Weekend Mirror 14 - 15 July, 2018

14-15 July , 2018 / Vol. 10 No. 30 / Price: $100

Internet: http: //www.mirrornewsgy.com / e-mail: weekendmirror@gmail.com

Granger ‘shameless’ in claiming he has been working to address domestic issues PAGE 10

Revenues of many timber companies down by 50%, skilled workers being laid off PAGE 15

SEE INSIDE

PAC denies gov’t request to suspend scrutiny of regions’ accounts PAGE 8

Another corruption scandal: $366.9M paid over to gov’t supporter PAGE 24

APNU+AFC can no longer tell its PAGE 10 supporters that it has backing to stay in power Granger’s Green State initiative is a political PAGE 11 strategy to spend money

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‘It will be an J economic blow’

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Gov’t buckles: Say fired sugar workers will receive last of severance payments

– Bartica Mayor on gov’t plans to turn sandpit into ‘green space’ D espite the consequences of sandpits in Bartica being closed down, Government is not moving in to declare the area green spaces.

Last week, Mayor of Bartica Gifford Marshall explained that the situation is considered “unbearable” for many of those affected.

He had said, “It is causing some major challenges for the municipality. Despite the municipality would’ve

met the requirements that were demanded by the agency, that facility remains closed…. of course, that means that all government projects are on hold. That also means that private contractors cannot work. The banks are calling us and asking us what is happening and it’s a situation that is getting unbearable to say the least.”

Days after Marshall made this position public

the Government announced that plans are on stream to transform the sandpit area at Five Miles, Bartica into a green space. The sandpit is expected to be cleared and used for recreational space.

“It is an economic blow,” Marshall said about the move.

The order for the closure of sandpits in Bartica was issued by the Junior Minister in the Natural Resources Ministry, Simona Broomes.

cluding current Government Ministers, would be “really” uncomfortable, if that were to happen.

Commenting on the happenings at some of the Lindo Creek CoI hearings, he said, “What we are seeing is an assault on the security forces by this Granger government… he (Justice Donald Trotman) seem more concerned with clearing Fine Man’s name…they (the PNC) were supporting him (Fine Man) materially…the PNC was supporting him materially… the police have the tapes, I don’t know if Felix (Minister Winston Felix) had them disappear,” Jagdeo said.

According to him, the security forces are not getting a “fair shake” and are, instead, being put on trial after they served the Guyanese people by putting their lives on the line, during the crime wave – the period during which the Fine Man gang operated.

Notably, after the June 2008 deaths of eight miners - Dax Arokium, Cedric Arokium, Compton Speirs, Horace Drakes, Clifton Wong, Lancelot Lee, Bonny Harry and Nigel Torres – the security forces were accused of the killings by Leonard Arokium, who discovered the burnt remains were discovered on June 21, 2008, at the Lindo Creek mining camp.

The security forces denied those charges.

Rondell Rawlins, called Fine Man, and his gang were identified as the parties responsible for the murders.

Also, a witness in another case, Dwane Williams, implicated the ‘Fine Man gang’ and made clear that it was responsible for not only the killings at Lindo Creek, but also for the 2008 massacres at Bartica and Lusignan.

Rawlins was killed in a shootout on August 28, 2008, during an almost seven-hourlong police operation, which started at Timehri.

ust over one week after legal proceedings were filed for certain categories of redundant sugar workers to get their full severance pay, Government has buckled.

Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said, “Cabinet discussed payment of the second tranche of severance to sugar workers and reiterated its commitment to honouring the agreement to make the remaining severance payment within the time it promised.”

However, he did not commit to a specific date for the payments to be made.

The Minister added that Government had to source monies from the various ministries to pay the redundant

workers. “Several ministries were actually asked to do a cut back on their budgetary allocations and we anticipated that all of the monies will come from that process. Half of it has already been paid and the second tranche… will come directly from Government sources that will be paid in the second half of the year,” he noted.

Back in January, Government had announced that some $2B was earmarked to pay the displaced sugar workers following the closure of the Enmore, Rose Hall and Skeldon estates last year as part of plans to downsize and reorganise the Guyana Sugar Corporation

(GuySuCo).

Those entitled to $500,000 and less were paid in full while those entitled to more, were only paid 50 per cent with the remaining monies to be paid in the second half of the year.

However, Government had come in for much criticism over the move with stakeholders, including the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), saying it is a violation of the labour laws and called for full payments to be made. According to the laws, redundant workers are to be paid severance upon termination of their employment.

CARICOM Member States maintain support for Granger grants Lindo Creek CoI a third extension to complete work Guyana’s move to preserve territorial integrity resident David Grang- Coalition government, in- WITNESS TESTIFIED

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er has given the Justice Donald Trotman headed Lindo Creek Commission of Inquiry (CoI) several more weeks to complete its work.

Trotman now been granted until July 31, 2018, to complete his work.

Before that, in April, Trotman was given no later than Tuesday, May 15, 2018, to complete his report.

Afterward, Justice Trotman was given no later than June 30, 2018 that get his work complete.

This is now the third extension Justice Trotman has be granted to complete the CoI. SECURITY FORCES FOCUS Notably, the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has repeatedly called for a comprehensive review of the crime wave, as opposed to just one incident, the Lindo Creek deaths. He stated that several persons in the

Major flooding in Kwakwani affects about 300

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eavy rainfall has resulted in major flooding in Kwakwani and over 300 persons are affected. Additionally, due to the flooding, costs have increased for persons in the area.

Transportation via minibuses has increased from $2000 to $3500 per person

from Linden to Kwakwani.

Also, to cross the river with the pontoon, minibuses have to now pay operators $8,000 with load and $3,000 without - up from the standard cost of $1,000.

The water level is as high as five feet and mainly residents residing closer to the

waterfront area are affected.

Regional officials have said that no one from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has reached out to the community to render assistance.

Kwakwani is a mining and logging district on the Berbice River.

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he 39th Regular Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was held at Montego Bay, Jamaica, last week.

And the communiqué issued after the meeting made clear CARICOM’s support for the maintenance and preservation of the Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana.

It read: “Heads of Government received an update on the most recent developments between the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

“They noted that Guyana had filed its Application with the International Court of Justice on March 29, 2018, in accordance with the decision of the United Nations Secretary General, which was issued on January 30, 2018 to choose the International Court of Justice as the means that is now to be used for the settlement of the controversy between Guyana and Venezuela.

“Heads of Government further noted that Venezuela had indicated its decision not to participate in the case and that in such a case, the rules of the Court provide for a full hearing of the case and a final judgement that is

legally binding on both the participating and non-participating countries.

“Heads of Government expressed support for the judicial process underway which was intended to bring a peaceful and definitive end to the long standing controversy and which was in accordance with the principles and purposes of the United Nations Charter.

“Heads of Government reiterated their firm and unswerving support for the maintenance and preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana.”

On March 29, 2018, Guyana filed an application with the ICJ requesting that it confirm the legal validity and binding effect of the 1899 Arbitral Award on the boundary between Guyana and Venezuela.

The 1899 demarcation – the 1899 Arbitral Award – of the territorial limits considered the border controversy between Guyana and Venezuela settled and made clear that the Essequibo belongs to Guyana.

The Award was disputed and in 1966, Guyana and Venezuela signed the Geneva Agreement. This agreement took note of the fact that Venezuela was disputing the validity of the

1899 Arbitral Award. While it did not take any position about Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo, it committed Venezuela, Britain and Guyana to ensure that “any outstanding controversy… should (be) amicably resolved in a manner acceptable to both parties.”

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

On January 30, 2018, the UN Secretary General, concluded that the Good Offices process which the two countries had engaged in for almost 30 years had failed to achieve a solution to the controversy and therefore chose the ICJ as the next means of settlement.

The PPP/C has made it clear that it will support Government’s efforts to defend Guyana’s territorial integrity and has also appealed for Government to be forthcoming with Guyanese on this matter.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Show of force?

Two security guards arrested after blocking APNU+AFC Minister from parking in restricted area T

he police are investigating claims by Junior Minister of Natural Resources Simona Broomes that she and her driver were verbally abused and threatened by two security guards at a Providence, East Bank Demerara business place. She also claimed that one of the security guard pulled a gun on her.

The altercation occurred at around 20:30hours on Sunday (July 8, 2018), after Broomes’ driver attempted to move a no parking sign in order to park the vehicle.

The two guards are attached to KGM Security Services, the firm that provides security for the property at Providence that houses the New Thriving Chinese Restaurant, the Massy Su-

permarket and the Fitness 53 Gym. They were both arrested and later released on self-bail.

CCTV footage showed that Broomes may have been lying about the entire affair.

Neither of the clips showed either of the two guards pointing a gun at the Minister or her driver.

The footage showed the minister’s vehicle turning into the parking lot and stopping just a few feet away from the entrance to the Massy Supermarket. A man, who appeared to be the driver of the vehicle, exited, and removed what appeared to be a no parking sign before venturing back into the vehicle. This caught the attention of the two guards, who were seen standing a short distance

away.

One of the guards, armed with a rifle, ventured over to the vehicle and proceeded to return the sign to the space it had been moved from.

As a result, the driver of the vehicle exited and had an exchange with the guard.

The footage then showed that Broomes then exited the back of the vehicle and proceeded to push two of the no parking signs to the ground before engaging in a confrontation with the guard, who stood in front of the vehicle. While the Minister confronted the security guard, the driver proceeded to park the vehicle in the no-parking area.

The entire ordeal played out in front of at least half a dozen witnesses.

Divisions on PNCR exposed….

Harmon hints that Basil Williams does not have leadership skills T

he Public Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, has engaged the Chairman of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Basil Williams, in a tit-fortat, relative to who has a better record to be the new PNCR Chairman. Elections for a new Chairman are set to take place at the PNCR’s biennial Congress.

Lawrence has said that she will be prepared to answer any questions during meetings with members and even supporters of the party.

Williams has said, “What I would want is for

the members of [the] PNC to be afforded an opportunity to hear a debate from all of the candidates. People must come and tell the membership why they want people to vote for them…. who wants to challenge me must show their track record.”

Meanwhile, State Minister, Joseph Harmon, is also a contender for the post of PNCR Chairman.

Rather than engage Williams, Harmon has hinted that he does not have the leadership to take the PNCR forward. “I am offering my-

self to be the Chairman of the party, is not just about Joe Harmon, but it is about the quality of leadership that I believe we have to get going forward,” Harmon said.

Notably, a challenge to Williams is indicative that the membership is discontent with his performance as PNCR Chairman, according to critics. Also, observers have said that the developments indicate divisions within the PNCR membership.

The PNCR’s next biennial Congress is set for August 17, 2018.

Broomes, driver should face ‘public mischief’ charges - PPP T

he People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has called for Junior Minister, Simona Broomes, and her driver to face criminal charges for endangering the lives of the two security guards and for creating public mischief, during a confrontation earlier this week.

BELOW IS THE FULL PRESS RELEASE The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has noted the reports on the actual events, exposed by the CCTV footage, which played out involving the increasingly controversial Junior APNU+AFC Minister, Simona Broomes.

The PPP calls for the Junior Minister to be investigated and sanctioned for creating public mischief. No

one is above the law, least of all the Junior Minister Broomes.

The Junior Minister’s actions, as exposed by the CCTV footage, make it clear that the security guards in question were responsible for maintaining order at the private place of business and were forcibly prevented from doing so by the Junior Minister and her driver. The arrogance of Junior Minister Broomes in going as far as to pull down the ‘no parking signs’ to assign herself with some ‘delusional sense of privilege’ is unacceptable.

The Junior Minister’s move to ‘cry victim’, after the incident, by claiming that one of the two security guards threatened her using his firearm was not only

exposed as an untruth, but belies the lack of remorse from the Junior Minister over her actions.

The Party also calls for the Junior Minister to apologise to the two security officers, attached to the private firm in question, who were visibly harassed during the confrontation and placed in physical danger. The Junior Minister ought to have recognised that the security guards were performing their duties and should not have acted in the manner, which was exposed by the video footage.

Simona Broomes and her driver should face criminal charges for endangering the lives of the two security guards and for creating public mischief.

President continues to dodge the media …says ‘I’ve been busy travelling quite a lot’

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embers of the media corps on Monday (July 9, 2018) were physically separated from President David Granger, by his security staff, after only being allowed to speak to him for three minutes.

Granger continued to fail to engage the Guyana’s media corps. He has done so on two occasions in three years, during which media workers had less than 15 minutes on each occasion to question him on issues of national importance.

Also, the scripted, onehour television show, ‘The Public Interest’, on which he appeared, weekly, has not been taped in over a year.

“This time last week I was in Montego Bay, the week before I was in Da Nang, Vietnam. It could be a very challenging period and soon as I get the opportunity I will engage with the press, but I’ve been travelling quite a lot…

I’m asking the media to be tolerant,” he said when pressed on his non-engagement with the media by President of the Guyana Press Association (GPA), Nazima Raghubir.

Granger added, “I would engage with the press, but

I’ve been travelling quite a lot and then to deal with domestic issues – the sugar industry, we have to deal with the petroleum industry, I have to deal with crime and security.”

However, on all three of these issues – crime and security, petroleum and sugar – there have been no actual progress.

In the sugar sector, Government is facing a court case because it broke the law by not paying the full severance to the thousands of sugar workers it fired.

Also, it has been months since the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has been without a board, yet no effort has been made to name a new Board of Directors by Granger.

In the Petroleum sector, there has been no substantial progress in over two years, particularly as it relates to a management framework for the oil and gas sector. There is no Local Content Policy, no Sovereign Wealth Fund and no credible Petroleum Commission in place. Even the Granger-led government’s handling of the renegotiated ExxonMobil Contract has been widely criticised.

In the area of crime and

security, robberies, listed in various categories by the Guyana Police Force (GPF) based on their seriousness, have seen an increase, according to statistics, as at the end of May 2018. At the end of the fifth month on 2018, there were: 26 robberies; 266 robbery under arms where firearms were used; 99 robbery under arms where other instruments were used; 57 cases of robbery with violence; 22 cases of robbery with aggravation; 50 larceny from person cases; 98 cases of burglary; and a whopping 430 cases of break and enter and larceny. This total 1,048 incidents of robbery at the end of May, which were classified in the groups listed above. There were also 36 murders for the year to date and 122 reported cases of rape. Moreover, Granger has also failed on his promise to release the security report plan which was handed to him in January 2018, by the British consultant hired as a Presidential Advisor, Russell Combe.

It is unlikely that Granger will fully engage the local media corps in the months to come.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

EDITORIAL

APNU+AFC anti-corruption talk nothing but empty rhetoric

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ince taking office more than three years ago, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has shown absolutely no regard for the laws regulating the procurement of goods and services by the government. What it has being practicing so far is in stark contrast to the high-sounding promises of good governance, transparency and accountability that Guyanese heard during and after the 2015 General and Regional Elections.

The recent promise made by Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, that the scandalous drug bond deal will be cancelled by the end of the year, is no reason to rejoice or conclude that the regime is about to change its corrupt ways. The statement is in itself a testimony to the contempt with which the government holds the people of Guyana, including their supporters. Instead of admitting that the deal was indeed a foul violation of the country’s laws and put an immediate end to it, the government will continue to waste additional millions of taxpayers’ money. The continuation of the illegal deal – one where some $12.5M is paid monthly as rental to a campaign financial supporter and a PNC member – has destroyed any hope of this government abandoning its corrupt ways.

At the end of the day, hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars would have been spent on a contract that was a mere cover to hide a political pay-off.

No wonder the US State Department report pin-pointed “government corruption” as a major stumbling block to the development of the country.

There are dozens and dozens of scandalous instances of misuse of tax-payers money and despite huge public outcry even by sympathizers to these illegalities, there are no signs of remorse. Instead, the practice is becoming more pronounced.

Notwithstanding the exposure of blatant disregard for the laws in spending money on the D’urban Park construction, there is no account of the project. The government has bluntly refused to give any explanation for the use of more than a billion dollars for a white elephant.

The government has abandoned a major project like the Amaila Falls Hydro project, which would have gone a far way to solve the country’s electricity problems, just to make way for a less rewarding project being touted by another supporter and campaign financier. It goes to show the extent to which political corruption under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government is undermining the country.

It is not without good reasons that people are skeptical about what is going to happening in the new oil sector. The government has already shown its hands in its handling of the signing bonus, which was made behind closed doors and the resulting meager US$18M was stashed away in a private account behind the nation’s back. After lying that the US$18M was never paid to the Government, the issue was finally exposed by the media. When it came to light, the government said it did nothing wrong. However, the money, which is revenues of the State, is still not in the Consolidated Fund, where it should be.

One can only guess what is in store for Guyana when the oil revenues start to flow. If their current approach is anything to go by, then there is no hope of oil becoming the savior of Guyana.

When in the opposition, those same parties now making up the governing Coalition were vicious in their attacks against the PPP/C administration. The practice of statutory bodies and government companies holding revenues at commercial banks was painted as a corrupt act. Former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, has publicly explained that there are three types of government bodies: central government agencies, which includes ministries; statutory bodies, which are semi-autonomous and includes agencies like the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Gold Board (GGB); and government companies, such as the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil), the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL) and the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). Dr Singh stated that the latter two – statutory bodies and government companies – are not prevented from holding monies in private commercial banks. It must be noted that three years after taking office, these accounts are still there – functioning in the same way they did under the former PPP/C government – and the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, which said it was wrong, has taken no action in this regard.

As it turned out, the hype about massive corruption under the PPP and the promises of transparency and accountability were just a show just to get into government. The multitude of forensic audits and Commissions of Inquiry carried out since 2015 were just a show to cover their own obscene corruption.

Fortunately, their old propaganda is becoming a hard sell and their talk of fighting corruption is becoming nothing by empty rhetoric. The Guyanese people will not be fooled.

It is time for Ramjattan to resign Dear Editor,

A

s a member of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee for the Security Sector, I have been taking special interest in the performance (or lack thereof) of the Public Security Minister, the Honourable Khemraj Ramjattan.

Apart from his arrogance and total disdain for the People’s Progressive Party, Ramjattan is someone you would want to have a beer with. He is approachable and is never afraid to speak his mind, which often gets him into trouble.

I honestly believe he wants to accomplish his goals in the security sector but lacks the vision to do so. He listens to the needs of the brave police and prison officers and appears eager to fulfill those needs, but he is powerless to do so. While Ramjattan may be accessible and approachable as a person, as the Minister of Public Security, he is a complete failure.

This is a man who despises Bharrat Jagdeo and the PPP so much, that it is said he demanded the security portfolio as part of the Cummingsburg Accord with one goal in mind, to put the “corrupt” leaders of the PPP behind bars.

This would explain his focus on working with the UK Security Expert, Sam Sittlington and SOCU to prosecute PPP officials while neglecting the urgent need to do something to end the vicious cycle of crime that is destroying lives and commerce, prompting the UK Government to issue a Travel Advisory to its citizens.

In Guyana today, people no longer feel safe in their homes. Crime is running amok everywhere, raining terror on a population that is already stressed out trying to make ends meet. More and more families are being deprived of their valuables, communities ravished and businesses left vulnerable.

In 2015, the APNU+AFC coalition campaigned on a platform to get rid of corruption and to “reduce the high rate of armed robberies and murders.”

And immediately upon gaining office, this government embarked upon a security recruitment drive and pulled several high-ranking former military and police officers out of retirement to achieve this objective. They have failed miserably!

Since Ramjattan became Minister of Public Security, he has brought the entire security sector in disrepute: In March 2016, seventeen prisoners were burnt to death and 11 others injured in what was described as the worst prison riot in our history. Then in July 2017, during the blazing inferno of the Camp Street Prison, a prison officer was murdered and eight notorious, hard-core criminals escaped, two of whom are believed to be still on the run. Since then, there have been several more well-organized prison breaks.

Every day reports of armed robberies, murders and domestic violence dominate the news. Prisoners, with the aid of some rogue prison officers, are now openly defying authority. At the New Amsterdam Prison, narcotics, alcohol and other contraband were recently discovered in the prison yard. And an inmate there flaunted the breakdown of authority in the prison system by posting a photograph on facebook with fellow inmates in a cell, cerebrating Mother’s Day with several bottles of high-end liquor. During a search of the Lusignan Prison a quantity of illegal items were also found: Improvised weapons, cellphones, cellphone batteries, phone chargers, phone cards, cannabis, cannabis seeds and a cannabis plant. Earlier, a cutlass and a knife were found outside of the north eastern fence of the holding bay of that Prison.

I am pleased that Prison Director

Gladwin Samuels, a young professional whom I have tremendous respect for, has been able to identify and get rid of five of the corrupt prison wardens involved in the smuggling of contraband into these prisons, for he is often expected to manage the prison population with insufficient resources and personnel.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that a basic requirement to secure any prison facility is high definition surveillance system and the use of fullbody scanners at the entrance of every prison facility. Whatever the cost, these security measures must be procured and installed immediately, The Prison Director should not have to wait on the 2019 Budget to get this done. All Minister Ramjattan needs to do is to come to Parliament with a Supplementary Budget. Government does this all the time for far less urgent matters.

On June 29, Minister Ramjattan got his face on the front-page of the Guyana Chronicle. The article covered the presentation of a one-off payment by government of a meagre $100,000 each to five families of Guyanese fishermen who were brutally murdered by pirates off the coast of Suriname. But this was only done after the PPP had brought a Motion in Parliament urging the government to offer financial support to these families, for Ramjattan had made it clear to them in Suriname that they should expect none. It would have been kinder if government had increased this amount to $300,000 each, the estimated cost of a decent funeral. Nevertheless, I’m sure Minister Ramjattan was happy to be seen in a positive light at a time when just about everyone questions his ability to get the job done.

