 35 / Price: $100 Email: mirror2018.gy@gmail.com SEE INSIDE Opposition Leader misquotes int’l reports to justify Voters’ List claims PAGE 3 Jagdeo urges Guyanese to be wary of false narratives peddled by Coalition Norton’s attempt to talk up PNCR’s stewardship of economy backfires Nandlall APNU+AFC'schallengesclaimsofdiscrimination throughberesidents110SMARTLeonoracommissionsMinisterPrimeunshakeabledevelopmenttocommitmentGuyana’ssustainablePhillipsHospitalLethemtotrainedBITPAGE 11PAGE2 PAGE 10 President Ali assures… – tells CSIS that country can be a world leader on climate change and food security – five new courses launched PAGE PAGE8 9 14PAGE
2 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022MIRROR
Norton’s
DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIESFINANCIAL Vice President, Bharrat had noted that the finan cial policy of the two main political parties has been and remains very different – with the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) led APNU+AFC Coalition embracing a policy that is consumption-based, which focuses on taxation and spending in areas that did not support long term national growth and development. On the other hand, the PPP/C policy’s is focused on positioning the country for the future, with capi tal spending – spending on roads, bridges, power plant, etc. – which will equate to long term growth and devel opment.Jagdeo had said, “The numbers tell the story of the PPP/C government… we work to ensure the future wellbeing of the country… we are building for the fu ture…investing the things that the country will be able to see and touch, not spend on things you will never see….if we want to progress as a country, the guiding financial policy – the big pic ture – is something we must pay attention to…over time the kind of spending APNU was engaged in, it builds up – consuming everything we earn without thinking about the Takingfuture.”aim at the PNCRled APNU+AFC Coalition’s financial policy, he noted that their spending was focused on recurrent expenditures –vehicles, food, travel, etc.; and not on capital invest ments, which support growth andReviewingdevelopment.the numbers, Jagdeo pointed to the 2014 – the PPP/C’s last budget be fore the Coalition took office – and the 2016 budget – the first full year budget of the APNU+AFC Coalition which showed that: there was a 67 per cent increase in recurrent expenditures from $138B to $177B, while there was a massive decrease in capital expenditure from $81.1B to $52.1B.Each year after that, up to 2020, the recurrent expen ditures increased from 2014 levels: $193.3B in 2017; $207.3B in 2018; $231.4B in 2019; and $257.4B in 2020. At the same time, there was a decrease in capital expen diture from the 2014 levels of $81.1B: $56.7B in 2017; $59.7B in 2018; $69.2B in 2019; and $72B in 2020. In contrast, the PPP/C has attempt to talk up PNCR’s stewardship of economy backfires
“In the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, the world commodity prices that had favored Guyana declined, reversing the earlier gains. Economic output dropped as demand for sugar and bauxite fell. Nonetheless, govern ment spending continued at a high rate, and Guyana was forced to begin borrowing abroad. This pattern of de clining GDP, continued high levels of government spend ing, and foreign borrowing was common throughout Latin America in the 1980s. Guyana's economic decline grew more acute during the 1980s.”According to the doc ument, “The crisis finally came to a head in the late 1980s because of Guyana's unsustainable foreign debt. As export revenues fell, the government began borrowing abroad to finance the pur chase of essential imports. External debt ballooned to US$1.7 billion by 1988, al most six times as large as Guyana's official GDP. “Because the government funneled the borrowed mon ey into consumption rather than productive investment, Guyana's economy did not grow out of debt. Instead, the government became in creasingly unable to meet its debt obligations. Over due payments, or arrears, reached a staggering US$1 billion in 1988. Rather than risk a curtailment of all for eign credit (even short-term loans for imported machin ery and merchandise), the Hoyte government embarked on an IMF-backed austerity and recovery program. The Economic Reform Program (ERP) introduced in 1988 amounted to a reversal of the statist policies that had dom inated Guyana's economy for twoThedecades.”source document was ‘Guyana Tim Merrill, ed. Guyana: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1992’.
(Turn to page 3)
An attempt to tout his ‘imagined’ views of the successful stewardship of the national economy un der the People’s National Congress (PNC) backfired when Aubrey Norton opted to misquote a United State of America Library of Congress source.Norton on August 6, 2022, at event hailing Forbes Burnham, the controversial founder of the now PNCR, said: “The decade after inde pendence was one of stellar economic development in Guyana. “The US Library of Con gress assessed that the econ omy of Guyana was growing at 4% per year, from much of the decade of the 1970s. Here is that institution descrip tion of Guyana’s economic circumstances at the time, I quote: ‘The nationalized economy at first appeared to be performing well. During the early 1970s world prices of both sugar and bauxite rose, allowing the newly nationalized enterprises to reap sizable profits, increase government spending, help stimulate the economy, and GDP grew at about 4% per year from 1970 to 1975’. And I hope that we still that dismisses the misinformation that is generally peddled.”
Norton’s claims could not stand up to fact-checking. The report, in fact, said, “The nationalized economy at first appeared to be per forming well. During the early 1970s, world prices of both sugar and bauxite rose, allowing the newly nationalized enterprises to reap sizable profits. Increased government spending helped stimulate the economy, and GDP grew at about 4 percent per year from 1970 to 1975.
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 313-14 2022 3
Ali, in his response to Norton’s comments said, “First of all, I don’t know what he is referring to as a dirty list. This is the list that went to the elections in 2015, the list that brought him to Government. That’s the list that went to the 2011 elections that saw a minori ty Government. That’s the list that went to the 2020 election that saw a majority Government. So, apparently this list is only a problem when you don’t win the elections.“Thelist is not the prob lem. His integrity is the problem. His inability to recognise democracy and his inability to abide by the rule of law and his inability to respect the will of the people is the problem and he needs to fix it.”
GECOM has already conducted a Continuous Registration Exercise in order to update the List of Electors and pave the way for the hosting of Lo cal Government Elections. It is also understood that GECOM is looking to have an updated voters’ list in place by October, in order for the Local Government Elections to be held. Also, GECOM in April 2022, commenced advertis ing for Returning Officers (ROs), Deputy Returning Officers (DROs) and Elec tion Clerks in preparation for Local Government Elec tions.GECOM’s Chief Elec tion Officer, Vishnu Per saud, has been quoted in the local media as saying, “At the Secretariat, I can tell you this much—that our activities at the Secretariat level are focused on making preparations for local gov ernment elections. When ‘Voters’ List is not the problem, Norton’s integrity is’ – Ali (Turn to page 19) (Turn to page 16)
OLD CLAIM This is not the first time, the PNCR-led Coalition has claimed that the Voters’ List is bloated. In 2019, the justification advanced by then President Granger for his delay in set ting a date for Elections was that the Voters’ List. He has claimed that the Voters’ List was bloated by 200,000 and there must be a new house-tohouse registration to correct this.If Granger’s claim was analytically considered, then its false nature is exposed. Granger insisted that the Voters’ List is bloated by 200,000.However, the list of Guy anese registered for the 2015 General and Regional Elec tions in 2015 (a number that was not much varied at the No vember 2018 Local Govern ment Elections) was 570,708. If you reduced that List from 570,708 by Granger’s 200,000 you end up with 370,708 voters. This 370,708 is less than the number of people who ac tually voted at the 2015 Gen eral and Regional Elections. A total of 412,012 Guyanese voted at the 2015 Elections –an election that the Coalition won.Further, GECOM in 2019 made clear that Granger’s claims were speculative.
CLAIM DEFIES LOGIC Notably, PPP General Secretary and Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, has trashed Norton’s claims. At a prior news confer ence, Jagdeo had said, “I see them (APNU+AFC) saying that somehow, they lost the (2020) Elections because the list may not have been clean. Look at the turnout for all the elections from 1964…in 2015, 72.19% of the popula tion turned out, that was the turnout based on numbers on List claims
The list of untruths being embraced and peddled by the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition were lengthened this week, with Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, misquoting reports by the international Election Observer Missions (EOMs) to justify his claim about a bloated Voters’ List.
Norton’s attempt to talk... focused on balancing devel opment for the future with responding to the need of the GuyaneseJagdeopeople.made clear that the sound financial policy, which is focused on develop ment and the future, has guid ed past PPP/C governments, as well as the current Admin istration, and will be extend ed to the use of Guyana oil revenues. “We made it clear, right from the beginning, we shall not make the mistakes of other countries – spending on things that will not bring benefits for our people… avoiding the dreaded ‘Dutch disease’. He charged too that even without oil revenues, the last two budgets reflect, massive investment in the capital expenditure. Notably, Budget 2022 totals $552.9B and $126.7B of that sum is financed from oil revenues. “Only 23 per cent of the budget is financed by oil revenues,” he said. (From page 2)
Norton, during a news conference on Tuesday (Au gust 9, 2022), said, “All the major Election Observer Mis sions for our 2020 election have called for a new voter registry….from the Carter Centre – final election report: ‘The number of registered voters seems disproportionate to Guyana’s estimated pop ulation. The Carter Center recommends that before the next election the government reassess and overhaul both the process and the technology used to create and manage the voter registration database’.” In fact, the final report from the Election Observer Mission fielded by the Carter Center, on page 10, said, “The number of registered voters seems disproportionate to Guyana’s estimated popula tion, in part because Guyana allows Guyanese living over seas to remain on the voters list.”Further, Norton said, “From the European Union Election Observation Mis sion - Guyana 2020: On page 16 of its report, the EU team, relying on 2020 registration statistics, highlighted the ‘… clear limitations in the ability of the existing continuous reg istration system to maintain an up-to-date, accurate register’.” In fact, the European Union Election Observation Mission’s final report, on page 16, said, was addressing the controversial house-to-house registration in 2019 that was halted by the Court. The re port said, “The preparation of the list of electors for the 2020 elections proved partic ularly litigious and complex. A 2019 decision by GECOM to conduct a new house-tohouse registration drive to replace the existing register was challenged in court by the opposition and contrib uted to substantial delay in the elections. The opposition refused to designate scruti neers to monitor the process and encouraged its supporters to boycott the enumeration. Following the High Court ruling that the house-to-house registration was not unlawful, but also that the names of electors could not be deleted from the existing register on the basis that they were not found to be resident during the enumeration, GECOM ulti mately suspended the exercise. From over 370,000 entries garnered, only 16,642 were found to be new registrants while 88,876 entries pertained to modifications to the records of already registered voters, mostly changes of addresses. The fact that such changes were recorded for almost a quarter of all enumerated per sons hints at clear limitations in the ability of the existing ‘continuous’ registration sys tem to maintain an up-to-date, accurateFurther,register.”the European Union Election Observer Mis sion in their final report, on page 16, said: "...Guyana’s high emigration rate may be the most significant factor ac counting for an ‘inflated’ list.” The European Union Elec tion Observer Mission in their final report, on page 16, also said: “Overall, existing safe guards – 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.”
Opposition Leader misquotes int’l reports to justify Voters’
GUYANA: Parliamentary Year TurnoutVoter voteTotal Registration Voting populationage Population votesInvalid 2020 72.58% 460,352 661,378 524,719 750,204 0.85% 2015 72.19 % 412,012 570,708 477,594 735,222 2011 72.89 % 346,604 475,496 462,142 752,940 1.32 % 2006 68.82 % 338,839 492,369 509,968 767,245 1.50 % 2001 91.73 % 403,769 440,185 556,488 867,371 1.80 % 1997 88.42 % 408,057 461,481 509,040 848,000 1.40 % 1992 81.00 % 308,852 381,299 484,800 808,000 1.80 % 1985 291,175 442,400 790,000 1980 93.64 % 403,014 430,375 441,150 865,000 1973 82.92 % 349,587 421,575 319,200 760,000 0.90 % 1968 85.14 % 314,246 369,088 280,800 720,000 0.60 % 1964 96.98 % 240,120 247,604 258,710 631,000 0.70 % SOURCE: The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) [IDEA develops, shares and enables the use of comparative knowledge in our key impact areas of expertise: electoral processes, constitution building, political participation and representation.] International IDEA is based in Stockholm, Sweden https://www.idea.int/data tools/country view/121/40 https://www.idea.int/data tools/data/voter turnout GUYANA: Parliamentary Year TurnoutVoter voteTotal Registration Voting populationage Population votesInvalid 2020 72.58% 460,352 661,378 524,719 750,204 0.85% 2015 72.19 % 412,012 570,708 477,594 735,222 2011 72.89 % 346,604 475,496 462,142 752,940 1.32 % 2006 68.82 % 338,839 492,369 509,968 767,245 1.50 % 2001 91.73 % 403,769 440,185 556,488 867,371 1.80 % 1997 88.42 % 408,057 461,481 509,040 848,000 1.40 % 1992 81.00 % 308,852 381,299 484,800 808,000 1.80 % 1985 291,175 442,400 790,000 1980 93.64 % 403,014 430,375 441,150 865,000 1973 82.92 % 349,587 421,575 319,200 760,000 0.90 % 1968 85.14 % 314,246 369,088 280,800 720,000 0.60 % 1964 96.98 % 240,120 247,604 258,710 631,000 0.70 % SOURCE: The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) [IDEA develops, shares and enables the use of comparative knowledge in our key impact areas of expertise: electoral processes, constitution building, political participation and representation.] International IDEA is based in Stockholm, Sweden https://www.idea.int/data tools/country view/121/40 https://www.idea.int/data tools/data/voter turnout GUYANA: Parliamentary Year TurnoutVoter voteTotal Registration Voting populationage Population votesInvalid 2020 72.58% 460,352 661,378 524,719 750,204 0.85% 2015 72.19 % 412,012 570,708 477,594 735,222 2011 72.89 % 346,604 475,496 462,142 752,940 1.32 % 2006 68.82 % 338,839 492,369 509,968 767,245 1.50 % 2001 91.73 % 403,769 440,185 556,488 867,371 1.80 % 1997 88.42 % 408,057 461,481 509,040 848,000 1.40 % 1992 81.00 % 308,852 381,299 484,800 808,000 1.80 % 1985 291,175 442,400 790,000 1980 93.64 % 403,014 430,375 441,150 865,000 1973 82.92 % 349,587 421,575 319,200 760,000 0.90 % 1968 85.14 % 314,246 369,088 280,800 720,000 0.60 % 1964 96.98 % 240,120 247,604 258,710 631,000 0.70 % SOURCE: The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) [IDEA develops, shares and enables the use of comparative knowledge in our key impact areas of expertise: electoral processes, constitution building, political participation and representation.] International IDEA is based in Stockholm, Sweden https://www.idea.int/data tools/country view/121/40 https://www.idea.int/data tools/data/voter turnout
T hreats by Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, to do everything possible to prevent the holding of Local Government Elections (LGE), which are expected this year, from being held, were rubbished by President Dr. Irfaan NortonAli.during a news conference on Tuesday (Au gust 9, 2022), said, “We do not see elections being held with a bloated list…we have to first, and we have been doing that, educate the people of Guyana as to the reason for a Voters’ List. There are some additional actions we will take, but that is dependent on the pro duction of the Preliminary List of Electors, in which will be able to confirm the actual figures. You will see from the figures that the List is padded…we have been mobilizing support against the PPP’s attempt to go to elections without a clean voters’ list and we will in tensify those activities.”
