Weekend Mirror 18-19 May 2019

18-19 May, 2019 / Vol. 10 No. 73 / Price: $100

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

Leaked Letter exposes damning allegations…

Staff complains about Basil Williams exposing genitals to female staff, abuse and more

‒ Granger received complaint months ago, does nothing

GECOM’s legal officer confirms validity of objections to house-to-house registration PAGE 9

Guyana’s democratic credentials damaged during Coalition’s time in office ‒ Jagdeo PAGE 11

Teixeira calls for investigation into use of taxpayers’ money in Compton Reid appeal at CCJ PAGE 19

PAGE 20

SEE INSIDE

Increase in gun crimes a major cause for concern PAGE 10

Lethem promised asphalt PAGE 26 road, works downgraded Platform provided to allow anonymous submissions about PAGE 10 corruption, more

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

PPP activists continue ground work in various communities RUIMVEDLT

SOPHIA

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

CCJ decision, orders likely in the coming weeks A

decision from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), in the cases related to the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion, is likely to be handed down soon.

President of the CCJ, Adrian Saunders, said, “We will consider our decision and depending on that decision we will give a date when the decision will be given…depending on the nature of the decision perhaps on that date we will decide what further submissions we need.”

According to the CCJ judge, once the decision is handed down, the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) would be invited to make submissions as required by the Court. Once that is done, orders are expected to be handed down by the CCJ. Meanwhile, former Attorney General of Guyana,

“I think, once it rules that the No-Confidence Motion was validly passed, it has an obligation to give effect to the letter and spirit of the Constitution which is for elections to be held now that the 3 months have expired, for elections to be held within the shortest period of time.”

Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall Anil Nandlall, who is also one of the lawyers representing the Opposition at the hearings, said, “Assuming that the No-Confidence Motion will be upheld and that Charrandas’ vote will be counted and declared to be valid, the important part now is what orders will the Court make. “…I think, once it rules that the No-Confidence Motion was validly passed, it has an obligation to give effect to the letter and spirit of the Constitution which is for elections to be held now

that the 3 months have expired, for elections to be held within the shortest period of time.

“The ruling cannot be that the No-Confidence Motion was validly passed, let us assume that is the ruling, the Court cannot just leave it like that. The Court needs to make orders that would make effect to the spirit of the Constitution now that the letter of the Constitution can no longer be achieved having regard to the expiration of the time contemplated by the Constitution for elections

Fight for prime ministerial nomination…

Trotman takes Ramjattan to task

I

n an apparent public rebuke of Alliance For Change (AFC) Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, the AFC leader, Raphael Trotman, made clear that he does not support the notion of multiple persons vying for the position of Prime Ministerial Candidate.

“For the record, we have an incumbent Prime Minister and at least one person expressing interest in the same position. I don’t believe that it would serve the coalition’s interest if there were multiple aspirants for what is essentially one position,” said Trotman – a former People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member who broke ranks with his Party and joined the AFC. Earlier this month, Ramjattan, declared his intent to challenge current Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, for the prime ministerial nomination. “I have already indicated my interest. There are others I am certain who will indicate their interests… it is good to have instead of political parties, the regular rivalry between leaders that you would have in the democracies,” he said.

This is not the first time

that Ramjattan has been publicly taken to task by Trotman. In early February 2019, when Ramjattan hinted that he would welcome consideration as a replacement to Nagamootoo, Trotman said, “Politics and elections are very fluid and it is simply too early to talk about replacing anyone… prefer not to be too hasty, but to take time to observe and assess before reacting emotively…right now I am not sure if anyone feels that he or she can do a better job by winning more votes nationally, and has national acceptability.”

Notably, according to an AFC press statement, at the January 26, 2019 meeting of the AFC’s National Executive Council, Trotman,

in his address, reaffirmed his confidence in the David Granger/Moses Nagamootoo leadership to guide the Coalition Government in the period ahead.

While the Cummingsburg Accord – the pact that sealed the APNU and AFC partnership – detailed a weighty portfolio for the Prime Minister, once the APNU+AFC Coalition took office, Nagamootoo was only responsible for oversight of state media – Guyana Chronicle, NCN and the Department of Public Information.

Nagamootoo is regarded as a ‘diminished’ Prime Minister.

The AFC will select its prime ministerial candidate at its next National Conference, which is slated for mid-June 2019.

to be held if the No-Confidence Motion is successfully passed.”

The Court of Appeal in March 22, 2019, set aside the decision of the High Court, which had ruled that the vote of no-confidence was valid.

According to the Appeal Court, the Parliamentary Opposition needed 34 votes and not 33 – essentially that 33 was not the majority of 65 votes in the National Assembly.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo; former Government Parliamentarian, Charandass Persaud; and

political activist, Christopher Ram, are now challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal at the level of the CCJ. On March 29, 2019, noting that the matters are all related, the CCJ consolidated the three separate appeals filed on the no-confidence motion.

The three consolidated cases are: 1. Christopher Ram versus the Attorney General, the Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission; 2. Bharrat Jagdeo versus

the Attorney General, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission; and 3. Charrandass Persaud versus Compton Reid, the Speaker of the National Assembly, the Attorney General, Bharrat Jagdeo, Joseph Harmon and the Guyana Elections Commission.

Two days of hearings at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion were held last Thursday and Friday (May 9-10, 2019).

Performance of APNU+AFC Coalition gov’t has been ‘pathetic’ – Edghill W

ith the APNU+AFC Coalition Government giving itself a pat on the back for its accomplishments over the past four years, a People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP//C) Member of Parliament, Juan Edghill, contends that the widespread corruption has not only exposed the nature of the Administration, but underscores its failures in delivering for the Guyanese people.

He said, “The APNU/ AFC is living in a bubble of self-deception…the standards they are measuring themselves by are not standards considered acceptable and normal. Their perfor-

mance as it relates to governances and rule and law has been pathetic.

“As it relates to corruption, it has affected from the top right down to the bottom. And these are not mere allegations. These are real issues and no amount of playing it down will cause it to disappear. The fact that there was a No-confidence vote against them was a clear case that their scorecard was way below an F grade. “…they are incapable of regulating themselves. With the Sussex Street bond, they say they are doing an investigation. They put Government Ministers to investigate, they

say better could have been done and after millions, better was not done.” “…with D’Urban Park, they try to deceive the people of Guyana that no Government money was spending.

Now the Auditor General can’t find receipts for millions. The very same things they say they are not guilty of; they are guilty of.”

According to Edghill, the APNU+AFC Coalition has not only failed on delivering on the promises made to the Guyanese people, while finding itself embroiled in one scandal after another, but harmed Guyana in more ways than one, relative to good governance, etc.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

EDITORIAL Guyanese cannot be made to suffer through worsening manifestations of incompetence

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he Georgetown Public Hospital Complex (GPHC) is the largest hospital in the country, with its oldest section, Seaman’s Ward having been established since 1838. The management of the GPHC would have amassed over a century’s worth of experience. The current deplorable state in which GPHC is currently in does not reflect this wealth of knowledge.

The Guyanese populous is currently enduring medication shortages in the system. Medication shortages have long-reaching effects. For some people, it’s life or death.

Guyanese who suffer from renal failure are all too aware of this – more so since drug shortages can morphed into a life or death situation for kidney transplant patients.

Kidney failure is currently a rising problem, with little or no effort being made on the Government’s part to educate the population. In Guyana the two main leading causes of chronic kidney failure are hypertension and diabetes. If patients who suffer from these conditions are properly medicated they can live their entire lives without experiencing kidney failure. The seven main functions of a kidney are: maintaining Acid-base balance, maintaining Water balance, Electrolyte balance, Toxin removal, Blood pressure control, making Erythropoietin and vitamin D metabolism (A WET BED).

Kidney failure was previously considered a death sentence unless patients were flown out of Guyana to do a transplant overseas and then suppressants medication were shipped to them. This was not available prior to 1992. In 1995, then Minister of Health Gail Teixeira experienced her first case of renal failure with Bibi Narine, where she was then sent to Trinidad for regular dialysis sessions. Once stabilized, she was then sent to India for a transplant. Patients since have been flown overseas to do transplants. Most patients have to find their own donor; in some cases, they were provided with a donated kidney in the country that they received the transplant.

In 2006, dialysis became available to those that needed it. Dialysis is now available in a few major hospitals and a few clinics. The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) introduced legislation that allowed for subsided dialysis and covered the cost of the first forty sessions of patients. This would have allowed the patient to stabilize and test for a transplant, which in the long run, bodes a cheaper cost and a more freeing way of life. Dialysis requires the patients to sit at a machine for three to four hours, two to three times a week.

Guyana now has a surgeon who is specialized in transplants. Dr. Kishore has been operating out of GPHC carrying out transplants. He has been paving the way in bringing our medical expertise to that of higher levels, with ideas like cross donor matching. Cross donor matching is when patient A’s donor donates to patient B and patient A receives from patient B’s donor. Under Doctor Kishore, we have seen a lot more patients coming off of dialysis and leading normal healthy lives with transplants. A transplant is not a cure for kidney failure, as the patients will be medicated for the rest of their lives. Currently, they are thirty-four transplant patients who are about to be without their suppressant medication (Mycophenolate), which prevents their bodies from rejecting the transplanted kidney.

These patients could suffer their transplanted kidney failing, landing them back on dialysis or if gods be unkind death.

This is how important this drug is. The minister of health has a responsibility to the citizenship in providing them with the best possible care we can afford. GPHC has been lacking in their responsibilities. They need to be held accountable in providing medication for the population.

Earlier this year we had the cases of the young babies, dying from wrong mediation. GPHC needs to be accountable to the public, not only in providing accurate medication but sufficient amounts.

In simpler terms, the long and short of the matter, is that there seems to be a clear policy vacuum when it comes to the management of the public health sector. The promise of change – one that the APNU+AFC Coalition rode straight into office on – has not been delivered. And the Guyanese cannot be made to suffer through worsening manifestations of incompetence.

How much did the Compton Reid appeal cost taxpayers?

Dear Editor,

M

r. Compton Reid, a private citizen, and a farmer from Berbice, took it upon himself to challenge the validity of the vote cast by former APNU+AFC MP Charrandass Persaud as a means of nullifying the December 21, 2018 motion of no-confidence which had ended the term of the government.