Yours faithfully, H. Gill Member of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee

‘Political hacks’ using government facilities to do private business Dear Editor,

I

would like to bring to the attention of the Prime Minister a matter of concern towards his office in Region Six. A few days back my aunt asked me to accompany her to the Prime Minister’s Office to lodge a complaint concerning some matters affecting her.

I agreed and went with her, although I am not really interested in that office holder who only seems to serve a few in Region Six.

When we got there we were asked to have a seat and wait. There were quite a few others in the waiting area. So, we all started various conversations and shared ideas and so on. While deep in the conversations, many talked of the reason for being there.

Most of the persons waiting said that they came to the office to fill out their visa application forms.

I asked, Who does that here? The reply was that Mr. Harbhajan does that and people come daily to do it. In fact,

one of the persons visited the office several times to do same with relatives.

I am so surprised that the Prime Minister’s office in Region Six, which is a government office is being used as personal business place by the Prime Minister’s Representative.

This begs for an investigation into the functioning of the Prime Minister’s Office and the work of the office holder, who by the way has a special guard dressed in brown and black.

(Turn to page 5)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

APNU+AFC sole souring from supporter with no record of being supplier of drugs, medical supplies and paid in full up front

GAWU vindicated in its decision to take APNU+AFC gov’t to court Dear Editor,

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everal sections of the media reported that Minister of State, Joseph Harmon announced about the outstanding redundancy pay to the thousands of workers made jobless by the callous, heartless, decisions to close several sugar estates in recent times. Minister Harmon is reported to have said that the Government already has identified the source of funding to meet the illegally withheld payments to the beleaguered workers. We expect soon that the Government will advise the workers when their payments would be available.

The State Minister, according to the press, was also seemingly critical of our moves to the Courts on the matter. But it seems hadn't we pursued such a course the Government wouldn't have woken up from its seeming deep slumber and finally decided to address the matter. Again it confirms that our decision to go to the Courts was the right decision.

While pleased to hear about this latest

development, we indeed hope that the Government's support does not end there. With the GuySuCo Alternative Livelihood Programme and Sustainable Communities Programme from all indications suffering a still birth, there is a strong need for a realistic programme to support the workers and their families at what is possibly the hardest and toughest time in their lives. It is dismaying for us that on to this day the Government has not seen it necessary to visit the hard pressed communities. It seems to us that the Government wants to wash its hands after the outstanding payments are made.

We sincerely hope this is not the case but the indications do not give us much hope.

The suffering workers can be assured of the GAWU’s commitment to press the Government to give focused attention to address and ensure relief to the plight of the affected workers and their dependents.

Yours faithfully, Seepaul Narine General Secretary of GAWU

The people trying to direct decisions of PPP are NOT party supporters Dear Editor,

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continue to see – past the façade being put up by the critics analyzing the position of the PPP. The Party should continue to operate in a manner that does not allow detractors to influence its democratic, decision making process, where the 35 members of the Party’s Central Committee who were elected by the Congress votes on a presidential candidate.

he debate on the presidential candidate of the PPP is dominating the newspapers.

What I find interesting is that it is critics of the PPP who are advocating a particular process to be used to determine the presidential candidate. What is even more interesting is that, it is these same people who will be in the front lines criticizing whoever is voted in as the presidential candidate, as we saw in the last Regards, Elections. These critics are fooling no one.

Baldeo Mathura I have read the comments from Ralph Ramkarran and he advocates for the PPP to have a new system to choose its presidential candidate. But he is not a supporter of the PPP. His (From page 4) comments echo the arrogance of the Facebook crowd calling This is total misused of public office. Why is it that taxfor all sorts of things – all of payers have to pay the rent, the bills, the Guyana Police Force, them being people who will the PM Rep, etc. to do private business in a public office? not support the PPP regardless I hope the PM will ask for an investigation to be done, of what position it takes. The and we all know that the PM knows it’s happening, so he PPP could select a ‘Ghandi’ or will ensure the investigation goes his rep way. Just like what a ‘Mandela’ (hypothetically happen at NCN Berbice with his AFC member that misused speaking of course) and the her office. critics will not support the The people of Region Six are looking forward to hear the Party. outcome of this matter.

This is the reason that Guyanese, particularly PPP supRegards, porters, have seen – and should Avinash Persaud

‘Political hacks’ using...

Dear Editor,

T

he APNU+AFC administration has been caught again, with its pants down. After more than a year of promises by the Minister of Public Health that there would be no sole-sourcing of medicines, it is now revealed that the Ministry procured $367M ($US1.8M) worth of medicines through a ugly orchestrated sole-sourcing designed deliberately to bypass and violate the procurement laws of Guyana.

The medicines were brought as an emergency supply from a company, HDM Labs, with a NY address, owned by an APNU+AFC donor and supporter, Mr. Hardatt Singh. This company has no record of being a medicine supplier before and was established after May 2015. It has no medical warehouse, no cold-chain facility and it has no experience in medicine supply. Yet it miraculously met all the standards and requirements established by the Ministry as evaluated by APNU+AFC officials.

It is noteworthy that the Ministry's excuse for seeking a sole-sourcing for this significant amount of medicines is that the Ministry conducted a restrictive bidding among six companies - Ansa McAL, International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA), Global Healthcare Supplies, Ic., Caribbean Medical Supplies, Meditron Inc., and HDM Labs. The Ministry claimed that only HDM Labs fulfilled all requirement to submit a bid.

This is remarkable for several reasons.

First, the largest medicine supplier in Guyana, the New GPC was omitted from the bidding.

Why? Secondly, since May 2015, the largest single medicine procurement contract ($605M in 2016) was given to Ansa McAL and since May 2015, Ansa McAL, IPA, Meditron have supplied medicines to the Ministry of Public Health and GPHC. This begs the question - what makes these companies ineligible suddenly? Or is it that the Ministry procured medicines from companies that were ineligible before? Something is amiss.

I examined documents related to this purchase. Any objective and interested person would immediately see that this was an orchestrated purchase intended to violate the procurement laws of Guyana. According to its letter to the National Procurement and Tender Board, the Ministry of Public Health conducted a restrictive tender for an emergency supply of medicines and this tender was opened on May 23, 2017. The six companies named above were invited to tender.

None were qualified. Those companies in the restrictive tendering included HDM Labs. If none of these six companies were qualified, how suddenly HDM Labs became qualified for sole-sourcing the medicines?

But then miraculously, HDM labs was written to on June 16th to provide a quotation for more than $367M worth of medicines.

The very next day, on June 17th, the Ministry wrote to the National Procurement and Tender Board for approval to sole-source the medicines from HDM Labs. We have to assume that HDM Labs, a company with no experience and no history of being a medicine supplier, was able to immediately provide a quotation and a supply date for a complicated list of medicines. This stretches credibility even for experienced suppliers, unless there were private and illegal communication before. On June 19th, the Ministry informed HDM Labs that they were approved to supply the medicines. The evaluation process on May 23 which disqualified all the selected companies, including HDM Labs and the subsequent fast fast-tracking to award a contract raise grave suspicions and provide

a platform for reasonable people to suspect corrupt intentions.

The Minister responsible had overseen a similar corrupt procurement of $605M. This Minister needs to now tell the nation what made Ansa McAL qualified then for sole-sourcing for what then was the largest single medicine contract since May 2015 and now is unqualified to supply a smaller contract. She needs to inform the public what makes companies like IPA and Meditron which previously were regular suppliers ineligible. According to papers from the Ministry, HDM Labs is approved by the US Food and Drugs Authority. Can the Ministry provide this public document to show the US FDA registration?

The Minister must explain why it was necessary to provide a 100% advance payment to this supplier. Further, I would like the Minister to explain why a sole-sourcing for $367M worth of medicines with a 100% advance payment did not require a bank guarantee. I have been informed that there was no bank guarantee. I would ask the Minister to provide information if HDM Labs actually provided the medicines within two weeks of the contract since that was a requirement.

I would ask the Minister if the prices for the medicines were consistent with the International Reference Prices for these medicines.

Recall that the previous $605M GPHC medicine sole-sourcing was at a price three-times higher than the International Reference Prices. The Guyanese people need to know what prices were paid for these medicines. The Minister must confirm that all the medicines were WHO-approved medicines.

The Auditor General must immediately audit this procurement to ensure that all the medicines were supplied and in keeping with the contract requirement of two weeks and that the supplier provided medicines that met all standards.

All of the evidence raises questions and suspicions and people must be forgiven for thinking this is yet another spectacular example of corruption which unfortunately is now a daily occurrence. This is not just another corruption, it is yet another example, also, of misconduct in office. I ask where is SOCU, but I know I am wasting my time. But where in heavens name is the Public Procurement Commission? The Public Procurement Commission is abrogating its responsibility of being a watchdog for public procurement. After its big splash at the commencement of their work in late 2016 when it committed to scrutinize all public procurement contracts and promised to hold public officials accountable, without fear or favor, the Public Procurement Commission has vanished. It spent an inordinately long time scrutinizing its first case, that of the GPHC procuring more than $605M of medicines through sole-sourcing at a cost that was more than three times what the government previously procured those medicines for. The PPC confirmed that several laws and accountability practices were violated in that case, but then the PPC essentially gave a pass to the Ministry of Public Health.

Will it examine this case? Will they again give a pass to the Ministry? Whether SOCU or PPC or the Auditor General scrutinize this case or not, the Guyanese people know that this procurement smells and feels like corruption and we know that the Minister of Public Health who has been on a tear condemning her technical staff and preaching self-righteously about the need for accountability is herself guilty of misconduct in office.

Regards, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

STRAIGHT TALK 6

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

(This speech was first made public on December 30, 1959. Its re-printing is among several activities being undertaken during 2018 to mark the 100th birth anniversary – March 22, 2018 – of the founder of the People’s Progressive Party, Dr Cheddi Jagan.)

In Service of the Struggle for Freedom

By Dr. Cheddi Jagan

W

e have watched with great interest, sympathy, and understanding the growing national liberation movements in all colonial and semi colonial countries throughout the world.

Whenever and wherever the opportunity arose, we have added our small voice in the cause of freedom for all oppressed peoples.

To use the words of His Excellency, W. S. Tubman, President of Liberia, "We insist upon the inherent and natural rights of all men to be free. We insist that the process should be speeded up and that the time will come, and not too far dis-

tant, when all nations shall gear themselves to the proposition that each is the other's brother without regard to geographical locality, racial affinity or religious concepts."

In our country, the People's Progressive Party (PPP) from its inception in 1950 has been in the forefront of the struggle for political freedom and democratic rights. Every method has been used to destroy this Party: from the show of brute force to open terror; from the destruction of the popularly elected constitutional government in 1953 to the detention and imprisonment of its leaders; from victimization and

intimidation of its militants to national bribery at the masses.

Following their traditional practice of divide and rule, forces hostile to our national movement succeeded in splitting our Party in 1955. They even gerrymandered constituency boundaries when constitutional life was restored in 1957.

These tricks and stratagems greatly weakened our movement, but it did not succeed in destroying it. At the 1957 election, we won 9 out of the 14 elected seats. Today we are in the government (a "forced marriage" alliance with the Colonial Office), in office, but not in power!

We are about to go to

London for constitutional talks. We are demanding that our country should become an independent sovereign state. We are prepared to maintain our link with the British Commonwealth,

and for the next four years to share responsibility with the British Government on matters relating to defence and foreign affairs.

But today, when colonialism is a dying creed, when imperialism is on the defensive, the reactionary forces are bent on devising new chains - constitutional - to keep us in political and economic thralldom. These forces, aided and abetted by the imperialists, wish to keep our country within the colonialist fold. They are limiting their demands to internal self-government only. They are proposing a constitutional structure with certain innovations, the chief aim of which is the

defeat of the national liberation movement and the creation of a weak and ineffectual government subject to obstruction and delay.

We have noted with pleasure the resolutions passed at the Sixth World Congress of the ICFTU at Brussels in December 1959: "That affiliates shall press for cooperation with Government's economic policy to defeat and wipe out poverty in territories and in the world…that affiliates shall strive to remove every obstacle in the pathway to economic and political independence."

If it becomes necessary for us to approach the United Nations, we shall.

Focus continues to be on strengthening Party, broadening support base – Jagdeo

“W

e are leading the struggle to retake Government,” declared General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo.

He has stressed that the Coalition has proved that it is “incapable” of running a country. According to him, the current administration is not only bereft of ideas on how to manage and grow the local economy, but has demonstrated it proclivity for greed, mediocrity and arrogance, in addition to being “hopelessly” incompetent.

“This Government has made deception an art form,” he said.

CLEAR PLAN Jagdeo added that by 2020 – or sooner – the PPP hopes to implement the plan that it has for the country, plans aimed at enhancing progress and development that benefits all of Guyana.

“We will be bigger, better and stronger (by 2020),” Jagdeo declared.

He assured that the PPP will not neglect it support base, but will continue to reach out to all its supporters and stated that the PPP is a Party for all of Guyana and will take its message across

the country.

Moving forward, Jagdeo made clear that the Party must be guided by what is good for all Guyanese and Guyana and by the founding principles of the PPP. The PPP, he said, also has to decentralize and build up local leaders so that the PPP is in “tip top” shape to respond to the challenges of the day.

Jagdeo underscored the fact that the PPP has always been inclusive and will continue to engage anyone, regardless of ethnicity, religion or any other factor. According to him, the PPP is a unifying force. “We will work hard for the next few years to take back this country… those who voted for us and those who didn’t want to know what the Party stands for,” he said.

Specifically, he spoke to: the need to strengthen the PPP family; the need for the PPP to remain open to new members and be accommodating to supporters who had left, but are returning; and the need to defend existing freedoms by understanding what is happening.

EQUAL ADVOCACY Consistent public po-

sitions of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) make it clear that the party advocates for all Guyanese, regardless of differentiating factors, according to him.

And he charged that detractors will not dissuade the

Party from ensuring that it advances the cause of Guyanese who feel dispossessed or who have had their rights trampled on.

“We have defended the almost 2,000 young Amerindians who were fired in 2015. We have defended

the Afro-Guyanese farmers in Berbice who had their lands taken away…but the moment we try I talk about Indo-Guyanese, it becomes a race issue…this is not our approach. As Opposition Leader and as PPP General Secretary, I will advocate

for all our people, regardless of ethnicity, gender or religion…we will defend all our people,” Jagdeo said.

The PPP General Secretary made clear that the PPP’s work continues across Guyana and all Guyanese are welcomed by the Party.

7

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Another fee increased: Sand prices increased Valuation certificate by 100 per cent cost increased by 600% O

T

he price for obtaining a Certificate of Valuation from the Government’s Valuation Office for an immovable property, has been increased by over 600%.

In comments on the issue, former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall, said, “Over the last three weeks, persons have been charged a whop-

ping $30,000 to obtain a Certificate of Valuation from the Government’s Valuation Office for an immovable property. “…prior to that, between $4,000 to $5000 were charged for the same. It is to be noted that these valuation officers are public servants and are paid a monthly salary by the Government.”

Nandlall added that this

is another financial burden surreptitiously being imposed on the backs of Guyanese by this Administration.

Notably, there was no public announcement in respect of these new fees.

In the last three national budgets – 2016, 2017, 2018 – several fees and licences were increased astronomically, despite widespread objections.

perators on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, East Bank Demerara, have announced a major increase in the price for sand – an increase by 100 per cent.

According to a notice at one of the sandpits, from tomorrow, the price for loading the Twin Steering trucks will be $5,000; trucks with Double Axle to be $4,000; Single Axle (large)- $3,000 and with Single Axle truck (small) for $2,000.

Former Housing Minister and Opposition Member of Parliament, Irfaan Ali, in comments on the issue noted that the move will negatively impact the construction sector, particular Guyanese

citizens who are working to build their own homes.

Notably, the increase comes after Junior Natural Resources Minister, Simona Broomes, launched a crackdown on sandpit operators.

Sandpits in Bartica have been closed with no chance of reopening, despite the fact that the grounds on which they were closed are questionable.

The increases were made effective as of July 9, 2018.

No relief for market vendors who are now subjected to new revenue collection system Increased costs to transport V goods to hinterland, persons endors from several markets will be subjected to a new system to pay their dues as the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) seeks to implement a new initiative to collect its revenues.

Despite complaints about the increases, there seems to be no relief for the vendor who depend on their trade to make a living and make ends meet.

According to the Council,

Bourda Market is being used as a pilot to identify opportunities for the new revenue system. Cashiers would be present at the booth while “issuers” and “verifiers” will be dispatched to the vendors.

Douglas said, “An issuer would come towards a vendor. They would assess the goods that are on the ground and they would write what is called a ‘slip’. The vendor

would be given that slip and the vendor is expected to take that slip towards the cashier booth and make his or her payments. The verifier comes a little while after on the ground to ensure that the vendor had paid at the cashier booth and the correct amount has been paid for.”

Also, a new database has been created to ensure that all vendors are paid up.

Guyanese still paying more for sugar L ocal consumers are pay more for sugar, as the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) has moved to increase the cost of each bag of sugar on the local market. Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GuySuCo, Paul Bhim, said, “We had just finished reviewing the price on the local market and we thought it was an opportune time to increase. “…we haven’t increased the price for a

number of years and we thought that now is the best time to do it. I mean, it was only increased by five per cent, so it won’t make a huge difference.”

The new increase was implemented early in February. The increase is for each 50-kilogram bag of sugar, which has now increased from $4900 to $5145. Despite calls for the reduction in the prices, no move has been made.

affected reject APNU+AFC gov’t

T

he inaction from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to help to ease the plight of operators moving goods to several hinterland communities resulted in a display of their rejection of the current administration.

Along one trail, which is used to access the hinterland communities, a sign was posted to make clear that APNU+AFC Government is not wanted by the people.

The deteriorating state of the roads are increasing costs for the operators, including maintenance costs for the trucks used, thereby resulting in an increase the cost of goods that finally reach some hinterland communities.

At least 25,000 jobs lost under APNU+AFC to date – Jagdeo F

or almost three years the creation of an enabling environment for jobs creation and investments has been touted by President David Granger and his Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.

To date there has been no job creation initiatives advanced by the APNU+AFC Government.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, disclosed that some 25,000 Guyanese have lost their jobs since APNU+AFC took office, the bulk of the job losses seen in the sugar sector with the mass firings of over 5,000

sugar workers. According to him, some 10,000 Guyanese have lost jobs in the formal sector, while another 15,000 are jobless in the informal sectors.

“We are seeing massive job loss and this government says it is not our position to create jobs and we have no major job creating initiatives now,” Jagdeo said.

He acknowledged the comments from Dominic Gaskin, Business Minister and son-in-law of President David Granger, who claimed that some 5,725 jobs will be created in 2018. The Oppo-

sition Leader trashed these claims, noting that nothing has been done to realise such a goal.

Jagdeo also noted that Gaskin pegged potential investments at $157B and noted that this has been revised downward from Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo’s claim of investments worth $187B. “Even this is a fictitious figure,” he said of the $157B boast.

Leading up to the May 2015 regional and general elections, the APNU + AFC Coalition had promised that it would aim, “To create

a new economy that will stimulate rapid development through Guyana’s transformation from a raw material producer to a manufacturer of value added goods and services.” To date, Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates have dropped from previous years, with rates for 2017 being revised twice due to the fact that targets were not met.

Looking at the economy in general, Jagdeo, a former Finance Minister and President said, “Nothing is happening.”

More costs: Guyanese forced to turn to private health facilities to access basis drugs

P

ensioners are among the vulnerable groups of people who are now being forced to turn to privately owned pharmacies and hospitals for their health care needs – adding to the many increased costs they are already dealing with. Only recently, Government increased the water rates.

Public Health care facilities are often without basic drugs which patients, with conditions like diabetes, depend on.

The Ministry of Public Health has failed to respond adequately to the drug shortage situation. Instead, the Ministry in embroiled in another scandal related to the procurement of drugs and medical supplies – paying more than three time ($366.9M) what was the lowest

bid ($95.5M) to a supporter of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

Meanwhile, the complaints of drug shortages continue to pour in from across the country, particularly from hinterland areas.

Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, had stated revised drug procurement system which will bring resolution to the ongoing drug shortage throughout the country is expected to be implemented by the month of June 2016. This was almost a year ago.

After taking office, the APNU+AFC government scrapped the old method used to procure and deliver drugs and medical supplies across Guyana, despite the fact that it worked.

8

Parliament happenings under review Gov’t housing quarters: Rent monies not being collected for deposit into Consolidated Fund T

he Auditor General found in 2016 that out of 300 buildings owned by the Region Four Administration, 132 were occupied.

However, only 26 of these occupants were actually paying rent.

The matter came up before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday (July 9, 2018), and Regional Executive Officer Pauline Lucas was asked to account for the matter.

The Auditor General had noted that occupants included individuals from Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and TOPCO. Committee Chairman Irfaan Ali observed that if the

tables were turned, squatters would have been thrown out.

He expressed dissatisfaction with the situation.

According to Civil Service Law, 2004 public service rules, “Government quarters provided to public servants as a condition of service, eg in the case of hospital staff where presence on a hospital compound may be required on a continuous basis, shall be free of rent.”

It goes on to state that: “In lieu of quarters, a house allowance may, with the approval of the Permanent Secretary, Public Service Ministry, be granted to a public servant who is entitled to free quarters but

for whom quarters are not available.”

It is understood that for unfurnished quarters, an employee who does pay rent is required to pay 10 per cent of his or her salary, while the requirement for a furnished apartment is 12 per cent of that employee’s pay.

When Auditor General Deodat Sharma flagged the issue in his report in 2016, he could not verify that they were entitled to rent free accommodation. He had therefore recommended “that the Regional Administration take steps to ensure all outstanding amounts for rent are collected and deposited into the Consolidated Fund.”

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

PAC Chairman rejects excuses, says regional officers must account for taxpayers’ monies C hairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Irfaan Ali , has said that he is appalled by the request from the Ministry of Communities to suspend the examination of the 2016 Auditor General Report for the remaining Regional Democratic Councils to allow for better preparations by regional officials.