Furthermore, the net was cast extremely wide in the hope of at least making a small catch and at times the anticipated harvest ended in slim pickings.” Despite these facts, Guyanese were subject to a fivemonth wait for the final results from the March 2020 General and Regional Elections because of the machinations by several persons involved in the process at the GECOM Secretariat and other elements. Bad faith actions by the Aubrey Norton’s PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition – including irresponsible actions, misinformation and unproductive calls, such as the call to ‘undermine the government’ by elements aligned to the Co alition – break trust. The Coalition must be called out at every turn, least we risk our collective progress and prosperity.
Dear OppositionEditor,Leader, Aubrey Norton, made an absurd new highlight, call ing for a “… end to `discrimination’ by PPP/C.”
First, I invite Mr. Norton to reflect on recent happenings in Linden. Back in April of this year, contrary to claims from Norton, Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo had to reassure residents of Linden, Region 10, that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government never had intentions to remove their electricity subsidy (which I think should have been incre mentally removed). This clarification was necessary because of ‘ill-will and manufactured’ comments made by the unpopular Aubrey Norton, who stated that the electricity rates in Linden will be increased. Jagdeo summarised the situation, explaining that Norton, “Reeling from his rejection by the people of Linden as evidenced by the poor turnout at his meeting, has embarked on his familiar acts of de ception and desperation.” So, I repeat the VP’s call that “Guyanese should therefore not fall prey to Norton’s attempt to mislead and cause panic.” Still with Linden, at the onset of 2022, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government did set out to achieve transformative development in every community, and Linden was highlighted. I ask that Norton revisit how Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest), Dr. Peter Ramsaroop, detailed then that “tens of millions of dollars” in investment were earmarked for the mining town of Linden, Re gion 10. He went into the finer points, explaining that Go-Invest had signed investment packages with a few big companies that are seeking to expand and develop the township. In his exact words he noted that, “We recently signed an investment package with a large cement plant in Linden that is doing quite a bit of construction work in building houses in Linden …” “We are about to sign another investment package with a medical supply com pany to do oxygen bottling and other types of packaging. In the region, we recently had some large mega farms in soya bean and corn and we are about to do some more in that… We have another investor who came to put up a steel factory right outside of Linden.” So, it is quite galling that this Opposi tion Leader is ‘chanting race’ when the government is going the ‘extra-mile’ to reach out to traditional strongholds of People’s National Congress, and to pour inputs into Afro-Guyanese villages.Letme go to Sophia, as another ex ample. Just last month, some 100 resi dents of Sophia, Greater Georgetown, benefitted from the government’s $250,000 business-grant initiative. As we all know, this was a part of the government’s manifesto promise to ensure that Guyanese from across the country, irrespective of race or region, have access to business opportunities. This money is right now enabling residents to either start or enhance their businesses. Then, still with So phia, in October 2021, the Guyana Government, through the Housing and Water Ministry’s Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) did ink approximately $136 Million in contracts for the construction of core homes in Sophia and the installation of street lights. Before that time, I remind Norton that in the past year, more than $600 million was already invested in Sophia for infrastructure upgrades, the construction of a multipurpose facility, and the disbursement of home improvement subsidies. Editor, I can go on and on. I can even invoke Buxton and Agricola, but I think that my point is well-made. Aubrey Norton is fanning the wan ing flame of racism. He is seeking to invigorate a dying ‘race’ sentiment. I am happy that numbers are not on his side, and his puerile quest is becoming overtly known; in fact, his crusade is being rejected bit by bit. He cannot corroborate his denouncement of the government. He also cannot sustain his propaganda that the PPP/C is practising both ‘political and ethnic discrimination.’
Norton must produce the evidence to back up his wild claims
The European Union Election Observer Mission in their final report, on page 16, said: “Overall, existing safeguards – nota bly 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.”
Fourthly, Guyana introduced photo identification to ensure that the person who was registered to vote was the same person who was actually voting. Notably, at the 2020 Elections, 460,352 persons voted from a list of 661,3378 –meaning there were over 200,000 persons who did not vote.
44 EDITORIAL
In this little missive, I will address his ‘discrimination’ accusation, as I see that he did not substantiate it.
Finally, GECOM still have to remove persons who have died, who remain on the list. To ensure this is addressed at the legislative level, the proposed amendments to the Repre sentation of the People’s Act (ROPA), address a public and transparent process to ensure that the names of Guyanese who have died are removed from the list. It is clear that the PNCR/APNU/AFC is not interested in facts or plain logic – only in peddling lies to the Guyanese, regardless of the divisions such misinformation might create and regardless of the consequences. It is important to note that, when power was at stake in 2020, the Coalition risked Guyana becoming an outcast among the global fold of democratic nations with its attempt to undermine the will of the Guyanese people with one bit of misinformation after another. The leader of the PNCR and the APNU+AFC Coalition, Aubrey Norton, himself, was actively at the forefront of the attempt to undermine the will of the Guyanese people. Norton appeared on various platforms, not only in Guyana, but in the Caribbean, including on national television in Trinidad and Tobago, staunchly defending the former APNU+AFC Coa lition’s efforts to rig the March 2020 General and Regional Elections. On July 21, 2020, Norton, appearing on television in Trinidad and Tobago, went as far as saying: “I do not see the government as illegitimate,” when questioned about the no-confidence motion and the Coalition’s caretaker mode at that time. Further, failing to acknowledge the democratic will of the Guyanese people, evidenced by the results of the March 2020 General and Regional Elections, as well as the results of the national recount, Norton had said, “I believe we must stay focused on ensuring the People’s Progressive Party doesn’t come to power.” Also, Norton has exposed himself as not being one to shy away from peddling misinformation to the Guyanese public. In May 2020, Norton made wild claims that at a polling station in Bush Lot, Region 5, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) secured 199 votes
PNCR-led Coalition ties itself to another lie for the sake of political power and the Coalition secured four votes – but there were only 199 registered voters for that polling station. He had said: “I want to point out that in Box number 5083 at Bush Lot, Region Five, the official list of electors had 199 persons.”
First, Guyana’s Voters’ List is compiled based on a con tinuous registration process. This process is similar to that of other Caribbean Countries and the percentage of the Guyanese population on the Voters’ List is lower that some countries, like St. Lucia where, as at 2016, 98.43 per cent of their pop ulation were recorded as registered voters. Secondly, the voter turnout in 2020 was 72.5%. This was a small increase from the 72.19% voter turnout in 2015. Thirdly, persons who migrate to other countries cannot be removed from the List because Guyana’s Constitution does not require someone to be resident in Guyana to remain on the List. The European Union Election Observer Mission in their final report, on page 16, said: "...Guyana’s high emigra tion rate may be the most significant factor accounting for an ‘inflated’ list.”
The PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition this week solidified its move to tie itself to another barefaced lie for the sake of political power. This is, agreeably, not new. In Guyana, the Coalition has repeatedly demonstrated, repeatedly that it is committed to power, not to the Guyanese people. This week the claim is that the Voters’ List is not clean and there can be no elections – including the anticipated Lo cal Government Elections this year – without a new Voters’ List. The lie about a bloated Voters’ List has been debunked multiple times. So what are the facts?
Sincerely,H.Singh
The polling station in reference was at the Bush Lot Nursery School [Division 52213C (ii)]and the number of registered voters whose ballots would have been placed in Ballot Box number 5083 is 257 – not the 199 that Norton claimed. This all took place when the report from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) three-person observer team, which witnessed the national recount of votes from the March 2020 Elections, said clearly that: “…nothing we witnessed warrants a challenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are accept able and should constitute the basis of the declaration of the results of the March 2, 2020 elections….the team categorically rejects the concerted public efforts to discredit the polls up to the disastrous Region 4 tabulation…the numerous requests for information on several serial numbers were so bizarre that on one observed occasion, an APNU/AFC agent was prepared to query serial numbers on the OLE (Official List of Electors) in a work station where no one had noted. These challenges were often made on the ground of death and migration…the team viewed much of the exercise as a fishing expedition de signed to gather data for a possible election petition and which resulted in considerable time being wasted during the recount.
Dear Editor, I could vividly recall the severe hardships which parents had to undergo to send their children to school. As a former teacher, it was so embarrassing when at the beginning of the school year I had to do some harsh cuttings so that I could afford to send my children to school. Sometimes they had to start in the second or third week into the school year. I had realised as a teacher that this scenar io is not peculiar to my circumstances but to the majority of parents since many students will not turn out to school until later. There is an old excuse that students would normally offer to whoever asked why they were not at school and that is, “we have to do cleaning at school and I don’t want to dirty my new clothes”. Sounds plausible, but is that the fact? In fact, in some cases the cloth was not even purchased as yet! In some cases, it was purchased late and still at the seamstress or tailor.The PPP/C Government has realised the constraints which parents go through and had introduced the “Because We Care” grant so that parents can have money on hand to purchase the necessary items to ensure that their children are prepared for school on the very first day. When the coalition removed this, coupled with the closure of the sugar estates, many parents could not afford to send their children to school. Of what use was the “Granger buses” when only a few accessed it and parents could not afford to buy the nec essaries. This is certainly putting the “bus” before the “horse”. The PPP/C Government will distribute this year, 193,679 “Because We Care” cash grants and school uniform allowances with an estimated cost of $5.8 billion. This will be for both private and public schools. Each child will receive $30,000 – $25,000 as the grant and $5000 as an allowance for uniform. The distribution will commence on August 2 thus ensuring that all purchases are made in preparation for the new school year. Unlike the coalition, this Government did not do away with the buses but actually im proved the service. The coalition had aborted the “Because We Care” under the pretext that the buses will save the parents more monies than to $10,000 they were receiving. What an asinineWhystatement!notmaintain the grant and provide the additional free services? This Govern ment had made a promise to increase this to $50,000 by 2025. And there is no doubt that this will happen. This year the Government has allocated $74.4 billion to the education sector and the Honourable Minister Priya Manickchand is ensuring that Guyanese receive value for money. Our education standard is improving by leaps and bounds as more teachers are being trained, there is massive improvement in the curriculum and classroom delivery, the building of new schools, massive repairs to the current buildings and infrastructures and general improvement in the education system ensuring the President’s vision of achieving a world class education for all. This grant will greatly motivate parents to ensure that their children take full advan tage of the system. The Honourable Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh had said in his budget presentation that “improved access, quality, and relevance are essential to raising Guyana’s human capital to the levels needed to advance and sustain the imminent transfor mative economic and social development”. And this Government is doing everything possible to ensure that all our students take full advantage of this. Yours sincerely,H.Yusuf
Dear Editor, THE Government of Guyana under the leadership of His Excellency Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali, President of the Cooperative Re public of Guyana, continues the transforma tional development agenda for all Guyanese. This is so despite the continued destructive attempts and open racial manoeuvres of the APNU+AFC opposition, the accused architects of the corrupt plot to hijack the March 2020 Regional and General Elections. Two years ago Guyanese via legitimate balloting, rejected the oppressive and corrupt APNU+AFC regime that in four short years plunged the economy into disrepair, eroded investor confidence, sullied Guyana’s image globally and emptied the treasury in a scheme to enrich their cabal under party paramountcy, supported by burdensome taxation policies on the backs of Guyanese. Instead of truly representing their constitu ents through dialogue and consultation as en couraged by the President Ali administration, the APNU+AFC has extended their legacy of lawlessness by resorting to chaos and assaults upon democratic institutions. Almost daily, the APNU+AFC openly en gages in racial hysteria and unpatriotic actions through forces within a coalition that is on the brink of separation, all part of a calculated effort to mask their cumbersome leadership that is bankrupt of ideas and solutions to build a modern Guyana. Their rally held on August 2, 2022, in the heart of their traditional stronghold, George town, failed to galvanize their base, based on the numbers in attendance and further demon strates that Guyanese continue to reject the coalition’s agenda because they do not wish the return to the dark days of the PNC. There is no plan by the APNU+AFC to present to their constituents and the wider Guyanese public, yet they can spend hours at a rally shamefully defending a decision by the Leader of the Opposition who refused to shake President’s Ali’s hand during Emancipation Day celebrations in New Amsterdam, Berbice. The fact remains that President Ali con tinues to herald the return of democratic rule through an inclusive pathway of prosperity for all Guyanese.ThePPP/C Government has committed to a progressive future that is bolstered by peace, prudent management of our natural resources, economic stability, respect for the rule of law, and where the rights of all citizens are guaranteed.TheAdministration has repaired Guyana’s image globally as a welcoming destination for investors, strengthened democratic institutions, secured Guyana’s sovereignty while preparing citizens for new opportunities in the economy, and protecting Guyanese businesses in the oil-and-gas sector to ensure that locals benefit foremost from the available resources. Upon the assumption of government, the PPP/C removed over 200 punitive taxes foisted upon Guyanese by the APNU+AFC adminis tration, and instead implemented a range of measures to provide relief for residents, due to the increase in prices for goods and services globally.Despite the global challenges, more Guya nese are owning homes and accessing lands for development through an aggressive approach to housing and business development. This vision is unfolding in changes to the physical landscape of our country, which continues to develop at a rapid pace due to renewed private-sector confidence in our economy.Several hotels are under construction which will create jobs for Guyanese during the construction phase, and upon completion. Government is ensuring that all Guyanese can participate in the economy. The Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL)—gov ernment’s flagship, free online scholarship initiative—is one such avenue available for educational development. An openness to dialogue with stakeholders at home and with international partners abroad is a hallmark of the PPP/C administration. There are those who continue to demon strate a lack of political maturity in this new dispensation that requires a commitment to democratic governance shaped, in part, by meaningful dialogue and consultation. These forces remain committed to the failed politics of using race as their platform to divide, instead of offering constructive ideas to develop a future for all Guyanese. The government would not be distracted by those who have embraced obstructionism to the detriment of Guyanese achieving their full Thepotential.PPP/C administration has demonstrat ed its willingness to work with all Guyanese by engaging with communities and villages across Guyana through Cabinet outreaches. This is an inclusive government at work. Feedback from residents at these community meetings is helping to define policies, prioritise projects and is shaping a new participatory approach on how government responds to the needs of its Presidentcitizen.Aliisleading the transformation al development of Guyana where no Guyanese will be left out, none will be overlooked, and none will be abandoned under the ‘One Guy ana’ approach.