It is publicly know that Mr. Reid was represented by a large team of lawyers at both the High Court and the Court of

Appeal of Guyana, and, at the Caribbean Court of Justice – Mr. Rex McKay, S.C., Mr. Robert Corbin, and Mr. Neil Boston, S.C. and Mr. Roysdale Forde.

It would not be an unfair question to ask, how did Mr.Reid afford to pay for this expensive undertaking? Was the state, in fact, the sponsor of this private action? Did the state pay for a private action brought by a private citizen?

Available information appears to point to the latter.

If that is the case, the government,

firstly, needs to inform the public of whether it is appropriate for the state to use taxpayers’ money to pay for a private action. Secondly, the government must also publicly declare how much monies have already been paid to represent Mr. Reid and his legal team including expenses, and, what is the total cost associated with representing this action.

Sincerely Gail Teixeira

APNU+AFC Coalition has committed numerous atrocities against the Guyanese Dear Editor,

O

ur Constitution, like that of any other country, is the supreme law and it not only provides the main governing laws in broad terms, which all other laws must be in consistency with, but it also provides vital checks and balances for those who are in authority to govern our country. In addition, the Constitution safeguards our principle and important rights and entitlements as citizens from each other and from our Government.

Therefore, it is this Constitution which gives us the power through our elected representatives in the National Assembly to ‘divorce’ an elected Government and put in motion the electoral processes to elect a new Government.

The coalition has committed numerous atrocities against the Guyanese public to warrant this ‘divorce’. This ‘divorce’ takes the form of a vote of confidence, commonly called a vote of no-confidence since it will be ridiculous to assume that the Opposition will vote in favour of the Government. This is exactly what took place on the night of December 21, 2018.

The Revised Constitution of 2001 gave us this power through Article 106 of our Constitution and its intent or

interpretation is quite clear and unambiguous. Article 106 (6) of our Constitution unambiguously states that “The Cabinet including the President shall resign if the Government is defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of confidence”. On December 21, 2018, all the elected members voted on the No-Confidence Motion and 33 of the elected members voted in favour of that motion. The Constitution makes it clear that 65 members constitute the National Assembly. That is crystal clear and conclusive. Therefore, when the foregoing Article speaks about a “majority”, it is in respect of these 65 members.

The Caribbean Court of Justice’s President, Adrian Saunders, submitted that the main issue is to determine what constitutes an “absolute majority” albeit that the term is not used in our Constitution. If the CCJ wants to differentiate this “majority” with the other majority needed to pass bills in Parliament and use terms such as “absolute” and “simple” majority in the process, then it is also clear that the Constitution itself provides the acid test for this differentiation. The main ingredient for this differentiation is the “vote of all elected members”. In case of the vote of con-

fidence on December 21, 2018, all the elected members were, in fact, present and voted. The result is a majority of 33 against 32 of the elected members in the 65-member National Assembly.

Therefore, there is a declaration that 33 votes of the members of the National Assembly constitute a “majority” of all the members of the National Assembly within the meaning of Article 106 (6) of the Constitution of Guyana.

Chief Justice George in her ruling on January 31 was absolutely correct when she ruled that, “In our 65-member National Assembly a majority of all elected members, in accordance with the principle of ‘one over all rivals combine’, is the thirty-three (33) members”.

On December 21, 2018, turn and twist as it may, the “absolute” and the “simple” majority became indistinguishable since all the elected members were present and voted and in our odd number National Assembly no number of varied mathematical computations can negate this fact.

I am confident that the CCJ will rule in favour of 33 and not the concocted 34 which can never be applicable to Guyana’s Constitution!

Yours sincerely, H. Yusuf

Duplicity is a feature of the Granger-led Administration Dear Editor,

F

or three days in May, lawyers representing the APNU/AFC Administration and the PPP appeared in the Caribbean Court of Justice. The views expressed and arguments ventilated were instructive not only in relation to the cases under appeal but for the revelations of the differing underpinning philosophies that guide the actions of the parties.

Given that a General and Regional Election will happen sometime in the near future; it would be instructive to

examine these differences for the benefit of the electorate.

On May 8, arguments were heard on the unilateral appointment of Justice (Retired) James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.

Arguments put forth by the QC representing the APNU/AFC were suggestive of a President whose powers were unreviewable and for which reasons did not have to be provided. PPP’s counsel referred to these powers being akin to those of a monarch, diplomatically avoiding the word ‘Dictator’.

Attorney General Basil Williams,

SC, began his presentations to the august body with base remarks; political remarks more suited to a conversation at a fish shop than the CCJ. It won him no new friends. It was followed not by legal pleadings but thinly veiled threats of violence should the CCJ ruling not go the way of his Government.

Williams urged that the court weigh consequences of a legal judgment and find in favour of an expedient one. This was unprecedented in the history of the CCJ and spoke volumes of what the APNU/AFC is all about; bullyism is (Turn to page 5)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

It is difficult to absolve Granger from the rampant parade of corruption under his leadership

Gov’t obsession with PPP/C caused them to A turn a blind eye on crime

Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

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hen the PNC/AFC coalition, or what you would like to call them, were in opposition, one of their manifesto promises was that they would curb crime. They promised the electorate that they would bring crime to a screeching halt because they had the willpower and the mechanisms to do it. It was a believable call because it also caught the eyes of the international community in our midst, they too were somehow convinced that the PNC-led coalition would do it.

Here we had a group of individuals who – so it seems – would put a dent on crime once and for all. However, that veiled mask of putting an end to crime all came off when they got into office.

There was a dramatic change in plans as soon as they took on the reins of power because, for starters, crime, criminals and crime-fighting got a new name and a new lease on life. Criminals got a sudden makeover, as they were given a pat on the back and released en masse by the PNC. The jubilee celebrations saw untold numbers being sent back into society to continue where they left off.

The subtle message here was that you are no longer called criminals but you are “baptised” and given a new name. That message has been carried ever since by criminals throughout the length and breadth of Guyana as they have embarked on that nefarious mission that is unprec-

edented in our history. Crime got a spike and an upsurge which in many instances has seen deadly consequences.

In addition to that deceptive appearance of bringing an end to crime, the PNC got into their age-old obsession of getting even with the PPP/C. They embarked on that mission with a vengeance rounding up every PPP/C person they could muster, with the sole aim of humiliating and incarcerating, and believe you me, if they had the “all’s clear” they would have done it, even going the full length of imprisoning their opponents without a trial. They would have incarcerated every last member of The PPP/C or anyone associated with that party had “the law” allowed it.

So, millions were spent on the so-called crime-fighting as it pertains to getting the PPP and its associates all “locked up,” while turning a blind eye to the real cause and root evils of crime in society.

So, the natural consequences of that obsession campaign saw the very Government of The PNC becoming criminals themselves with the many corrupt transactions they are embroiled in.

And this has been the situation in Guyana to this very day, where criminals roam free while the ordinary citizenry languishes in misery.

Sincerely, Neil Adams

Duplicity is a feature of the... part of the DNA. Counsels Courtenay and Boston spent much time and energy arguing that our Parliament was merely a rubber stamp for the decisions taken by the President and his Cabinet. This view furthers the APNU/AFC philosophy of dictatorship as the preferred form of governance. None of the lawyers on the APNU/AFC payroll found merit in the word “representation” in the term “proportional representation”, in their opinion, persons on the list are merely there to serve the master of the list; mere names not individuals; no freedom of thought or action allowed.

The Court of Appeal’s decision that 34 is an absolute majority of 65 kept the Granger Administration legally alive past April 21, 2019, the arguments to support it which were presented varied from Williams’ name-dropping to Roysdale Forde’s global hunt for precedents in support of the half/round-up/ plus one formula advanced as a solution.

Forde’s diligence went unrewarded as it was pointed out his precedents all applied to even

(From page 4)

number parliaments. This exposed the local court as weak, pliable or worse. The APNU/ AFC sees not three branches of Government, but rather a dictatorial Executive supported by a pliant Judiciary and rubberstamp National Assembly.

Editor, to those who would say that arguments made in a courtroom do not necessarily reflect the views of the Granger Administration, I would suggest that no leader or party that truly believes in democracy would allow such arguments as noted above to be put forward on its behalf and in a quest to deny the electorate an opportunity to speak through the ballot. Duplicity is a feature of the Granger-led Administration but even that would not forgive these transgressions for these arguments are a cure that kills the patient. The electorate has now seen four years of APNU/AFC, the words of Thomas Hobbes “Hell is truth seen too late” must resonate.

Respectfully, Robin Singh

number of columnists, letter-writers, commentators, and the Leader of the Opposition, have lamented the APNU+AFC mishandling of the economy, along with the numerous other ills.

The President cannot be removed from all the negatives that befall this nation since he assumed leadership of the national economy in 2015. In fact, an argument can be made that Mr. Granger and his administration bask in corruption and other negativity/wrong doings. It would be difficult, if not futile, for anyone to defend his actions; his silence can be seen as acquiescing/promoting corruption among his ranks. Further, he has been tight lipped on the gifting of numerous contracts to supporters, friends and relatives.

The recent damning audit report on SOCU is a case in point. The report exposed clear cases of corruption within SOCU, which came as a shock to the nation, as this institution, which is charged with the task(s) of investigating corruption, is now guilty of corruption. It is interesting to note, that, while the Minister of Home Affairs stated in the press that the guilty among the SOCU bunch would face the consequences of their actions, the President said he will take action if the evidence supported the accusations. Is Mr. Granger for real? Isn’t the report itself sufficient evidence? Apparently, it’s not, for Mr. Granger.

Meanwhile, dismantling SOCU may not be the answer; legally sanctioning the guilty officials, and restructuring SOCU would be the way to go.

Further, despite glaring conflict of interests

contracts to Ministers Patterson-Yearwood and Hughes, the President remained silent for an extended time before taking action. Even when he decided to sanction such behaviour, he condemned the Minister of Housing but left the Minister of Public Telecommunications to carry-on her functions as usual. How should the nation view such behaviour? Is it an Animal Farm case where ‘one is more equal than the other’?