According to Ali, the Auditor General’s 2016 report has been released for more than a year and at the PAC meetings, the Finance Secretary and the Accountant General confirmed that sessions were held with the regional officials to prepare them for the PAC.

He said, “I think the REOs ought to be prepared.

They had a lot of time to be prepared. They had the Auditor General report over a year now. They had exit conferences with the Auditor General. The Finance Secretary and the Accountant General clarified that they have met with these officials on many occasions. There should be nothing hindering their level of preparedness to come before the committee. “…you have a budgetary allocation and you’re supposed to have the documentation to support the expenditure. All you have to do is come to the PAC, answer clearly, precisely and

honestly, and not skirt around the issues. “…in my view, the regional administration had enough time to prepare and they ought to come and account for their stewardship to the PAC.” The Ministry of Communities sent a letter to Ali dated June 26th, 2018, asking the PAC to consider the request for a suspension. Ali noted that this will be done at the PAC’s next meeting on Monday when the committee resumes the examination of the 2016 expenditure.

Ali maintains that regional officials should have their houses in order and give account for taxpayers’ funds.

PAC denies gov’t request to suspend scrutiny of regions’ accounts T he Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC), on Monday (July 9, 2018), decided to deny a Communities Ministry request to suspend its examination of regional accounts.

PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali, at the resumption of a hearing, after two hours of deliberations, stated that after consideration of the letter

sent to him by the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Communities, the committee would be continuing with the examination of the accounts.

Last week, PS Emil McGarrell wrote to the PAC requesting that the examination of the regions’ accounts be suspended to allow the Regional Executive Officers

(REOs) more time to prepare for the sessions.

REOs over the past few months have been sent away from the hearings before the examination of their region’s accounts could be completed, usually after they and their team failed to provide satisfactory responses to questions posed by members of the PAC.

Region 10 officials expelled from PAC meeting because of unpreparedness E

ven though Region 10 Regional Executive Officer (REO) Orrin Gordon walked with regional staff and his predecessor, they were unable to account for bypassing the lowest bidders for contracts and unprepared to answer questions leading to their expulsion from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday (July 9, 2018).

Instances of the lowest bidders being rejected by the Region 10 administration were put under the microscope by the Committee. It is understood that the Regional Tender Board allegedly awarded millions of dollars in contracts to neither the lowest nor competitive bidders.

According to former REO Gavin Clarke, the oth-

er companies were bypassed because they performed poorly on their evaluations.

But the sitting quickly went south when Clarke could not provide the criteria used to evaluate these companies despite repeated requests from PAC Chairman Irfaan Ali. “In some cases you awarded to the sixth and seventh lowest bid. Can you explain to PAC the reasons not to have awarded the contract to sometimes up to the sixth lowest? For example, the Mackenzie Primary School repairs and maintenance work?” Ali asked.

“Mr Chairman, on review of the evaluation report, along with the tender minutes, it was revealed that the sixth lowest bidder was awarded having ob-

tained the highest evaluations score of 84 per cent,” Clarke responded.

This did not bring much clarity to the issue, as Ali was trying to ascertain on what grounds the other companies were marked down. But despite repeated requests for specifics, Clarke continued to give general responses and percentages to Ali and the Committee.

“The fifth lowest bidder obtained 74 per cent,” Clarke began, but was promptly stopped by Ali, who informed him that “percentages does not help us! The reasoning, what were the factors in the evaluation score? What were the criteria?”

The Chairman even went so far as to outline examples

of criteria to Clarke, such as National Insurance Scheme (NIS) compliance and experience, but to little avail.

This prompted the Chairman to question whether attempts were being made to mislead the Committee.

As Clarke had made reference to an evaluation report, it was thought that this could improve the process and so Ali requested it.

After being asked repeatedly for the report and a thorough search of his desk, Clarke eventually claimed not to have come with it. Ali then asked Gordon if he had seen the report. At first, the REO fumbled.

“REO, there’s no need to guess, you know! Your former REO is saying he had no criteria like that.

REO, can you tell me the

criteria?” Ali asked. Gordon related that there were issues with personnel, tools, and experience in the companies who received low scores.

“So you saw the evaluation report, you saw the criteria; you saw the percentage at each criterion?”

Ali further asked. Gordon responded in the affirmative. Ali, therefore, instructed the auditors present in the chambers to check for these reports.

More tension followed when Gordon was questioned over the overpayment of $394,962 to a contractor for the construction of a fence at the Coomacka Nursery School. Gordon could not even provide the Committee with the date the contract was signed. He

merely gave estimations.

After continued unsatisfactory responses, Ali said, “This has to be unacceptable. You’re coming here and a simple question like the date a contract was signed, you cannot say? Did you walk with the contract? “…sir, sir, you’re testing my patience personally… you can’t look down at a paper, say you don’t have that and then proceed and just dismiss me like that.

You were asked to bring all the information. I am feeling for the PS. You guys know the type of questions; you will sit out there and get your act together!”

The Region 10 officials were the latest to be expelled from a PAC meeting over failures to account for taxpayers’ monies.

9

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Parliament happenings under review Gov’t members force cancellation of Foreign Affairs Committee meeting to discuss human trafficking concerns

T

he Parliamentary Opposition has made it clear that persons from other countries are welcomed to Guyana, once they arrive and stay legally.

That said, the situation surrounding the thousands of Haitians and Cubans, for whom there are no departure records, continues to be the center of concerns that these persons may have been trafficked through Guyana, with the support of the Coalition

Government.

Two weeks ago, Chairperson of the Committee and Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, had said that Citizenship Minister, Winston Felix, was summoned to appear, again, before the Committee on July 4, 2018, to discuss the issue – more particularly to discuss the risk of human trafficking.

However, that meeting and another subsequent one that was scheduled were can-

celled.

Teixeira noted that the excuse from the Government side is that their members are unavailable for a meeting on the dates that were set.

As of this weekend, a new meeting date has not been agreed to.

When the Committee last met, less than satisfactory, according to the PPP/C members on that Committee, were recorded during that meeting.

Lawrence admits that 35 babies died at GPHC in four months, fails to say what new measures are being put in place

Q

uestions related to the investigated the causes of the She added that measures causes for the high mor- increased number of neonatal are in place to ensure the safetality rates at the neo-natal deaths? ty of babies born at GPHC, intensive care unit of the 4. When was this investiga- but even in light of the alarmGeorgetown Public Hospital tion done and who comprised ing number of deaths, she Corporation were raised in the investigation team? failed to say if any news meathe National Assembly on 5. What corrective measures sures are being considered.

Thursday (July 12, 2018) were recommended and have Persaud said, “One death

by People’s Progressive they been put in place? is too much…what number of Party/ Civdeaths will ic (PPP/C) One death is too much…what number of f o r c e y o u Parliamendo have deaths will force you to do have an inves- to tarian, Dr an investiV i n d h y a tigation on what changes need to be made? g a t i o n o n Persaud. changWhen it is alarming enough to have an in- what es need to The ques- vestigation? Does 35 deaths in 4 months not b e m a d e ? tions posed warrant a call for more to be done?” – PPP/C When it is to the Pubalarming lic Health Parliamentarian, Dr Vindhya Persaud enough to Minister, have an inVolda Lawrence, were as 6. Was poor sterility and vestigation? Does 35 deaths follows: infrequent testing of the Unit in 4 months not warrant a call 1. Could the Minister of Pub- responsible for any of the for more to be done?” lic Health inform this Na- deaths in this period? And if Lawrence attempted to tional Assembly as to what so, how many? mount a defence by saymeasures are being taken Lawrence admitted that of ing, “We have invested a to reduce the alarming in- 1,155 admissions from June lot of money.” However, crease in neonatal deaths 2017 to June 2018, a total of the PPP/C Parliamentarian at the Neo-Natal Intensive 119 babies died. She also ad- charged that the matter is not Care Unit (NNICU) of the mitted that of those numbers, being treated as seriously as Georgetown Public Hospital an alarming 35 babies died in it should. “This is very seriCorporation? four months during 2018 – 10 ous. It ought to be treated as 2. Could the Minister pro- in January; 10 in February; 12 such,” she said. vide the National Assembly in March; and 3 in June.

Persaud’s questions were with the number of neonates Pressed on the issue of raised in accordance with admitted to the NNICU and investigating the deaths, the the promises made by the the number of deaths for the Minister said only that for ev- APNU+AFC Coalition in its period June 1, 2017 to June ery death a report is prepared 2015 Manifesto and in line 30, 2018? and only if there are “discrep- with Guyana’s commitment 3. Has the Ministry and the ancies” is an investigation to the 17 Sustainable DevelGeorgetown Public Hospital launched. opment Goals.

“

Education Minister refuses to say how long teachers will have to wait to hear about salary increases, benefits

A

high-level task force was established after negotiations broke down between the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and Ministry of Education.

Two years ago, on December 16, 2015, the GTU submitted its multiyear proposal to the Ministry of Education. Afterwards, the union threatened to strike after it accused government of being disrespectful by failing to respond to the proposal.

The report from the high-level task force – tasked with examining and making recommendations for the salaries and conditions of service of the teachers in a multi-year agreement – completed its report over three months ago. To date, the APNU+AFC Government has failed to address the recommendations of that report. Questions on the delay were posed in the National Assembly on Thursday (July 12, 2018) by Opposition Parliamentarian, Africo Selman.

Directing her questions to Education Minister, Nicolette Henry, Selman asked, “What are the reasons for the delay since the Special High level Taskforce was composed of specially selected representatives of the

government and the report resulted with joint agreement on both sides?”

Henry said the report was submitted to the Ministry of Finance for review, analysis and guidance. She added that the report is now with Cabinet. However she failed to say how long teachers will have to wait for an update on the matter.

Selman asked directly, “When the teachers of this country be informed of the commencement and implementation of that Report’s recommendations?”

Henry said, “I couldn’t give you a date.”

Selman asked, “Will government address the outstanding issues of debunching and the housing project?”

Henry could not provide a definitive answer.

The PPP/C Parliamentarian asked also, “What is the status of the monies that were allocated for the housing project? “ Henry said that the monies are in a Bank of Guyana account.

Selman pressed further on the issue. She asked, “Has the Ministry of Finance recommended an increase in monies allocated for housing project.”

Henry, again, could not provide a definitive answer.

Selman asked too, “Will the government include those teachers who would have retired during the period 2015-2018 and those who will be retiring prior to government’s decision who are entitled to their benefits?”

Yet again, Henry could not provide a definitive answer.

Giving the lack of answers, Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, asked, “How many more months do the teachers have to wait for an answer?” To this question there was no response.

Teixeira also asked if comments by the Minister of State, Joseph Harmon – about the high cost threatening the deal on teachers’ pay – are the reason that there has been no news on the issue. Harmon had said that there are “some very serious financial implications” of the recommendations made by the task force. Henry said she is not the person to answer those questions.

The original proposal suggested by the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) called for a 50 per cent increase for 2018 and the next two years.

Gov’t unwillingness to support sugar workers exposed

T

he Minister of Social Protection and Government Chief Whip, Amna Ally, on Thursday (July 12, 2018) during the National Assembly sitting, was pressed on whether any proposals for the Sustainable Livelihood and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Initiative programmes are under consideration for the communities impacted by the termination of the jobs of sugar workers.

The questions on the issue were posed by Opposition Parliamentarian, Dr. Vindhya Persaud. She asked: “What portion of the SLED

Initiative’s 2018-2019 financial outlay the Ministry plans to spend on projects in the aforementioned communities? What timeline exists for the implementation of SLED Initiative projects for those afflicted communities?”

Persaud noted that the fired sugar workers should be informed of any forms of government support that is available. Her comment came after Ally said that funding is provided based on the requests made.

“How will they benefit if they do not know it is available? Is there a special intervention to support sugar

workers using this initiative?” she asked, to which there was no response.

Notably, Ally failed to provide satisfactory answers and during an exchange with Parliamentarians in the Opposition benches, she heckled and said the fired sugar workers are only 7,000. “Sugar workers are only one aspect of the population…you know what the population of Guyana is?” she heckled.

The firing of 7,000 sugar workers has been widely condemned as one of the worst acts under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

10

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

From the desk of Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo...

Guyana Under Review Several issues were addressed a weekly news conference held by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, on Wednesday (July 11, 2018), ranging from exposing the hypocrisy of government apologists and the failures of President David Granger to developments with the Berbice Bridge and in the oil and gas sector.

APNU+AFC can no longer ‘We did not get the answers we wanted from tell its supporters that it has ExxonMobil’ – Jagdeo backing to stay in power M

uch has been said about the last meeting of the Parliamentary Natural Resources Sectoral Committee meeting, but the naysayers will not detract from the fact that the focus of PPP/C Parliamentarians at the meeting was to get answers from ExxonMobil. This was according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his weekly news conference, held on Wednesday (July 11, 2018) at his Church Street office.

“We did not go there to demonize Exxon…we wanted to find out about thing that bothered all of Guyana,” he said, adding that the negative reports from Kaieteur News on the performance of PPP/C MPs indicate that the PPP/C “didn’t fit the bill” relative

to what the controversial news agency wanted.

Jagdeo noted that the PPP/C had specific questions for ExxonMobil, which was called to appear before the Parliamentary Natural Resources Sectoral Committee, last week. The questions included, among others: 1. Who initiated the renegotiation of the 1999 contract?

2. What strategy used to come up with US$18M signing bonus? What equation was used?

3. Was ExxonMobil funding the training for 100 fired sugar workers?

4. Was ExxonMobil funding a political strategy – the Green State Development Strategy, which in its current form is a political strategy?

5. What motivated the donation of US$10M to Con-

servational International, particularly since that body has a watchdog role?

He too that the responses from ExxonMobil on these pressing issues were not satisfactory. “We did not get the answers we wanted,” Jagdeo said.

The Opposition Leader added, “…we had to ask these questions…these are valid questions….Kaieteur News might not like them… but you cannot disparage the MPs because of that,” Jagdeo asked.

There have been many concerns about the APNU+AFC Coalition Government’s handling of dealings with ExxonMobil – and many indications that the interest of the Guyanese people are not being well served.

inform the Guyanese public on the outcomes of these international forums – all of which were funded by taxpayers’ monies.

At most of these international events, the participants would sign off on either a declaration, a plan of action, or a set of commitments. However, on his return to Guyana after these events, the President has never ever reported to the nation on the outcomes of the events he attended as the high representative of the people of Guyana, traveling at taxpayers’ expense.

In fact, last year it was revealed that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo’s traveling expense reached $19M in two short years. In a written response to Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira’s question, the Government said that some US$39,604 including G$11.3 million (19.2M) were spent during that specific period, giving a breakdown of all the conferences, cultural events and

diaspora engagements the Prime Minister attended.

There have been concerns that these government officials are not adequately representing Guyana when going on these trips. For example, Granger headed to the United Kingdom for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit without a plan to address the ban that country placed on Guyana’s greenheart products – a move for which he was criticised by Opposition Leader. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Clement Rohee pointed out that since the President abhors press conferences, the task is assigned to Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge to provide to the local press corps with the usual “obfuscated and vague understanding” of what actually took place at the meetings.

As has been the trend, there was no update to the Guyanese people from Granger about his trips to Jamaica and Vietnam.

W

hile several questions asked of ExxonMobil by Parliamentarians representing the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) on the Parliamentary Natural Resources Committee were not answered, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, noted that he was pleased with one particular comment.

“I am pleased that ExxonMobil has said it is not supporting any political party in Guyana,” he said during his weekly news conference, held on Wednesday (July 11, 2018) at his Church Street office.

He noted that comments about ExxonMobil being involved in keeping the APNU+AFC Coalition in gov-

ernment have been reported by the Coalition’s activists.

In the past, Jagdeo had urged Guyanese not to “buy into rumors” being peddled.

The Opposition Leader charged that the PPP/C is looking to win the 2020 General and Regional Elections by 50,000 votes. He said much work is being done on the ground and he added that the APNU+AFC Coalition has failed to deliver on its manifesto promises.

“I don’t know what new they will come up on. All of their manifesto promises have been broken….the only card they are left with is the race card,” he said.

According to him, rumors and stereotypes are being peddled about the PPP,

many of the latter having been rubbished.

Jagdeo made clear that the PPP’s work continues and all Guyanese are welcomed as supporters of the PPP. “We are working to change that and we urge people to look at the facts…. we are leading the struggle to retake Government,” Jagdeo said.

At a prior news conference he stated that efforts are being made to: the need to strengthen the PPP family; the need for the PPP to remain open to new members and be accommodating to supporters who had left, but are returning; and the need to defend existing freedoms by understanding what is happening.

Granger ‘shameless’ in claiming Granger’s travelling has brought he has been working to address no benefit to Guyanese domestic issues

G

uyanese have nothing to benefit from after millions were spent from President David Granger to jet off to Vietnam and Jamaica in the last few weeks, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

Responding to Granger saying that his failure to engage the local media corps is because he has been busy with travels, Jagdeo questioned what he Guyana benefited from after the two most recent trips.

“We had a meaningless speech in Vietnam. What did he bring back? What did he do to substantially advance Guyana’s interests?

What did he bring back from CARICOM (the meeting in Jamaica)?” Jagdeo asked during his Wednesday (July 11, 2018) news conference.

Since being sworn in as Head of State, President David Granger has attended over 100 international events in various countries on almost all the continents of the world. But he has failed to

A

fter speaking at the opening of the Caribbean Information and Communications Technology (ICT) conference and roadshow, earlier this week, President David Granger was pressed on his failure to meet with the local media corps. In response he charged that he said, “I’ve been travelling quite a lot and I have to deal with domestic issues – the sugar industry, I have to deal with the petroleum industry, I have to deal with crime and security.”

And on Wednesday (July 11, 2018) during his weekly news conference, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, trashed his excuse. “Let’s see how busy the President has been,” he said.

NO PROGRESS IN OIL AND GAS Jagdeo noted that Granger “shamelessly” claims that he has been dealing with issues in the petroleum sector.

“We have so many unanswered questions,” he said.

Relative to a Local Content Policy, Jagdeo maintains the view that a strong local content policy will allow Guyana to safeguard opportunities for locals and not allow locals to be crowded out in the sector. However, to date, there is no finalised Local Content Policy.

On the Petroleum Commission, he has argued, ought to be a purely technical commission, but in currently configured in a way that gives excessive powers to one Minister of Government – the Minister determines: the size of the establishment; the employment of staff and the terms and conditions of employment; the provision of equipment and use of funds; reorganization or such works of development as to involve a substantial outlay on capital account; training, education and research; the disposal of capital assets; and the appli-

cation of the proceeds of such disposals.

Jagdeo made it clear that none of the critical questions surrounding the establishment of a Sovereign Wealth Fund, promised over a year ago, have been answered by the Coalition Government.

On the Sovereign Wealth Fund, he noted that a statement of principles, such as the Santiago Principles, on which the establishment of the Fund would be based would have sufficed. As he has done on previous occasions, he stressed the need for there to be: an apolitical approach to setting up the Fund; a clear definition of the purpose of the Fund; clearly defined rules on spending from the Fund; clarity on what share of oil proceeds will go to the Fund; and the conditions under which the government can access the Fund. The Fund was promised to be in place since (Turn to page 11)

11

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

PPP/C will continue to call out the gov’t apologists A

gainst the backdrop of widespread criticism of President David Granger’s continued failure to engage the local media corps – a regular feature where past presidents have fielded questions on topical issues in Guyana – a publication by the controversial Kaieteur News caught the attention of Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

On Wednesday (July 11, 2018) during a news conference held at his office, Jagdeo noted that the offending article, headlined ‘I don’t need other party members at my press conferences – Jagdeo’, and charged that it a manifestation of the newspaper’s apologist disposition.

Commenting on the contents of the article, Jagdeo said, “At least I have press conference…this is the apologist behaviour from Kaieteur News….they had to find something (to make Granger look less bad)….I don’t make excuses, I sit here

for over an hour and answer all the questions. I don’t hide from the media, but they had to say something to compare us with Granger.”

Notably, in addition to the Opposition Leader’s weekly news conference – a forum where he engages the media at the Office of the Opposition Leader on Church Street, the Office has also hosted Parliamentary press conferences, where members of the PPP/C in the House address topical issues.

Additionally, the Office, in the past few weeks, has also hosted the PPP/C-nominated Commissioner of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to address concerning developments at the Commission.

Jagdeo noted that even in makings its wild claims, the Kaieteur News is inconsistent. He noted that while the article tries to determine the purpose of his news conference – hinting that it is not a

press conference hosted by the Opposition Leader, but should be a press conference addressed by Opposition MPs – the newspaper has also pushed the line that he, as Opposition Leader, should speak more in the National Assembly and even sit on some of the Parliamentary Sectoral Committees. “On one had they want me to speak more, on the other we have them saying I am a oneman show,” he said.

The Opposition Leader added that of the Kaieteur News was so interested in the views of PPP/C Parliamentarians, they should at least try to contact them and reflect accurately their comments.

“Some of our comrades are reluctant to speak to Kaieteur News because their comments are distorted,” he said.

All considered, Jagdeo made clear that the PPP/C will continue to call out the government apologists for their actions.

Jagdeo exposes hypocrisy of David Hinds G overnment supporter, David Hinds, has been called out for his hypocritical position in trying to claim that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) advanced a campaign to allow Indo-Guyanese to dominate the administration of cricket in Guyana.

On Wednesday (July 11, 2018), Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, said, “I want to say to David Hinds that maybe your target is misplaced.”

Jagdeo explained that it is some of the very people who are in government and are connected to the APNU+AFC Coalition Government who have prevented equal representation in local cricket administration.

He pointed out that the Cricket Administration Act became law in 2014, under the former PPP/C Government. The AFC had voted

against the law in the National Assembly when the issue came up. Among other things the law allowed for the inclusion of the Upper Demerara district as a body that had a say in the administration of local cricket.