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Yours Kwamesincerely,McCoy, Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister bankrupt of ideas, solutions for modern Guyana
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 5
Dear MinisterEditor,ofHousing and Water, Collin Croal, enthusiastically reports that the International Building Expo 2022 “exceeded the expectations of both ex hibitors and visitors.” The installation of 356 booths at the 5-day Expo 2022 does indicate the high confidence that investors and companies have in the country’s investment climate and the rapidly growing economy. Pointing out that the cost of the Expo was met by Exhibitors and not by the Gov ernment, Minister Croal says that one of the objectives of the Expo was to reduce the 50,000+backlog of house lots and to accelerate the application process. To this end, 5,000 house lots and 750 titles were given out to Guyanese during the Expo. Apart for moving aggressively in other areas to empower people through provid ing them with jobs and a good education, the PPPC Government recognises that land and home ownership is also a pow erful empowerment tool. Thus, creating a forum in which builders, investors, banks, Government functionaries, visitors and consumers could interact with one an other, as well as to view different models of homes, equipment, etc., at one place (Providence Stadium) was in itself a great accomplishment.Buildingupon the first Expo in 2010, the theme for International Building Expo 2022 was: “A New Frontier for Building a One Guyana.” I believe that the Expo’s multiple objectives flowed out of the poli cy framework that is laid out in the PPPC’s National Economic Development Strategy 1994 (NDS), A National Competitiveness Strategy 2006, and the Low Carbon Devel opment Strategy 2030 (LCDS). I identified both general and specific objectives. The general objectives include: (1) the oppor tunity for local, regional, and international investors to showcase new and innovative techniques in the building and construc tion sector; (2) introducing of 3D building technology into the housing sector; (3) the creation of a vision tunnel 2030 to show how housing would be transformed in the future; (4) introducing environmen tally-friendly houses that are being built wholly with recycled materials. The specific objectives include: (1) introducing at least 8 different models of housing to potential homeowners in the low income, middle income, and profes sional categories (people could choose models other than those displayed); (2) providing ready and direct access for citizens to interact with builders, banks, Building Expo exceeded expectations (Turn to page
PPP/C gov’t initiatives to support access to education must be lauded
APNU+AFC
6 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 PPP/C DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’
The move to establish the state-of-the-art hospi tal stemmed from a Mem orandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the country of Austria.The pediatric and mater nal hospital was later added to the MoU in July 2021, while the contract for the project was inked in June thisAtyear.the groundbreaking ceremony on Sunday, Pres ident Dr. Irfaan Ali stressed that bilateral relation is very critical for the development for any Emphasisingcountry. that women and children are critical com ponent of the development of his country, the president did not hesitate to affirm that the standard Guyana is adopting, will position the hospital to be a “traffic driver” for services in the region and fur ther afield. “So, it is building out a model healthcare model that is focusing not only locally, but focusing on the region… on the diaspora. We want to bring together all the private stakeholders in dental work…. We’re working now in terms of building out a system that will support all of this infrastructure and system that will be strongly integrat ed,” the president stated. Dr. Ali said the aim is to put Guyana at the cutting edge of health delivery and education, as well as every other important tier of the sector.Additionally, he noted that the project will be done in accordance with the FIDIC Yellow Book standard. The international manual guides any project to achieve greater reciprocity between the em ployer and contractor and to incorporate international best practice, among other things. Accordingly, much of the high-end equipment that will be used to outfit the hospital will be coming from the United Kingdom (UK). This is also Guyana’s first UK Export Finance (UKEF) project, the president dis closed. The mechanism en ables countries to get access to quality finance at a good interestMeanwhile,rate. Health Min ister, Dr. Frank Anthony, said the turning of the sod signifies another era of public health investment in Guyana. He added too that the mile stone clearly demonstrates President Ali’s vision of building a world class health facility here is more than talks. “At the times when countries are affected by COVID and many economies are done, we are making these bold investments in our country for our people to make sure that they can get the best health care,” Minis ter Anthony Althoughrelayed.government made significant investment in the Georgetown Public Hospital since it assumed office, Minister Anthony disclosed that there are a number of services that the hospital cannot provide at a maximum level, especially in pediatric care. Anthony said, “One of the things that we thought that was very important is that we need to develop we need to develop a facility that is going to be level five, that’s the highest level and offer such specialty care to our children if they need it. Also, we know from time to time they will be at risk mothers, and therefore we also need to cater for these at-risk mothers.” With that concept in mind, government held pro tracted engagements with stakeholders to build the fa cility that meets international standards, allowing the use of higher medical technology here.The health minister noted that while the hospital will have inpatient and outpatient clinic like any other hospital, the quality of services of fered will be vastly different, with advanced clinics and diagnosis tools. Anthony, “The whole purpose of what we are doing this is to offer services that was never of fered in the country… but while we are expanding the services, out primary goal is to make sure that we reduce morbidity, meaning that we will have less diseases in the country and we will be able to treat the properly.” And by doing that we will reduce people dying from these diseases. And that’s the ultimate objective. So, the investments that we’re making here is rarely people centric investments to make sure out people benefit from the highest quality of health care,” Dr. Anthony stated. The construction of the new ultra-modern health in stitution will be facilitated by Austrian company VAMED and is expected to open in the next two years.
who is performing the duties of President.Government has al ready began replacing the aqua-panel bridges on the railway embankment with concrete bridges to facilitate the Ministerexpansion.Edghill also in formed residents that plans are in place to upgrade the two-lane road from Belfield to Orange Nassau, ECD. The minister said government is making the investment to improve traffic flow to facil itate the massive economic development taking place on the East Coast. “It means that with the industrialisa tion that will take place at Enmore where people from Melanie, Buxton, Golden Grove and Victoria will be able to get jobs in the oil and gas sector. To support that, you have to have the large, wide thoroughfares to move the containerised traffic to en able industrialization coming to your area,” the Minister stated.The infrastructure devel opment is in keeping with the rapid expansion of the country’s economy. On the East Coast alone, major in vestments are being made by both government and the pri vate sector locally, regionally andGovernmentinternationally.has in store the development of an in dustrial park that will cater to the needs of the oil and gas industry.Added to that, only re cently, the sod was turned for the 152-room AC Mar riott Hotel at Ogle which is a US$45 million investment. There is also the con struction of a$150 million state-of-the-art milk pro cessing facility, Amaya Milk Plant at Onverwagt.
W ith the passage of the Condominium Bill, the Ministry of Housing and Water has received some 70 Expressions of Interest (EoI) for the con struction of condominiums and townhouses here. Minister, Collin Croal said the ministry has com menced the administrative aspect, which allows inves tors to register for the con struction of Condominium at the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA). “We have moved on that aspect and so we expect a lot of applications for persons to construct similar types of buildings,” Minister Croal said. The minister said as Guyana’s economy pro gresses, there is a need for higher standards and more modern approaches to housing expectedLodge.acrescondominiumsbuildingtovelopmentnese-ownedAlready,development.GuyaTricanDeIncisplanningconstructa10-storeytobeusedfor54onthreeoflandinCummings“ThatiswhyGuyanaistoevolvebecause
70 express interest in condominiums, townhouses with passage of ‘modern’ Condominium Bill (Turn to
Agri. Ministry commences training for agriculture survey for Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 4,000 farmers targeted for pilot exercise Government’s zeal for Guyana to become a first-choice health care des tination is evident, as work will begin soon to construct a specialised Pediatric and Maternal Hospital, along the East Coast Demerara (ECD) corridor.Thefuture low-rise fa cility will cost some €149 million and is set to be con structed at plots 7 and 8 Plantation Goedverwagting, ECD. The modern hospital will have 256 beds and will cover some 24,000 square meters gross floor area. Accordingly, the level five referral centre will be open for maternal mothers and babies from the various regions seeking medical aid that is not available at their respective districts.
page 20)
The Ministry of Agricul ture through the Sus tainable Agriculture Devel opment Program (SADP) launched its agriculture sur vey at the Regency Suites Hotel on August 5, 2022. The
Expansion of Railway Embankment to Mahaica at procurement stage – Min. Edghill
intrainedmeratorsandapproximatelystationarying120computers,MinisterforequiptmentwhileGuyana.useablewhiletivityaimsveyallocatedTen.Three,residingproximatelycollectionBankter-Americanisagriculturemuch-anticipatedsurvey,whichbeingfundedbytheInDevelopment(IDB),willseetheofdatafromap4,000farmersinRegionsTwo,Four,Five,Six,andSomeUS$1,000,000wastoconductthesurundertheSADP,whichtoincreasetheproducoftheagriculturesectormaintainingsustainandclimate-resilientofnaturalresourcesinIDB’sRepresentativehandingoverthethatwillbeusedconductingthesurveytoMustaphaAtotalof120tablets,19fourprinters,andsurveypackagescontainjerseys,hats,bags,andwereprocuredat$24,971,000approximately100enuareexpectedtobetoconductthesurveythetargetedregions.
The expansion of the rail way embankment from Sheriff Street to Mahaica, East Coast Demerara to a four-lane highway is in the procurement stage. This forms part of adierledtheofresidents.Ministeringembankment,toroundabout,stagethat“TherereachduringBishopMinisterthetransformationalgovernment’splansforcountry.ThiswasdisclosedbyofPublicWorks,JuanEdghillonacommunityoutinMelanieDamishana.isamajorprojectisintheprocurementfromSheriffStreetallthewayupMahaicaontherailwaywearebringthattoafour-laneroad,”EdghilltoldtheMinisterEdghillwaspartaministerialoutreachincommunitywhichwasbyPrimeMinisterBrig(Ret’d)MarkPhillips
€149M pediatric, maternal hospital for ECD corridor
While delivering remarks at the launch, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha said that the survey will assist with developing a register of farmers, detailing what they produce, where they are located, and how much they are “Overproducing.thelast two years, we’ve seen a number of ini tiatives being implemented by the government targeting farmers, a lot of farmers were not captured. Last year we experienced one of, if not, the most devastating floods in our country’s history where 90% of our agriculture sector was destroyed. The govern ment decided to give relief to the farmers but, to date, we are hearing that some farmers didn’t receive any relief. It is activities like these that will help us to know exactly how many farmers are in our country, where they are located and the number of crops they are producing,” the minister Ministerexplained.Mustapha fur ther stated that the data col lected will also assist the government with crafting realistic policies to further develop the sector and the country. He said, “This sur vey will help us to set our programmes because when you set programmes, es pecially in the agriculture sector, you have to be more realistic because we are deal ing with food and food secu rity. Without proper analysis and proper knowledge, we wouldn’t be able to set pro grammes that capture all the activities our farmers are involved in.” IDB Guyana’s Chief of Operation. Lorena Solor zano-Salazar said that the project was important to both the government and the Private Sector. “The objec tive of this project includes producing high-quality data for the agriculture sector, increasing productivity, es pecially for the small and medium farmers, agriculture that is appropriate for inno vation and extension systems as well as compliance with sanitary and phytosanitary systems. Hence, the agri culture survey is relevant to enhance the capability of the Ministry of Agriculture for data collection and knowl edge dissemination of an agriculture database. This new information will add value to the government for decision making and also to the Private Sector to develop investment in the agriculture sector in line with foreign development priorities,” she noted.The survey is expected to commence before the end of August 2022.