Finally, in recent days, there have been revelations about the numerous multi-million dollar contracts that were given to selected groups/ individuals. Yes, they were selected because they didn’t go through the normal tendering processes. Even more damning is the fact that a few of the contracts were given in the names of the individuals because they don’t have any registered company on records. Perhaps, some of these contracts were given to ‘one spade and a wheelbarrow’ individuals/companies/contractors. Again, the President is silent on these latest revelations. Could these be seen as politicking for upcoming elections?

In essence, the foregoing sample of corrupt activities spotlights the role of the President.

While some may attempt to defend the President, for any number of reasons, including casting blame on the previous administration, it would be difficult to absolve him from the rampant parade of corruption under his leadership and administration.

Yours sincerely, Ronald Singh

APNU+AFC Coalition’s ‘balance sheet’ in office less than impressive Dear Editor,

T

he APNU+AFC government has recently completed four years in office. Despite attempts by the government to talk up its achievements, the fact of the matter is that the administration’s balance sheet is far from impressive. There are no major projects initiated by this administration since it took office.

Most of the big projects such as the expansion of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, the construction of the East Coast Demerara four-lane road and the projected construction of the bypass road from Ogle to Diamond were projects initiated by the previous PPP/C government.

Its major failing is in the area of constitutional reforms and its inability to take measures to foster national reconciliation.

The Ministry of Social Cohesion has turned out be a waste of taxpayers’ money as the country is even more polarized along political and ethnic lines.

From a governance perspective, this administration will go down in history as the

first to be defeated by a no-confidence vote in Parliament, even though the matter is still to be definitively pronounced on by the Caribbean Court of Appeal. The writing however is on the wall. Without trying to preempt the ruling of the CCJ, it is difficult to see how the administration can survive its full term in office without trampling on the Constitution and the democratic principles enshrined therein.

The Guyanese people are keenly looking forward to the ruling by the CCJ on the no-confidence motion and the appointment of the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission.

Whatever the ruling, the political and constitutional landscape in this country will not be the same. Several Ministers and Members of Parliament were forced to resign from Parliament as a consequence of a ruling by the Chief Justice on the issue of dual citizenship.

It will be interesting to see how events will unfold in the upcoming period.

Yours faithfully, Hydar Ally

Not all APNU+AFC Coalition MPs have declared their dual citizenship Dear Editor,

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ow that seven (7) Members of Parliament---three (3) PPP/C and four (4) APNU+AFC Coalition (excluding Charandass Persaud) ---have voluntarily resigned due to the High Court and the Court of Appeal ruling on dual citizens being prohibited from sitting as parlia-

mentarians, one wonders if there are others.

There appears to be reliable information that there is definitely one (and probably another one) on the government side who is holding a foreign passport who has not declared their dual citizenship.

That Minister/parliamentarian has been silently sitting in the National Assembly

watching his/her colleagues resigning and being replaced. One further understands that this person is quietly processing his/ her renunciation with a foreign state and trying to obtain instead a residency status.

Were this information to be true it would be a slap in the face of all seven of the Members of Parliament who have voluntarily resigned.

Furthermore, the person would be in contempt of the Court of Appeal ruling.

This person is devoid of any integrity and honesty and not worthy of being a Member of the National Assembly or holding an elected position in any body.

Sincerely, Gail Teixeira

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

APNU+AFC cabal have breached its contract with the Guyanese people Dear Editor,

he Ministry of Communities has made Coalition government’s T a mockery of the Local Government Elections (LGE) system, as it relates to the reckless spending, cronyism binding legal framework for the expected Government to provide support, increasing burdens on taxpayers necessary contrary to the expectations of elected counDear Editor,

T

he APNU/AFC Government will go down in history for all the wrong reasons: unprecedented corruption, cronyism and blatant conflict of interest imbroglio, mismanagement, and a plethora of failed promises; but probably the most notable will be its penchant for violating the Supreme Law of the land, our Constitution.

We have seen on two occasions that the Coalition failed:- in literally interpreting the Constitution in relation to the appointment of the GECOM Chairman, and in determining the ‘majority’ as stipulated by Article 106(6); and they claimed that the ‘spirit and intent’ are different from the literal interpretation.

Unfortunately, we are now witnessing an act which, on the surface, seems to obey the letter of the law, but which completely violates the spirit and intent of the law. This is the resignation of the four ministers, which resulted from the ruling of the High Court and which was upheld by the Court of Appeal.

These Courts have held that it is unconstitutional for persons swearing allegiance to a foreign state or power to be eligible for election to Parliament. The ministers affected are Joseph Harmon, the Minister of State; Carl Greenidge, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Dominic Gaskin, Minister of Business; and Dr Rupert Roopnaraine, Minister of Public Service.

The resignations and subsequent filling of the ministerial vacancies so created would seem to adhere to the letter of the courts’ ruling, but we have seen that these ministers will continue to function in positions created to give ‘lip effect’ to this ruling. The resignations were described by the Cabinet as ‘politically correct’ and a ‘demonstration for the rule of law’, while the President claimed that ‘adherence to the Constitution is an essential element of democratic governance and maintenance of public trust…I have a duty to ensure that the Government acts in accordance with the Constitution at all times.’

My question is: What would happen to ‘public trust’ when taxpayers come to realisation of the political correctness ensuring that these four ministers will still continue to receive their salaries and perks while their ‘double’ will now be receiving those fat salaries and perks as well?

Instead of four ministers fleecing the Treasury, we now have eight. For instance, we now have Dawn Hastings-Williams as Minister of State and Joseph Harmon is the newly created Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency. Of course the latter continues to ‘chair’ Cabinet, and is also the ‘duplicate’ for President Granger! Why this additional burden on taxpayers? I am sure we will be equally shocked when posts are announced for the remaining three.

We have seen, since this coalition’s assumption of office, that they have no regard for taxpayers’ dollars, other than taxing them to the hilt and then creating duplicitous positions to ensure the ‘good life’ for the ‘boys’ .

The PPP/C Government had 15 ministers, with some, such as Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali, carrying at least three ministries on their shoulders. But lo and behold! The coalition has nearly doubled the number of ministries. This Government has 27 Ministries, a gigantic increase of 80 per cent! But this is not all, their salaries and benefits increased by between 50 and 100 per cent.

Can you imagine a minister with a greatly decreased workload being paid twice the amount?

This is a brutal rape of the Treasury! This shows the ingenuity of the coalition when it comes to reckless spending and cronyism.

In conclusion, President Granger correctly concluded that ‘the ministers are not gone altogether, they are only resigning from the National Assembly’. They will remain to violate the spirit of the law and be an additional burden on our tax dollars!

Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

cils, however, the Ministry has been partisan and administratively suppressive in the context of Local Government jurisdiction.

Their adjusted strategy is now premised on countering lost image in view of the obviously inexorable elections. As such, the Government has set about creating another deceptive framework intent on fooling citizens with undelivered promises.

It is a fact which should be widely recognised that the Government, over the past three years, through their Ministry of Communities, imposed policies to take the wind out of the sail of councils won by the PPP/C. This turned out to be futile in light of the LGE results, forging some very desperate measures. Administratively, they initially moved to deflate decisions made by the councils by flagrantly encouraging abuse of authority by Overseers and Regional Executive Officers (REOs). The Ministry of Communities has been commandeering and approving actions by these officers regarding where finances should be expended which run in conflict with decisions made by councils.

One can obviously deduce from the Ministry’s concurrent actions that they seek to run things at the NDCs from the inside.

The Government imposition of delaying tactics related to the full establishment of the Local Government Commission (LGC) has been deliberate, given that this entity has the constitutional authority for investigating and monitoring Local Authority Area Councils.

This is clear after the numerous delays and continued manipulating manoeuvres which negatively affect the timely release of appropriated financial appropriations for the effective operations of the LGC. It is quite embarrassing that the cabal seems to have succeeded in pauperising and limiting the investigative teeth of the LGC, which in effect, makes the entity an ineffective paper tiger. Chairpersons of

Dear Editor,

F

our years after entering office with a slim but controversial victory at the May 11, 2015 polls, the APNU/AFC coalition Government has reversed the direction of Guyana into a failed state. The coalition Government’s failure to address numerous scandals is the reality, which is that this coalition Government is considered to be the most corrupt Government ever in the history of Guyana.

The APNU/AFC coalition Government has failed in every aspect of governance in order to realise the good life for all Guyanese. In just four years of governance, our country has lost hope.

The are many signs of discrimination,

racial and political discrimination against critics of the Government emerging, along with marginalisation, massive corruption in every section of the Government, the upsurge of crime is uncontrollable, taxation is the only form of revenue, unemployment of thousands of workers, no new investments or job creation especially for young people, etc.

The list of failures of the Granger-led Administration has outweighed the few achievements, if there are any. Guyana can only recover from the mismanagement of the coalition Government by a new PPP/C Administration. The coalition Government has not delivered anything tangible in four years.

Regards, Zamal Hussain

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

Win or lose at the CCJ, politicians must meet the people at the ballot box

Coalition’s list of failures has shadowed its four years in office T Dear Editor,

LAA Councils have informed that the LGC frequently fails to formally acknowledge or treat with convenient speed, their complaints and reports. At the same time, the Government-appointed Chairman and leaders of the Commission remain disappointingly silent. It is notable that the Ministry continues to drive a system in which approvals of spending on projects by NDCs are subject to approval by Government controlled REOs when such actions fall under the functional mandate of the LGC. This situation runs counter to the position of Government Ministers who were part of the Select Committee of the National Assembly prior to 2015. The records of Parliament confirm that they advocated for amendments now adopted in existing legislation that correctly recognises the need for expansive empowerment at the Local Authority level together with appropriate monitoring by the LGC. Now that they have been found wanting for breach of contract to the people, however, the strategy has changed in accordance with their true nature. In reality, the new position can be described as nothing but a woeful attempt to neutralise citizens’ rejection of their incompetent, fraudulent, vindictive and increasingly unpopular behaviour.

The sinister guile contemplated in the design of the so-called ‘bringing the Government to the people outreach’ approach is obvious. It is nothing but short of vacuous gaff intent on overriding the LAA Councils in some respect, which significantly undermines their empowerment while creating a false image of the Government’s ineptness in the system of local governance across the country. They simply do not have the time to fulfil these promised announcements and it is evident that they are illegal and on borrowed time.