“Here is a bill where a PPP/C government sought to include Upper Demerara – Linden – in the administration of cricket…to ensure equal and fair representation,” Jagdeo said.

Since 2014, Jagdeo added that it is a Government-aligned Attorney, Roysdale Forde, who has challenged that law, via a constitutional motion to prevent the inclusion of the Upper Demerara District.

The Opposition Leader disclosed too that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government’s Attorney General, Basil Williams, has failed to defend the case – a failure

that has led private citizens, including Roger Harper, to hire lawyers to mount a defence. “Basil is not defending this…if there is no defence, Forde could win his case,” Jagdeo said.

He added, “…if David Hinds took a bit of time to deal with facts he would have seen this…he is trying to say that the PPP/C is to blame…the PPP/C has a track record it is proud of…

Hinds ignores the actual parties that are to blame in this case.”

On a more general note, the Opposition Leader made it clear that sportsmen and women have never been, and should never be, supported because of race; rather they have been supported because they are Guyanese. “Because this is our position, we cannot allow divisive comments like the ones we had from Hinds,” he said.

Granger’s Green State initiative is a political strategy to spend money A

cut and paste of best practices around the world and a political initiative that focuses on spending money is how the APNU+AFC Coalition’s Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) was summed up by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

As his Wednesday (July 11, 2018) news conference, he noted that the GSDS is not an economic strategy that earns money for Guyana and uses that money to advance development in various areas – which is what the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LDCS), advanced by the former PPP/C government did.

He said, “The LCDS was an economic strategy…we earned money to do about 20 different things…the LCDS was a strategy to move us into the future….Granger’s speeches on the GSDS has not changed in three years.”

The Opposition Leader added that there is no specific initiative that is defined – other than undertakings like ‘Plant a tree and support the green economy’. “The GSDS will not deliver for our people,” he said.

According to him too, there is still to be clearly defined policies that the ‘Green Strategy’ aims to build on.

“By the time they get around to drafting policies…or what they might end up doing is going back to the LCDS initiatives and renaming them… we would have missed opportunities,” he said.

Because of the GSDS’ failures, Jagdeo made it clear that conceptually, the PPP/C cannot support it.

That said, the question that remains is, what do Guyanese actually know about the GSDS? The facts are that: • There is a Framework of

the Guyana Green State Development Strategy and Financing Mechanism, which was developed with help from foreign consultants and completed in 2017.

• There is a Green State Development Strategy (GSDS) Multi-Stakeholder Expert Group • The GSDS is still to be developed and US$1.5M of REDD+ monies funding the completion of GSDS. Notably, in March 2017, the Coalition Government published the ‘Framework for Green State Development Strategy’, which is “a guiding document for the elaboration of the Green State Development Strategy.” This was after it pledged its “devotion" to the LCDS in December 2016, according to the Norconsult Report – a report that independently assesses the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project.

Granger ‘shameless’ in...

2016. In 2015, Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, said, “Government envisions that before the end of 2016, model legislation will be laid in the National Assembly for scrutiny and debate. Nationwide consultations will ensue, before and during the process of finalising this policy through the necessary legislation.”

The remaining oil blocks, he added, should be subject to a competitive auction or kept for future generations.

NO MOVE ON SUGAR Relative to Granger’s claim about addressing issues in the sugar sector, Jagdeo said, “What is he dealing with…they fired thousands of people…people are struggling and they can’t make a living, they can’t feed their families. “…they are raising $30B and we don’t know what they will spending the money on…they already have $17B of the $30B and it is sitting

in a NICIL bank account, so we are paying interest on money we haven’t even start to use yet. “…he says he is addressing the industry, but he can’t name a GuySuCo board yet…that is a 10-minute, a 15-minute, task.”

Earlier this year, the Special Purposes Unit (SPU) created by Government to oversee the sell-off of GuySuCo assets named a Board of Directors. The new GuySuCo Board members, who were named, include: SPU Head Colvin Heath-London; Fritz McLean; Komal Singh;Verna Adrian; Vishnu; Annette Arjoon; Arianne McLean; Roshan Khan; and George Jarvis. The appointments, according to the SPU, took effect from March 1, 2018.

SPU Head, Heath-London, was named as the Chairman of the Board. After that, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said the actions of the Special Purposes Unit (SPU) were premature

(From page 10)

and the appointments were scrapped. To date, no Board has been named.

COUNTRY BEING RAVAGED On Granger’s claim about crime being addressed, Jagdeo said, “This country is being ravaged on a daily basis by criminals….this hopelessly misguided, inept, government is giving wrong signals to our security forces…they are not acting.”

He added, “…the report from the Presidential Security Advisor (Russell Combe) has not even seen the light of day yet…I doubt it has even been discussed by Cabient. “…they also have made no move to appoint a substantive Commissioner of Police.”

The Opposition Leader made it clear that the facts speak for themselves and the Guyanese people will not be fooled. “Granger will have us believe that he is so busy, but doing what?” Jagdeo, a former president himself, questioned.

12

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Questions remain unanswered about the dilution of gov’t shares in the Guyana Stockfeeds Limited G

overnment’s shares in Guyana Stockfeeds have moved from 38 per cent to seven per cent and it is unclear how this happened. Several questions were raised by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) about the matter. However, they remain unanswered.

The seven per cent share was listed in a leaked National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) document – ‘The Private Placement Memorandum’ – which details the arrangements of the $30B fixed rate bond, which that government said it was moving to secure for the sugar industry.

In 2008, the NICIL won a High Court case restoring its 38 percent shareholding in Guyana Stockfeeds Despite calls for clarity on the matter, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has not come clean on the issue. As such, Guyanese are unclear as to what arrangement surrounded the reduced shares. Given the state of affairs, there are concerns that some sort of deal was struck to ‘give away’ state assets.

BELOW IS THE FULL STATEMENT FROM THE PPP: Mr. Badal speaks to the status of the court matter brought by NICIL against GSL on its 2000 Rights Issue and the 2008 decision of Justice Jainarine Singh,

rendering the 2000 Rights Issue (and subsequent bonus issue) illegal, null and void.

The 2008 High Court decision returned NICIL shareholding to 38% from the diluted 7%. Mr. Badal contemptuously argues that the High Court decision was tainted and influenced by the PPP administration and that the Appeal Court decision of 2017 validated the reduction of the NICIL shareholding from 38% before the Rights Issue and Bonus Issue to 7%.

1. NICIL wins High Court case restoring its shareholding to 38%; Appeal Court overturns ruling In Sept 2008, Justice Jainarine Singh issued a decision that Badal Rights Issue and Bonus Issue, diluting NICIL from 38% to 7% was, illegal, null, and void. The decision related to a Rights Issue in year 2000.

In late 2008, Mr. Badal, instead of honoring the High Court decision and restoring NICIL to its former 38% shareholding, appealed and obtained a “stay of execution of Justice Singh’s ruling.

The matter languished in Court of Appeal until 2017, some 10 years later when the matter came on for hearing, with the Court of Appeal ruling in Mr. Badal’s favor.

At the time of hearing of the appeal, NICIL was under the control of APNU-AFC Government. It is not clear if NICIL, under APNU-AFC control, defended the case

properly or at all. After the High Court ruling was overturned by the Appeal Court, NICIL chose not to appeal the matter to the CCJ. NICIL’s shareholding was therefore left at 7%.

It is a well-known fact that Mr Badal was a significant supporter of the AFC and coalition Government.

He campaigned for the AFC. He financially supported the AFC. He took out full page ads in support of AFC and the APNU-AFC coalition.

He spoke at rallies under the APNU-AFC banner. One therefore questions whether APNU was simply rewarding Mr Badal by not defending the court matter and not appealing it to CCJ. One also can question why SARA and SOCU are not investigating this matter and the many instances of “insider dealings.”

2. Badal deprives minority shareholders and State of value via “inside dealing” Additionally, it is wellknown that Mr. Badal engaged in numerous practices to the detriment of the state and minority shareholders.

Here are just a few of those examples: a.Mr. Badal incorporated a company in Trinidad, with the exact same name—Guyana Stockfeeds Inc. But this was no subsidiary of the Guyana public company, but a company directly owned

by Badal. All the while, Mr. Badal is CEO, Chairman and

majority shareholder of GSL of Guyana. Mr. Badal then started using the Trinidad company to conduct billions of dollars of transactions on behalf of the Guyana company. These inside dealings with a related company, can easily confuse any company doing business with the Trinidad company, as to whether it is the same Guyana Stockfeeds company.

More importantly, it serves as a convenient means to impose transfer pricing and cream away profits from Guyana. b. When NEOFI, an edible oil company, solely owned by Badal ran into financial trouble, it had Guyana Stockfeeds (Guyana) buy over the assets of NEOFI thus bailing out this company owned 100% by Badal. c. When Popeyes, a franchise owned by Badal needed money, Mr Badal sold it to GSL (Guyana). However, when Popeye’s was later sold at a handsome profit, instead of the profit going to GSL, Badal reversed the sale from GSL, and concluded the sale in his own name for his own benefit, thus depriving GSL of the gain. d. Under Mr Badal’s leadership, despite significant growth and new investments that saw GSL revenue grow by multiples over the last 20 years since privatisation, the profits of GSL did not reflect this same growth. Instead margins shrunk, and costs escalated.

A comparison of imported material prices from related companies show that the cost of inputs paid by GSL, were higher than that paid by competitors. These actions shortchanged the State of taxes and the minority shareholders from profits. Given the inside dealing with related companies, these “lost” profits were likely enjoyed by companies owned or related to Mr. Badal.

3. Explaining why the dilution of GSL shares from 38% to 7% deprived the State of revenue In October 1997, Mr. Badal bought 35% of the shares of Guyana Stockfeeds Limited. The value/share was approximately $650/ share.

On a proportional basis, NICIL retained 38% with implied valuation of US$$980 K. In 2000, with sales and profit increasing significantly from 1997, the value (book) of each share was over $1000. Recall that is was bought for about $650 in 1997. But under the Rights Issue in year 2000, each share was sold for only $15.

NICIL dilution from 38% to 7% that occurred in 2000 reduced its shareholding then by over US$1M. Today, this value is at least 5 times as much given that GSL sales has increased many times over.

NICIL made many ar-

guments before the High Court, most importantly, that Mr. Badal had significantly underpriced the shares in his Rights Issue in year 2000 to the detriment of any minority shareholder who did not subscribe. Although the Rights Issue increased the number of shares by over 400%, only $35 M Guyana dollars was raised. And Mr. Bada’sl stated reason for use of the funds, was to build a wharf on land beneficially owned by NICIL, for which permission had not been granted. As such, the use of proceeds was for an illegal action or one where no permission existed. Mr. Badal acquired almost all remaining shares not subscribed for, at the heavily discounted price, thus personally benefitting from his action.

In 2017, given the significant of the loss of shareholder value to the State flowing from the Appeal Court ruling, NICIL Directors ought to have referred the matter to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

This did not happen. One can only assume that given Mr. Badal’s influence as a significant political contributor and supporter, that the APNU-AFC administration looked the other way. The loss in value is so significant, that SOCU and SARA ought to be investigating the actions of the Government, unless these agencies have been directed to look the other way.

Gov’t has options available to avoid increase of Berbice Bridge tolls – Jagdeo

I

ncreased toll were proposed by the Berbice Bridge Company Inc. (BBCI) and Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, contends that Berbicians cannot afford to pay the increases and as such he is not supportive of the move.

Addressing the issue on Wednesday (July 11, 2018) at his news conference, Jagdeo proposed that government either buy shares in

the Berbice River Bridge or increase its subsidy to the major east-west thoroughfare across the waterway if it does not want to approve a hike in tolls.

“Buy out the other shareholders so that more of the bridge becomes publicly owned or secondly subsidise the increase that should take place in the toll so they give an injection into the company so the rate remains flat,”

he said, adding that the first option would entail taking over the debt for the bridge and securing greater equity in return.

Jagdeo acknowledged that the bridge company is contractually obligated to maintain the bridge and that maintenance works have been deferred in the past few years.

Jagdeo charged that there was a financial model in

place, relative to the operations of the bridge, which was left by the former PPP/C government, but noted that he is unsure what has become of that under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government. He contends that the financial model may have been tinkered with. “These peoplethey screw everything up… they are in a dilemma now because they are caught by their own rhetoric and what

they did, they deferred all the problems in the three years so now it’s catching up on them,” he said.

On the likelihood of the financial model being changed, the Opposition Leader charged that how the Government acts moving forward would determine how future investors responds to invitations for Public Private Partnerships. According to him, the case could be

that investors do not trust the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to enter into multi-million dollar deals.

The new tolls proposed by the BBCI would see cars and minibuses - $8,040; pickups, small trucks and four-wheeled drive vehicles - $14, 600; medium trucks - $27,720; large trucks $49,600; articulated trucks - $116,800; freight - $1,680; and boats - $401,040.

13

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Real Time Economic Insights

– PPP/C proposed Fiscal and Taxation Policies were intended to avoid undesirable social, economic outcomes

T

he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) understanding the plight faced

by Guyanese made 124 proposals to the Government in 2017, ahead of the national budget being presented – all aimed at addressing policy to ensure that the cost of living in Guyana does not increase.

The proposed policies needed to be implemented to avoid much undesirable, both social and economic, outcomes.

This week’s ‘Real Time Economic Insights’ looks at the downsides of not implementing the proposals made by the PPP/C. Among the proposals made and the reasons given are: • BoG must allow exchange rates to be deter-

mined freely (based on demand and supply), to avoid contraction in FX transactions; • The Government must act swiftly and promptly in devising a plan to curb foreclosure amongst our households and business enterprises; • There is an urgent need to increase wages and salaries of our public servants given the surge in tax burden; and • To retain our medical professionals, the fixed pensionable establishment must remain “optional”, rather than “obligatory”.

This week we continue from last’s week focus on the 124 proposals made and the reasons they were put forward. (Analyses done

by Irfaan Ali, PPP/C MP)

Do you know that, within the first quarter of 2018:

250

When Compared to 2016:

207

$3 spread limit

200 150 100 50

• Total FX transaction of Licensed Bank (Republic Bank, GBTI, Citizen, Demarara Bank and Scotia) decline by US$28 million or 0.8%; • Total FX transaction of non-bank cambios decline by US$ 0.7 million or 0.7%.

182

0 -50

-47

-150

-116.5

-125.1

2015

2016

Licence Bank Transaction

2017

Non-Bank Cambios

Source: BoG Annual and Quarterly Reports and Statistical Abstracts

Key Observations:

The imposition of the G$3 limit spread by the Bank of Guyana in 2017 had cost our licensed bank and non-bank cambios US$25.7 million or G$5.1 billion in foreign exchange transaction.

On the rollback in free trade of foreign currency, this counterproductive measure was unilaterally imposed to curb fluctuation in exchange rate. The Bank of Guyana (BoG) was fully aware of the shortage in foreign exchange currencies, especially the USD. The reversal of this measure is critical to bring back confidence in the economy and reduce capital flight. Ironically, BoG was warned by cambio dealers and the Private Sector Commission, that interference would result in a decline in foreign currency business.

Given the reduction in foreign exchange, foreign exchange transactions are expected to decline even further. Just look at our first quarter performance: total foreign exchange transaction contracted by US$84 million when compared to corresponding period in 2017. Overall, when compared to 2014, foreign exchange transactions of non-bank cambios declined by more than US$117.2 million or 52.6%.

Private sector credit fell by 2% or G$4.4b: mining (-15.1%), personal (-7.6%), manufacturing (-2%). Moreover, credit to construction & engineering decline by 11.6% when compared to corresponding period in 2017. On the other hand, credit to central government increase by a whopping 27.2% or G$21.5b.

Proposed Measure: Immediately intervene and work with the commercial banks to delay/stop foreclosures and execution sales in the housing, agriculture and retail sectors and work out “soft payments” 65%

80%

74% 56%

66%

60%

46%

42%

•

58%

20%

2014

2015

Total NPL

• 2016

Business Enterprises

2017 Household

Key Observations: Since this government came into office, Households and Business Enterprises have all been experiencing tremendous economic hardship. The huge increase in NPL could further dampened our economic climate.

Of the total loans and advances to Business Enterprises, non-performing loans made up 11%, in 2017, that is, 4% more when compared to 2014. In other words, for every dollar issued as loan and advances by our commercial banks in 2014, only $0.07 cents were deemed non-performing. As of 2017, that figure is now $0.11 cents (data were taken from BoG annual reports and latest statistical abstract). The global average NPL to total loans in 2017, as outlined by IMF in their Global Financial Stability Report, is 3.7%. That is 7.3% less than ours.

Health Care Service: Immunization Coverage Proposed Measure: Allow public servants, particularly medical professionals, to choose whether to be on the pensionable fixed establishment or on contract 100%

0.98

1

0.97 0.99

0.96

0.9

0.96

0.9

0.97

1

0.94 0.95 0.72 0.69 0.72

75% 50%

0% 2014

Proposed Measure: Increase Wages and salaries in the public service;

2015 2016 1 year olds Immunized against DPT/ (Pentavalent)

2017

0.65

The objective of this policy is to retain medical professionals in the public service. This is instrumental in addressing the exiting poor immunization coverage, as of 2017, and other major shortfalls in the public health sector.

Important Stats: •

Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) increased by more than 62% to 21 in 2017, when compared to 2013;

•

Under 5 mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births) increased by more than 48.3% to 23.1 in 2017, when compared to 2013.

1 year olds Immunized against polio (%) 1 year olds Immunized against TB, BCG (%) Source: 2018 Budget Speech

30% 26%

11%

10% 5% 1%

0%

2%

6%

-6%

-10%

-15% -17%

-20% 2014

2015

2016

Tax/GDP Ratio Growth in Tax (%) Growth in Per capita Private Consumption Source: BoG Annual Report and 2018 Budget Speech

2017

Key Observations:

When compared to 2014:

• Private consumption per capita contracted by more than 6%, while total tax increased by more than 26%;

Important Stats: sign of weak purchasing power:

• In 2017, food prices increased by 6%, while importation of food fell by more than US$11 million or 14.1%.

(BoG 2017 Annual Report and 2018 Budget Speech)

Key Observations: Overall, consumers have less purchasing power and disposable income due to increase taxation, when compared to 2014. In other words, tax burden outstrips growth in aggregate income, hence, reducing purchasing power.

There is clear evidence that consumers are worst off when compared to 2014. Not only did consumption decrease, but concurrently more income were lost due to higher taxation. The impact is visible in the in the decline of importation due to increase in food prices (see breakdown of inflation in Budget Estimate 2018). And we all recall the imposition of VAT on essential food items in 2017. This is the impact. the Non-performing loan in 2017 for Households increased my more than 13%. This is a sign of increased economic hardship at the individual level.

Total NPL increased in 2017 by more than 58% or G$10.6 billion ( G$7.1 billion in Business Enterprises (agriculture, mining, manufacture and service) and G$3.5 billion in Households).

Source: BoG Annual and Quarterly Reports and Statistical Abstracts

1 year olds Immunized against MMR,Yellow Fever

20%

NPL increased by 4.4% and, remains concentrated in the business enterprises at 55.4% (services, and mining & quarrying increased by 10.3% and 24%, respectively).

When compared to 2014:

10%

0%

25%

Taxes and Disposable Income

Within the First Quarter of 2018:

55%

40%

• Total FX transaction decline by US$84 million; • License Depository Financial Institutions (LDFIs) aggregate operating income decline by 2.1% due to “contraction in FX gains”- 2018 First Quarter Report, p. 5

-117.2

•

Variation of Non-Performing Loans (NPL): 2014 as Base Year

Within the first quarter of 2018 :

-100

The balance of payment deficit, which is 964% more when compared to corresponding period in 2017, had cost our gross international reserve US$94 million or 20%. (NB: our projected BoP deficit for 2018 is US$79.7 million. In other words, within three months, we surpassed our projection by US$14.3 million or 17.7% ).

Hence, the current level of our international reserve is now at its lowest at 2.5 import cover (the safety limit is 3 months);

NB: We are witnessing the impacts of high fuel prices; closure of GUYSUCO; and the 200+ burdensome taxes that were introduced in 2017.

Variation of Foreign Exchange Transactions: 2014 as Base Year Proposed Measure: Reverse the Bank of Guyana Cabinet-directed decision to limit the spread between the buying and selling rate of the US dollar to no more than $3 GY

•

Retaining our medical professionals in the public service is extremely critical to avoid “hemorrhaging” of our health sector. And this could be accomplished by allowing them to “choose freely” between the pensionable fix establishment and contract.

Given the obligatory transition onto the pensionable fix establishment as of 2017, majority of our health care professionals are leaving the public sector and seek greener pasture elsewhere. Our feeble heath sector has now seen major setbacks including poor immunization coverage and high infant mortality rates. Overall, as of end 2017, the cost of medical and personal care has increased by 4% when compared to 2016.

Impact on the People Failure to adopt the proposed measures could result in the following:

• • • • •

Downsizing of non-bank cambio which could trigger an increase in “black market” FX transactions.

Shortage of foreign currencies, and increased cost of import.

Shortage of key imported commodities such as fuel, drugs and medical supplies etc..

Higher interest rates from lending institutions due to increased NPL. Shortage of medical professionals in our health sector which could deteriorate health care service delivery.

14

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Berbicians protest gov’t failures

Creation of ‘new electoral creatures’ could be challenged in courts – Nandlall A

warning has been given to the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, over the creation of new local authority areas in some regions, particularly given that it infringes on the 2006 Amerindian Act. Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, has suggested that the decision by the Government could be challenged in the court. “The Amerindian Act establishes its own systems of governance. There is a village council, there is method by which elections are held and there are a host of internal mechanisms by which those communities are governed. Areas identified for the creation of new local authority organs are within those Amerindian communities,” he said.