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 7
PPP/C
16 households
DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’
45 residents of Annai, surrounding villages to get BIT training as more training opportunities made available for the hinterland
W ith the PPP/C Gov ernment’s aggressive move to expand the coun try’s livestock industry, some $177.7 million has been allocated to provide additional resources to mas sively support the prom ising Black Belly Sheep Project.The approved fund is part of the $44.8 billion financial paper which was presented to the National Assembly at the 49th sitting of the Twelfth Parliament on Monday for supplemen taryAgriculturefunding. Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, who was at the time being ques tioned on the allocation, said the new undertaking will also see Guyana inte grally involved in the move to reduce the region’s food import bill by 25 per cent come 2025. The first flock of Black Belly sheep landed on Guy ana’s shore at the Ramba ran Wharf, Georgetown on AugustAfter4. being thorough ly examined for signs of illness, a total 132 sheep, including 20 rams and 112 ewes were offloaded. The amount is part of the first shipment of 1,000 animals expected within a couple months.“We have an agreement with Barbados that we will start to work with them to develop this industry… the black belly sheep… where (Turn to page 8)
Residents on the East Coast Demerara were informed that government will by mid-August begin regularising untitled lands. The announcement was made by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Af fairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, during a nine-member min isterial outreach in Melanie Damishana, led by Prime Minister Brigadier (Ret’d) MarkThePhillips.issue of unregu larised lands on the East Coast was raised by residents during the meeting. The Attorney General said he has been undertaking the regularisation exercise as government is aware that there are lands that have been occupied for decades, but persons do not possess the necessary documentation to showHeownership.disclosed that when Parliament goes into recess after the next sitting of the National Assembly on August 8, the process will recommence. “I plan to use that recess period to meet in the communities on the East Coast at least to begin the process of the land regular isation. I hope that someone will be able to coordinate the meeting, because we will have to come into the community, sit with you and the surveyors, do the history. So, wherever you will need the titles to be done or what is the reason for the title not being issued is what we will have to ad dress. All right. So that is what I want to see on the list you will begin that process in mid-August,” the Attor ney General Governmentassured.since taking office has been working to address the issue of unregu larised lands. AG Nandlall has been leading the way in several communities. In 2021, 45 persons in Enterprise on the East Coast Demerara received titles for lands they occupied for de cades without having owner ship, due to the intervention of the Attorney General. Similar exercises are ongo ing in other communities across the country led by the Ministry of Housing and Water- Central Housing and Planning Authority.
S ome sixteen (16) house holds in Bare Root and Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara are current ly being regularised by the central Housing and Plan ning Authority (CH&PA). These residents have been occupying lands in those communities for de cades without any legal documentation.MinisterofHousing and water, Collin Croal on Sat urday said the regularisa tion process is ongoing and the residents will receive their land ownership doc uments by the end of the year. “We have completed the occupational survey and we are filing the plan with the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission, so by the second week of August, I am expected to get that approved plan,” the minister told the residents during a community outreach at the Melanie Damishana village, ECD.The initiative forms part of the housing ministry’s land regularisation pro gramme that addresses the issue of illegal occupation of lands that fall under the CHPA.Since the PPP/C gov ernment took office, it reg ularised over 284 informal settlers, while 59 house holds were relocated from Zero tolerance areas and resettled into wholesome communities.Lastyear, the housing ministry launched the Guy ana Strategy for Informal Settlements Upgrading and Prevention, a programme which seeks to address and ultimately, eliminate squat ting across the country. The programme is being executed in partnership with the UN-Habitat, the Euro pean Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pa cific Group of States (ACP). It will result in squatting being dealt with in a more structured way, taking into consideration the increased number of squatter settle ments across the country. in Bare Root, Bachelor’s being regularised Forty-five residents of Annai and surrounding villages in the North Ru pununi, Region Nine will soon commence training in the areas of hospitality, catering, welding and fabri cation to embrace the many opportunities emerging from Guyana’s rapid economic growth.AMemorandum of Un derstanding (MOU) was signed between the Board of Industrial Training (BIT), the North Rupununi District De velopment Board (NRDDB) and the Bina Hill Techni cal Institute to facilitate the training of Labourpersons.Minister, Jo seph Hamilton said the pro gramme conforms with the Dr Mohamed Irfaan Ali-ledPPP/C Government’s plan to ensure every Guyanese has equal opportunity under the ‘One Guyana’ initia tive. “Whatever services and opportunities people are receiving on the coast, wher ever people live, the same opportunities will come to them…there has been this territorial issue of young men and women who want to upgrade themselves in technical area but they have to leave their villages and go into strange territory, [but] what we are attempting to do is bring training to the villages,” he said. He said training is an important aspect of the coun try’s development. The Min ister pointed out the culinary art training, which he said is necessary to boost tourism and provide optimum hos pitality for tourists. “People will remember your village, good or bad, based on the food you give them to eat… and that is why this pro gramme is important, you cannot discuss tourism and hospitality and you’re not discussing training people to cook all types of meals,” the minister explained. He said welding and fab rication are necessary skills in the oil and gas sector. According to him, BIT’s intention is to train persons who can also attend technical training institutions in the UnitedTheStates.training programmes will be conducted at the Bina Hill Technical Institute. It will employ tutors and train ers from the neighbouring villages.This strategy will cre ate employment and ensure money remains within com munities.Theminister reiterated government’s commitment to working with leaders to take more training and develop ment to the region. “We will work together with the vil lages, we will work together with councils, we will work together with toshaos, we will work together with the region, we will work together with NRDDB to ensure we can have people trained,” Minister Hamilton promised. BIT will soon be intro ducing a number of other programmes in the villag es, these include; building construction and garment construction.
$177.7M injected to expand Black Belly Sheep Project
Adventure
Regularisation of untitled East Coast lands to begin mid-August – AG
This partnership demon strates good faith in our Government and our coun try’s potential as a green destination that aligns with a wider goal of sustainable development.”Upgrades to the Dia mond Hospital in Region Four and the Lethem Hos pital in Region Nine have already been completed, and the project will also upgrade the Paramakatoi District Hospital in Region Eight and the Mabaruma Regional Hospital in Region One.
to ensure the improvement in the quality of life for the people of Guyana.”
Prime Minister Phillips commissions Leonora
P rime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d), the Honourable Mark Phillips reiterated the Government’s commitment of ensuring the best possible health care for all Guyanese. During the recommis sioning ceremony of the upgraded Leonora SMART Hospital in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), he explained that the health and wellbe ing of Guyanese are high on the Government’s agenda. He said, “As a Government, we believe that it is our responsibility to provide ad equate levels of health care as an utmost priority for all our people. Our Govern ment’s commitment along this trust is demonstrated in our pioneering national healthcare ganizationnization/WorldPanGuyanationGovernmentproject,programme.”modernisationTheSMARThospitalfundedbytheUKincollaborawiththeGovernmentofandmanagedbytheAmericanHealthOrgaHealthOr(PAHO/WHO), will have a total of five hos pitals across Guyana con verted into climate-resilient facilities that use more solar energy and stored water, with upgraded systems of healthcareAccordingdelivery.tothe Senior Government Official, in accordance with the Gov ernment’s transformational agenda, all sectors, includ ing health, will see rapid development that is climate resilient. The Prime Minis ter said, “This is a time of accelerated development for all the people of Guyana. Our people will benefit from development and infrastruc ture, in health, in education, in housing…. The SMART healthcare project that we commissioned here today and the others that you heard of around the country provide the means for creat ing facilities that can better withstand severe weather, save money and protect the environment.”Headdedthat the devel opment is focused on im proving citizens’ access to basic services; this he said will include the Hinterland and far-flung indigenous communities. Phillips said, “We are bringing develop ment not only to the coast, but we are bridging that di vide that has always been a challenge to
bolstersportfoliooflaudedismunities.10%hinterlandlivewheredevelopmentdevelopment—onthecoast90%ofourpeopleanddevelopmentinourwheretheotherliveinremotecomSo,thisinitiativegreatlywelcomedandbytheGovernmentGuyana,asitaddstoourofsuccessandourcommitment
SMART Hospital PPP/C DELIVERING ON ‘PLAN FOR PROSPERITY’
The Prime Minister also stated that Guyana was priv ileged to be selected as a partner in the United King dom’s project. He said, “The people and Government of Guyana are proud to be one of the countries selected to be part of the United Kingdom’s SMART Healthcare Facil ities Project implemented by PAHO towards the goal of ensuring safer, greener facilities in the Caribbean to deliver care in disasters and build climate resilience.
8 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022
Prime Minister Phillips, who was joined by the Min ister of Health, Dr Frank Anthony during the recom missioning ceremony, also handed over an ambulance to the hospital.
Barbados will be contrib uting approximately 1000 sheep to Guyana,” the agri culture minister stated. He said the aim is to al low the Caribbean to devel op its own brand, replacing the New Zealand lamb and Australian lamb that are being imported to this side of the globe. Mustapha also emphasised that Guyana has adequate land and the right climate and all the neces sary conditions to increase the production of black bellyAccordingsheep. to Minister Mustapha, 50 per cent of the animal will be distributed to farmers across the country, 30 per cent to women, and another 20 per cent to young people.Additionally, govern ment is also looking to give a portion of the animal to the differently abled group, so that everyone could equally be part of the mut ton production expansion. “We have already re ceived the first batch… hopefully during the course of the month we can re ceive the other. But I want to tell you that this will be a tremendous boost to our food security and Guyana’s economy, where we will be bringing in foreign ex change,” he reiterated. Further, the agriculture minister reminded the Na tional Assembly of Presi dent Ali’s position as the lead head of government with responsibility for Ag riculture in the CARICOM Quasi“AsCabinet.amatter of fact, the entire Caribbean is looking forward now to Guyana to lead the system and also looking for guidance,” he contended.President Ali on March 27, launched the anticipated sheep project in the Mahai ca-Berbice (Region Five). There, the head of state said, the initiative also falls under his administration’s ‘one Guyana’ agenda. With Region Five being Guyana’s largest producer of livestock, the president stated that it has the poten tial to become the livestock capital of the Caribbean Community.Theworld import value of mutton and mutton prod ucts is US$ 8 CARICOMbillion.alone im ports 7,900 tonnes of mut ton at US$48 million annu ally. The four major markets in the region are the Baha mas, Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. From 2016 to 2019, the industry has grown in CAR ICOM from US $36 million to close to US$48 million. Guyana wants to ex pand local production above 7,000 tonnes at the end of a five-year period. The effort requires a capital invest ment of US$175 million and approximately 25,000 acres of land. However, President Ali said the expected earn ings is estimated at US $43 million annually. to expand page
$177.7M injected
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110 Lethem residents to be trained through BIT five new courses launched Mainstay/ Whyaka, Re gion Two, has been selected as the Amerindian Heritage Village to host this year’s celebrations on Sep tember 10, Heritage2022.Day is one of the main activities on the calen dar for Amerindian Heritage Month observed in Septem ber.Minister, Pauline Sukhai made the announcement at the Umana Yana on Tuesday as she revealed this year’s theme, ‘Celebrating our traditional culture while building one Guyana’.“September month will bring a whole package of what the Amerindian traditional knowledge is about. What in digenous culture is about and what our tradition and custom is like. We will be able to in troduce to this country again our unique dances, our music, our food and of course the treasure of the way we work, the way we live as one,” the minister noted. The celebrations will com mence with an Amerindian re ligious service on August 31. This will be followed by the Amerindian Heritage Cul tural Extravaganza on Sep tember 1 at the National Sta dium, Art Craft, Cuisine and Cultural Extravaganza at the Amerindian Village, at Sophia exhibition site, a fitness walk, and the Amerindian Heritage Beauty pageant, among other activities. The celebrations will con clude with the highly antici pated Amerindian Heritage Games on October 7- 9 at EverestMinisterGround.Sukhai encour aged Amerindians to embrace their culture. She said, “We should never be ashamed of being champions for our selves. We should never be ashamed of our identity; we should never be ashamed of where we come from or where we have been and where we are today. We are as equal in this country as in anyone… we truly have to stand up for ourselves there is no one who is going to do it forSeptemberus.” was declared Amerindian Heritage Month, in 1995 by former President Dr Cheddi Jagan, in honour of Guyana’s first Amerindi an Parliamentarian Stephen Campbell who became a member of parliament on September 10, 1957, and to honour the contributions of the country’s first people. Amerindian Heritage Village
Moraikobai residents to benefit from BIT programmes 47 persons registered at launching
T he Ministry of Labour continues to roll out its technical and vocational training courses through the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) to ensure every citizen has access to equal oppor tunities.On Tuesday (August 9, 2022), Minister, Joseph Hamilton launched three courses; commercial food preparation, garment con struction and small engine repairs at Moraikobai, an Amerindian village in Re gionTheseFive. courses were se lected during a discussion with BIT’s technical officers and the Aftervillagers.thediscussion, 47 persons took the opportunity to getMinisterregistered.Hamilton said the Government has com mitted to ensuring that cit izens residing in hinterland communities can access and benefit from the Gov ernment’s programmes and initiatives.Theminister explained to residents that BIT’s pro grammes are free of cost, no prior certificate or qualifi cations are required and all materials necessary for the successful completion of the courses are supplied by the government.Further, BIT’s courses are not gendered specific and therefore, women are encouraged to register for more hard-skill courses. “You cannot build and develop Moraikobai if be cause of gender, women are excluded from certain types of training and that is what I try to say to women as I travel around this country. I want to say to men in this regard that I believe you have a responsibility and a duty to support the female in your life whether it’s your wife or your daughter, so they can have the requisite training for the development of themselves,” the Labour Minister pointed out. The commercial food preparation course is nec essary since Moraikobai is an emerging tourism des tination, equipped with an eco-lodge, benabs and many other tourist attractions. The course will enable residents to better devel op their culinary skills and provide improved services to persons visiting the com munity.In2020, a total of 2,000 citizens were trained and certified through BIT while in 2021, some 3,086 persons were trained. This year, the ministry is expected to train approximately 6,000 Guyanese.