As if the foregoing is not shamefully revealing enough for the coalition, the appalling manipulation seems to be everywhere.

It stems from the slaughtering the APNU/ AFC received at the 2016 Local Government Elections when the PPP/C captured forty thousand votes more than the coalition.

hose three days of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) proceedings were an eye opener for many of us in the rational middle, who are wedded to the principles of democracy and genuine human development, unlike the political class that follows this list and that list submissively. It is this “falla the leader” mentality that has rendered Guyana into a human underdeveloped wasteland although it haas the greatest potential wealth within Caricom.

So to listen to the licentiousness preached by no less than a Senior Counsel in defence of the ruling political class at the CCJ was just shocking.

I was able to reconcile what I heard with my own ears from the CCJ on GlobeSpan 24×7 to what was printed in the Guyana Chronicle, a paper that I rarely read (I deliberately chose the Chronicle for this occasion).

This is what Neil Boston, SC, was heard saying and was quoted in the Guyana Chroni-

cle “the Guyana Constitution was amended to prohibit Members of Parliament (MPs) from voting against their list….”

This declaration leads one to wonder, are there only rubber stamps in Parliament? If the intention was to have the 65 MPs slavishly follow the list, then we do not need them. In such a circumstance, we need at most five rubber stamps. A Leader of Government Business, maybe a Government Chief Whip, a Leader of the Opposition, maybe an Opposition Chief Whip and a Speaker who does everything the Executive President instructs and at the end of their sitting, they will all hold hands and sing “God save the king”. At least the food and drinks bill from Parliament would have been reduced from $700,000 per sitting to about $50,000; a great saving to the people.

Furthermore, if we are to follow Boston, we do not even need a National Assembly because the President will then serve the role as both the Executive and Legislative and assume the role of a Monarch, Tsar and (Turn to page 8)

7

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Another waste of taxpayers’ monies to have five ministers at the CCJ Dear Editor,

hortly before the Caribbean Court of Constitutional amendment Sstemming Justice began hearing the cases yesterday from the no confidence motion of was to prevent unilateral December 21, 2018, the following five members of Cabinet turned up to join the gallery: Sydney Allicock, Minister selection of GECOM Chairman Vice-President of Education Nicolette Henry, Minister of Dear Editor,

W

ith regards to President David Granger unilaterally selecting Justice (rtd) James Patterson as GECOM Chairman without furnishing reasons for rejecting three lists submitted by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo, questions need to be asked as to the criteria President David Granger used in rejecting the three lists.

Without furnishing reason/s for rejecting the lists, how is anyone going to be able to

know whether the President acted rationally or irrationally?

The whole point of the Amendment (Article 161) from what existed before was to prevent the President from unilaterally selecting a GECOM Chairman which the President has done anyway.

What would be the point of the Amendment other than for decorative purposes?

Yours faithfully S. Ori

Social Cohesion Dr. George Norton, Minister of Public Service Tabitha Sarabo-Halley and Minister of Business Haimraj Rajkumar.

We can only speculate on the basis of the composition of this party, but it is safe to say that none of the persons is in anyway ministerially connected with the cases nor is anyone of them legally trained. Accompanying them was Attorney-at-law Darren Wade, who is not part of the legal team of local and foreign lawyers representing the Government and the Guyana Elections Commission.

There is no apparent reason for any of the Ministers or Mr. Wade to be in Trinidad as a

spectator of court proceedings that were live streamed and could have been accessible from any place in Guyana. One suggestion was a show of force to the Court or moral support for the Attorney General (AG), hardly a justification for their presence.

What is particularly troubling is not only that their trip to Trinidad would have been financed at taxpayers’ expense but that the decision to take them away from their Ministries could only have been made by the Cabinet led by the President. Responsible government requires that taxpayers’ money is properly spent and fully accounted for.

It is hoped that the AG and the Minister of Finance will give taxpayers a full account of the expenditure borne by them for the prosecution of these cases. So far, the AG has retained at least five Senior Counsel from abroad who command very high fees.

Yours faithfully, C. Ram

Our nurses must be treated Will the two new Ministers with some more respect now feel special consideration Dear Editor,

L

ast week was designated International Nurses Week. I take this opportunity to congratulate all our hardworking nurses in Guyana and abroad who are working beyond the call of duty to provide medical care and attention to our population.

It hardly needs stating, or for that matter restating the obvious. Our nurses, like our teachers are woefully underpaid and to a large extent have been subsidizing the health care and delivery costs by accepting low salaries.

Yet nurses and teachers are two of the most important professionals in the fostering and nurturing of a healthy and educated society.

I believe it is time for our nurses to be treated with some more respect by the relevant authorities. I can hear in the background some noises to the effect that our economy in not in a position to offer a better remuneration. This may be true to a point but such arguments fly in the face of reason and logic when consideration is taken of the fact that our politicians in the higher echelons earn in excess of a million dollars per month in salaries and pensions not to mention the other benefits and allowances they also receive.

What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

With the anticipated surge in revenues from oil and gas, the readjustments to the public service remuneration structure should be given active consideration especially as it relates to our nurses and our teachers.

Moreover, other non-salary benefits such as duty-free concessions and subsidized housing should also be considered.

The cost of doing nothing to enhance the working and living conditions of our nurses can be substantial. For one thing, it could lead to a further exodus of our nurses to the Caribbean, Britain, Canada and the United States where a significant number of our nurses migrate on an annual basis. I challenge the Ministry of Public Health to conduct a survey on the attrition rate of nurses including those on contract who opted to repay their contractual obligations. I am sure the findings of such a survey would be alarming.

Nurses, especially those who completed their contractual obligations, should be provided with special incentives to remain and serve. Apart from duty concessions and housing, scholarships should be offered to pursue higher education in the field of medicine at the University of Guyana or any other approved university.

Yours faithfully, H. Ally

is now owed for overt support give at CCJ? Dear Editor,

I

t is with great dismay I observed the presence of no less than six Ministers of Guyana’s Government in attendance as ‘observers’ during proceedings at the Caribbean Court of Justice.

None of these Ministers are directly involved in any of the cases being heard.

Christopher Ram has already raised valid question of taxpayer funding of this cheerleading exercise.

What concerns me most is the early corruption of two new Members of Parliament (MP) and Ministers – namely, Ministers Tabitha Sarabo-Halley (Public Service) and Hemraj Rajkumar (Business). These two Ministers have only been appointed two weeks ago. It is not unreasonable for the taxpaying citizens to expect service given the hefty remuneration and benefits packages that accompany the job. However, the two Ministers find themselves in the viewing gallery of the CCJ and not performing the functions of their Offices.

Instead of immediate focus on the job,

Win or lose at the CCJ, politicians must meet...

Emperor. But this was never what the founding fathers and mothers intended when they petitioned the British to free themselves from the Queen of England as they held hands and collectively adopted the status as the world’s first Co-operative Republic in 1970. My forefathers wanted to be free of the Monarchy and, therefore, one must understand that there is no role in these modern times for a King Granger. No. But enough of this fairy-tale fantasy of Boston. The framers of the Constitution, however flawed that document, did have one fundamental thought set in mind – checks and balances.

That is why they have established a framework that protects the independence of the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Execu-

tive with clear roles. The Legislature makes the law, the Judiciary interprets the law and the Executive enforces the law. If the Constitution wanted the National Assembly to be a rubber stamp, it would have said so.

Lastly, Charrandas Persaud was one of the 25 MPs who came from the geographic list as the representative of the people from the Corentyne. There were good reasons why he was placed as the lead MP for the coalition from that district. If this list system was all that matters, then you could put up any “PNC rum bogies (sageewangs)” from Berbice who would not even have to campaign and they would have won because the people of Corentyne so loved the PNC and their list.

No, Editor, there is merit to the argument that Persaud made a difference for the PNC-led

these two Ministers have been handed titles and then asked to perform political acts instead of honest labor to deliver service to the people of Guyana.

Editor, this pattern of corruption where political favors are asked of appointees and agencies is very much a feature of the Granger Administration with attending consequences.

Familiarity breeds contempt, it has in the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU), where the use of the agency for political witch-hunting led to employees becoming corrupt by the thought of favors owed for partisan actions taken, it does not take much extrapolation to reach the conclusion that two new Ministers now feel special consideration is now owed for overt support given in person at the Caribbean Court of Justice.

The irony of being asked to perform a political act does them great harm, and that point is sadly lost on them or perhaps refusal was not an option.

Regards, Roodi Balgobin

(From page 7)

list in the 2015 general elections because of his social and legal advocacy in the Corentyne area. He was well liked in 2015 and he is well loved now by the people of Corentyne.

In the books of the majority of the people of Corentyne, Charrandas Persaud is their hero for his willingness to stand up to the current oppression in the sugar belt.

Boston can better serve himself if he understands the concept that you should only resort to legal distortions if your commitment to humanity, the rule of law and politics is shallow. If your commitment to humanity, politics and the rule of law is deep, then you need not be afraid to speak the truth.

Boston’s presentation was an unfortunate performance and it highlights what danger lies ahead. These 8 per cent of folks will stop

at nothing to keep the status quo in place, where a minority has imposed their ways on a majority since December 21, 2018. But if precedence from the CCJ is my guide, then we all will learn shortly how to put constitutional order back in place.

Win or lose, the judgment will be good for Guyana. Therefore, I call on all law-abiding Guyanese to accept the judgement. Win or lose, the politicians must meet the people at the ballot box shortly to settle this situation once and for all. At the end of the day, the voters of Guyana know best and we did not need to spend over $100 million in legal fees to know this fact.

Regards, Sasenarine Singh

8

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Parliament Happenings (A look at the issues that came up at the Wednesday, May 15, 2019 sitting of the National Assembly)

MoTP wants $4.3M for telephone system T

he purchase an installation of a telephone system at the Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) will cost taxpayers an additional $4.3M. This sum was included in a financial paper submitted to the National Assem-

bly during the Wednesday (May 15, 2019) sittingmeaning that in addition to the millions already budged to the Ministry of the Presidency, it has returned to the national Assembly for millions more.

According to the doc-

ument, the new system is needed to ensure that communication within the Ministry and with external partners is not affected.