The 10 new areas are: 1. Mahdia, which has been identified as that town for Region Eight 2. Moruka/Phoenix Park NDC 3. Kitty/Providence NDC

4. Nile/Cozier NDC 5. Lamaha/Yarrowkabra NDC 6. Hauraruni/Yarrowkabra NDC 7. Plegt Anker/Kortberaad NDC 8. Wyburg/Caracas NDC 9. Aranaputa/Upper Burro Burro NDC 10. Annai NDC Aranaputa/Upper Burro Burro and Annai include lands that are titled Amerindian lands.

Notably, in addition to the creation of one new town and nine new NDCs, the existing Local Authorities Areas have been tampered with.

The Local Authorities Areas which have been restructured are those where the governing APNU+AFC either did not contest, was tied with the PPP/C for a the number of seats won or lost the proportional representation vote to the PPP/C by one seat.

In the Municipality of Rose Hall,

where the PPP/C won the proportional representation vote by one seat in 2016, the number of constituencies has been increased from seven to eight.

The number of seats has been reduced in: 1. Evergreen/ Paradise 2. Aberdeen/Zorge-en-vlygt 3. Malgre Tout/Meerzoergen 4. La Grange/Nismes 5. Toevlugt/Patentia 6. Caledonia/Good Success 7. Woodlands/Farm 8. Mahaicony/Abary 9. Zeelust/Rosignol 10. Blairmont/Gelberland 11. Ordnance Fortlands/No. 38 12. Adventure/Bushlot 13. No. 52-74 Village.

In total 16 constituencies have been removed from 14 Local Authorities Areas.

15

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Revenues of many timber companies down by 50%, skilled workers being laid off - GMSA

T

he Guyana Manufacturing and Service Association (GMSA) has said that the worsening conditions of interior roads is causing major losses.

In a statement, the GMSA said, “Small, Medium, and Large Scale Logging companies are experiencing one of the worst periods with significant losses of revenue because of rainy conditions and deplorable interior roads. Across the regions of Essequibo, Demerara, and Berbice, the hinterland road conditions have significantly

worsened due to an extended rainy season. The failure to maintain the interior roads prior to the rainy season, has led to further crisis and has placed a very bleak outlook for many industries including forestry, mining, tourism, and trade.

“At least 100,000 m3 of logs destined for delivery to markets cannot be transported. As a consequence many value-added manufacturers are complaining about the lack of raw material which is affecting exports. This unfortunate situation has resulted

in significant social and economic impacts. Some companies have had to completely stop production.”

According to the Association, revenues of many timber companies are down by 50 per cent.

“Skilled workers are being sent home or the workforce being downsized due to the worsened condition of the roads. There are many small-scale loggers who are unable to stop working because of their financial commitments and such operators are putting their

lives in danger and causing damage to their limited equipment,” the GMSA said.

It added that, “As much as 30 percent of cost of production in the forestry sector is transport oriented and the poor state of interior forest roads is one of the most prominent issues affecting the sector. The maintenance of the interior forest road network, in many instances, is left to large forest concessionaires, specifically holders of TSAs. This is a key factor that has been driving production cost for large

Puruni Road Conditions

Road Between Mabura Hill and Kurupukari

operators. Holders of TSAs are currently spending on average US$14 000 to construct 1 km or forest road and on average U.S$5 000 on maintenance of such roads within their concessions without any support from Government.”

The Association has called on the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to take urgent action to repair and maintain interior roads and for there to be a comprehensive programme of ongoing maintenance to ensure quality and standard is maintained.

16

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

APNU+AFC gov’t inaction this week …a snapshot of headlines making the news

APNU+AFC gov’t says it has been ‘nothing but transparent and accountable’, facts say otherwise After being called out for its failures with respect to transparency and accountability – promised during the 2015 General and Regional Elections campaign – the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has made claims that are in stark contrast to the facts.

The Government, via a statement from the Ministry of the Presidency, said, “The David Granger-led administration since its assumption to office has been nothing but transparent and accountable to the citizens.”

Facts show that this is not true. Among the untruths told by the government to the Guyanese people is the fact that Guyana did not receive the US$18M signing bonus from ExxonMobil.

This lie was told for over a year to the Guyanese people, despite the fact that questions about the signing bonus were asked. Finally, documents leaked to the media, exposed the Government lie

Five ministers stage commissioning of PPP/C road project Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo and Ministers Joseph Harmon, Winston Jordan, Annette Ferguson and David Patterson were all at the De Willem Tarmac, West Coast Demerara, on Wednesday (July 11, 2018) to commission a project initiated by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic.

The project was the US$46M rehabilitation project on the West Coast Demerara Road, which was jointly funded by the Government of Guyana and Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Since taking office there has been no major infrastructure project, no foreign direct investment and no job creation advanced by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

Also critics have said that the commissioning is the latest evidence that the current Administration is more concerned with pomp and ceremony, as opposed to real change that impacts the lives of Guyanese positively.

Gov’t continues to fail to create new jobs, focusing on other initiatives As opposed to pushing for the creation of much needed job opportunities, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government is focusing on less meaningful initiatives. Earlier this week, government announced the move to create a space for youths to talk about their problems.

Critics have said that ensuring that youths are heard is important; the real issues affecting Guyanese youths are not being addressed.

The current administration has remained unresponsive to criticisms.

Health Minister fails to address neonatal deaths despite spending time at luxury resort to deal with maternal deaths Conversations about maternal deaths almost always run concurrently with a focus on neonatal deaths. However, the Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, continues to fail to address the latter.

The continued failure in this regard was evidenced at the the Region 7 luxury resort, Aruwai Resort, where a three-day workshop was held by Lawrence’s Ministry.

There have been at least two neonatal deaths in the last few weeks.

No prospects for major future investments With the three-year mark passed, since the APNU+AFC Coalition Government took office, there are no prospects for major future investments in Guyana. In three years, among several other trips made, there were three massive excursions between 2015 and 2017 – excursions that Guyanese were told focused on securing investments. To date there has been no details on the outcomes of those trips.

In October 2015, a high- level ministerial delegation to Canada included, First Vice President and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson and Minister of Business and Investment Dominic Gaskin. The intention was to address investment possibilities. Despite multiple queries, to date there has been no update on what materialised from this trip.

In June 2016, there was a New York investment conference, which saw the participation of a 16-member delegation, including four ministers and ‘honorific’ advisors. Here too, there has been no work of what investments proposals materialised from the two trips – if any.

In May 2017, a 12-member Guyanese team, including Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin, were on a Trade and Investment Explanatory Mission in Brazil, and were slated to participate in several rounds of discussions with investors in Boa Vista. As with the first no, no outcome statement detailed progress of the undertaking.

In the meantime, Guyana’s economy continues to perform poorly.

Little to nothing done

by SOCU in line with the reason it was established

More taxpayers’ dollars are being spent for investigators of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) to undergo advanced training, according tp Head of SOCU, Sydney James. However, he failed to say who or which body is facilitating the training or whether foreign experts have been engaged.

Meanwhile, after three years of being operations under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, not a single case against money launderers has been advanced. SOCU has only been involved in cases filed against former government officials, one of which has already been thrown out of the courts. Also, in the case SOCU brought against GBTI, the expert witness fielded by the Unit was also rejected by courts, which ruled that the ‘expert’ was in fact ‘no expert’.

Additionally, SOCU has been involved in a number of controversial operations. These include the high-profile car chase of the wife of a People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), which resulted in the death of Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant Robert Pyle and his wife Stacy, along with another civilian in a smash-up on Carifesta Avenue in December 2015 – an incident that remains the subject of many unanswered questions.

Notably, the Unit’s establishment was part of Guyana's international obligations to strengthen its Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) framework and was intended to support the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The mandate of the SOCU, as acknowledged in the protocols, is to address investigations, detection and preparation of criminal investigative reports and case files for prosecutions of financial crimes, including money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

Little to nothing has been done by SOCU, under the current APNU+AFC Government, which fits the reason for SOCU’s establishment.

APNU+AFC still has no crime plan The spending of millions of taxpayers’ dollars on upgrades, which is part of a large programme to remodel six police stations in 2018, has been approved by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

However, while there has been focus on spending money, there has been no focus on addressing a national crime plan.

In addition to the upgrades, $200M was allocated for the purchasing of equipment for the Police Force. This $200M for vehicle has approved for spending, after the Government of the People’s Republic of China gave Guyana $500M worth of vehicles, riot gear and other equipment.

17

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

The PPP welcomes the Amerindian leaders to the 2018 Conference of the National Toshaos Council

T

he Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) welcomes all the Toshaos, Councilors and other representatives of Amerindian villages and communities who have travelled from the coastal and hinterland regions, as they gather to mark the 12th Annual Conference of the National Toshaos Council (NTC) in 2018.

To date this annual gathering provides the most significant platform for deliberation on issues and challenges related to the development of Amerindian communities; a forum for exchanges in an effort to collectively seek solutions and negotiate commitments on behalf of their respective villages with the Government.

We wish the participants all success and hope that the many development initiatives that they have brought on behalf of their communities will be given serious consideration by the Government.

Having concluded the Toshaos and Village elections, the PPP extends congratulations to the newly elected Toshaos and councilors who will be serving their first term as well as all those who have been re-elected and commend all for taking up the demanding responsibilities of leadership of their villages and communities.

It would be remiss of us to not recognize the contributions of the outgoing executive of the NTC to national dialogue whose efforts helped to further strengthen the critical and significant role that the Amerindian communities, as national stakeholders, play in future development of the nation.

We continue to recognize and uphold the National Toshaos Council as the legitimate collective voice of the Amerindian peoples of Guyana.

We continue to believe that this annual conference is an important national consultative body representing all Amerindian people, their leaders and communities. This became an important and highly anticipated event by both the NTC and the PPP/C governments to address concerns, remedy weaknesses, make proposals and take decisions on the spot. This practice reflected successive PPP/C Governments’ and the NTC’s determined efforts to engage with each other on issues of Amerindian rights and community development as well as matters of national importance. Thus the agenda and discussions of this NTC must be taken seriously by all participants including the government.

It is unfortunate that the 2017 NTC Conference did not provide the expected feedback and opportunities to deliberate on issues with the Cabinet as had become a tradition in the past.

The PPP hopes that the highest level of Government will attend not only the opening session but engage in meaningful dialogue as equals and listen carefully to the needs of the Amerindian Communities and respond genuinely to the solutions they seek to have implemented to improve their communities and reduce growing levels of poverty. We remain hopeful that the deliberations will result in greater commitment by the Executive to invest in revitalizing the village economies and take steps to reduce the economic and social decline which has engulfed the villages over the last 3 years.

Many have been the public prom-

ises by the government but these have remained hollow with key and major issues remaining unaddressed and worsening conditions affecting their economic and social well-being, coupled with alarming incursions on the constitutional and legal rights of Amerindian citizens.

In our statement to the 2017 National Toshaos Conference we warned that “Recent developments… are cause for great worry. Emerging trends in the body politik under the APNU+AFC Coalition government threaten Amerindian rights.” Regrettably a year later, the situation remains even more worrying with new incursions.

The much promised amendments to the Amerindian Act remain clouded in ambiguity as to what are the sections that need amending. The PPP reiterates its position once again to the NTC participants that “it will support any amendments which will enhance Amerindian rights, however, it will strongly oppose any amendments that will dilute the rights of our indigenous Amerindian peoples”. As three years have passed, we, nor, the majority of the Amerindian communities are any the wiser as to what is the purpose of this push by the government to revise the 2006 Amerindian Act in the absence of any wide-spread call by the Amerindian peoples and communities to revise this Act. Furthermore, any revisions must be subject to consultations with all the Amerindian communities under the principle of “free prior and informed consent” as was done during the process to create and draft the Amerindian Bill. This latter process took two years in order to ensure that the Amerindian leaders and communities were satisfied that the Bill reflected their desires and rights.

We reiterate our hope that the NTC will ensure that there is clarity and commitment by the government that any amendments the 2006 Amerindian Act does no harm to Amerindian rights and ensures that there is the widest possible consultation in the communities across the country.

With the latest announcement by the Government of the release of additional funds earned under the Guyana/Norway Agreement, during the tenure of the former PPP/C government, there has been no reference to funds being made available for developmental programmes for the Amerindian communities, be it Community Development Plans, or any other developmental works in those communities.

This is particularly worrying as the government’s repudiation of the Low Carbon Development Strategy, and, the initiatives designed to enhance national, and in particular, Amerindian development, has destroyed long years of work at all levels to find a modern inclusive national developmental strategy for the future. The government’s often mooted, vague, Green Growth Strategy remains locked away in some backroom office, with snippets emerging infrequently as to what it will contain. Consultations across the country and with national stakeholders are still being awaited after three years.

However, there is an enormous vacuum. Under the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic’s (PPP/C) Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) programmes were identified, including

multi-year projects, the Amerindian Titling Project and the Amerindian Development Fund, which are fully funded, but have been stagnated due to government reluctance to move on these issues. The government’s does not appear to share a common position with the Toshaos and the communities on an inclusive national development agenda. One cannot see any major intervention or innovation to address these issues since the change of government.

Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Affairs a few weeks ago admitted before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources that no titles, or extensions of lands to Amerindian communities had been issued in the last three years.

Demarcation of titled lands are now virtually at a stand-still. In fact, the Vice President stated that the government would be seeking a second extension of the funds allocated to the Amerindian Land Titling Project.

He even went so far as to say with the present applications it could take as long as 10 years to complete!

We have noticed that ‘Free Prior and Informed Consent’ has been repeatedly honoured in the breach; one of the most glaring examples is the decision by the government to establish the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into Lands. The promise by the government to the NTC a year ago to put on hold the COI’s examination of issues relating to Amerindian lands, pending discussions with the NTC, has been stalemated with no follow up meetings and no amendment of the gazetted terms of reference to exclude the COI’s continued scrutiny of all Amerindian communal lands titling.

The other newer and even more worrying development has been the intrusive role of the government in the declaration of new Local Authority Areas in Amerindian Titled lands in violation of the 2006 Amerindian Act and the amendment to the Local Democratic Act 2006 which “removed any council established in an Amerindian community” from inclusion in LAAs. This newer challenge is very serious. The Amerindian governance structure is separate and distinct layer from the LAAs. Without notice or consultations, the government included Amerindian villages and communities in gazetted Orders to establish these new LAAs. These impositions on the Amerindian peoples reveal the scant respect the government holds for the people and their elected leaders, The Maicobe and Campbelltown’s opposition to their inclusion in the new township of Mahdia is striking.

We hope their voices will be heard and obeyed. The new Annai NDC is a glaring violation of the Amerindian Act with several titled villages becoming a Neighbourhood Democratic Council. This is a blatant attempt to subsume these titled communities and super-impose the Ministry of communities over their legal Amerindian governance system. This move by the government is for the sole purpose of controlling the Amerindian communities. This is an authoritarian and illegal imposition that will have devastating consequences for these communities for generations to come.

We saw this happen in October 2015 prior to the 2016 Local Government Elections, with the government’s

decision to establish new townships of Bartica and Lethem and the Port Kaituma NDC. Communities were caught off guard and were not even informed that the boundaries of these new local authority bodies may/would impinge on their own communities’ boundaries. In some cases, a number of communities /settlements have been included within the boundaries of these new townships. Examples of these include the communities of Red Hill, Koberimo, Barabina, and Smith Creek among others in the Mabaruma township and the Port Kaituma NDC, and, Dougg Point and Agatash in the Bartica township. The areas of extension applied for by Moco-Moco for example now fall within the extended boundaries of the new Lethem municipality.

The then growing concern by a number of communities, especially titled communities, that these could come under threat with regard to the government’s thrust to establish new LAAs adjacent to, encircling and or within titled communities in interior regions is now a reality.

The growing government neglect of interior areas is visible. The state of neglect seems to be having no impact on the government to take corrective action to stop the rapid decline of these important but small and fragile communities. The current state of neglect has reached unprecedented proportions, roads, culverts, bridges and trails are in deplorable state and villages face restricted travel and movement and escalating cost of living. The main artery connecting the coast to Administrative Regions Nos 7, 8, and 9 is in worse condition than ever seen in the last 2 decades.

The social sector – education and health infrastructure- is declining at a rapid pace, compounded with limited school supplies and facilities and shortage of essential drugs and medical supplies everywhere and at all levels of the health system.

In contrast to this dire situation, the government’s response has been uncaring and divorced from the needs of the people. A few Presidential grants of $20M here and there will not rectify the deterioration that is taking place.

Monies are available, for example, the Amerindian Development Fund has available funds but the government seems to prefer to continue to “cherry –picking” which villages will receive their project funds.

The government has failed to propose an alternative for the Hinterland Household Electrification Programme and after 4 -5 years of the solar systems installed by the PPPC government, there is no maintenance plans to provide new batteries. Communities that were listed and expecting to receive their solar systems in 2015 are still waiting as this appears to be another PPP/C programme abandoned by the government.

The US$17M hinterland ICT programme, from the PPP/C LCDS, was also diverted to other targeted beneficiaries and the industrial solar units acquired for the computer hubs in 100 Amerindian villages were diverted for executive use, yet another blow to the Amerindian development agenda.

There are more indicators that in the national scheme of the government’s developmental agenda, Amerindian peoples priorities are easily dispensed

with and put on the back burner.

Having terminated 1,972 young Amerindian Community Service Officers, the single largest ethnic group to have been dismissed from the public service, over $800M was withdrawn from their village economies, and, 10,000 people directly dependent on these persons for their livelihood have been further impoverished. The government’s response to the protests that were lodged by the PPPC during the budget debates in 2015 led to Vice President promising to create a new youth entrepreneurial skills programme, however, HEYS is a skills training programme not an entrepreneurial programme. From its inception it has been bedeviled by complaints of lack of payments for facilitators and participants alike. Now the entire programme is in jeopardy. The lack of opportunities for youth, and, in fact, all Amerindians has reached alarming proportions.

The government has failed to deliver on commitment made of post flooding assistance to affected villagers in hinterland regions. Now the government seems to have adopted an attitude that the worsening flooding as recent as this month is something we have to live with.

Not one official of the government has apologized to the Amerindian peoples for denigrating statements made by Presidential Adviser Eric Phillips and Minister of Labour Keith Scott. Therefore, one assumes that these reflect the government’s official policy towards Amerindians and their land rights We anticipate that many of these issues, including many other concerns, will be deliberated on by and among the NTC participants as well as in the presence of the government. As the week of discussions unfolds it is critical for the Toshaos, Councillors and other representatives to recognise that you have two powerful instruments at your disposal- the Guyana Constitution and the 2006 Amerindian Act. We reiterate what we said in 2017, at the conclusion of the 2018 National Toshaos Conference, we encourage you to ensure that you have clear and unequivocal commitments from the government that your land rights will be protected, that the principle of ‘free prior and informed consent’ will be followed in every case in their interaction with the Amerindian communities; that agreed-on projects for the development of your communities will be accelerated and delivered in a timely manner, and, that resources are allocated to assist the flood affected communities in Regions 7, 8 and 9.

This is one of the ways by which the gains that have been made over the years for Amerindian rights and development can be protected.

On the part of the PPP/C, we commit to continue to support Amerindian participation and development by raising all matters of concern in all available fora, including the National Assembly and international bodies.

We commit to continue to work with our Amerindian people, their elected leaders and all who would genuinely work with us, to protect the democratic gains that we have made and to further improve the quality of the lives of our Amerindian people, and, all Guyanese.

The PPP wishes you a successful conference. (July 12, 2018)

18

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Focus on Guyana’s First People – issues affecting Amerindian people and communities

Region 1 communities worried about mercury contamination of potable water R eports of potable water in Region 1 being contaminated by mercury have been confirmed. However, tests to confirm the extent of the contamination have not been completed.

Based on WHO guidelines, the normal mercury level in water should be .0006 mil-

ligrams per litre but the reports are samples taken from the Port Kaituma River show a level of .016 milligrams per litre.

This problem was first detected in May 2018. The APNU+AFC Coalition Government, however, has remained silent on the issue.

Three years later: Amerindians made to wait longer to have firearms returned D uring the amnesty for unlicensed firearms in 2015, scores of Amerindians handed in weapons used to protect their cattle and crops and support their livelihoods, with the promise of receiving licences. The APNU+AFC Coalition Government delayed the return to April 2018 and has now delayed it again, until the end of July 2018.

The July month-end date, however, only applies to residents of Indigenous communities in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazuruni) according to Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock. It is unclear when other Amerindian communities will be served.

Notably, in April, a gov-

ernment team was scheduled to meet with residents of 11 indigenous communities at Chinoweng, Phillipai and Kamarang. In addition to the firearms, they were also taking along 121 permits to distribute to the residents.

However, the visit was cancelled.

Additionally, Government, using its majority in the National Assembly, approved the Firearms (Amendment) Bill he noted that one of the criteria for being granted a licence to hold a firearm is to protect large sums of money. As such, he contends that the increased are not major increases.

Licences for shotgun will increase by $3,000 to $5,000; handguns from $5,000 to

$25,000; rifles from $5,000 to $40,000; and dealers from $7,500 to $150,000.

People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), Dharamkumar Seeraj, had argued that there are categories of firearm holders who need firearms, not to protect large sums of money, but ones that need it to support their livelihoods, specifically, farmers and Amerindians.

Guyana as just over 8,000 persons who are licenced firearm holders, according to Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan. He disclosed that currently there are about 3,000 licenced shot guns, 4,500 licenced pistols and revolvers and 347 licenced rifles.

Allicock tells Region 2 Amerindian villages to ‘stop being dependent’ A

merindians of Mainstay/Whyaka, Tapakuma, Mashabo and Capoey, on the Essequibo Coast, Region Two, were criticized by Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Sydney Allicock, for “wanting somebody from Georgetown to come and fix your problems” – comments he made during a visit to the area.