2022
Amerindian Development…
FOCUS ON GUYANA’S FIRST PEOPLE
Mainstay/Whyaka is
S ome 110 residents of St. Ignatius and Lethem, Region Nine, will benefit from the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) 2022 cours es. These include culinary art, heavy-duty equipment operation, garment construc tion, building construction, welding and Speakingfabrication.during the launch of the courses at the Town Hall, Lethem, Minis ter of Labour, Joseph Ham ilton noted that government will ensure persons in the hinterland regions benefit equally from all opportuni ties and services available on theFurther,coast.with more per sons being trained, leaders will no longer have to de pend on contractors, welders and electrical technicians to commence moreyourpandingtheaddinengagingdevelopmentsinfrastructuralintheregions.Also,traineeswillbeinpracticalworktheirvillages,whichwilltothedevelopmentofregionasawhole.“Whenyoudiscussexanddevelopingregionandbuildingroadsandbuilding housing development…you, that will do heavy duty oper ator programme, that is your purpose… so that we can bring to an end contractor coming into your region… so that we can bring to an end this conversion that the skillset does not reside in Region Nine,” the minister noted.BIT’s training pro grammes provide equal opportunity for all Guya nese, as such the minister is encouraging women to be trained in non-traditional areas such as heavy-duty equipment operating and other male-dominated tech nical fields.
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President Ali also noted that Guyana has the poten tial to become a leader in food security and agriculture technology.“Guyana has rich fresh water resources. We have abundant freshwater, largescale arable lands, we are well positioned to be the food basket of CARICOM. For a matter of fact, in the early days of the develop ment of CARICOM, Guyana was referred to as the food basket of CARICOM,” he said.He reminded that the regional bloc, being led by Guyana, is working aggres sively on a plan to reduce its food import bill by 25% by 2025.“Wehave the potential to become a leader also in cli mate change, food security, transport and logistics.”
The funds earned will also strengthen the human resources and get the neces sary certification, allowing the country to compete at a different level. Moving forward, Dr. Ali proposed that three manuals must be developed in the areas of mathematics, writ ing skills and language and geography/landscape. He said, “Before you advance on to the programme itself you must pass the basic testing in these three areas. So, it forces potential surveyors to pay attention to these three important skill areas that are required.”Withthe additional Sur veyors being certified, Guy ana now boasts some 603 land mapping specialists, since 1892. The same register which existed since then will record the new sionerMeanwhile,names.CommisofGL&SC,Enrique
“The hydro potential here is enormous and we have to advance that project and that is part of our renewable path way,” Dr. Ali Highlightingnoted.statistics, President Ali noted that one trillion cubic feet of gas will generate approximately 142 million megawatts of hours of energy.Solarenergy generation is just one component of Guyana’s low-carbon goals under its Low Carbon De velopment Strategy (LCDS). Under this national ad vancement plan, Guyana looks to complement the na tional grid with other forms of clean and renewable en ergy – namely natural gas, hydropower, wind power and biomass. It is anticipated that by 2030, 70 per cent of Guyana’s energy mix will be supplied through green energy.Additionally, the high ly-anticipated gas-to-energy project terminating at the Wales Development Au thority, will see 250 MW of new power generation constructed.ThisUS$900 million project will utilise natural gas from the Liza One and Liza Two development projects offshore Guyana. The project is being de veloped in partnership with ExxonMobil, the operator of the lucrative Stabroek Block. It is expected to come on stream by 2024 and with a lifetime of 25 years.
– tells CSIS that country can be a world leader on climate change and food security The Caribbean Region should consider mak ing separate investment in hydrogen as the renewable energy source of the future, according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali. He made the suggestion at the discussions held at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Regional Meeting of the Latin America and Carib beanTheRegion.President’s sugges tion is premised on the fact that the gas is viable as a renewable energy solution owing to its many advantag es, chief among them, afford ability. “We have to start de signing a strategy that looks at green hydrogen and how that is formulated because the reality is if hydrogen is for the future and the financial implication is that banks and international community is willing to finance hydrogen against solar then unfortu nately, it is the death of solar, this is the reality”, he said. He explained further, “If the world moves into the direction that we are going to push hydrogen, then the financing for hydrogen has to come from somewhere and if hydrogen is the preferred investment for sustainable energy and for renewables in the future, then definitely the types of resources behind solar would not be there.”
FOOD SECURITY AND TECHNOLOGY
The President also noted that Guyana’s geographic position of being in South America allows economic access to Brazil and other countries on the continent. Additionally, he spoke of the country’s plans to revolutio nise its health and education sectors and not only make them world class, but global hubs.
Consider hydrogen as the renewable source of the future – President Ali
President Ali made it clear that, “I am not saying that is the answer, I am say ing that is one suggestion, and those are the hard ques tions…I am speaking on the basis that we are all agreeing that we are going on a renew able pathway as part of our global commitment, that is a given.”TheHead of State was speaking against the back drop that while the Carib bean region has great solar potential, the cost to fund the projects is enormous. He therefore, posited that natural gas be examined as a reliable renewable energy source that can be utilised, but at a significantly lower cost.As it relates to Guyana, the President said during his recent visit to the United States, following a meeting with the energy department, it was decided that a techni cal team from Guyana would work along with the depart ment to examine the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.
10 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022MIRROR POSITIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT
Guyana plans to establish Land Surveying Institution to serve Region
Guyana is committed to fighting climate change and developing sustainably, according to President Dr. IrfaanTheAli.President also high lighted the country’s po tential in becoming a world leader in key sectors such as the environment, agriculture andHetechnology.madethe statements during a discussion called, ‘Strengthening the Guy ana-US Relationship’ or ganised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Americas. “Our commitment to climate change and devel opment, sustainable devel opment, is unshakable,” Ali stressed.ThePresident reminded that over 80% of Guyana is covered by forests that is larger than the size of England. This large forest cover, he explained, cur rently stores more than 19 gigatonnes of carbon and is attached to a value of more thanHeUS$500bn.said,“So I present to you a country that is enor mously rich in biodiversity, ecological services, environ mental services.” He added that climate change cannot be dealt with in a “transactional way” but must be dealt with through global policy formation that is supported by all. “There needs to be a balanced con versation, a conversation that understands the reality of the world. Because guess what, when supply becomes low, and demand continues to increase, prices are affected, and the most affected con tinues to be the developing world. So this conversation cannot take place without the balance,” he said. This balance, the Presi dent outlined, is highlighted by Guyana as an oil-produc ing nation. He said, “And I want to present Guyana as a perfect example of a country and a policymaking envi ronment that is seeking to achieve that balance in our development trajectory, and our commitment to climate change. We are a net zero country, we have among the lowest deforestation rate in the world at 0.05%. “We have a forest that goes through all the rigid global audits, and we are not going to changePresidentthat.”Ali pointed out that Guyana’s development is structured in the Low Car bon Development Strategy 2030, which looks at the en hancement and prosperity of livelihood, the development of the infrastructure and the human resources and the transformation of the country as an important part of the Environmental Modelling. “As we move forward with our oil and gas sector, we are simultaneously moving forward and advancing our forests as a tool to combat climate change. And we are now moving to a Low Car bon Development Strategy 2030 that expands itself be yond the forests to the ocean and the blue economy,” he said.
President Ali assures… Guyana’s commitment to sustainable development unshakeable
President Ali charged the new batch of professionals to show compassion and exercise tremendous compe tence while delivering their services.Hesaid the oath brings a high degree of honesty and integrity. “Decision that you make impact the lives of gen erations of people…the pow er that you have is a power not to take lightly. Whenever you have the power through an instrument that can affect the lives of people positively or negatively, it brings an additional layer of responsi bility to you that you exercise that power with great care, responsibility and a sense of honesty and dignity which the profession requires,” the President stated. The Government has started assessing several op tions to provide opportuni ties for persons desirous of achieving higher education in the profession. Ali said, “Our vision is to create a land surveying institution in this country that would provide services for the entire Ca ribbean and Latin America. We must be in a position in three years to have such a skilled based that we could be tendering in every other jurisdiction to provide sur veying work.”
The Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) has gained an addi tional five certified Land Sur veyors, who took their oath to serve diligently, during a swearing-in ceremony at State House, Wednesday (August 10, 2022) before President Dr. Ifraan Ali. Elijah Persaud, Royston Washington, Tedwin Roach, Marc Nicholson and Ter ron Roberts were sworn in after completing the Land Surveyors Examination, as required by Section Seven of the Land Surveyors Act, Chapter 97:01.
Monize stressed that Land Surveyors are usually the first person on the land, and have the responsibility of providing the cadastral, typo graphic and other engineering data that guides the execution of projects. ‘We as Survey ors and mapping specialists must be prepared to ensure that we can deliver quality survey service to support the development of the country,” Monize noted. The successful 2022 graduates were tested in the areas of surveying theory, measurement science, field astronomy and mathematics.
To this end, the President said the revenues from the booming oil and gas sector will help position the nation, ensuring that investments are made in the right technology.
Den Amstel farmers engaged by Vice President Jagdeo VP engages Black Entrepreneurs Association Agroup of entrepreneurs were engaged by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre on Wednesday (August 10, 2022). This is the latest meeting organized by the Black Entrepreneurs Association (BEA) Guyana group.
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VP meets with sugar workers, private cane farmers
Vice President Hon. Bharrat Jagdeo, on Wednesday (August 10, 2022), engaged farmers from Den Amstel, West Coast Demerara. The engagement is the fulfillment of a commit ment made during meetings held over the weekend at Uitvlugt and Patienta.
[A review of Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo’s recent engagements]
The Vice President said the development taking place offshore will secure close to 3,000 jobs for residents on the West Coast Demer ara, referencing the largest privately-owned wharf that is being constructed north of Vreed-en-Hoop, as well as the government’s invest ment in the construction of the New Demerara River Crossing and the opening up of lands for the construction of some 14, 000 house lots in the region, among several Jagdeo urges Guyanese to be wary of false narratives peddled by Coalition (Turn to page 20)
Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo is calling on Guyanese to reject the false narrative being peddled by the opposition and other an ti-government voices that the government is deliberately withholding pay increases for publicSpeakingservants.at a commu nity meeting on August 6, 2022 on the West Bank De merara, the Vice President reminded that it is the same APNU+AFC Coalition gov ernment that took away the one-month tax free bonus from the joint services, which the PPP/C Administration has since re-implemented. The VP said it was the PPP/C Government that re deemed the public service from a pauperised state, “… but they can only say that for people who do not know the history of this country or who are not aware of and we need to stand up to this sort of thing.”TheVice President made it clear that the PPP/C Ad ministration will not allow this sort of thinking by the opposition to dictate its poli cies, “we have a straight and clear ideology and we have a goal which we outlined in our Hemanifesto.”notedthat the PPP/C has committed to providing citizens with world-class education and healthcare, providing job opportunities and ensuring their safety, and the administration has since embarked on that jour ney over the two years since returning to office.
POSITIONS FROM VICE PRESIDENT BHARRAT JAGDEO
12 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022MIRROR18 SUNDAY CHRONICLE August 7, 2022
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The Peoples Progressive Party Civic Administra tion (PPP/C) has done more than the previous adminis tration to empower African Communities through a de liberate policy that targets housing, land, jobs, health, and economic prosperity under the ‘One Guyana’ Plat form. As such, the PPP/C Government does not dis criminate or treat Afro-Guya nese since the PPP/C believes that every person in Guyana must have equal access to the development patrimony of the Thisnation.is the position be ing articulated by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, as he poured cold water on the current wave of accusations that PPP/C government is discriminating against the Afro-Guyanese Community. Nandlall, on Tuesday (August 9, 2022), was ad amant that the successive PPP/C governments have a long track record of ensuring that they carry the develop ment goods and services to all Guyanese including the Afro-Guyanese.Hecompared the track record of PPP governments against that of PNC/APNU/ AFC Successive govern ments, concluding that the PPP’s governments have done significantly more for Afro-Guyanese.MinisterNandlall made it clear that in two years, the PPP/C has distributed more house-lots, and scholarships to Afro-Guyanese than last five years of the PNC/AP NU+AFC term in office, proving there is no discrim ination.
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Moving to the issue of state lands and lease lands, the AG said the PPP has giv en more for Afro-Guyanese when compared to APNU. “When we were in Gov ernment, we gave out state lands to West Coast Berbi ce andtheinGuyanesetookertrationlands…theAfro-Guyanese…RiceRamotaradminisdidthat.WhenGrangcomeintoGovernment,heawaythelandsfrom50families….Whileopposition,onbehalfofPPP,IwenttoCourtwonthoselandsback
T he National Assembly on Monday (August 8, 2022), gave its approval for government to utilise an additional $44.8 for ma jor transformational work in the housing and water, education, public works, local government, and other sectors.The government MPs were able to efficiently scru tinise the motion, laying out government’s development path for AlmostGuyanese.halfof the sup plementary fund of $21.050 billion will go towards the Ministry of Housing and Water.
Nandlall challenges APNU+AFC's claims of discrimination
Additionally, $15.9 bil lion is being used for the provision of additional re sources to facilitate infra structural works in new and existing housing areas, and the promotion of the government’s housing pro gramme.Another $250.5 million will be used for the provi sion of additional resources for the completion of water supply interventions in hin terlandSomeareas.$660 million will be used to replace aging and deteriorated pipelines in the city, upgrade of water treat ment plants in Linden, and drilling of wells. Over $4.2 billion has been allocated for the provi sion of additional resources to increase treated water coverage through the con struction of, and upgrading of water treatment plants. Government kept its promise to Amerindians when it gave no objection to the allocation of $3 bil lion to further enhance their quality of life. Some $250 million will be invested in programmes and initiatives to support youth empower ment. Other areas of focus include agriculture and food security, women’s affairs, youth and children, facili ties, services, infrastructure and eco-tourism. President Dr. Irfaan Ali had made the promise to Amerindian village leaders in July at the annual National Toshaos’ Council Conference (NTC). The Ministry of Agri culture has amassed a sum of $1.9 billion, of which $1.431 billion will be used to provide additional sup port to the sugar industry. Some $300 million will go towards the support of fisherfolk and $177.7 mil lion for additional support for the black belly sheep project. Another $4.439 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Public Works for the rehabilitation and upgrade of roads and drains across the country. To meet the electricity arrears owed to the Guy ana and Power and Light by several public sector entities, some $4 billion was also approved by the national assembly. The $1.296 billion al location to the Local Gov ernment Ministry will be used to provide additional resources to facilitate new infrastructural development initiatives and support re gional economic transfor mation programmes. The Ministry of Public Service secured $250 mil lion to further support the Guyana Online Academy of Learning (GOAL) initiative, while $307.027 million will be used by the Ministry of Education to purchase fur niture to facilitate students in the new school year in the COVID-19 environment. The $44,794, 011,175 represents current esti mates of $12,239,279,235 and capital estimates of $32,554,731,940 for the period ending December 31, 2022.