The sum in included under the Budget Line – Furniture and Other equipment.

Amna Ally likely to get another $25M to respond to ‘unexpected situations’

A

massive $25M has been requested by the Ministry of Social Protection, headed by Amna Ally, less than five months into the 2019 financial year.

The sum was included on the $7.962B financial

paper that was submitted to the National Assembly for approval of Wednesday (May 15, 2019).

According to the details, the additional monies will allow Ally to respond to requests from Guyanese facing

“unexpected” situations.

The APNU+AFC Coalition Government has been criticized for using parts of the national budget as slush funds, from which monies are siphoned off for partisan political purposes.

Failure to honour court order….

Jordan asks Parliament to approve millions after Foreign Company calls on the courts to have him face jail time A

whopping $800M was included on a $7.962B financial paper submitted to the National Assembly during the Wednesday (May 15, 2019) sitting and is earmarked to pay, among other things, the judgement awarded to a foreign company.

Last week, Trinidad construction company, Dipcon, called on the courts to have Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, face jail time over his failure to honour a 2015 judgment.

Justice Rishi Persaud handed down the judgement in the company’s favour on October 21, 2015, but Jordan has failed to take steps to effect payment – a payment of US$2,228,400.67.

As a result, lawyers for Dipcom have applied to the court for an administrative order to compel the minister to pay up.

Dipcon’s application to the court stated that by letter dated 28th December, 2015, the Registrar of the Supreme Court transmitted the order made by Justice Persaud to the minister who “thereupon became obligated …to direct, by warrant under his hand,

that the amount awarded thereby to be paid.”

It was stated that the minister has in breach of his statutory obligation, “deliberately and contumaciously refused and failed to comply with his obligation” under the State Liability and Proceedings Act and has subverted the said order of court, pay the said judgment or any part thereof to the applicant. The company noted too that the Court’s ruling was served on Jordan and

he at all material times had knowledge of it, its terms and its effect.

It was pointed out that while Jordan continues in default of the orders directed against him and is in criminal contempt of the said judgment of October 21, 2015, Dipcon has no other means to enforce payment other than to return to the Court.

“The actions of the respondent have undermined the process of the Court,” the court documents pointed out.

Hundreds of millions more likely to be spent on ministerial outreaches Social Protection Ministry wants over

M

inisterial outreaches are expected to cost at least another $300M. This was revealed upon examination of the $7.962B financial paper submitted to the National Assembly during the Wednesday (May 15, 2019) sitting.

Some $800M of the $7.962B is earmarked to pay the judgment awarded to Dipcon and cover the costs associated with activities, such as Ministerial outreaches.

Justice Rishi Persaud handed down the judgement in the compa-

ny’s favour on October 21, 2015 – a payment of US$2,228,400.67 or GYD$467,964,140.7 – using the Bank of Guyana exchange rate of GYD$210 for US$1.

The additional $800M was requested by the Ministry of Finance.

$24M more to cover security costs

T

hree requests by the Ministry of Social Protection for additional monies, totaling almost $25M, were included on the $7.962B financial paper submitted to the National Assembly during the Wednesday (May

15, 2019).

The monies are expected to cover security costs.

The three sums requested are: $9.32M, $6.52M and $8.73M. No other explanations, other than “to meet payment for security costs”,

was included in the details provided on the financial paper.

Notably, this is in addition to the already substantial allocation for security services included in the Ministry’s 2019 Budget.

9

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

GECOM’s legal officer confirms validity of objections to house-to-house registration

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or months now the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) has objected to the push by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to conduct new national house to house registration – more so given indications that thousands of eligible voters risk being de-registered.

This week, on Monday (May 13, 2019), an opinion expressed by GECOM’s legal Office, Excellence Dazzell, confirmed the validity of these objections.

The legal opinion points out that: “The use of the work ‘revise’ [in the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 15 of 2000] suggest that the

process is not one where a ‘new’ List is generated, but one where the most recent list is updated or amended. “....I therefore advise that procedures be put in place to ensure the revision of the list, otherwise the Commission would be acting in defiance of the law and may prejudice aby by-election that may become necessary.”

Meanwhile the PPP in a statement this week said it had “grave reservations about the planned move to de-register thousands of Guyanese voters who will be subject to a registration requirement that is unconstitutional and illegal.”

The Party added that,

“Moreover the unnecessary nature of a new national house-to-house registration, at this point, was underscored by none other than GECOM’s Legal Officer, Excellence Dazzell. It must be noted that the November 2018 Local Government Elections was held with the very list without complaints from any of the contesting political parties.”

The Parliamentary Opposition insists that GECOM cannot be allowed to perpetrate any delay of General and Regional Elections, once they become due – more so, if they are ordered by the Caribbean Court of Justice.

PNCR official targets GECOM’s legal officer

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overnment-alignment elements at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) went after GECOM’s Legal Officer, Excellence Dazzell, after she tabled legal opinion that did not coincide with their position – which is to move to new national house-to-house registration.

The legal advice was requested by Opposition nominated Commissioner Bibi Shaddick. Shaddick disclosed that she made her request for an opinion since April 2019, but added that there was no indication of a draft being formulated.

However, according to Government-nominated

Commissioner, Desmond Trotman, the tabling of the opinion was done without the permission of the full Commission.

An investigation, according to him, is likely.

Meanwhile the GECOM Chairman, James Patterson, has remained silent on the issue.

Retention of lawyer to represent GECOM at CCJ was not decided by full Commission T

he retention of Stanley Marcus, Senior Counsel, as the attorney to represent the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in the matters that were before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) last week, relative to the challenge to the vote on the no-confidence motion, remain in question.

Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Bibi Shaddick, disclosed that despite the retention of Marcus by GECOM, questions about how much he is being paid are not being answered by the GECOM Chairman, James Patterson.

“I don’t know how much money he is getting, God knows. I have (been questioning), but I’m not getting any answers. And no decision was taken here, no discussion was done. So things are happening without

the Commission having any idea,” she said.

The full Commission did not make a decision to retain Marcus. Patterson, reportedly, went ahead on this matter.

Earlier this month, during a pre-trial hearing at the Caribbean Court of Justice, lawyers for the GECOM, Excellence Dazzell and Marcus, indicated that GECOM would not be making written or oral submissions in the proceedings.

They informed the Court that GECOM would abide by the order of the court.

However, last week, in a last minute change, GECOM asked the CCJ to submit oral evidence in the no-confidence matter involving Christopher Ram and the Attorney General of Guyana – one of the cases related to the challenge to the validity

of the vote on the no-confidence motion before the CCJ. The CCJ, in an order, denied GECOM’s application, which was submitted in the name of the GECOM Chairman.

Notably, Ram, through his attorneys Devindra Kissoon and Kamal Ramkarran had applied at the CCJ to add GECOM as a necessary party and this was done by order of the CCJ. On March 22, 2019, a ruling by the Appeal Court set aside the High Court’s validation of the vote on the no-confidence motion. In a 2-1 vote, Justices Yonnette Cummings-Edwards and Dawn Gregory ruled that the 33 votes is not a majority of 65; rather it is 34. Justice Rishi Persaud voted to uphold the ruling of the Chief Justice (ag), which was handed down on January 31, 2019.

Additional $3.4B is ‘just in case’ money for GECOM – Jordan

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uring Wednesday’s (May 15, 2019) sitting of the National Assembly, Finance Minister Winston Jordan announced the tabling of a $7.9B supplementary paper.

And of that amount, $3.4B was requested for GECOM, for the conduct of General and Regional Elections.

“I present to the Na-

tional Assembly financial paper number one of 2019, supplementary estimates current and capital, totalings $7.9 billion, for the period January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2019 and I name May 23 for consideration of the financial paper,” Jordan informed the House.

When asked, Minis ter Jordan explained that

the money is just in case GECOM should need it.

GECOM already has an allocation of over $5B and the Parliamentary Opposition has argued that the additional $3.4B is unnecessary – more so, since the cost to hold General and Regional Elections is just over $2B, leaving over $3B from the total 2019 allocation GECOM received.

10

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

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 Thursday (May 16, 2019), ranging from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government’s failures over the past four years to the latest scandal related to toxic behaviour from Attorney General, Basil Williams.

Platform provided to allow Accusations against Basil Williams... anonymous submissions Contents of letter ‘devastating’ about corruption, more T W ith the four-year mark of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government being in office having passed last week and with more and more Guyanese forwarding information about increasing levels of corruption in office, a platform has been created to allow for easier communication of such information.

Opposition Leader, Bharat Jagdeo, during his Thursday (May 16, 2019) news conference disclosed that Guyanese can make submissions of information anonymously via Facebook on ‘Corruption Watch 592’ and via WhatApp on telephone number (592)-6536637.

He urged more Guyanese to utilize social media to forward information they may have to accelerate the exposure of the APNU+AFC Coalition’s misdeeds in office – assuring that the Parliamentary Opposition will continue its investigations in the push for greater accountability and transparency.

Increase in gun crimes a major cause for concern

T

he policy vacuum is the response to the current crime wave is clear and each day brings a worsening state of affairs, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“This Minister (Khemraj Ramjattan) is useless…gun crimes have picked up,” he said, during his Thursday (May 16, 2019) news conference.

According to him, Guyanese continue to be subjected to weekly asinine explanations about the crime situation, which is ravaging communities, by the Public Security Minister – one who refuses to acknowledge the extent of the problem at hand.

Crime continues to be a major issue.

Two weeks ago, Jagdeo stated that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government has proven itself incapable of responding to crime and he was no holds barred in rapping President David Granger for the failure.

He noted that prior to May 2015, Granger presented himself to the Guyanese people as the ‘man with a plan’ and the skills of former security personnel on his team to ensure that the “root cause” of crime is addressed. The Opposition Leader noted too that on January 17, 2018, comments that were made by Granger, on receiving the report on the Security Sector Reform Programme (SSRP) from British Senior Security Sector Reform Advisor, Lt Col (ret’d) Russell Combe. He had said that attempts under the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Administration to reform the country’s security sector “all a bluff” and the completion of the report represented an effort to “make Guyana safe” and secure. Jagdeo pointed out too that it has been over a year since Granger received the report and crime is increasingly ravaging communities.