Speaking directly to the newly elected Amerindian village councils, he said, “The next three years is to get yourself truly in

order… we cannot continue to be here and wanting somebody from Georgetown to come and fix your problems. This is why we put the responsibility into your hands…you have to check and help fix your books, just don’t sit down there.”

He added, “…use your initiative and stop being dependent.”

The minister also emphasised the importance of proper management and accountability of village’s resources because “for years

billions have been spent to procure buses, tractors and other projects and village councils can’t account for it.” He said, “Get your books in order….you have to account for every cent.”

This in the latest in a string of controversial comments directed at Amerindians since APNU+AFC Coalition Government took office. The last one was from Minister Keith Scott who accused the Amerindian people of being ‘greedy’ because of their requests for land rights.

No statutory provision allows gov’t to make titled Amerindian villages NDCs - PPP

T

he move by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to designate two Amerindian areas, including Titled Amerindian Villages as Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), has drawn strong condemnation from the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

The Mirror Newspaper was the first to make public the fact that Communities Minister, Ronald Bulkan, signed an Order, published on the Official Gazette website on June 7, 2018. The two areas are: Aranaputa/ Upper Burro-Burro; and Annai. Both communities are in Region 9. There were no consultations on this.

The PPP has said, “There is no statutory provision for Amerindian Titled Communities being incorporated into Local Democratic Organs such as Municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils. Each holds a place in the tier of governance, separate and distinct.”

The Party contends that this latest act by the reinforces the view that the Government has a deliberate policy of destroying the governance structures under the Amerindian Act in order to control a population, which, in many areas, supported the PPP/C in the 2015 General and Regional elections.

Since the Party released its statement, the Coalition Government has said nothing about the matter.

BELOW IS THE FULL PRESS STATEMENT: The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) notes that the Official Gazette of Guyana, dated June 1, 2018, included Order No. 16 of 2018 [The Local Democratic Organs (Neighbourhood Democratic Council) (Amended) Order 2018] and Order No. 17 of 2018 [The Local Democratic Organs (Area) (Amendment) Order 2018], which establishes two new Neighbourhood Democratic Councils, Aranaputa/Upper Burro Burro NDC and Annai NDC, in Administrative Region No. 9.

Most worrisome is that this Order was posted on the Official Gazette website a week after it was signed

and up to that point neither the Minister Ronald Bulkan, who signed the Order, nor the Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Sydney Allicock, had made any public announcement on this matter. In fact, the first report in the media was on June 10, 2018, after the Mirror Newspaper first broke the story on June 8, 2018.

In 2016, the Minister of Communities issued an Order declaring Aranaputa an NDC in Region 9. This is in an area where there is no titled land. However, this was a controversial move as there was little to no consultation with the community and the surrounding titled communities. Minister Bulkan admitted during the 2018 Budget debate that he had set up a council in Aranaputa without GECOM’s involvement, and admitted that the Chairperson and Deputy Chair were being paid from the Toshaos’ budgetary allocation for Administrative Region No. 9.

Having recognized, after acting haste, that an NDC has to be comprised of more than one People’s Cooperative Unit (PCU), this new Order terminates the previous Order and increases the territory in the Aranaputa NDC to include two other People’s Cooperative Units with a six-member council.

The most egregious aspect of these Orders is the establishment of the new Annai NDC, which now includes a very large territory with several titled Amerindian Communities: Annai, Rupertee, Kwatamang, Wowetta, and Surama. The new NDC will have 12 council members.

However, most of these titled villages just completed their elections for Toshaos and Amerindian Village Councils.

None of these communities were consulted in keeping with the international policy of ‘Free Prior and Informed Consent’ included in the Amerindian Act. As of June 8, 2018 the Regional Democratic Council and the communities in these areas were totally unaware of this development.

This Order is yet another clear indication of the gov-

ernment’s deliberate and targeted policy, from the inception of its term in office, to undermine Amerindians’ land rights and their own governance system, as enshrined in the Amerindian Act. Declarations by Presidential Advisor, Eric Phillips, as early as February 2016, have not been forgotten. It is Mr. Phillips who stated that Amerindians, who had done nothing to build our nation, own 13.8 per cent of the land in Guyana; while in contrast those who were brought as slaves from Africa and their descendants “have less than five per cent of the economy”. This statement never retracted by Mr. Phillips or the Ministry of the Presidency.

Additionally, the President’s establishment of the Commission of Inquiry “to examine and make recommendations to resolve all issues and uncertainties surrounding claims of Amerindian land titling, individual, joint and communal ownership of lands acquired by freed Africans, and, any other matters relating to land titling” on March 11, 2017 was a clear indication that the government intended to review and withhold further movement on Amerindian communal land titling and link it to the resolution of freed African ancestral lands.

This act alone validated the positions taken by Eric Phillips the year before.

During the debate of the PPP/C motion calling on the President to revoke this COI as a recipe for division in a multi-ethnic nation and a threat to Amerindian land titling and their land rights, the Minister of Labour, Keith Scott stated Amerindians “have manifested an attitude of avarice which should not be condoned.” He continued to assert that if Amerindians were to be granted sub-surface rights, then only the coast-landers will be entitled to benefit from the oil and gas industry. Worse yet, the Minister implied that those communities living near the borders with Venezuela and Brazil could be disloyal.

(Turn to page 19)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Passenger bus overturns Conditions now attached to along Mahdia trail road Presidential Grants given to Amerindian Communities

S

ixteen communities, in Region 9, received cheques valued at $20.8M under the Presidential Grant programme. However, this time round the monies were released with conditions. The recipients were informed that portions of the monies must be used to embark on green sustainable projects.

The cheques were handed over by Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, during the Regional Toshaos’ Conference held at the Indigenous Conference Hall at Lethem, Region Nine.

It is unclear if all the Amerindian communities

received their presidential grants.

The Presidential Grant is one of the major interventions being undertaken by the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government. The Grant was aimed at boosting economic and social development for Indigenous People in the respective villages and communities.

Villages and communities receive specific sums which range from $500,000 to $2M according to population size.

Some of the projects supported under the Presidential Grant initiatives included: Transportation (Procurement

of boats, engines, mini buses, tractors, trailers and its implements and ATV for general transportation; Agricultural Projects (cattle farming, chicken rearing, cash crop farming); Machinery & Equipment (Chain saws, brush cutters, generators); Tourism (Guest houses, Eco Lodges, benabs); and Productive Infrastructure (Pavilions, Multi-purpose Halls, Village Offices, Village shops Roads, trails, bridges, revetments) The allocation of grants commenced in October, 2007 with an allocation of $150M for 139 villages.

No statutory provision...

T

he worsening condition of the Mahdia road caused a passenger to topple, earlier this week.

Luckily, no one was injured. This is the second such accident in two weeks.

Those affected have said that the conditions of the roads and trails have not been this bad in over 15 years.

The lack of a consistent maintenance programme is being blamed for the present situation.

Gov’t admits…

Close to 40,000 unemployed in hinterland T he APNU+AFC Coalition Government has admitted that to massive unemployment levels of unemployment among indigenous youths.

Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock, has said that close to 40,000 are unemployed in the hinterland. “We still have close to 40,000 indigenous youths who are unemployed,” he said.

There has been no major job creation initiative since the APNU+AFC Coalition Government took office.

The promise made by the Coalition during the 2015 General and Regional elections campaign was that it would “create jobs, jobs and more jobs in the shortest time possible.” Over three years later, the Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, is yet to unveil a national plan to create jobs.

Instead, like President David Granger, he is now talking up the focus on persons creating jobs for themselves. “All good paying jobs, as far as I am concerned, can come from self-generation and that is why we have to focus a lot on small and medium businesses, creating entrepreneurs rather than traders out of people,” Jordan has said.

President Granger has admitted that under his Government, the economy has not been able to produce “sufficient” new jobs. “On one hand I believe that the young people themselves have to stay in schools so they are better qualified.

On the other hand, I think investors must allow what you call microenterprise to flourish, particularly in agro-processing,” he said, adding that it is his intention to engage the private

sector to create funds for microenterprise, which can serve as a lending facility to young people. Notably, the plan for microenterprise funding was not included in the APNU+AFC manifesto.

In a message from Granger, the manifesto stated that the APNU+AFC Coalition will provide: “Employment opportunities in science, technology, engineering, mining, agro-processing and the arts to provide jobs and promote economic growth.”

The manifesto also promised that public expenditure measures would be determined by related factors, which include: Stimulating productivity, investment, savings and growth of the economy; and the provision of jobs, among other moves. “The APNU+AFC objective is an integrated employment strategy,” the manifesto added.

These statements have not been corrected by the government, and, therefore, one assumes that these reflect the government’s official policy towards Amerindians and Amerindian land rights.

More recently, the Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Affairs under questioning before the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources in May 2018, admitted that in the three years of his government no Amerindian communal titles or applications for extension of Amerindian Communal titles had been issued by the government. Yet, US$2M under the GRIFF/REDD+ programme under the Low Carbon Development Strategy had been spent.

Other actions by the government leave no doubt as to the government’s policy with regard to Amerindian rights and communal titles.

Guyanese have been witness to: the termination of 1,972 Amerindian Community Service Officers in July 2015; the closure and termination of all staff in the Amerindian Titling Unit of the Ministry of the President in late 2015 and the hiring of new staff for the ALT Unit over a year later; the consistent violation of ‘Free Prior and Informed Consent’ on issues affecting Amerindian communities; the worsening socio-economic conditions; and shortage of drugs and medical supplies in these interior areas, to name a few.

The disparaging and consistent posture of the government towards the elected National Toshaos Council is yet another case in point. The

government seems to ignore the governance structures laid out in the Amerindian Act, which make this body the legitimate elected body representing Amerindian communities. The NTC has been underfunded and ignored by the government.

Thus, the Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Affairs statement during the 2018 Budget debate that the government expects that the newly elected NTC executive in July 2018 will fully cooperate and support all initiatives of the APNUAFC Coalition government is sinister.

This latest development with the creation of the Annai Neighbourhood Democratic Council, which will be superimposed over several titled Amerindian communities was in the making for a while. One just has to recall the rushed decision in October 2015 to establish new townships and Neighbourhood Development Councils in Regions 1, 7, and 9 prior to the March 2016 local government elections.

Communities were caught off guard and were not even informed that the boundaries of these new local authority bodies may/would impinge on their own communities’ boundaries. In some cases, a number of communities / settlements have been included within the boundaries of the new townships. Examples of these include the communities of Red Hill, Koberimo, Barabina, and Smith Creek among others in the Mabaruma township and the Port Kaituma NDC, and, Dougg Point and Agatash in

(From page 18)

the Bartica township. The areas of extension applied for by Moco-Moco, Nappi and Parishara, for example, now fall within the extended boundaries of the new Lethem municipality. The recent announcement that Mahdia will be declared a township should be monitored as it is expected that it will include the Campbelltown community, another Amerindian community.

The PPP in 2017 noted in a public statement to the NTC Conference that “there is a growing concern by a number of communities which are already in possession of communal titled land that these could come under threat with regard to the government’s announcement to establish new NDCs adjacent to, encircling and or within titled communities in interior regions”.

With these Orders issued by Minister Bulkan, the PPP’s statement has been proven correct.

There is no statutory provision for Amerindian Titled Communities being incorporated into Local Democratic Organs such as Municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils. Each hold a place in the tier of governance, separate and distinct.

Furthermore, this particular and latest act by the government reinforces the view that the government has a deliberate policy of destroying the governance structures under the Amerindian Act in order to control a population which in many areas supported the PPP/C in the 2015 general and regional elections.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

APNU+AFC failure to fully engage leaders at NTC Conference indicative of ‘disregard’ for Amerindians – Teixeira T

he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic’s (PPP/C) model of inclusivity is a unique one, according to PPP Executive Member, Gail Teixeira.

“One of the most innovative examples was the way in which it, our model of inclusivity, worked was with the NTC, the legitimate and sole authority representing Amerindians in Guyana, at its annual conference where over 100 Amerindian villages were represented by their leaders.

“At that conference, under the PPP/C, the President and entire Cabinet would sit for two days to engage the Amerindian leaders – and this is only a feature in Guyana, where a President sits for two day, in other countries the Indigenous populations have to stage protest actions, sometimes, to try to secure a meeting with the Head of State.”

According to her, the two-day engagement was an annual feature from 2007.

“During those two days,

by each administrative region, the Amerindian leaders from each community would present their case relative to concerns they had, proposals to remedy problems they were facing and requests for support,” she said.

Teixeira added, “By the end of the two-day engagement, and we had ministers sitting and listening to our Amerindian leaders at points during the week, each minister of Cabinet was required to make a presentation on sectoral plans for those Amerindian communities and Cabinet would examine and include those in the budgetary process, which started after the annual NTC meeting in July….so the budgetary process had direct feedback from our Amerindian leaders, there was dialogue between the NTC and that influenced government decisions and the allocation of state resources.”

She pointed out that where matters could be addressed immediately, relative to the release of funds,

policy changes and technical support, this was done.

The former Governance Advisor stated too that all of this was done outside of specific requests made by the Amerindian communities, which the President or Finance Minister dealt with - be it decisions on roads, bridges, water, electrification, transportation and other initiatives that required massive investments.

She said, “What we found that, from a governance point of view, having this type of model aimed at ensuring inclusivity, helped to advance development for our Amerindian people in a substantial way…there was investment and infrastructure works and opportunities to reduce poverty by successive PPP/C governments…. in fact when you look at the statistics, you would see that the Amerindian population is the fastest growing of the ethnic groups in Guyana…. in 1992, the Amerindians accounted for about five per cent of our population, there

No update on what work is being done to title Amerindian villages

M

ore than a month after Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, Sydney Allicock, admitted that he failed to make progress with the ALT programme, which gave the indigenous people legal rights to their communities, there has been no move to say what work will be done. “I have not been able to title any village,” Allicock had said in May 2018.

Notably, after taking office, the Coalition Government, sent home the entire unit dealing with the Amerindian Land Titling programme. The Project Management Unit was ben established in June 2014 to support the implementation of the project.

A total of US$10.7M

was earned by the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government and left for the purpose of completing the Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) programme.

In 2010, MoAA together with UNDP and the Office of the President has initiated a Land titling Project that sought to process applications for titling and demarcation. Under the Guyana REDD + Investment Fund (GRIF), the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government in 2013 signed a US$10.7M document for the implementation of the Amerindian Land Titling and Demarcation project.

The ALT project seeks

to achieve three major goals: completion of land titles issues and demarcation process for all Amerindian villages that submitted requests, increased use of existing and alternative mechanisms to resolve land titling disputes and thirdly a communication strategy including a handbook describing the process of titling, demarcation and social economic impact of secured land tenure.

While Indigenous people in many Countries have right of use of the Land only, in Guyana where the Indigenous People account for approximately 9.7% of the population, Amerindians own land including the forests resources within their Titled Lands.

were high levels of mortality from tuberculosis, malaria and gastroenteritis.”

Teixeira proffered the view that since May 2015, under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, many have recognised the merits of an inclusive governance model at work – the NTC engagement – given the lack of productive engagement between the Amerindian Leaders and the current Administration. “So we have seen that the NTC meetings continued with the absence of dialogue between the Amerindian leaders and decisions makers in this government. How then are the Amerindian leaders able to air their concerns? Where is the forum where they are given a chance to speak and listened to?” she questioned.

The PPP Executive member added, “Without that input from Amerindian leaders, without that access to the leaders – the decision makers – the demands for a better standard of living fall flat, as it is doubtful that this

APNU+AFC Government is even listening to what our Amerindians are asking for.”

The fact that President David Granger has only appeared at the opening of the NTC conferences, according to her, is “indicative of his disrespect and disregard for the first peoples of Guyana and their duly elected representatives.”

She said, “There has been scant engagement between the Ministers and Amerindian leaders….when you are looking at good governance, it is premised on the view of who has power and who benefits from the use of power and the benefits include attention to social services, access, etc….one of the problems Amerindians have had were the serious disparities, in this regard….you saw it when you looked at access to education, health, water, employment opportunities and skills training. “…this is why an inclusive governance model was a success in ensuring that

there was equitable access to goods and services provided by the State. We saw a reduction of the disparities between the hinterland and coastland…there was also a focus on the poor and vulnerable, in line with the pro-poor focus of the PPP.” Teixeira concluded that there is a huge contrast between the way in which the PPP/C approached development and ensuring greater prosperity for all Guyanese and what currently obtains.

“The engagement between successive PPP/C governments and the Amerindian leaders became part of the legacy of the PPP – it was an engagement where we let in the good and the bad, the praises and the criticisms, all in the interest of moving forward…unfortunately, that is not there anymore,” she lamented.

The PPP Executive member made it clear that the Amerindian peoples of Guyana, like all Guyanese, must be treated in a manner that is fair.

No clarity on way forward as Gov’t pushes ahead with making changes to 2006 Amerindian Act

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he Coalition Government, undeterred by criticisms, is pushing ahead with its plans to make changes to the Amerindian Act. The Parliamentary Opposition has warned the APNU+AFC Coalition against advancing any move that will not bring more benefits to Amerindians in Guyana – changes that will dilute the rights of our Indigenous Amerindian people.

The Indigenous People’s Affairs Minister, Sydney Allicock, to date, has unable to say what the government’s intention is. All he has said is that, “There were lots of ideas, proposals, and suggestions that we can review, to see what might be adequate or relevant to today.”

Meanwhile, moves are underway to advance changes. At the grassroots level, the efforts are being led by a handpicked, government-connected, group.

The Amerindian Act 2006, passed under the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), was hailed as an embodiment of policies that covered the protection of the general welfare and rights of Indigenous Peoples. It affirms the declaration of rights of indigenous peoples in specific stipulations that include governance, land rights and preservation, and Amerindian heritage.

Passed a year before the UN-DRIP declaration, Guyana’s 2006 Amerindian Act includes key provisions relating to Amerindi-

an people that are not dissimilar, in most instances, from those outlined in the declaration, and has thus been the legal stronghold for Amerindian development.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Opposition has also called on the Coalition Government to respect the Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), which is enshrined in the 2006 Amerindian Act – which means that nothing ought to be done with the involvement of the Amerindian people. It is unclear which Amerindian communities have been consulted on changes to the Amerindian Act. The Government’s move to change the Act was announced in 2016.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

‘Significant progress made under successive PPP/C administrations to improve welfare of Amerindians’ LEGISLATION

The Amerindian Act 2006 is an embodiment of policies that cover the protection of the general welfare and rights of Indigenous Peoples. It affirms the declaration of rights of indigenous peoples in specific stipulations that include governance, land rights and preservation, and Amerindian heritage.

Passed a year before the UN-DRIP declaration, Guyana’s 2006 Amerindian Act includes key provisions relating to Amerindian people that are not dissimilar, in most instances, from those outlined in the declaration, and has thus been the legal stronghold for Amerindian development.

TOURISM SUPPORT

In 2012, the Ministry financed eco-tourism projects for 19 Villages, each receiving utmost $1.5M. In 2013, twenty villages will be receiving grants at $1.5M each to the eco-tourism industry in their respective regions.

The initial implementation of the first 27 Community Development Plans (CDPs) funded through the GRIF, 11 % account for projects that are related to ecotourism.

HEALTH

The Amerindian Hostel data on inpatients reflect access to medical services at Georgetown Public Hospital thereby reducing further aggravation of health situations of Hinterland patients and providing better access to quality health services; safe and adequate accommodation for patients and welfare cases help ensure the psychological health and general well-being of those that are affected by sickness and other social issues.

The fact that all villages have a health hut/health centre makes access to primary health care easier in villages and thus improving health conditions of villagers.

Amerindian Residence accommodated a total of 7017 patients with their accompanying relatives up to 2014.

The Residence provides a shelter for those patients who have been referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) for medical attention.

Over the years, the purpose of this facility had evolved such that the most significant proportion of persons being accommodated is patients and those accompanying them.

The Residence has also expanded its services to encompass persons in difficult situations including Domestic Violence, Trafficking in Persons, labour issues, discharged prisoners or any other similar situation.

The Maternity waiting room at the Amerindian Hostel was constructed at a cost of $1.2M. The aim of the new facility is in keeping with Government’s commitment to ensure the safety of mothers and their babies and to ensure that every mother and child have access to adequate health care and provided with the best care and treatment.

SOLAR PANEL AND ENERGY ACCESS

A total of 11, 000 solar panels were installed across all the regions. A mini-hydro power plant is about to be constructed in Cheung Mouth River to supply renewable energy to Region 8 villages.

An additional 6000 solar panels are being procured for distribution to additional communities including some riverine communities CORE HOMES/HOME SUBSIDIES

A sum of $107.2M was spent on home improvement and 127 Core home were completed in the hinterlands

GOVERNANCE

Every year since the passing of the Amerindian Act, MoAA hosted the Annual National Toshaos Council Meeting (with an average budget of $50 M) to build capacity on: • Best practices in governance that includes transparency and accountability (audits); • Improved leadership for Toshaos and Village Councils in accordance to the Amerindian Act 2006; • Improved Community Management geared towards a holistic approach in Community Development; • Promoting dialog with government officials for the advancement of Amerindian welfare and total development of Amerindian villages; • Providing an opportunity for All Amerindian elected leaders to be able to have dialogue and exchanges on development priorities which challenges them; and • To provide a platform for the Amerindian Leaders have direct access to Government Ministers to dialogue on development challenges in various sectors and finding solutions ADF-GRIF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLANS

A total of 187 Amerindian Villages and Communities were considered for economic projects under the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) - Guyana REDD+Investment Fund (GRIF).

Some US$6.3M from GRIF is allotted for said projects under the Amerindian Development Fund (ADF).

Twenty- Seven (27) projects from across all regions have been chosen for the initial implementation of the project which has commenced early part of 2013 with a budget of US$1.8M. Sixty-seven percent (67%) of all the projects are in agriculture with the aim of securing Amerindian livelihoods.