14 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022MIRROR
SCHOLARSHIPS
The National Assembly, on Monday (August 8, 2022), gave the green light to the Low Carbon Develop ment Strategy 2030, follow ing a motion tabled by Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh. As per the motion, the House made clear that it supports the approach to investing revenues from for est carbon markets through two pathways: one, National programmes as outlined in the LCDS 2030, including investments in renewable energy, land titling, protec tion against climate change and other areas; and, two, Community/Village-led pro grammes for indigenous peo ples and local communities (IPLCs) as set out in Village Sustainability Plans (VSPs) or equivalent, put together by communities themselves. The approved motion saw agreement that the National Assembly, including through its Committees, will oversee the investment of all national revenues received from forest climate markets and man aged via the Consolidated Fund through the budgetary process.The approval of the mo tion also saw the National Assembly supporting the pro posal to dedicate 15 percent of all revenues from forest carbon markets to Amerin dian communities, which will be supplementary to the funds received by these com munities from the national programmes.Singhstressed that the LCDS 2030 represents the manifestation of the PPP/C’s commitment to sustainable renewable development and builds on what was already achieved. Guyana’s finalised Low Carbon Development Strate gy (LCDS) 2030, a 152-page document, was subject to over eight months of nation al, countrywide, consulta tions.Launched by President, Dr Irfaan Ali, in October 2021, the new and expanded programme, which is still in its draft stages, seeks to create a new-low-carbon economy in Guyana by es tablishing incentives which value the world’s ecosystem services, and promote these as an essential component of a new model of global devel opment with sustainability at its core. In Guyana’s case, it is about harnessing the value of the country’s ecosystem services to build a long-term, low-carbon diversification opportunity.TheLCDS 2030 sets how – in line with the 2009 vision - Guyana will ad vance its payment for forest climate services model and invest new revenues in the low carbon economy, while also expanding the vision to include Guyana’s other glob ally significant ecosystem services. It summarises how the country aims to achieve the right balance between (i) low impact mining and forestry to enhance employ ment and income generation opportunities – today these sectors employ 40,000 people and contribute over a billion dollars to export earnings – while preparing for new opportunities as the world seeks more advance minerals for the global transition to renewable energy and electric mobility; (ii) continuing to provide forest climate ser vices, maintaining Guyana’s 18 million hectare forest, and sustaining one of the world’s lowest rates of deforestation; (iii) advancing Guyana’s next generation of ecosys tem services such as water management and biodiversity protection.Italsooutlines how Guy ana’s Protected Areas System will be expanded (page 30), how partners will be sought for the International Centre for Biodiversity Research (page 32) and a sustainable Ocean Economy will be nur tured (page 33). The document addresses too how Guyana has evolv ing from the 2009 vision for forest climate services. It provides more detail (Page 36) on the three phases first identified in 2009, and how Phase I – the Guyana-Nor way Agreement – saw Guy ana receive US$220 mil lion payments for the period 2009-2015. The specific in vestments from the payments from Norway are summarised in Appendix III (page 134). Further, it sets out how Guy ana is preparing to move to Phase 2 (pages 37-42), when payments from Norway can be replaced or augmented by payments from the voluntary carbon markets. A revenue sharing mechanism, which resulted from the national consultation, and which was endorsed by the National Toshaos’ Council as the final step in the national consul tation was also detailed in the document. This revenue sharing mechanism focuses on how indigenous peoples and local communities can receive revenues through:
Recognizing that educa tion is key to empowerment, he examined the statistics of how many Afro-Guyanese benefitted from the scholar ships under the successive PPP/C Governments as op posed to the PNC-led AP NU+AFC government. The Attorney Gener al said further that there is no discrimination either in the administration’s Cuban scholarships Programme. The Ethnic Relations Commission had conducted a widespread investigation into the claims of ethnic discrim ination and found nothing of substance against the PPP on the issues related specifically to CubanMeanwhile,Scholarships.theAG said the opposition politicians continue to spread their lies about discrimination in edu cation, denying many young and talented persons a chance to use the vehicle that the government has provided to them for empowerment, and a way out of poverty. The Legal Affairs Minis ter speaking about the gov ernment GOAL project noted last year, PPP Government had delivered surpassed it’s target, providing Guyanese students with 5000 or more free scholarships. This year, he said, over 7000 scholar ships have been allotted to Guyanese students thousands of them being Afro-Guya nese.“We don’t have to go into communities to advertise and speak about a program like that. We can put an adver tisement in the newspaper inviting persons to apply. You know what we did? We went into every single village in this country. On the East Coast of Demerara, we went into to every single community, Buxton, Mela nie, Golden Grove, Nabaclis, Mahaica, Plaisance…every single African community and spoke to them, encour aging them to go and apply for this scholarship”, the Attorney General said. He went on to say, “They were on the ground telling the people, don’t turn up to the meetings. Don’t take the Scholarships. I confronted that on the ground in the communities. They are tell ing their supporters, don’t be educated. They are denying their supporters’ children an education. And they want to see that the PPP is discrimi nating. And that is the man tra. But they don’t they can’t come with facts to support that baseless allegation.” This is in sharp contrast to what obtained under the previous Administration. He declared that the few persons that got the scholar ships under the APNU+AFCwhichassociatesister’stheirtivestheyAdministration.APNU+AFCHesaidthathadotherpoliticalmowhichwasseenwhenownMinisters,minchildrenandclosewerechosen.Heprovidedtheevidencesaysistheproofofthedoublestan dards and misinformation on the subject of discrimination. Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, Darren Wade, Nicolette Hen ry, and Annette Ferguson among others, he noted, ben efitted from scholarships not the ordinary Afro-Guyanese children.
STATE LANDS/LEASE LANDS
$44.8B supplementary funding approved National Assembly greenlights several additional projects (Turn to page 15) (Turn to page
Landmark LCDS 2030 endorsed by National Assembly
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National programmes as outlined in the LCDS 2030 (e.g. renewable energy as described in Chapter 3, land titling as described in Chap ter 4, protecting against cli mate change as described in Chapter 5); and Community/ Village-led programmes for indigenous peoples and local communities as set out tin Village Sustainability Plans (VSPs) or equivalent, put together by communities themselves in accordance with the principles of Free Prior and Informed Consent (more detail is set out on Page 43 and Guyana’s44) plans to achieve one of the world’s most ambitious energy tran sitions – where energy use can increase five-fold while costs can be dramatically de creased, and greenhouse gas emissions can stay approxi mately flat is also addressed. It sets out plans for Transfor mative Investment (page 48), including in Isolated Grids (page 56), a new section on Policies and Incentives to Encourage Consumer Choice (page 60) and more informa tion about Energy Efficiency Measures (page 61). The LCDS 2030 also draws attention to how Guyana had developed a comprehensive strategy for addressing the huge loss es the country suffers from droughts, floods and other climate-related events. The strategy – the Climate Resil ience and Adaptation Strate gy (CRSAP) was developed with revenues from the Guy ana-Norway Agreement, but it was not progressed after 2015.In 2021, work re-started to implement the strategy based on necessary work to bring it up to date. The remainder of the work to implement the strategy will be done by 2023, when the 2015 strategy will be up graded and its priorities – in cluding sea defences, drain age and irrigation systems, public health and emergency and extreme event manage ment – can be re-invigo rated.Importantly, the doc uments sets out Guyana’ plans to align development of the oil and gas sector with global trends towards decarbonisation. It re-em phasises Government policy to (i) ensure a domestic low carbon transition, which - as set out in the LCDS 2030is one of the most ambitious in the world; (ii) act as a re sponsible player in the glob al low carbon transition. On the latter, Government policy continues to stress the need for a global car bon price and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies for production as agreed by the G20 and others – in recogni tion of the fact that even in a net-zero world, oil is needed – and that the supply of oil should be aligned with prin ciples of fairness, econom ic rationality, and climate science. The document highlights that (i) Guyana is progressively introducing strong policies on domestic production, including a tax on flaring (page 88) and (ii) Government’s plans to join the World Bank’s Xero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative (ZRF) – described by the World Bank as “a growing global coalition demonstrating strong envi ronmental leadership and effective natural resource management.”TheLCDS 2030 is aligned with several of Guy ana’s international obliga tions under Movingeach.forward, an LCDS Investment Plan will now be produced to start the process of implementing the measures outlined in LCDS 2030. Further consultations will take place on individual elements, with the first set of priorities being included in the 2023 budget cycle and in successive annual cycles after that. The finalised document can be found at https://lcds. gov.gy/ (From page 14)
“The Committee determined that an appropriate sanction available that the National Assembly can apply would be suspension from service in the House,” the report said page five. The committee recom mended the suspension of Ferguson and Jordan, Sara boo-Halley, Philadelphia for six consecutive sittings. It also recommended the sus pension of Jones, Mahipaul, Duncan and Singh-Lewis for four consecutive sittings.
A t a hearing of the AP NU+AFC Coalition’s fixed date application (FDA) challenging their suspension from the National Assembly was held in the High Court on Wednesday (August 10, 2022).And the request to stay the suspension was denied, for a second time, while Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, was granted leave to file a notice of applica tion (NoA), disputing the Court’s jurisdiction to hear the matter. Also, the State has been granted leave to file an application calling for the Coalition’s matter to be dismissed. Attorney-at-law, Sase Gunraj, is representing the Speaker of the National Assembly and was granted leave to file an application challenging the Court’s ju risdiction, as well as to have the House Speaker struck from the proceedings. All filings are to be made by August 29, 2022. The matter was heard by High Court Judge Damone Younge and comes up again on November 1, 2022. The Coalition Parliamen tarians have asked the court to declare that the report of the Committee of Privileges on the Privilege Motion dat ed January 24, 2022, is un constitutional, null, void and of no legal effect. They have also asked court to determine that the report breached the principles of natural justice since they were not guaran teed their rights prescribed under Article 144 (8) of the Constitution. They have asked the court to issue sev eral orders: one, an order al lowing them to be reinstated in the National Assembly until they have been afforded the right to be heard before the Parliamentary Sessional Select Committee of Privi leges on the motion; two, an order to quash the report laid in the House; and three, a conservatory order or injunc tion suspending the effect, operation and or validity of the report pending the deter mination of the fixed date application.Inalast ditch attempt to thwart the suspension of eight of its Parliamentarians, the APNU+AFC filed a fixed date application with urgent notice in the High Court on July 20, 2022 – the day be fore the House voted on the suspension.TheAPNU+AFC Coali tion Parliamentarians Chris topher Jones, Ganesh Mahi paul, Sherod Duncan, Na tasha Singh-Lewis, Annette Ferguson, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and Maureen Philadelphia re ceived their letters of sus pension from the National Assembly on Thursday, July 28, The2022.letter informing them that they would not be receiving their salaries and other benefits during the period of their suspen sion. The letter said, “As a result of your suspension, you are not entitled to at tend sittings of the National Assembly or meetings of Parliamentary Committees or enter the precincts of the National Assembly or attend any other activity on behalf of the National Assembly, until the termination of your suspension. Also, during the period of your suspension, you will not be paid salary and allowances and not be entitled to some of the other benefits of a Member of the National Assembly. Further, you are not entitled to lodge questions or submit notices of motions during your sus pension from the service of the National Assembly.”
The suspension stemmed from a vote on a motion, which was based on the 78-page report of the Parlia mentary Privileges Commit tee, on July 21, 2022. The report found that eight AP NU+AFC Coalition’s Mem bers of Parliament “were in violation of the Standing Orders, established Cus toms and Practices regarding acceptable behaviour” of Members in the Assembly.
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.
Nandlall challenges Coalition’s... for those families. They de fended the cases through their Attorney-General and lost. Then they filed appeal. I withdrew those appeals when I became Attorney General. So, in and out of Govern ment, we have done more for Afro-Guyanese than APNU/ AFC did for them”, the At torney General reported. The AG noted that he is only interested in making factual arguments and stating the evidence that is there in every sector for the world to see or Heverify.saidhe listened keen ly and could not believe that the opposition politicians know that they are telling the public half-truth or being a stranger to the truth. “… But they go into the African Communities on Emancipa tion Day…to mislead and spew a narrative of discord and discrimination,” the AG said. LINDEN The legal affairs minister said ,“Linden is their favou rite hunting ground to play the game of Accordingdiscrimination”.tohim,there is no policy of discrimina tion that the PPP/C Gov ernments have against the miningThetown.AG said that the town in 2021 got more re sources when compared to what was given in any year during the entire five-year period of the last regime. “But they will go to Lin den and say that the people of Linden are being discriminat ed against…Let me remind you of another statistic. Up to now, the people of Guyana and the PPP Government is paying the bill for region Ten, billions of dollars…But if you give this sugar workers some money, it’s racism and is discrimination. These are facts. But they don’t want to talk facts. They spew a jaundiced narrative and that is why we have to constantly put the facts out there”, he said. LOGGING In 2006 to 2011, the PPP/C Government gave land to hundreds of small and medium scale loggers. Up to the time of 2015, when the previous admin istration took office, they chased away Bai-Shan Lin out of the country, bankrupt ing dozens of families in Lin den. These families burrowed money to buy equipment to supply logs that company. That company owed those people millions of dollars for logs already supplied. More importantly, it was the only market that people had for their“Welogs.don’t speak loose propaganda”, Minister Nand lall said before he noted that the so-called Afro-Guyanese have not done anything for their communities or sup porters.Hemade no apologies for opining that “this so- called African leadership talk much but deliver very little …the truth must be confronted”. Nandlall made it clear that the PPP Government will continue to adumbrate their policies of inclusivi ty and equality throughout Guyana regardless of the propaganda and misinfor mation that is spread. He was confident in declaring that the current government would always rebut and rebuff the allegations made because no one administra tion should ever be allowed to discrimination purposely against the six people of Guyana. (From page 14) Landmark LCDS 2030 endorsed...