“He said that narco-traffick-

ing was the source of crime and this was the disease…. he claimed that narco-trafficking eliminated, but how is it that we see this massive escalation in crime?” he asked.

The Opposition Leader added that in February 2018, Granger declared that crime was the greatest impediment to human safety and prosperity. “This is what he said.

What has he done? There has been no direction, no leadership. He has a Minister [of Public Security] who is more interested in playing politics and imbibing…a minister whose utterances are more often than not seen as comical because of the lack of seriousness. This Minister is failure. Granger takes ultimate responsibility.

And he has done nothing,” Jagdeo said.

The Opposition Leader stressed the need for urgent action to arrest the increase in crime. “All we can do is call on the Government to act,” Jagdeo stressed.

he contents of a letter by staffers of the Ministry of Legal Affairs, which accuse Attorney General, Basil Williams, of sexual harassment and more, were described as devastating by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

During his Thursday

(May 16, 2019) news conference he noted too that Williams’ has commented on the matter, via social media. According to him, while Williams sought to blame the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) for the letter – which has been widely circulated on several

social media platforms, he ought to address the contents of the lette.r “The (contents) of the letter is devastating,” Jagdeo said.

The Opposition Leader reiterated that the matter must be dealt with.

[See related reported on Pages 20, 21]

Williams’ predictions about ‘unrest’ at CCJ a manifestation of ‘Old PNC’

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ttorney General, Basil Williams, was called out for his ‘threats’ at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

Williams warned about “unrest” that might follow in Guyana if the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) rules against the Government in the three consolidated cases, which are related to the challenge to the vote on the No-Confidence Motion.

“Who is promoting violence?” he asked during his Thursday (May 16, 2019) news conference, adding that this is the position of the “old PNC (People’s National Congress Reform)” on display.

According to him, the position of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) – the non-use of

violence in the pursuit of its political agenda – is clear to Guyanese and has been repeatedly demonstrated, including after the 2015 General and Regional Elections, which the APNU+AFC Coalition Government won by a thin margin.

On Thursday last, Williams made submissions to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). He said, “The provisions in Section 106 (7) and 106 (7) of Guyana’s Constitution have dire consequences, catastrophic consequences for Government.

If successful, the motion could lead to the premature fall of the Government and possibly the premature disillusion of the National Assembly.

In relation to elections being held in Guyana, he noted that the country’s his-

tory has seen some unrest and aftermaths. He said that this could be repeated if an election is held in Guyana without the proper steps in place. “That is the difficulty that we have. And which the Court, we are asking to take judicial notice of, that around elections if the list is not right, if there is a perception of people multiple voting, phantoms etc. and the list is not a credible list, it is going to be difficult and that is the history of Guyana.”

Williams added that the second highest court in the land had already spoken on this issue and, therefore, urged that the CCJ rule in a similar manner. The Appeal Court, on March 22, 2019, set aside the decision of the High Court, which validated the December 21, 2018 vote on the no-confidence motion.

11

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

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 Thursday (May 16, 2019), ranging from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government’s failures over the past four years to the latest scandal related to toxic behaviour from Attorney General, Basil Williams.

GECOM has ‘more than enough money’ T

he move to the National Assembly for the approval of a whopping $3.482B – additional monies for the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) – which are earmarked as funding for General and Regional Elections was unnecessary.

This is according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, who commented on the issue during his Thursday (May 16, 2019) news conference, and added that the cost of holding General and Regional Elections is just over $2B. In the latter part of March 2019, a letter to the President, sent by the GECOM Chairman, James Patterson, claimed that the agency needed $3.5B to start preparations for elections. This comment has raised concerns about whether or not GECOM’s 2019 budget appropriation of $5.371B has been released to the agency as required by law.

Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Bibi Shaddick, on March 19, 2019, disclosed that the monies have not been released to

GECOM. To date there is no confirmation on whether or not the monies have been released.

The Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) (Amendment) Act 2015. Section 80 B (8) – makes it clear that: “The appropriation of a Constitutional Agency approved by the National Assembly shall be disbursed as a lump sum by the end of the month, following the month in which the appropriation was approved.”

It was President Granger, in August 2015, who signed off on the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) (Amendment) Act. Additionally, it was Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, who confirmed that GECOM can spend its annual appropriation as it prioritizes.

Jordan, on November 19, 2019, during the consideration of the 2019 budget of GECOM, a constitutional agency, in the National Assembly, said: “Mr. Chairman, the sum of $5,371, 061,000 is given as a lump sum to GECOM to use as it sees fit and as it prioritizes.”

The fact that GECOM has total discretion over the use of its annual appropriation, is also made clear in Article 222 (A) of the Constitution. Article 222A of the Constitution says: “In order to assure the independence of the entities listed in the Third Schedule – (a) the expenditure of each of the entities shall be financed as a direct charge on the Consolidated Fund, determined by a lump sum by way of an annual subvention approved by the national Assembly… (b) each entity shall manage its subvention in such manner as it deems fit for the efficient discharge of its functions, subject only to conformity with the financial practices and procedures approved by the National Assembly to ensure accountability.”

At a prior news conference, Jagdeo said, “GECOM has more than enough money than it needs…this argument is to open a new front to legitimize an illegitimate government…the nonsensical arguments can be made, but it will not change the facts.”

APNU+AFC Coalition gov’t ministers have only made declarations once in four years

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he declaration of assets by public officials to the Integrity Commission has been a routine action since the laws were enacted. Under the law, passed in 2000, certain categories of public officials are required to declare their assets to the Integrity Commission or face criminal charges for not doing so.

However, since the APNU+AFC Coalition Government took office, submissions have not been regular. “For four years, they submit statements once,” said Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his weekly news conference on Thursday (May 16, 2019).

The Secretariat of the Integrity Commission was dismantled under the current Coalition government after May 2015. None other than the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency, Abena Moore, admitted this during a meeting of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

According to her, there was only one staffer remaining at the Integrity Commission Secretariat after it was dismantled.

Last year, President David Granger finally swore in the Commissioners of the Integrity Commission.

However, the new Chairman, a self-proclaimed ‘friend’ of the Government, has said that he will not ask for declarations to be made for 2015, 2016 and 2017 – rather he will only deal with 2018.

This is despite the fact that the Chairman has to power to call for back-dated declarations to be made to the Integrity Commission.

At a prior news conference, Jagdeo pointed to the fact that it was the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) that made a move to in the National Assembly address the issue of greater accountability for persons in public life, via a motion.

The motion by the PPP/C called for all MPs make their tax returns, as well as their asset declarations, public.

The APNU+AFC Coalition Government voted against this.

REQUESTS IGNORED Meanwhile, it has been months since the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) moved forward on expressed intentions to file private criminal charges against People’s National Congress Reform (PNRC) and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Parliamentarians, who have breached

the laws of Guyana by not submitting declarations to the Integrity Commission.

To date the request for information has been ignored.

A letter written to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency, Abeena Moore, dated June 21, 2017, requested the names of the delinquent PNCR Parliamentarians, of the 8th and 9th Parliament, who failed to submit declaration for the years 2001-2006 and 2006-2011.

The same is requested for APNU Parliamentarians who served in the 10th Parliament for the years 2011-2015.

The letter was submitted

by People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Parliamentarian, Juan Edghill, on behalf of the Party. The request was made under provisions of the Access to Information Act of 2011. The letter states that, “The above requested information is intended to be used in the pursuit of private criminal charges against the identified delinquents in accordance with section 22 of the Integrity Commission Act 1997.”

The APNU+AFC Coalition campaigned on transparency and accountability before taking office in May 2015.

According to him, on every country – from adherence to the Constitution to Parliamentary democracy – Guyana has been dealing with the consequences of missteps by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government.

Jagdeo’s comments came in response to the statement by the Coalition Government on the four anniversary of the 2015 General and Regional Elections, which claimed that there has been a transformation

“our notion of democratic governance, would inspire new thinking within the population, which would in turn serve as a barrier to political backwardness” and that the Coalition has “restored respect for Guyana as a democracy.”

The Opposition Leader made it clear that the facts are clear as to Guyana’s democratic credentials after four years of the APNU+AFC Coalition being in office.

Granger still to act in matter of Ministers caught up in Guyana’s democratic credentials corruption scandals damaged during Coalition’s time in office

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he announcement of a reshuffle of Permanent Secretaries within Government Ministries was questioned by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“Why are the ministers caught up in corruption scandals not being sanctioned?

Why are the Permanent Secretaries being moved around?” he asked, during his Thursday (May 16, 2019) news conference.

President David Granger, this week, said, ““Other changes have to be made

at the level of Permanent Secretaries and by the end of this month and the beginning of June, there should be some announcements.”

Meanwhile, also on Wednesday (May 15, 2019) Granger hinted that another person will be appointed as the Vice President to replace former Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge.

Greenidge was one of Guyana’s four Vice Presidents.

Since his resignation as a result of his dual citizen-

ship status, there are now three Vice Presidents. The country’s other Vice Presidents are Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan and Indigenous Peoples Affairs Minister Sydney Allicock. “Minister Karen Cummings has replaced him (Greenidge) as Foreign Affairs Minister but we have not decided yet whether an additional Vice President will be appointed at this point in time,” Granger said.

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or each year that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government stays in office, Guyana slides further downward, and after four years, Guyana democratic credentials on the global stage have been damaged.

This is according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his Thursday (May 16, 2019) news conference, where he said, “Four years is enough to show a pattern…we have had four years of failure.”

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

‘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!

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

PPP/C details priorities to be included in Manifesto ahead of General and Regional Elections The People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders is working on a detailed Manifesto, which will elaborate on the Party’s policies for improving the lives of all Guyanese.

Some of the priority actions of the next PPP/C Government will be to: 1. Restore– the $10,000 cash grant to school children. The APNU+AFC took away $1.67B per year, a total of $8.35B from Guyanese children.

2. Reinstate the water subsidies to pensioners. The APNU+AFC removed $500M in subsidies per year amounting to a $2.5B burden that had to be paid by our elderly.

3. Reverse VAT on essential services including water, electricity, and health care. The APNU+AFC imposed this on Citizens which led to billions in tax collection from Guyanese people and escalated the cost of living.

4. Reopen the closed sugar estates. Over 7,000 persons lost their jobs directly and another 4,000 lost their livelihoods indirectly.