ADF Project Management Unit were up and running to facilitate full implementation of 160 CDPs. CULTURE

The preservation and promotion of Amerindian heritage is germane to Amerindian’s identity. The cultural activities have been the media for Amerindian culture to be accepted and understood by other groups in Guyana, at the same time, an avenue for all Amerindians to celebrate their heritage and embrace their indigenous roots and identity.

By continuing to protect Amerindian culture, Amerindians are able to understand the significance of their dances, languages, practices, local knowledge, cuisine, crafts, songs, and literature to the total development of their villages. The government is cognizant of the fact that culture is one of the pillars of sustainable development, and without it, and then development is not fully achieved.

Some $25M was spent on average annually in for Amerindian Heritage Celebrations to promote traditions, values, literature , dances of Amerindians. Another $6M was spent annually for other cultural activities The Initiatives include: Arawak Revival Language Project launched in Capoey; Support to Cultural Expo (North Pakaraimas) - $5M; and Support to cultural groups of Aisalton ($1.4M) and Santa Rosa ($7M) OTHER INVESTMENTS

• Mining including gold, diamond, various metals, bauxite • Forestry • Agriculture • Information Communication and Technology- 99 hubs were completed by 2014 to accommodate the computers 20 in number to commence the computer literacy training of youths, women and residents including children.

LAND OWNERSHIP

Prior to 1992, 74 communities were titled. Since, then 24 more villages were granted titles, thereby bringing the total of titled villages to 98, seventy-seven of which had been demarcated.

Six (6) titles were to be approved prior to May 2015 and seven (7) extension were investigated and in preparation for approval While Indigenous people in many Countries have right of use of the Land only, in Guyana where the Indigenous People account for approximately 9.7% of the population, Amerindians own land, including the forests resources within their Titled Lands.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT/SUPPORT

The MoAA has launched the Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YEAP) aimed to train young Amerindians while employing them at the same time and become powerful partners in development.

Some $200M was spent on YEAP in 2013. Focus was placed on developing 2,000 Community Support Officers (CSOs) participate productively in Education, Health, and Social Welfare, Community Development, Culture, ICT, Infrastructure and small business.

The CSOs received training in various areas, including: • Management of Photovoltaic System • Management of Basic ICT hardware • Governance & Amerindian Act • Youth Voices for Climate Change (Sponsored by the US Embassy/Caribbean Development Bank educate youths on the importance of Climate Change and its impact in the Caribbean) • Business & Sustainable Development • Various aspect of the Community Development Project training The Youth Apprenticeship Programme was aimed at training young Amerindians while employing them at the same time is a medium to empower the young as partners in national development. These youths will be our partners in the implementation of CDPs and other socio-economic activities that are taking place in the villages now. The inclusion of the young in gearing their villages towards progress by letting them participate productively in technical, mechanical, computer, and agricultural activities will definitely enhance the capacity of the villages’ human resources.

AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT

Tractors, farm implements, fertilizers, acoushi ant bait, irrigation systems, and other infrastructures provided for villages every year An average of $50M per year was given in agricultural support for various villages through the years COMMUNICATION

Computer Accessibility through 100 computer hubs commenced in 2013. Some $287.7M was allotted for solar systems for ICT hubs; and 57,000 person-beneficiaries.

As at 2014: 72 of these hubs are completed;9 hubs near completion and the HUBs were constructed into Regions of 1, 7, 8 and 9.

All villages now have radio sets for fast communication, each one costs $500,000 Telecommunication facilities built in Mabaruma, Port Kaituma, Red Hill, Morucca, Aishalton, Annai, Lethem, Ominaik, and Mahdia, thus improving communication in the hinterlands!

22

WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Corruption, breach of financial laws, spending irregularities and more….

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 50 scandals in less than three year

T

he Parliamentary Opposition has been monitoring the APNU+AFC government’s use of public funds and the levels of transparency and accountability.

From June 10, 2015 to date, over 50 scandals have been uncovered – an average of one scandal for each month.

1. The cost of the inauguration ceremonies at the Parliament Buildings and, more particularly, the one at the National Stadium has never been revealed.

2. The removal of 8 containers containing steel by BK International from the Ministry of Public Health’s compound worth millions of dollars - in the first week after government changed in violation of a court order.

The government did nothing to retrieve the containers and has been silent.

3. The dismissal of 1,972 Amerindian community service officers at “one stroke of the pen” with no cause by the third (3rd) Vice-President and Minister of Indigenous Affairs. Despite a promise by VP Allicock in the National Assembly, during the 2015 Budget debate that the government would create a new programme to hire Amerindian youths, they instead replaced this programme with the Hinterland Entrepreneurial Youth Skills Programme (HEYs). HEYS is a sixmonth training programme with no entrepreneurial or employment component, which is under severe duress as there are complaints that the facilitators and students have not received their stipends despite the budgetary provision of $1Billion.

4. The appointment of 33 foreign honourary advisors to assist the government and the appointment of a top heavy bureaucracy of Presidential and Ministerial advisors, which have only been partially disclosed in the National Assembly in response to questions to Ministers in 2016. The total numbers are approximated to be nearing 100 advisors

(local and foreign) at a huge cost to the taxpayers.

5. India/GoG funded Speciality Hospital – the government gave a contract to Fedders Lloyd (VP Ramjattan was its lawyer) without going to tender at a price yet unknown and in violation of the procurement laws. Despite public outcry, the government refused to terminate the contract for the Speciality Hospital. The company was delisted by the IDB and the Indian government and Eximbank withdrew the money for the loan. There has been no disclosure as to how much Fedders Lloyd was paid and what work had been done when the company was delisted and the project halted.

6. The first act of the government was to give themselves enormous salary increases between 50 -100 % of what the former government ministers received. This was quietly done in September 2015 and the parliamentary opposition had to wage a struggle in Parliament to bring a motion to reverse this. When the motion was finally heard in December, it was defeated by the government’s one-seat majority. It should be remembered that the media, having leaked the fact that the government was embarking on increasing the salaries of the President, VPs and Ministers, Minister Trotman, on behalf of the government, denied that the government was contemplating any salary increases for the Ministers. This was also denied during the debate on the 2015 Budget in August 2015. Having gone into recess mid-September, the government stealthily published Order No. 6 of 2015 in the Official Gazette, dated September 25th, 2015, increasing their salaries and making it retroactive to July 1, 2015. Contrast this act with the government’s refusal to increase the salaries of the public servants in accordance with their campaign promises.

7. Durban Park Development Project for the Jubilee

celebrations - The government has refused to provide information on the “private company,” which was in charge of the preparations of the Durban Park prior to the Ministry of Public Infrastructure’s “take over” of the project on the orders of the President. It is estimated that the costs, when finally exposed, will be close to $1Billion - for a one-day event.

8. The President pardoned over 100 convicted felons in 2015 and stated that this would be done annually. He promised that these would be felons with non-violent crimes and juvenile offenders. In fact, this was not true.

A number of these persons had been sentenced for violent crimes and a number of them are back in prison.

9. The Rudisa case at the CCJ and the pay out to Rudisa - The APNU and AFC, while in Opposition, twice caused the defeat in the 10th Parliament of attempts by the PPPC government to amend the Customs Act in order to pre-empt the case going to the CCJ and save the country millions of US dollars. The APNU+AFC Coalition government settled to repay the entire amount of the Rudisa USD$16M claim without any negotiations for a debt repayment schedule and despite the fact that the company owed and appears to still owe millions of dollars in taxes to Guyana. The first payment was made late last year and the second budgeted for in the 2016 Budget.

10. Hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the Government and the Georgetown Mayor and City Council on the “Clean Up Campaign” in the city with no public tendering and handpicked companies. In some cases, new companies were created with no experience to facilitate this corruption. There has been no accountability of the amount of monies spent and the Mayor and Town Clerk have rebuffed efforts to allow the Auditor General’s office to do a forensic audit.

11. The write off of debts owed to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the nation by DDL worth billions of dollars (April 2016). If DDL had not issued a press release announcing the write off, this would not have been known.

12. Other write-off of debts by the GRA for other companies who financed the APNU+AFC Coalition electoral campaign, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Minister Trotman said these companies have to be compensated for their financial investment.

13. Following the March 18, 2016 Local Government Elections, Minister Bulkan in violation of the statutes governing the local government system, appointed the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, and the 5 Chairpersons and vice chairperson of the 5 NDCs in the 6 tied LAAs. All of these persons were APNU, although there was a plurality of votes in 3 of the 6 tied LAAs for the PPP and 3 for the APNU+AFC. 14. Write-offs by the APNU+AFC dominated Georgetown Municipal Council to many companies for millions of dollars owed in rates and taxes for undisclosed amounts. This is a City Council that is now cash-strapped and cannot pay contractors for garbage collection nor timely payment of salaries of its employees. The cost to the Treasury of these write offs by the GRA, the Georgetown City Council and other Local Authority Areas alone earmarked in this list of scandals is estimated to be between 23% to 36 % of the total 2016 Budget.

15. Parking meters contract with no public tendering, no involvement of the Georgetown City Council, no consultation with the citizens – the scandal deepens, even as the APNU+AFC Georgetown Mayor is being advised to do some damage control by attempting to amend the 49-year contract and make it less embarrassing for the

government.

16. The three-year Pharmacy Bond contract between the Ministry of Public Health and the Linden Holding Company was not tendered for by Minister Dr Norton’s own admission on the floor of the National Assembly.

The PPP/C will be submitting its motion of privilege, calling for the Speaker to send the Minister of Public Health to the Privilege Committee for wilfully misleading the National Assembly and the nation.

17. The GoG/BK International settlement of $1.17 B for Haags Bosche - The Ministry of Communities’ settlement of $1.17B to BK International for the Haags Bosche project came to light as a result of a Supplementary Financial Paper on August 8th where the country learnt that this settlement was made and would be paid in three tranches, even though the court did not award costs to BK Int’l. The government paid BK Int’l the first third of the payment in January 2016, which begs the question - where did this money come from? It was not provided for in the 2015 budget, nor was there any SFP in the interim nor in the 2016 Budget or since to cover this first payment of G$500M. The August Supplementary Financial Paper covers the payment of the second tranche of $501M to BK int’l from the Consolidated Fund. The third payment the Minister stated would be reflected in the 2017 budget. This is a scandal like the RUDISA and the DDL write offs. Interesting and of note is that BK International is being paid the entire $10M USD for the contract though BK Int’l only worked for 3 of the 5 years of the contract at substandard work. The PPP/C government had terminated the contract due to substandard work and delays. Ministers Bulkan and Patterson late 2015 both publicly stated that BK Int’l had done substandard work on the project!

18. Two fuel scandals relat-

ing to the issuance of fuel licenses for the importation of fuel to companies that are made up of persons related to top officials or who are top officials themselves in the government, who have no fuel bonds, no storage facilities and no offices.

The withdrawal of the fuel importation license to the Chinese company, which has invested millions of US dollars for storage facilities, appears to have been calculated to make room for these alternative importers.

In August the second set of fuel licenses came to light regarding licenses issued to Dr. Van West Charles, CEO and other officials in GWI under a private company. It should be noted that an applicant for a fuel license has to acquire an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and 4 additional licences - provision of a bond under detailed specifications, transportation, storage, importation, and restrictions on where fuel storage can be located. It normally takes a long time for an applicant to obtain all these licenses---impossible to do so in 9 months. The licenses were issued in the month that Van West Charles became CEO GWI and, therefore, he had ample time to remove himself from the company.

At a parliamentary opposition weekly press briefing several months ago, this gentlemen’s role in soliciting donations for pipes for the wells in Region 9 was exposed. It was reported that the Brazilian contractors hired by GWI to dig 8 wells in the Rupununi region were unable to pay their workers as they allege that GWI is not paying them (the contractors).

19. Consistent and frequent violation of the Procurement Act by line ministries - e.g, the Minister of Agriculture admitted that the MOA nor the NDIA had gone out to tender for works totalling $234M due to emergency works for El Nino and flooding in regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10. In fact, these monies should have been provided for in the Supple(Turn to page 23)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over... mentary Financial Paper # 2 of 2016 for the Consolidated Fund.

20. Requests for information during questions to Ministers and questions during the debate on the two Supplementary Financial Papers on August 8th revealed that the government ministers’ will not release contracts unless they have the permission of the other person/company/ party to the contract. This is unheard of and a violation of the role of the legislature under the constitution to hold the government accountable.

21. Undermining the judicial process- the establishment of a Presidential Tribunal to inquire, investigate and recommend whether Carvil Duncan, Chairman of the Public Service Commission, should be removed from office for inability to discharge his duties. Since the charges against Mr Duncan are still pending before a Magistrate of the Georgetown Magistrate’s court, the establishment of this tribunal is premature, pre-emptive and repugnant to the very “due process” to which the President says that his Administration is committed.

22. Auditor General’s special audit of GECOM expenditure in 2015 prior to the general and regional elections—this is on-going, with the use of sole sourcing by the GECOM estimated to amount to $700M in the months prior to the May 2015 elections. However, unlike other investigations where the heads were sent on administrative leave such as the Head of NICIL, Head of the NDIA, PS of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, head of the Public Hospital Georgetown, to name a few, this CEO has not been sent off on administrative leave.

23. $240M spent on refurbishing the Kitty Market.

Photographic evidence exposes the corruption by City Hall. There are no scope of works, estimates, etc that is available and the project was not put to tender as the city has hired the workers and is implementing the works itself. This project is still not completed.

24. The awarding of the contract for boxed juices for the school feeding programme to a Surinamese beverage company owned by RUDISA that was not the lowest or even the second lowest bid. The impact on the local farmers and manufacturers will be felt. DDL has come out publicly to criticise this, so too, has another company Guyana Beverages.

25. Award of the contract for quarry stone to a Surinamese company for the CJIA will have tremendous impact on the local quarries. Toolsie Persaud, one of the stone producers, has protested. There is more to come to light on this issue and this we have earmarked an emerging scandal where government needs to provide answers.

26. The discriminatory dismissals of hundreds of employers in the public service and in the state entities on the basis of their ethnic and assumed political affiliation which started in June 2015 is continuing unabated.

27. Some $1.64B was spent regionally on health, plus an additional added $2.5B that was spent on pharmaceuticals and medical supplies at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC) without tender – a massive total $4.17B that was spent by the Coalition Government in breach of the procurement rules.

28. Not satisfied with the huge increases in salary and benefits, some Ministers are greedy and the reports of paying off Ministers for licenses, contracts etc., is astounding. The government has got into the habit of putting out tenders in the press and then cancelling them repeatedly until their chosen contractor wins the tender.

29. Chicken importation licenses to non-existent/ non-registered companies as well as another company in the name of the CEO, GWI, Van West Charles.

30. The Removal of 6,000 solar panels purchased for the Hinterland Household Electrification Programme

and re-allocating them for use at the Ministry of the Presidency and State House.

31. The Wind Farm project being done by Lloyd Singh, an AFC financier. Minister Trotman has said that it is “payback time for one of their election financiers”.

32. Antinfek in drinking water purchased by GWI without tender and without warnings of the health hazard by a CEO who was employed for years by the PAHO. Only after questioning by the Opposition in the National Assembly has the government provided minimum disclosure.

33. Contract for GPL Prepaid meters, awarded after 3 re-tenders to a contractor whose bid was the highest of all bids; in fact, $ 1 B more than engineers’ estimate.

34. Contract for the Water treatment plants- tenders cancelled twice before finally being awarded to their preferred contractor, who was higher than the other tenders.

35. Tendering for the GOG/ IDB Sheriff St road project was repeatedly done and no awards made until we lost that part of the IDB loan of $20M USD while at the same time paying penalty fees.

36. Procurement of drugs and medical supplies, in breach of procurement laws.

37. Consistent and on-going violations of the Procurement Act, financial rules and the Fiscal Management and Enactment Act are pervasive. The most recent examples were exposed during the August 3, 2017 debate with regard to funds for the State Assets Recovery Agency and constitutional bodies including the Public Procurement Commission and the Public Service Appellate Tribunal.

38. The on-going saga of the Durban Jubilee Park. It is estimated that expenditure has reached $1.5 B. Auditor General Deodat Sharma aims to wrap up his special audit into the controversial Durban Park Project before

(From page 22)

the end of the year even if he does not receive certain financial records which appear to be missing. Mired in controversy, millions more are being spent in preparation for the flag raising ceremony to mark Independence.

39. Contract for CCTV cameras for the Ministry of the Presidency- not delivered and paid for since 2015. The company has been declared bankrupt. So where is the taxpayers’ money?

40. Purchase of the Prime Minister’s SUV- bullet proof, latest model, extraordinary extravagance for a poor developing country.

Noticeable is the acquisition of a fleet of new vehicles for every Minister yet many have not been budgeted for in the annual budgets.

41. Secret COI targeting constitutional rights commissions, in particular the Public Service Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission. This is a form of intimidation. No report available.

42. President’s instruction to the Police Service Commission to halt police promotions in contravention of the constitution.

43. The COI into the Police with regard to the way it investigated the intention or plot to assassinate the President. The real plot behind this move appears to be the decapitation of the Guyana Police Force leadership. The President’s instruction to the Police Service Commission to halt these promotions appears to give credence to this theory.

44. The Georgetown Prison Camp Street Jailbreak and fire on July 9, 2017 and the Lusignan escapees coming after the March 2016 riots and fire that lead to 17 inmates being burnt to death.

The COI of the March 2016 prison disturbances and fire has been kept secret but more evidence coming to light indicate that the government did not act on those recommendations, including the establishment of a multi-agency multi-sectoral

body being appointed by the President to implement the recommendations. Budgetary allocations for the Prisons, especially capital works to increase the inmate accommodation at the Mazaruni Prison in the 2016 budget was unspent and rolled over to 2017 and as of July 2017 these works are still not complete. The new request for $753M appropriated in Parliament on August 3 2017 cannot account for $ 153 M requested.

45. The Amendments to the Broadcasting Act passed in the National Assembly by the one seat majority government are an infringement on the freedom of expression and freedom of the press. Despite public appeals to the President by reputable international organizations such as Reporters Without Borders and the International Press Institute as well as denunciations by the Guyana Press Association, private sector, broadcasters, civil society, and the Parliamentary Opposition, the President as of August 17, 2017 denied requests to defer his assent and hold consultations.

46. The Commission of Inquiry into Lands – communal, joint and individual lands and any other lands – with specific focus on Amerindian land titling and land of Freed Africans. There was no prior consultation with the National Toshaos Council (NTC) or any Amerindian communities on the establishment of this COI. The NTC, five Amerindian non-governmental organizations and the Parliamentary opposition protested the appointment of this COI as it threatened Amerindian land rights which are enshrined in the constitution and in the Amerindian Act. The Parliamentary Opposition brought a motion in parliament calling on the President to revoke the COI or at least the component which is treating with Amerindian land titling which was defeated by the government’s one seat majority. The government 4 months after it established the COI held its first consultation with the NTC. This COI is a recipe to drive rifts and strife between

different ethnic groups in the country.

47. Repossession of lease and transported lands and property - the revocation of 30 MMA farmers leases by the President, the Central Housing and Planning Authority ( CHPA) repossession of transported houses and land and its CEO’s recent renewed threats to take away land from private developers are all unconstitutional. The judiciary in early August 2017 ruled that the President’s revocation of the leases of the farmers in the MMA was unconstitutional. In another instance the court issued a conservatory order to prevent the government from seizing and taking possession of the Cheddi Jagan Research Centre until case is properly heard.

48. Rental of residences for Ministers- $500,000 each to 2 junior Ministers and one Minister $ 1.5 M. This has been exposed in detail in the media and by members of civil society and the Parliamentary Opposition.

49. The appointment of the Chairman of the GECOM in violation of the constitution and the ruling of the Chief Justice.

50. The US$18M signing bonus from ExxonMobil placed outside of the Consolidated Fund.

51. Painting state properties in APNU colours.

52. Reduction of constitutional bodies budgets 2016, 2017, 2018 in violation of the 2015 amendment to FMA Act. These scandals, not limited to this list, have been uncovered and expose a level of corruption and discrimination that has not been seen since the Burnham era. The APNU+AFC government lacks transparency and accountability, and is prepared to undermine and even violate the procurement and financial laws of this country, as well as other constitutional provisions and statutory provisions.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Another corruption scandal: $366.9M paid over to gov’t supporter W

ith the dust barely settled over the $632M drugs and medi-

cal supplies procurement scandal, sole-sourcing of $366.9M of drugs and med-

ical supplies in 2017 has once again brought into question decisions by the

Ministry of Public Health – and the likely of increasing corruption at that Ministry.

As was the case with the spending of $605M, the Ministry – headed by Volda Lawrence – claims that the spending of the $366.9M was to cover emergency expenditures.

Documents revealed that a company, HDM Labs Inc. was handpicked over three others that went through tendering and were declared to have failed the evaluation process.

Notably, even the three companies that were shortlisted – International Pharmaceutical Agency (IPA), Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc. and Ansa McAl Trading Limited – are all connected to the APNU+AFC Coalition Government. Ansa McAl Trading Limited was the company involved in the $632M scandal and of that a total of $605M was paid to Ansa McAl Trading Inc. The timeline of events that led to $366.9M being paid – in full and up front, before the delivery of the items purchased – to HDM Labs Inc are as follows: 1. On May 23rd 2017, the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board opened tenders for the procurement of emergency pharmaceutical supplies for regional and clinic services; 2. Companies placed bids - International Pharmaceutical Agen cy ($187M); Caribbean Medical Supplies Inc. ($95.5M); Ansa McAl Trading Limited ($190.6M).

3. On June 19, 2017, a company that did not submit a bid, HDM Labs Inc., owned by a Guyanese-American businessman and APNU+AFC supporter, Hardat Singh, was written to requesting that it submit quotations and availability for the supply and delivery from a list of pharmaceuticals supplied. It is unclear how the Ministry would have known whether

HDM Labs was up to the standards sets for companies from which Guyana buys drugs and medical supplies.