Attempt by Coalition to put MPs’ suspension on hold denied again by Court
O pposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, on Tuesday (August 9, 2022) called for the resignation of GECOM Chairman, Jus tice (r’td), Claudette Singh, making clear that failure to do so will result in action by the PNCR-led Coalition. “There are many things we can do to put the pres sure on the elections com mission and Claudette Singh. But we had first given her the opportunity to tender her resignation as a decent judge…we hope we don’t have to close it and Claudette Singh will do the decent thing and resign,” NortonGuyanesesaid. were subject to a five-month wait for the final results from the March 2020 General and Regional Elections because of the actions of several persons involved in the process at the GECOM Secretariat and otherTheelements.reportfrom the Ca ribbean Community (CAR ICOM) three-person observ er team, which witnessed the national recount of votes from the March 2020 Elec tions, said: “…nothing we witnessed warrants a chal lenge to the inescapable conclusion that the recount results are acceptable and should constitute the ba sis of the declaration of the results of the March 2, 2020 elections….the team categorically rejects the concerted public efforts to discredit the polls up to the disastrous Region 4 tabulation…the numerous requests for information on several serial numbers were so bizarre that on one ob served occasion, an APNU/ AFC agent was prepared to query serial numbers on the OLE (Official List of Elec tors) in a work station where no one had noted. These challenges were often made on the ground of death and migration…the team viewed much of the exercise as a fishing expedition designed to gather data for a possible election petition and which resulted in considerable time being wasted during the recount. Furthermore, the net was cast extremely wide in the hope of at least making a small catch and at times the anticipated harvest ended in slim pickings.”
The Coalition has been insisting that it lost the March 2020 Elections un fairly.
Norton issues threat to GECOM Chair
16 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022
exhibitors, service com panies, Government agen cies; and (3) encouraging an expanding role for the Private Sector in housing development.ThePPPC’s 2020 Manifesto sets a target of 50,000 house-lot allocation during the Government’s 5-year term (2020-2025). To achieve this goal, they must double the amount of house lots that were given out at an annual average of 5,125 during the period 1992 to 2014. While the PPPC has not met its av erage minimum of 10,000 house lots per year for its first two years in office, it still was able to allocate an annual average of 6,000 per year compared with the PNCR-led Government’s annual average of 1,507. The PPPC vows that their target of 50,000 house lots to be allocated within their 5 years would be realised. In addition, the PPPC is in the process of building 1,200 housing units. Min ister Croal says that 300 of these units have already been allocated to families. The PPPC blames the PNCR-led Government for not creating any new hous ing scheme during their term in office (2015-2020). The former PNCR Minister of Housing says that they had identified 5 areas com prising 409 acres in Re gions 9 and 10 for housing development, and another 21 new housing sites (with 4,273 house lots) in Re gions 3, 4, and 6, but they lacked the resources for the requisite
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 17
CEO of CH&PA, Sherwin Greaves, states: “based on the testimonials of those persons who would have been allocated house lots and received their titles, many aspiring homeowners would have left the ‘Expo’ very happy.”
titlesExpowhoTheitinglevelspreventfor2022development.infrastructuralTheentryfeeintoExpoofG$3,000perpersonthefirst3daysdidnotGuyanesefromallofsocietyfromvisthenationaltreasure.houselotawardeesdidnotattendthecouldpickuptheirandhouselotgrantsat their respective regional of fices. The public response was so overwhelming for the first 3 days that the or ganisers extended the Expo for two additional days and with free entry for visitors. An estimated 100,000 persons visited the Expo during the five days. An NBS Director says the NBS received 250 appli cations for loans within those 5 days, and that outside of Expo 2022, the NBS would normally get this amount of applications over a 6-month period. The NBS is currently processing those applica tions. No information was re ceived from the other Banks. An immediate outcome was the announcement by President Dr Irfaan Ali that Government would grant as incentive to people who are building houses valued at G$6 million and less – the steel and one sling of ce ment – while those building houses valued between G$6 million and G$25 million would get two slings of ce ment. Filled with exuber ance, a few businesspeople say that cannot wait for the next Housing Expo! Noting the positive out come of Expo 2022, Min ister within the Ministry of Housing and Water, Susan Rodrigues, says that it was a “blueprint to Guyana’s architectural future.” She continues: “ The new com panies were grateful for the platform we provided for exposure and networking, while many of them received orders in quantities that they never received before.”
Building Expo exceeded... (From page 5)
Sincerely, Dr Tara Singh
LOCAL AUTHORITY AREAS Guyana has 80 Local Authority Areas - 10 Mu nicipalities or towns; and 70 Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs). The 10 Municipalities/ Towns are: Mabaruma, Re gion 1; Anna Regina, Region 2; Georgetown, Region 4; New Amsterdam, Region 6; Rose Hall, Region 6; Cor riverton, Region 6; Bartica; Mahdia, Region 8; Lethem, Region 9; and Linden, Re gionEach10. Local Authority Area (LAA) is divided into Constituencies for the pur pose of electing members of the Municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils.AConstituency in the context of Local Govern ment Elections is a specif ically demarcated part of a Municipality or Neighbour hood Democratic Council as defined and identified by its givenForboundaries.thepurpose of elect ing individual Candidates to represent the respective Constituencies, each Local Authority Area is divided into a given number of Con stituencies, equal to half of the number of seats on a Mu nicipality or Neighbourhood Democratic Council.
2018 LGE Notably, the former AP NU+AFC Coalition gov ernment in 2018, created 10 new Local Authority Areas and made changes to the boundaries of 14 other areas, ahead of the November 2018 Local Government Elec tions. Additionally, existing Local Authorities were tam pered with and in total seats in over a dozen constituen cies were Regardless,reduced.the 2018 Lo cal Government Elections having been held in 80 Local Authority Areas – 10 towns and 70 difference of votes between the PPP/C and the AFC was a whopping 113,000 votes. Between the PPP/C and the APNU, the difference of votes was over 50,000.
18 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 ever a date is announced we will be ready. We are con tinuously working to train staff, hire polling day staff and putting other systems in place to remain in a state of readiness.”Morethan $750 million has been set aside in Budget 2022 for the preparations to be undertaken by GECOM for the hosting of LGE this year. This money is part of an overall $4.1 billion allocation to GECOM’s in Budget 2022 and was ex amined and approved by the National Assembly during its consideration of the 2022 Budget Estimates. Included in the $783 million for LGE is a more-than-$300 million increase in “other goods and services purchased”, which jumped from $250.8 million in 2021 to $575.9 million in the 2022 budget. LGE are constitution ally due every two years in Guyana and were last held in 2018.Local Government Elec tions were deferred, among other challenges, because of the absence of key senior GECOM staffers, including a Chief Elections Officer, given that the former CEO, Keith Lowenfield, was fired and placed before the courts on changes related to public misconduct and electoral fraud.
‘Voters’ List is not the problem... (From page 3)
ernmentatElectionsthemovingAPNUvotesmostshowedingParty/theDemocraticNeighbourhoodCouncils–sawPeople’sProgressiveCivic(PPP/C),securwinsin52oftheLAAs.Nationally,resultsthatthePPP/CaldoubledthemarginofbetweenthePartyandandAFCcombined–fromabout24,000at2016LocalGovernmenttoover45,000thisyear’sLocalGovElections.The
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 19 the list; and in 2002, 72.58%.... and he (Norton) claims that the list was bloated. So if it was bloated then in 2020, it had to be bloated in 2015, when they won – using their basis of argument. The fact is that the List is not bloated. “It is just that there are people on the list who have died, who GECOM has to take off the list, all of those people. And in the ROPA amendments we are making it clear that there has to be a public process to clean all the dead people off the list. Secondly, based on what we have explained before, there are people –whom the Constitution makes clear are prohibited rom being removed based on residency – and so if you migrate, your name will still be on the list. “We have strengthened the verification process by using a picture ID. That is why, in 2020, you only had about 460,000 people voting of the 661,000 who were on the list. Over 200,000 who were on the list did not vote because you have robust procedures. “…the problem with the PNC is that they will stick to a line and regardless of reason or logic or common sense, they believe they can talk about it enough to force people to ac tually start believing it.”
Opposition Leader misquotes int’l reports... (From page 3)
Importantly, Guyana’s Voters’ List is compiled based on a continuous registration process. This process is simi lar to that of other Caribbean Countries and the percentage of the Guyanese population on the Voters’ List is lower that some countries, like St. Lucia where, as at 2016, 98.43 per cent of their population were recorded as registered voters. Further, the voter turn out in 2020 was 72.5%. This was a small increase from the 72.19% voter turnout in 2015. Also, persons who migrate to other countries cannot be removed from the List be cause Guyana’s Constitution does not require someone to be resident in Guyana to remain on the List. Guyana introduced photo identification to ensure that the person who was registered to vote was the same person who was actually voting. Notably, at the 2020 Elections, 460,352 persons voted from a list of 661,3378 – meaning there were over 200,000 persons who did not vote. Additionally, GECOM still have to remove persons who have died, who remain on the list. To ensure this is ad dressed at the legislative level, the proposed amendments to the Representation of the Peo ple’s Act (ROPA), address a public and transparent process to ensure that the names of Guyanese who have died are removed from the list.
other major projects. He said the government is currently making efforts to reclaim approximately 5,000 acres of land that the APNU+AFC gave away for coconut production and to date cultivation has not be gun.In December 2021, more than 20,000 public servants benefitted from a seven per cent salary increase, coupled with a $400 million bonus for frontline workers. The PPP/C government has been making significant investments in the country despite the pandemic. While a large number of persons were laid off around the world, in Guyana, public servants continued to receive theirGovernmentsalaries. has also been taking steps the rectify the irregularities in salary scales across positions in the public sector. Provisions were made in the 2022 bud get.These measures were added to what government has been doing since tak ing office, to improve the lives of all Guyanese. The COVID-19 cash grant of $25,000 per household, yearend bonuses in December 2020 to frontline workers and disciplined services, an in crease in old age pension and public assistance along with the reversal of punitive taxes are just a few to mention.
Jagdeo urged Guyanese to... (From page 11)(From page 6) it provides a gain, another lifestyle, another type of housing you can benefit from…you have a space, you pay for that space and no additional responsibility in dealing with yard space issues if you are busy or on the move,” he explained. Described as a ‘mod ern’ piece of legislation, the Condominium Bill 2022, was passed on May 17 in the National Assem bly, paving the way for the construction of condomini ums and the conversion of existing buildings into units for individual own ership.More importantly, it allows persons who have purchased duplexes or con dominiums from the state to access their ownership documents for their lands. The crafting and ta bling of such a bill fulfills the promise of the PPP/C Government after it was discovered that the former Coalition ofthatingbuilding)ally-ownedhomeconstructedAdministrationduplexes(awithtwoindividuunitsinonewithoutamendtherelevantlegislationguidestheregulationsuchproperties.
70 express interest in...