5. Restore zero-rated VAT for machinery and equipment for agricultural, mining and forestry industries. For example, a tractor or excavator now attracts in excess of $5M in additional taxes.

6. Reverse cost of license and permits for doing business and accessing Government services. The APNU + AFC increased over 200 fees, e.g. vending licenses increased from $12,500 to a burdensome $65,000. This, added to the cost of living, hampered small business development.

7. Reverse land rents and drainage and irrigation charges. These have moved up in varying degrees, from $2,500 to $293,000 per acre, a policy that is suffocating many sectors including agriculture and tourism.

8. Remove age limits on vehicles. The APNU+AFC added at least $1M to the cost per vehicle, an unnecessary hardship for those aspiring to own a vehicle, especially young people.

9. Remove the restriction on used tyres. The imposition of this restriction increased the cost of tyres by 300%.

10. Reverse VAT on exports.

11. Reverse VAT on building materials.

12. Reinstate the joint services bonus. The APNU+AFC in a Grinch-like move took away the Christmas bonus from the joint services.

13. Remove VAT on data. The APNU+AFC has taxed the internet and your cell phone data.

14. Reverse the 2 A.M curfew. The arrogant implementation of this measure has not helped to address the noise nuisance issue and has affected quality of life and hurt job creation and businesses.

In addition to correcting these draconian impositions, the next PPP/C Government pledges to: 1. Create 50,000 jobs in the first five years.

2. Assist small businesses through the implementation of programmes to help small businesses grow by providing technical advice, small grants, loans, and training for workers. Women entrepreneurship will receive special attention.

3. Deliver 8,000 to 10,000 new house lots per year.

4. Implement a programme for affordable financing for home ownership.

5. Deliver quality health care and end drug shortages.

6. Improve the quality of and access to education at every level including offering 20,000 persons online University education.

7. Implement measures to expand the capability and increase the effectiveness of the security forces so that people can once again feel protected in their homes, on the streets and in workplaces.

8. Create conditions for our young people to prosper, realise their dreams and to involve them in all levels of Government.

9. Ensure better working conditions and remuneration for teachers, healthcare workers and other public servants.

10. Improve infrastructure (roads, wharves, bridges, airstrips, drainage etc) in Georgetown, other Towns and Villages across Guyana.

11. Extend and improve Government services and ICT on the Coast and in the Hinterland.

12. Ensure that revenue from Oil and Gas is not squandered and stolen and leads to the improvement of the lives of ALL GUYANESE. 13. Create the conditions and strengthen the institutions to expand and protect the civil, cultural and human rights of all Guyanese.

14. Improve governance, including expanding and strengthening measures aimed at fighting corruption.

15. Protect our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The PPP/C has said that it is time to restore Guyana to the path of progress and prosperity.

Since taking office, the APNU+AFC cabal has put forward five budgets, spent $1.3 trillion, borrowed US $ 900M and increased taxes by approximately $88B per annum.

They are spending every year $1.6 B more for food allowances, $1.1B more for rentals, $1.2B more for local travel among other things, as part of their extravagant lifestyle. Meanwhile over 30,000 Guyanese have lost their jobs. The cost of living has skyrocketed and health care, education and quality of life have deteriorated rapidly.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

City Hall in Focus The Kitty Market fiasco and the ongoing saga at city hall

By Bishram Kuppen

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he Kitty Market building has been operating since 1882 and served Kitty and surrounding communities with a market and health facility and also served as a sub-office of the City Council of Georgetown.

The historical Kitty Market building is owned by the Georgetown City Council and it was allowed to deteriorate over the years without any meaningful maintenance or repair work being done. Like many other buildings owed by the Council including the City Hall building, no major rehabilitation work was done on the buildings of the Council. In fact, the Guyana Fire Service has listed the Kitty Market building as a fire hazard in 2013.

There were numerous calls made by residents and other stakeholders for the facility to be repaired but nothing was

done by the City Council. The dilapidated structure presented an eminent danger to stallholders and shoppers but that dangerous situation did not prompt the City Council to take action.

In 2015, then Town Clerk of Georgetown Royston King made a grand public announcement that the Kitty Market would be rehabilitated and modernized with many amenities including air conditioning for the market area which, in my opinion, was a highly impractical idea for

many reasons.

In February 2016, repairs commenced on the Kitty Market. The City Council had given a repair estimate of $240 million and they projected that repairs would be completed in three to five months. In fact, the repairs should have been completed in time for the Jubilee celebrations in May 2016 but that did not occur. The City Council also assigned the project to the City Engineers Department of the Council to do the repairs to the building.

It was clear from the beginning that the Council did not have the money to complete the project on its own and they had agreed that the project will be undertaken in phases as money became available to the Council from rates & taxes, fees and government subventions.

As a Councillor, I had always insisted that the Council was not a sovereign state which was did not enjoy a relationship with the central government and I had suggested on a number of occasions that the Council should prepare a proper plan and seek the government’s assistance. On one occasion, then Town Clerk Royston King had stated that going to the government for assistance would dilute the Council’s authority. I always thought that there was something highly unusual in the way that he chose to respond to my suggestion and I had wondered whether the oversight and accountability measures that would entail any government assistance had served to dissuade him from aggressively seeking such assistance. In addition, I did not have confidence that the City Engineers department could undertake the repair of the Kitty market in a professional, accountable and efficient manner given their record.

In the early stages of the repair work, a team consisting of Kitty residents, PPP Member of Parliament Gail Teixeira and Councillor Bishram Kuppen visited the Kitty Market to observe the work being performed. What we found was shocking which included sloppy workmanship where old and rotted wood was being covered up with plaster, there was a substantial reduction of the number of stalls on ground floor, a cracked support-beam on upper floor which was visible from the ground floor, the enclosed stalls on ground floor would not have adequate air flow which means that the stalls would be very hot. And these issues were what we saw on the ground floor only since we were not allowed to visit the upper floors.

I had raised these issues of shoddy work at a Statutory meeting of the Council but nothing was done about it and so intermittent construction activities continued.

Many deadlines were set for the completion of the repairs to the Kitty Market and the re-opening which was reported in the local newspapers. but none were met and so to this day which is over three years now, the Kitty

Market has still not been completed and fully occupied.

There were reportedly forty six vendors plying their trade in the market and due to the repair activities, a majority of those vendors were not able to sell for the past three years since no alternative locations were provided to them even though they were still required to pay rent in the hopes that they will have a spot to sell in the remodeled market. A small group of vendors were allowed to sell across the street from the market and they also had to continue to pay rent while no services were provided to them.

The vendors, who by this time very experiencing extreme hardships due to their inability to sell in the market to earn a living decided to lead a protest demand-

ing answers and the speedy completion of the market so that they can return their to earn a living. The People’s Progressive Party joined the protest to demand justice for these vendors who were being treated harshly and still required to pay a rent.

We strongly believe that all such rents collected from these dislocated vendors must be refunded without them losing their right to a stall when the Kitty Market is fully repaired.

The Ministry of Communities had stepped in to assist with Phase One of the project and contributed $25 million to the project with the condition that they will bring in their own contractor and effect payment directly to that contractor when the contracted work as completed. The intervention was to complete 18 external stall, 10 internal stalls, sanitary block, revenue collection office and an office for the Markets Clerk. But even with that assistance by the Ministry, there is still a whole lot more of repair work which needs to be done. Phase Two is not completed and they have not yet started Phase Three as which is the fish and meat area.

It is not yet clear how much money has been spent so far by the City Engineers department since no formal report including financial information was presented to Council.

In 2018, the government had made a supplemental subvention to the Council of $200 million of which $50 million was supposed to be used on Kitty market. But a decision was made by majority decision in the Council to divert the $50 million earmarked for Kitty market repairs to South Georgetown to do enhancement works in a few constituencies in time for the local government elections of 2018. One of the constituencies which benefited heavily from from money was that of former Mayor Chase-Green.

Now that some of the external stalls are completed, the City Council had decised to increase the rents to an astronimical amount of a minmum of $14,000 which was

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019 opposed by the PPP Councillors on the previous Council.

I had vehemently opposed the massive increase in rents on the grounds that it was excessive and was not afforbable to the vendors who would be forced out of the market. The APNU+AFC Councillors were steadfast in their demand that the ne rates must be paid because they vednrs would now enjoy an updated facility. It is clear that they do not care for the plight of the vendors and the fact that they will be sending these hard workign citizens on the bread-line, many of whom may already be there due to the fact that they were deprived the opportiunity to earn a living since the repair of the market began.

It is not the end of this story, the people’s Progressive Party will stand with these vendors and demand justice for them.

ZONING AND OTHER BUILDING ISSUES IN GEORGETOWN For a very long time, concerned citizens have complained that the City Council operated like the Wild West in many areas including where zoning and building issues were concerned.

A large number of buildings were erected, renovated or extended without the necessary permits issued by the City Council. There is an entire process which must be followed to get building permits from the City Council.

However many residents have tried to bypass that system

and the by-laws and have done construction work on their buildings.

The responsibility to inspect and report on any new construction, alteration or extension within each of the Constituencies of Georgetown falls under the City Engineer’s Department. The have building inspectors who should be aware of what is going on in each of the constituencies where they are assigned.

Quite often, allegations of bribery are leveled against these inspectors for allowing illegal construction work to remain or continue even after reports are made. It is alleged that if you were to walk around any neighborhood, you will find numerous of the building and zoning code violations.

At a recent Council meeting, it was revealed that many of the building inspectors employed by the Council are busy doing their own side-business of drawing building plans when they should be dedicating all of their time to doing the Council’s work for which they are receiving hefty salary.

The residents of Lamaha Gardens had made many complaints about violations in their community which

is governed by a restricted covenant that prohibits commercial activity, cattle rearing or other non-residential activities. In addition, they are very concerned about the increase in traffic passing through their community which has resulted in an increase in crime and also vending on the parapets in their residential community.

The residents of Lamaha Gardens met with the Works Committee of the Council but instead of that Committee offering authoritative information and guidance to the residents of Lamaha Gardens on land use and zoning in that area, the residents were asked to bring the documents to support their claim that businesses were not allowed in the community. This would mean that the City Council does not have an updated database or records of land use and zoning of all the areas under its control in the 15 constituencies of Georgetown.