4. On the same day, June 19, 2017, Permanent Secretary at Health Ministry, Collette Adams, wrote to the Chairman of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB), Berkley Wickham, asking his permission for the company to be allowed to sole- source the items.

5. Approval to solesource was given on June 20, 2017.

6. The contract was awarded to HMD Labs Inc. on the same day, June 20, 2017, awarded the contract to the tune of US$1.7M or $366.9M. Meanwhile, the three companies were said to have failed the evaluation.

A checklist of what areas in the 16-criteria evaluation sheet the companies failed states that some failed in the submission of bid security of required amount, manufacturer’s authorization in the territory Guyana, provision of a guarantee and warranty statements and Certification from the US Food and Drug Administration and experience and technical capacity that they would have carried out similar transactions. PA failed 7 out of the 16 areas; ANSA McAl is listed with three fails; and Caribbean Medical Supplies with two.

The Health Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, last year, had listed the emergency tenders were placed by the respective regions.

She had assured that the Ministry had no plans to seek further bulk emergency purchases, only if a potential health threat warning is given or the nation faces a large outbreak of sicknesses. Interestingly, the HDM Labs June sole-sourcing was not mentioned then.

Government has remained silent on this issue.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

APNU+AFC ‘kick-back schemes’ – gov’t silent in the face of criticisms

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orruption has been made an “institutional endeavour” under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, with a “mad scramble” by government ministers to accumulate “as much as they can” before the 2020 General and Regional Elections.

This was the view proffered

by Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo.

Despite the criticisms government has remained silent.

Notably, the 2017 and

2018 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), produced by the United States of America’s (USA) State Department, are markedly different, in that “government corruption” is cited as a major source of money laundering in Volume 2 of the latest report.

THE ‘KICKBACK SCHEMES’ INCLUDE: 1. Work permits being sold for as much as US$1,000; and Guyanese documents

being sold for as much as US$6,000.

2. Gun licences being sold at exorbitant costs, $1.2M for shotgun licences and $600,000 for 6MM pistols.

Licenses for security companies are going for millions more.

3. Ministers are involved in a rental scam, where properties are rented at inflated prices and part of which goes back to the minister in question.

4. The establishment of front companies, with government officials using names of friends or family members

to set up companies, which then benefit from massive government contracts – all in breach of Guyana’s procurement laws.

5. Prime gold mining lands being given to parties linked to government ministers, who guarantee APNU+AFC officials a return on the operations.

6. Dozens of cases settled out of court, for a price, with no disclosure on why there was a decision to settle.

7. Misuse of taxpayers’ monies, with massive properties being constructed for Government ministers.

8. The loss of billions in revenue because of Government supported fuel smuggling rackets. In April 2018, several individuals were implicated in massive fuel smuggling, but managed to get off with a fine of $36M, which was paid to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). The boat was released and no charged were filed, whereas usual procedure would have seen a different course of action being taken. Following reports that authorities, on April 19, 2018, took control of a vessel – the Jubilee – because it was suspected to

have been involved in fuel smuggling, documents linking the vessel’s operations to prominent local figures were released. Company documents for entity, SBF International Inc., names Attorney-at-Law, Roysdale Forde, Anand Sanasie and Dorwain Bess as Directors.

Another document, a leaked agreement, names SBF International as the company that engaged the services of Sia Regulus, which owns the Jubilee. That agreement was signed by Forde in May 24, 2016 and one, Captain Alexander Kilmanskiy.

APNU+AFC gov’t silent on ‘government corruption’ highlighted in US report T

he 2018 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), produced by the United States of America’s (USA) State Department, cites “government corruption” as a major source of money laundering – marking the first time in contemporary history that this has happened.

However, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government continues to remain silent on this matter. Not

one government minister or official has addressed this matter.

Commenting on the report, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo, stressed that the Government has been curiously silent on the US State Department’s report.

Jagdeo added too that many of the personalities and groups that took such reports as “gospel” during

the PPP/C tenure in office, but have now, also, gone silent. “Where is Goolsarran?” he questioned, noting that former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, was outspoken about what he believed was corruption under the former PPP/C government.

Goolsarran had been one of the persons hired by the Coalition government to conduct forensic audits, which were supposed to

prove corruption. A massive $133M of taxpayers’ money was spent on about 45 audits. The Coalition government has been criticised for the manner in which the audits were commissioned, since many supporters of APNU+AFC were given contracts – including Goolsarran. Goolsarran received four contracts totaling over $6M, with the largest contract sum being $2.3M. Another $8M was paid to

Christopher Ram’s company, Ram and McRae, for the audit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). In total Ram’s company was tasked with eight contracts totaling over $37M. How much remaining five audits cost – a total of 50 having been cited by government as intended pursuits – remains unknown.

According to Jagdeo, the US officials “clearly

saw something” that made it necessary for the words “government corruption” to be included in the 2018 report.

The Opposition Leader made clear that given the numerous breaches of financial laws, the Procurement Act, etc. – and the many underhand dealings that have been exposed, the APNU+AFC Coalition government is one of “the most corrupt” Guyana has seen.

US report calls for ‘complicit public officials’ involved in human trafficking to be prosecuted

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he United States of America’s State Department released its 2018 trafficking in Persons Report this week and noted that Guyana only met the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.

Also, the US report called for “complicit public officials” to be vigorously investigated, prosecuted and face strong jail sentences.

The report also recommended the: 1. Finalizing of the written identification procedures to better guide law enforcement officials; 2. Training of more law enforcement, judiciary officials, and front-line responders—especially those working outside the capital—on victim identification and referral procedures; 3. Developing of standard procedures for protecting foreign victims;

4. Provision of additional protection for victims to testify against traffickers in a way that minimizes re-traumatization; and 5. Monitoring of the number of cases reported to the trafficking hotline or by labor inspectors to promote a rapid investigative and victim assistance response.

According to the report, Guyana “did not provide adequate protection and shelter outside the capital or for child and male victims” and that “victim assistance remained insufficient, especially in areas outside the capital and for child and male victims.”

The report pointed out too that, “There were no adequate public or private shelters for male or child trafficking victims, despite the government’s commitment, made in early 2016, to open and partially fund a shelter for male victims.

Child victims were placed into foster care, safe homes, or were reintegrated with their families while adult male victims were placed at non-specialized night shelters on an ad hoc basis.”

The report also said that the number of trafficking investigations and new prosecutions decreased, and the number of successful convictions remained low.

According to the US report, limited government presence in the country’s interior renders the full extent

of trafficking unknown.

RECENT CONCERNS The most recent concerns about human trafficking surrounding the thousands of Haitians and Cubans, who came to Guyana, but there are no departure records for these persons.

After the issue first came up, when asked, Minister Felix, on May 23, 2018, wrote to the Clerk of the National Assembly and provided statistics of several main groups of foreign nationals, with the

largest arrival and departure figures, for the past five years and the first quarter of 2018.

A breakdown of the information showed alarming information for two groups – Cubans and Haitians.

According to the numbers, from 2015 to April 30, 2018, a total of 93,374 Cubans arrived in Guyana, but only 76,663 were recorded to have left. This means that there are 16,711 Cubans still in Guyana. However, there is no evidence that such a

large number of Cubans are still in Guyana.

For Haitians, the numbers show that, from 2015 to April 30, 2018, a total of 6,245 arrived in Guyana, but only 963 were recorded to have left. This means that there are 5,282 Haitians still in Guyana. As is the case with the Cubans, there is no evidence that there are over 5,000 Haitians living in Guyana.

Notably, while the Coalition Government has remained silent on the substantive concern of human trafficking, several top Government officials are said to be involved in the trafficking of Haitians and Cubans – using Guyana as a trans-shipment point. Reports are that the persons who are trafficked through Guyana have to pay as much as US$6,000 for Guyanese documents, which are used as they are moved out of the country.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Granger adds to confusion in APNU+AFC camps on decriminalizing marijuana possession – backs down after committing to removal of custodial sentences for possession of small amounts of marijuana

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resident David Granger, over the weekend in Jamaica, said that the removal of custodial sentences for possession of small amounts of cannabis is on the cards for Guyana.

“We are moving towards the removal of custodial sentences for the possession of small amounts of marijuana,” he said.

However, once back in Guyana, Granger backed down from what was seemed like a confirmed move to repeal jail sentences for small amounts of marijuana - essentially decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

On Monday (July 9, 2018), he said, “The matter has not been settled by

Cabinet….the Minister of State, in due course, will announce what Cabinet’s policy is, but the idea is not to encourage the use of marijuana.”

Notably, the State Minister Joseph Harmon had said that government’s position on the possession of cannabis will depend on the final report of the CARICOM Regional Commission on Marijuana and the findings of a Ministry of Health survey. CARICOM Heads of Government gathered in Jamaica considered the recommendations contained in the Com-mission’s report, which in part calls for the dismantling of the mechanism that prohibits its use in its entirety.

PPP/C POSITION Meanwhile, the position of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) on the issue is a bit clearer.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has made it clear that the PPP/C is not in favour of legalizing marijuana – that there is no support to legalise production and sale of marijuana.

“We are opposed to this,” he said.

He explained that the Party supports decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.

According to him, decriminalization will only address removing the minimum, mandatory, jail sentence of three years for possession of

small amounts of marijuana.

“When they are caught, instead of three years in jail, there should be alternative sentencing,” he said.

Jagdeo pointed out that the issue of reviewing possession of quantities of marijuana that attract mandatory minimum jail sentence was included in the PPP/C 2015 manifesto. “This did not happen yesterday…we believe that when we put promises in our manifesto they must be kept…check to see how many promises they have kept,” he said.

Currently possession of small amounts of marijuana attracts a minimum, mandatory, jail sentence of three years.

CONFUSION The APNU+AFC Coalition Government has not been unified in a single clear message on this issue.

Former AFC Chairman Nigel Hughes, with the help of Attorney Mark Waldron, compiled a draft Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances (Control) (Amendment) Bill 2015, which seeks to soften the penalties for marijuana possession.

In December 2015, AFC Parliamentarian, Michael Carrington, tabled a motion, which calls for the Bill to be read the first time. To date this has not been done and the motion remains on the National Assembly’s agenda. The actual draft bill has not been made public.

Notably, soon after Carrington’s motion was tabled. President David Granger stated that the decriminalization or legalization of marijuana is not a priority of his Administration. “This is not something that is a preoccupation of the Administration at the present time… I would not counsel the use of marijuana by young people or anybody,” he said in a broadcast of ‘The Public Interest’.

The President’s comments ran contrary to a position of the Alliance For Change (AFC) faction of the coalition Government, which has been strongly advocating for the decriminalization of marijuana.

Gov’t ignoring the implications of high fuel prices – private sector

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ontinued inaction by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to address the increasing fuel prices has drawn condemnation from the private sector. And the Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) has since moved to only reduce the prices by $4.

At GuyOil gas has been reduced by $4, from $230.

Diesel prices have been reduced also by $4, $219.

There is no mention of kerosene prices being reduced also. Notably, the $230 and $219 prices for gas and diesel prices at GuyOil are lower than the prices being charged at privately owned service stations.

The Private Sector Commission (PSC), the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA) and the Guyana Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), had called on government to act – in the way that the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) intervened to ensure that Guyanese are not unnecessarily pressured.

Under the former PPP/C government, the mechanism used was that the ad valorem tax rate was adjusted inversely in relation to movements of oil price on the world market.

In other words, the excise tax rates were adjusted downward when prices increase on the world market, and increased when prices falls.

For example, during the period from December 2008 to March 2012 the world market price for crude oil increased by 184 per cent, but the price for a gallon of gasoline in Guyana only increased by 77 per cent. This was achieved by the Government lowering the tax rate on gasoline from 50 per cent to 15 per cent. As price started to fall, the tax rates were adjusted upward. As such, there was no major loss of revenues and there was no unnecessary burden on the Guyanese people.

Gas station prices for fuel had increased rapidly, from $215 per litre to prices ranging from $230 to $250 per litre. It is unclear how much relief Guyanese will have at privately owned gas stations since the GuyOil price was only reduced by $4.

BELOW IS THE JOINT STATEMENT ON FUEL PRICES FROM THE PSC, GMSA, GCCI Fuel Prices have being constantly increasing over the past few weeks. In the

past when there was a reduction in crude oil market price to US $44 per barrel in 2015, Government intervened to slash the retail price per litre from $219 to $153. However, although the world market price dipped below US $30 per barrel in 2016, the retail price per litre at the state owned pumps was $190 which was then reduced to $170 due to advocacy by the private sector for Government to intervene.

As the world market price for oil recovers, the local private sector has

noted similar increases at retail outlets per litre of gasoline and diesel; from $180 in June, 2016 to $230 more recently in July, 2018. While this is commensurate with the rising price of oil on the world market, there are ways in which our Government could stem the impact of the price increase on the local economy, in order to manage the foreseeable uptick in inflation and reduced economic activity.

There is much that could be done by adjusting the excise tax so that businesses

could remain competitive.

As consumers, there are economic implications of higher oil prices. When gasoline prices increase, a larger share of households’ income is likely to be spent on it, which leaves less to be spent on other goods and services.

The same goes for businesses, whose goods must be shipped from place to place. The manufacturing sector that uses diesel and Bunker C for self-generation of power and steam are finding it difficult to cope with the increased

cost as it has a negative impact on profits. The alternative is to increase prices of goods produced which is difficult to do in a competitive market.

On the commercial side, fuel costs account for a significant part of overall operational costs in distribution and transportation businesses.

We, therefore call upon our Government to intervene and adjust excise taxes to reduce the fuel price and negate the harmful impact on Guyana’s economy.

Police presence in National Assembly still not investigated

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he Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s (CPA) Secretary-General, Akbar Khan, last month, indicated that the matter of police officers being called into the National Assembly Chambers should be investigated. This call has been backed by the Parliamentary Opposition.

However, there has been no move to act on these comments.

In December 2017, ranks of the Guyana Police Force were summoned to the Chambers to remove Opposition Parliamentarian Juan Edghill. To date, it is unclear who summoned the police officers. Notably, acting Police

Commission, David Ramnarine, had stated that the ranks “ought not” to have been in the Chambers.

After that incident, there was another that raised eyebrows, in December 2017. Ranks of the Criminal Investigations Department, armed with camera equipment that was being used, were placed as the media desk in the Cambers. Questions were posed to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, who had indicated that he is unaware about CID ranks being positioned in the Chambers.

He said: “Police is there? But that is the press table…no they can’t do

that…police can’t get there….the press is there with the permission of the Speaker. Anyone there should be there with the permission of the Speaker.” The Clerk of the National Assembly moved to call senior ranks of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) to have clarity on the matter. The CID ranks were eventually removed.

The presence of ranks of the Guyana Police Force in the National Assembly Chambers represented a first for the House in contemporary history.

Government has remained silent on the issue.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 14-15 JULY, 2018

Campbellville pandit and son found dead

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he Police are investigating the deaths of a father and son who were discovered in their Craig Street, Campbellville home sometime on Wednesday (July 10, 2018).

Dead are Deonarine Liliah, a pandit, and his son Gopaul Liliah, a businessman of Lot 25 Craig and Delph streets, Campbellville.

The men might have been victims of a robbery. The bodies which bore marks of violence were discovered in a bedroom and hallway.

The house was reportedly ransacked. It is Dewan Liliah (left) and his son Gopaul (right) unclear if anything is missing.

Contraband in prisons becoming almost a daily problem

Suspicious private aircraft detained at CJIA over ‘irregularities’

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n investigation has been launched into the landing of a private chartered aircraft at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri about 15:20hours on Tuesday (July 9, 2018).

The police in a statement today said that in keeping with enhanced security postures and intensified collaboration with management of the various Units /Agencies operating at the CJIA, ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit were alerted and conducted a preliminary inspection of the aircraft and discovered certain irregularities which were promptly reported to higher Headquarters.

Based on subsequent

enquiries made to certain Authorities, it was revealed that the pilots and passengers were invited to Guyana

by Michael Brassington who was at the airport to receive them and the ‘Handling Permission Form’ listed Roraima Airways Inc. as the handling agent for the aircraft.

Further enquiries re-

vealed that the registration number on the aircraft may be a false one as another aircraft is reportedly carrying the same registration number and further that the “Data Plate that “contains vital information” about the aircraft is missing.

The aircraft has since been detained as the investigation continues.

Fire truck crashes into day care center

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The footwear with 80 sticks of cigarettes and 108 grams of marijuana under the sole of the boots

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he problem of smuggling and attempted smuggling of contraband into the several penitentiaries is an increasingly problematic one – an almost daily occurrence.

Earlier this week, man yesterday sprinted away from prison officers after he tried to smuggle contraband items in a pair of boots at the Lusignan jail. The man arrived at the penitentiary to deliver clothing and footwear to a prisoner.

As the officers checked the items placed on the table, they observed the footwear looked suspicious. The footwear had four packs of cigarettes and 108 grams of marijuana under the sole of the boots. The man after recognizing that the officers had become suspicious sprinted out of the facility.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday last, two parcels containing narcotics, 18 packs of cigarettes, a quantity of zip locks, 12 packs of bamboo and a plastic bottle containing El Dorado five-year-

old rum was found in close proximity to a chicken pen at the New Amsterdam Prison after being thrown over the fence of the said prison.

Additionally, on July 3, 2018, a man attempted to throw a parcel containing 1002 grams of narcotics, a large quantity of tobacco leaves, four cellphones without SIM cards, one charger, one earpiece and 33 packets of Bristol cigarettes into the Lusignan prison but dropped the items when he was noticed by prison security and made good his escape.

On June 23, 2018, a man also managed to evade security at the Lusignan Prison after throwing a large quantity of cannabis and other items over the fence.

These are just among the most recent instances of smuggling at the holding facilities.

Ever since the July 9, 2017 Camp Street prison fire, which resulted in prisoners being transported to several jails coun-

trywide, the smuggling and attempted smuggling of contraband has become prevalent.

Additionally, the Guyana Prison Service (GPS), in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force (GPF), has since resulted in five prison officers, who are suspected to be in collusion with the criminals, being relieved of their duties. Prison Director Gladwin Samuels said, “We also have five officers who have been interdicted from duty following the May 1 matter at the Holding Bay where our CCTV footage would have revealed that a number of what is suspected to be contraband items were thrown into the Holding Bay facility…based on the reviews we would have conducted, it is clear that the officers were working in collusion with each other in order to facilitate the movement of the suspected contraband into the prison.” Samuels further disclosed that legal advice has been sought from the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Fire tender, PRR 1635, which responded to a fire at Parika, East Bank Essequibo and was returning to the Leonora Fire Station veered off the road and crashed into a Day Care Centre under construction at De Kinderin, West Coast Demerara about 14:30hours on Sunday (July 8, 2018).

The vehicle is extensively damaged and its occupants admitted patients at the West Demerara Regional Hospital nursing injuries about their bodies and are said to be in stable condition.

They are: the driver, Section Leader Troy Gravesande, 45 and Firemen Adrian Benjamin, 24, Quinton Damon, 36, Errol Hyman, 42, and Bryant Bobb, 20.

ERC meets with Opposition team

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team from the Parliamentary Opposition, led by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, met with the Commissioners of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) on Wednesday (July 11, 2018) afternoon. The other PPP/C members at the meeting were Opposition Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira, and PPP/C Parliamentarian, Juan Edghill.

FIFA World Cup final preview: France v Croatia prediction, schedule, odds, head-to-head and road to Russia 2018 climax

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irst-time finalists Croatia take on 1998 champions France in a rematch of unforgettable semi-final from 20 years ago The match at Moscow’s 80,000-capacity Luzhniki Stadium kicks off at 4pm local time (11pm Hong Kong time) on July 15.

While Croatia are firsttime finalists at the World Cup, they are more than familiar with their opponents.

Croatia have never beaten France in five attempts, the most famous of which was the semi-final in 1998 when the hosts beat the debutants 2-1 thanks to a Lilian Thuram double.

That was the first time the teams met and since then there have been three friendlies – all France victories – and a draw in the Uefa European Championship group stage in 2004.

The most recent match was in 2011 but several of those who played out a 0-0 draw in Paris could be in action in the biggest game of their lives on Sunday night as Croatia look to beat France for the first time.

Hugo Lloris and Blaise Matuidi are the only survivors for Les Bleus but Croatia can and probably will call upon Dejan Lovren, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic, Vedran Corluka, Luka Modric, Domagoj Vida and Milan Badelj.

One player who is certain to miss out is Nicola Kalinic.

The striker was sent home after reportedly refusing to come on as a sub during the group game against Nigeria.

Croatia also sent coach Ognjen Vukojevic home after a controversial video

of him and Vida dedicating their victory over Russia to Ukraine.

The “Glory to Ukraine” message they shared on social media is politically charged having been used in the 2014 revolution and is associated with Ukrainian nationalists. The country is still involved in an ongoing dispute with the World Cup hosts over Crimea.

Vida was warned by Fifa while the Croatian FA sacked their assistant coach.

France, by contrast, have kept the controversy to a minimum and the reward for their fresh-faced squad – the second youngest at Russia 2018 along with England – is a shot at the biggest prize in football.

Mario Mandzukic was the extra-time hero against England, his 109th-minute goal proving the difference in the Luzhniki Stadium and ensuring that Croatia play in the biggest game of their country’s brief existence.

For France it was defender Samuel Umtiti who was the unlikely goalscorer in a team riddled with attacking talent.

While Croatia are recovering from yet another knockout game that has gone to extra time – their three consecutive extra-time matches are equivalent to playing one more whole match than France – the French have had an extra day of rest and have not yet gone longer than 90 minutes.

They also took their last group game easy in the 0-0 draw with Denmark, the only goalless game of this World Cup. (Adapted from South China Morning Post)

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