20 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 21
By Dr. Leslie Ramsammy Confidence in President Dr. Irfaan Ali and the PPP/C government is high everywhere in Guyana. While one expects that confidence in President Ali and his PPP/C government would be high in their tradi tional support-base, few ex pected that in non-traditional support-base, there would be high levels of confidence in President Ali and his govern ment. This is especially so since the APNU+AFC Coali tion, the Parliamentary Oppo sition, screams discrimination and one-sided development in Guyana. The truth is that even in communities that have solidly voted for the PNC as itself or in one of its disguis es, such as APNU, there is unprecedented confidence in the Ali-led PPP government. The PNCR itself contin ues to spread fake news and every single day alleges dis crimination, alleging the PPP government is only looking after its own support-base. Aubrey Norton and the PNC every single day scream out loud that the PPP has ignored Afro-Guyanese.Thetruthis starkly dif ferent.The PPP/C has brough development to every com munity, to every region, to every stakeholder group. If Afro-Guyanese have been neglected, it has not been under a PPP govern ment. The plain truth is that between 2015 and 2020, the PNC-led APNU/AFC gov ernment betrayed Afro-Guy anese, a group that have sol idly voted PNC throughout the last 70 years. Since they returned to the opposition in August 2020 to now, the PNC continues to betray Af ro-Guyanese, who remain solidly in support of the PNC. But as development takes place across Guyana, and as the living standards of Guy anese continue to improve across the board, the time has come for Afro-Guyanese to ask some serious questions. This column has limited space and cannot ask all the questions Afro-Guyanese need to ask Aubrey Norton and the PNC. These questions reveal a dark truth about the PNC.They were never interest ed in how people benefited from their governance. It was always about themselves. The David Granger-led APNU/ AFC government can brag that they increased their own salaries and benefits, but the public servants’ salaries barely inched up and, overall, between 2015 and 2020 re mained below inflation rates. When, in fact, public servants queried APNU/AFC about this, President Granger chas tised them by saying that he had to increase ministers’ sal aries so that they would not be tempted into corruption. Moses Nagamootoo, as Prime Minister, made it worse when he told public servants they must be patient, that their time would come, that the ministers had to be the first in the line for increases in salaries. Joe Harmon told the public servants they must trust them and be patient. Public servants have already benefitted under the PPP. Public servants whose union leadership said nothing then, but who today threatens to go back to a 1999-style strike against the Irfaan Ali-led PPP government need to ask Nor ton and the PNC leadership what they did for them when they were in government. Afro-Guyanese must ask the PNC what they did for them between 2015 and 2020 when they needed house lots to build their own homes. Afro-Guyanese in two years under President Irfaan Ali have received and built more homes than they did when David Granger and the PNC-led APNU/AFC government was in office be tween 2015 and 2020. In fact, like they did after 1968 under the Burnham-led PNC, the Granger-led PNC closed the housing ministry. After one of the most aggressive hous ing programs, led by Minis ter Irfaan Ali, before 2015, development of housing schemes came to a screeching halt after 2015. Imagine for five long years, between 2015 and 2020, not a single new housing scheme was devel oped by the PNC-led APNU/ AFC government. Some core homes were built, less than a hundred in five years, but by 2020 most of them were not taken up by citizens because the cost was too high. In that same time, APNU/AFC min isters and high government officials built more mansions for themselves than Guyanese citizens did. Afro-Guyanese home ownership which sig nificantly increased under the PPP before 2015, barely notched forward after 2015 and up to 2020. Since August 2020 to August 2022, in two years, Afro-Guyanese home ownership has steeply in creased. Home ownership by all ethnic groups have grown since August 2022. But there are some serious questions Afro-Guyanese need to ask the PNC leaders. Who really own large pieces of land by the Maha ica and Mahaicony River bridges? Those lands were given out by APNU/AFC. Speaking of land, at a time when Amerindian land ti tling was terminated and a commission was established to look into ancestral land claims by Afro-Guyanese groups, Afro-Guyanese need to ask how much land was given out during the 2015 to 2020 period and ask who got them? Virtually all land, for housing, agriculture and other development were given to few individuals, all of whom were either high government officials or fronds and family of high government officials. There are huge expanses of land near where a deep-water harbor and possible oil refin ery are to be built in Berbice (Region 6). Afro-Guyanese need to ask who got those lands. There were lands on the West Bank of the Demer ara River that were allocated between 2015 and 2020. Af ro-Guyanese need to ask the PNC leaders who got those lands. Between 2012 and 2014, lands in various West Berbice villages were given out to Afro-Guyanese fam ilies. I know I signed those leases on behalf of President Donald Ramotar. Those lands were taken away from those Afro-Guyanese families, all of whom are solid support ers of the PNC. The PPP and Anil Nandlall fought the government on behalf of those farmers. Today under a PPP government, the PPP is giving back those West Berbice farmers those lands. While people like Christo pher Jones were given lands in Georgetown, even a part of the festival City Health center space, Afro-Guyanese citizens were being deprived of land for housing, farming, business.When Wales Sugar Es tate was closed, the PNCled APNU/AFC government promised that the sugar cane fields would be distributed among the sugar workers. That did not happen. Instead, more than 5,000 hectares of land were allocated to a handful of close government officials and their friends. For example, 700 acres were given for a coconut plantation to two gentlemen – Arling ton Chesney, a Guyanese living abroad and Antoine Patrick, a non-Guyanese. To this day, not a single coconut tree has been planted there.
Afro-Guyanese must ask why school cash grant per child which was started under the PPP was ter minated in 2015? Every Afro-Guyanese child bene fitted from those cash grants. Afro-Guyanese must ask the PNC leaders why they now oppose the PPP government giving every child, including every Afro-Guyanese child $30,000 per child. Afro-Guy anese citizens must ask the PNC leaders why at the same time they stopped programs like the cash grant and the one laptop per family with the excuse they did not have money, how come they rented houses in Georgetown for more than $15M per month each.There are dozens of other questions Afro-Guyanese must ask PNC leaders. President Irfaan Ali and his government ministers have been leading outreach es in every part of every region in Guyana. While the PPP/C government has always pursued a communi ty-based governance style in the past, particularly during the years when Bharat Jagdeo was President, the new out reach style governance is un precedented in governments around the region. Never has government been among the people has it has in the last two years. President Ali is leading from the front. No region has been ignored; no community has been aban doned. Not only have the out reaches been in communities, the outreaches have also been among groups of stakehold ers, such as fishermen, small miners and loggers, vendors, rice farmers, cattle farmers, sugar workers, each and ev ery group has benefited from government outreaches. The government outreaches have been to communities that have supported the PPP/C in elections of the past and in communities that are strong hold of the opposition PNC. The PNC-led opposition has been aggressively de manding its supporters boy cott whenever the President and his cabinet visits commu nities that have been strong holds of the PNC. When the President and his cabinet visited communities such as Linden, Kwakwani, Buxton, South Georgetown, Mela nie, Victoria, Golden Grove (East Coast Demerara), Fyr ish, Manchester, Dartmouth, Queenstown (Essequibo), Bartica, Mahdia and many other communities that have traditionally been viewed as solid support-base for the PNC, the leaders of the PNC have not merely requested, but aggressively demand their supporters boycott the outreaches by government. The PNC strategy has not worked. Wherever the PPP government outreaches come, whether in PPP or PNC strongholds, people flock to these outreaches. In fact, on one occasion, the same day Vice President Bharat Jagdeo led an out reach into Linden, Aubrey Norton, the leader of the PNC and the leader of the opposi tion, decided he too would go at the same time. The result was that the people totally ignored Aubrey Norton and the ThePNC.fact is that Afro-Guy anese today recognize that President Ali and the PPP/C Administration are serious about ONE Guyana.
PNC betraying Afro-Guyanese supporters
Afro-Guyanese must not be timid to ask the PNC leaders if this was fair to Guyanese citizens, but particularly to the Afro-Guyanese citizens that have been there through thick and thin for the PNC. Afro-Guyanese must ask how many jobs were created so that Afro-Guyanese could prosper. They must ask how many scholarships were provided for Afro-Guya nese citizens between 2015 and 2020 under the PNCled government. The fact is that more Afro-Guyanese citizens had scholarships between 2012 and 2015 and between August 2020 and August 2022 under the PPP.
22 WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 COMMENTARY
WEEKEND MIRROR 13-14 AUGUST, 2022 23 23
Guyana gets 52,800 more vaccinesCOVID-19forchildren
Guyana has received an other 52,800 Pfizer in jections to further accelerate its efforts to inoculate all of the nation’s children between ages 5 to 11 years old against the deadly COVID-19 virus. The donation, which is a collaboration between the United States (US) Govern ment and the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/ WHO), was handed over to Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, on Tuesday (Au gust 9, Minister2022).
COVID-19 deaths fall overall by 9 per cent, infections stable – WHO
Anthony said the COVID-19 vaccination contribution is “timely,” since the country’s pediatric vaccines were exhausted since July month end, due to the demand for the jab. He thanked the partners for their continued support of Guy ana’s collective fight against the COVID-19 virus. While government has placed significant emphasis on ensuring more children are protected against vac cines, it waited quite a long time to access the correct types of vaccines for the age 5 to 11 years cohort. When the injections were finally procured, the admin istration immediately started its vaccination drive through several mechanisms that reached a large number of children across the country. Dr. Anthony pointed out that over 6000 children have already received their first doses to date. He said, “And we have seen children com ing back to get their second doses. What is very inter esting is that in some of the interior areas like in Region Nine, they have been really good outtake of these chil dren’s vaccines… so we have seen a lot of children coming out to get the vaccine.” He is also hopeful that other communities can adopt the serious attitude as Region Nine.Minister Anthony en couraged parents to have their children within the age groupDr.inoculated.Anthony contended that there is a lot of work to be done to ensure children across the coastal regions receive their vaccines as well. “I think for a lot of people, they believe that COVID-19 is over and peo ple are being very compla cent, but you do have one of the more contagious strains of the omicron virus that is circulating, that is the B.A5. Even if you had a previous infection with omicron or one of the other variants, you can get reinfected with B.A5, so we are still not out of the woods,” he stressed, noting that vaccination is one of the ways persons can be protected.Additionally, the minister noted that there is a decline in the number of adults being vaccinated, especially with the booster Althoughshot.they have re ceived the initial two doses, getting the booster injection every six months is also important in safeguarding their health. “We have made booster doses available throughout the country, so if we are going to reduce the amount of people getting sick, reduce the deaths, then all of us will have to play our role in terms of getting vacci nated,” Dr Anthony asserted. Meanwhile, US Depu ty Chief of Mission, Adri enne Galanek, and PAHO representative, Dr Rainier Escalada were also present at the simple ceremony and provided remarks. “We are so happy to have provided Guyana with 354,660 in total. It’s a wonderful partnership that we have with the Min istry of Health and we are so happy to be here providing these lifesaving vaccines,” GalanekAdditionally,remarked.PAHO’s Dr Escalada said it is an honour to collaborate in facilitating the arrival of the vaccines. “We remain committed to this endeavour and our hope is that the population of the country, not only the adults, but the children would opti mise the use of these lifesav ing vaccines.”
(AP) The number of coro navirus deaths fell by 9% in the last week while new cas es remained relatively stable, according to the latest week ly pandemic report released Wednesday (August 10, 2022) by the World Health Organi zation.The U.N. health agency said there were more than 14,000 COVID-19 deaths in the last week and nearly 7 million new infections. The Western Pacific reported a 30% jump in cases while Africa re ported a 46% drop. Cases also fell by more than 20% in the Americas and the Middle East. The number of new deaths rose by 19% in the Middle East while dropping by more than 70% in Africa, 15% in Europe and 10% in the Americas. The WHO said that the omicron subvariant BA.5 re mained dominant globally, accounting for nearly 70% of all virus sequences shared with the world's biggest publicly available virus database. The agency said other omicron subvariants, including BA.4 and BA.2, appeared to be de creasing in prevalence as BA.5 takes over. The WHO cautioned that its assessment of COVID-19 trends remains compromised by countries dropping many of their testing, surveillance and sequencing efforts as most countries have relaxed pandem ic controls.
The PPP/C Government has started the promised effort to reclaim state lands that were ‘given away’ by the former APNU+AFC Co alition government in the period after the passage of the December 2018 No Con fidence Motion, when it was supposed to be functioning as a “caretaker” government.
1. Marlon Bristol, Head of the Project Management Of fice within the Ministry of the Presidency received: • 1 acre in Mocha, Region 4 - February 2019
• 12 acres in Linden (at Dal lawalla, the proposed site for Deep Water Harbour), Region 10 - June 2019
•ceived:10acres on the Linden/ Soesdyke Highway, Region 4, in 2019 – File number •411412/522b1acreMocha, Region 4, in 2019 4. Eric Phillips, SARA Spe cial Assistant, within the Ministry of the Presidency - received: • 1000 acres in the Essequibo River - April 2019 – File Number 321132/1604 • 1000 acres in the Demerara River in 2019 – File Number 331231/7 Another official who re cently received land was the now sacked former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) at the Guyana Elections Com mission, Keith Lowenfield. Lowenfield received: 216 acres at Millie’s Hideout, Region 10 – June 2019; and 2 acres at Mocha, Region 4. In addition to these trans actions, handled by Nation al Industrial and Commer cial Investments Limited (NICIL), and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Comis sion (GLSC), lands were also given away in the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary/ Agricul tural Development Authority (MMA/ADA) scheme. Then Chairman, Kelvin Saul, had received over 10,000 acres of land located aback the Maha ica River. Thousands of acres were also given out to others. Further, weeks after the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, a 180-page document - ex traordinary edition of the Official Gazette on March 23, 2020 – showed that the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Jermaine Figueira, alone, secured two plots of land in Linden, Region 10, which totals over two acres. Also while the gazette was dated March 21, 2020, all the land transfer orders were signed by the Coalition’s Winston Jordan on February 28, 2020 – raising concerns that the documents may have been backdated.Sincethe successful and valid passage of the no-con fidence motion in December 2018, on an almost weekly basis, Transfer of Property Orders were included in the publications of the Official Gazette.
• 80 acres in Bohemia, Re gion 6 (the proposed site for Deep Water Harbour) – Feb ruary 2019 2. Great Wall Inc. – of which Saratu Phillips is a Director, •received:20acres at Schoonard Fore shore, Region 3 (in the De merara River – proposed site for shore-based facility) – File Number 332242/3 • 20 acres at Good Fortuin, Region 3 (in the Demerara River – proposed site for shore-based facility) – File number 3322421/3 • 50 acres at Best Foreshore, Region 3 – File Number 3.332231/38Aubrey Heath-Retemey er, Deputy Head of SARA, which falls under the Min istry of the Presidency re
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PPP/C commences effort to reclaim lands given away by ‘caretaker’ Coalition gov’t
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, on August 6, 2022, at a meeting in Patentia, West Bank Demerara, disclosed that steps are being taken to repossess about 5,000 acres of what was sugar estate land at Wales, West Bank Demerara.Theland, once reclaimed, will be used for housing and other developmental initia tives, according to him. He said, “Almost all of the lands on the upper part going from Uitvlugt is practically gone and private so we are trying to take back some of the land at Wales and other places that they gave to people, some of them 5,000 acres…. now, we probably have to go and you’ll have court battles and we’ll make sure that we take back the land to develop housing.”Jagdeo noted that the land in Wales was leased to a private entity for coconut cultivation and said, “They gave a single individual to plant coconut trees and they never even put down a baby coconut tree as yet.” There was a rush in the giveaways after the Decem ber 2018 No Confidence mo tion. Dozens of land transfers were signed off on. Some of these also took place after the former Coalition government lost the 2020 Elections on March 2, Among2020.the most prom inent giveaways were those that took place in June 2019. These included:
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