The authority which is responsible for zoning and land use is the Central Housing and Planning Authority. The City Council in the exercise of its responsibilities should be equipped with updated information on zoning and land use in all of Georgetown but that is not the cse which is another reflection of the incompetence at the Council.

Since zoning and land use is the domain of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, the residents of Lamaha Gardens intend to contact that agency for clarity.

There were many issues which arose from this matter which should be of concern to all residents of Georgetown including the Council failing to provide adequate services to many communities, an absence of accurate records in the Council on land use and zoning in the 15 constituencies of Georgetown, the failure of the Building inspectors to inspect all the communities for building and use violations and the lengthy period of time it takes for the Council to deal with building violation issues.

BROKE COUNCIL HANDING OUT CASH GIFTS A current report from Social Development Committee is recommending that the City Council hand out cash grants even though the Council is currently experiencing financial difficulties.

This Committee which is staffed by Councillors are oblivious to the reality of the cash-strapped state of the Council where former employees are still owed gratuities and pension from 2015 to 2018, where current employees are owed, where the constabulary urgently need uniforms, where equipment parts are urgently needed to repair vehicles and where many more important needs must be addressed.

Here are some of the absurd recommendations: • Social development committee want to give $50,000 for Linden Mayor’s Cup Football Competition • $100,000 to the National Library.

• $500,000 to celebrate Nurses and Secretaries Week Maybe these are deserving events which should be observed but the reality is that the Georgetown City Council is financially broke and cannot meet its current expenses or other outstanding liabilities and so the City Council should put an immediate stop to these grants until the Council is in a better financial position.

It is highly irrational to pursue a course of unrestrained spending when the Council is in deep financial trouble.

The recommendations coming from this Committee strongly suggest that they are out of touch with the financial reality of the Council and are acting in an irresponsible manner.

The People’s Progressive Party Councillors on the Georgetown City Council will not support these recommendations in light of more important and urgent needs within the City Council.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Small miners at Marudi Mountain call for fair action by APNU+AFC Coalition gov’t T

he Marudi Mountain is where dozens of small miners operate. It is also where Romanex Guyana Exploration Limited has a concession.

On Wednesday, May 1, 2019, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) staffers, accompanied by armed Guyana Police Force (GPF) ranks, descended on the small miners and informed them that they must relocate within three days. The access point to the Marudi Mountain mining area – a small distance from the foot of the mountain – where the small miners operate was also blocked.

The small miners were told that the area was closed because it is unsafe and continued mining could result in a landslide. The small miners were also shown an area on a map where they could relocate. However, the miners contend that they have not been informed

when they could move to the new location, since GGMC informed them that some preparation work has to be done on the site. They miners say too that they do not know if the area they have been redirected to has any gold.

According to the miners, they do not mind moving, but they want an assurance that they can do so in a short time and will not be forced to return to Lethem with their equipment, then allowed to go to the new location – an expensive undertaking, since Lethem is some five hours away.

Wesley Johnson from Yupakari Village said: “Pork knocker work ground they come and dig out. They bully we. They destroy this and leave it dangerous so pork knockers cannot go in and work safely. It is difficult for we, the Amerindians here, to go home to our family with no money. I have two chil-

Scenes from Marudi Mountain

dren and it’s a year I cannot see my children. All we asking for is for our work to be able to go back to normal.

All the years, we working. I am here from 14 years and it 28 years now I am working.

They come now to take over where we work. We need help from the president to give we the okay to go on an work.”

Ryan Martin from Aishalton said: “The problem is that we are in a situation in Marudi with GGMC. They are putting we under their feet. They forgot about small miners. We just seeking our daily bread.”

Majority of the small miners are from Region 9.

The small miners disclosed that the head of their association, identified as Marlon Johnson, has not represented their interests – rather, he has been compromised and is representing other interests.

Notably, in April 2016,

there was a standoff between small miners from the Marudi Mountain area, representatives of Indigenous communities, and Romanex Guyana Exploration Limited. It forced an intervention from Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman,

It added, “…the operation began on May 1st, 2019 with a team of officers headed by GGMC Senior Engineer, Trevor Hurry along with three members of the Ministry’s Corps of Wardens and four members of the Guyana Police Force.”

GOVERNMENT POSITION Given the current situation, the Natural Resources Ministry has said that GGMC’s intervention was a result of a breach of the mediation agreement that was reached after the April 2016 incident.

It added that as part of the intervention, cease work orders were issued. “A total of 34 operators of “Crushers” and four operators of hydraulic excavators were issued with orders to remove. The time allowed on the removal orders was set to expire on Sunday, May 5, 2019,” the Ministry said.

SOLUTION FOR ALL Meanwhile, when asked about the issue, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo said, “I have noticed too that in Marudi Mountain too that there is conflict there after [Raphael] Trotman and others went there and made lots of promises to the miners there. Now I gather the miners have been given three days to leave.

“We have made it clear that the government must fulfill its obligations to all the people there. When I met with the people in the hinterland – I met with people from the Amerindian villages, from the miners’

association.

“I believe that a solution for Marudi Mountain must involve the protection of our indigenous villages, the provision of jobs to all the Guyanese miners – the hundreds who are there and many of them are from Rupununi, Region 9 – and also the investor.

“We cannot take the side of one person and this is what the government seems to be doing. This is not for the Mines Officer to address.

This is for the political people to find a solution to – a solution where all the interests are accommodated and a solution that is acceptable one.

“The situation will cause major disruptions in Region 9 for employment among people is not adequately addressed.”

The small miners affected have decried the fact that no APNU+AFC Coalition Minister has visited the area.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Coalition failed to provide quality health care services to Guyanese I

s the current state of the healthcare system in Guyana representative of the changes promised by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government – a representation of the good life? This was the question posed to several young Guyanese persons this week, amid reporting this week on widespread drug shortages – shortages that could result in the loss of lives for kidney transplant patients, among others. The response found that the current Administration – four years after taking office – has not delivered.

KAVITA SABRINA SINGH (Registered Nurse) said: “The current state of healthcare system does not represent good life because of the lack of resources needed to carry out procedures for an accurate diagnosis of illness, limit staffs in hospitals to attend to patients, and also the high cost that poor people needs to pay who has chronic renal failure to have their hemodialysis done just to survive.”

NALINI SINGH (PR Consultant) said: “The good life is nothing but a good lie for the large majority of Guyanese.

The APNU+AFC government is that of friends and families. Like every sector in Guyana, the health care system is no different it has been deteriorating. From the many cases of reported deaths from malpractice to drug shortages, it’s a return to the dark days.

We have an elitist government that will fly themselves and loved ones around the world privately for medical checkups. When the public health care system is direly lacking critical medications and simply functioning ineffectively.

“The public healthcare system has now become more of a hazard. People have been reporting incidents of going in for something small and benign and it becoming something much more serious and in some cases life-threatening. This is most definitely not the good life that the Guyanese public voted for in 2015.”

ROODI BALGOBIN (Research Assistant) said: “The state of the health sector in Guyana is atrocious compared to any past Administration. This in no way reflects a positive on the Government and the country as a whole. I recall vividly these same Ministers on the 2015 campaign trail boasting that they had all the solutions to the minor issues in Guyana, especially in the health sector. However, just four years after the health system has further decayed on the Coalition Government’s tenure.

“Corruption involving the former Minister of Health, George Norton, forced his reassignment from that Ministry, however, the new Minister, Volda Lawrence, fare no better in the position. In fact, she single sourced pharmaceuticals for in some instances five times as much as they are worth. I believe that these and many other reasons and the incompetence of the Ministers and the entire Coalition Government is the reason citizens are faced with a decaying health sector.”

JUAN EDGHILL JR. (Business Consultant) said: “The health sector’s performance under the Coalition Government has been abysmal. The highlight of its tenure is the shortage of drugs which is continuously reported by Regional Hospitals and Medical Doctors. It is unclear as to why the old, efficient process of procuring drugs and medical supplies was scraped by the administration but all Guyanese know it has resulted in hardships. Their record in office shows that

NUTANA SINGH (Student) said: “Is the current state of the healthcare system a representation of the good life? Well, from the reports they have been publishing about all these increases, but then you see the reality of it. They don’t have post-transplant medication for the patients. As a person with someone close to me on dialysis with the hope of soon finding a donor, I would not want my loved one there left in a state of uncertainty, unsure if after the surgery that there would have the anti-rejection medication.

“Accompanying my loved one to pick up essential renal medication to use while on dialysis, and to not have it at the GPHC, with government then making it harder for the private sector to import when they have the proper permits, so how would the persons needing these survive?

“Seeing all the scandals and deaths as a result of an inefficient healthcare system is saddening. Then the government flying privately to get checkups in Europe and a North America, using tax payers money, while the average Joe can’t afford that, can’t afford to go to the private hospitals.

“Seeing them cut the subsidies to dialysis and other treatments, which has made it more costly for these places to provide these services which in term has increased the cost of the patients. If this is the ‘Good Life’ they envisioned, where the government is well taken cared for, while the people suffer, then sure.”

the Ministry of Health and the GPHC bought more than one billion dollars in drugs but violated the Procurement Act in the process.

“The APNU+AFC Government promised prior to 2015 to provide better health care but the results are a clear contrast. In 2014, the PPP/C expended 8.6% of its budget on health compared to the Coalition Government which spent approximately 7.5% of the budget on health for 2015 and 2016. The Coalition also promised to reduce the maternal mortality rate per 100,000.00 live births, however, it is still practically unchanged and remains a glaring issue in our country.

“Our nurses, doctors and other medical professionals were promised many improvements in their wages and working conditions but in 2019, increased taxation and poor working conditions is the reality. The good life has not come and it will not come under this Government, their policies and programmes and very actions have proven this time and time again over the past four years.”

Notably, the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, in its manifesto ahead of the May 2015 General and Regional Elections, promised: “Ensuring that all Guyanese have equal access to education, housing, health care and justice.” In the many pages of its manifesto, the issue of health was given such prominence that it was mentioned over 30 times.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Positions from Freedom House this week (A look at the latest statements made by the People’s Progressive Party)

GECOM cannot be allowed to perpetrate any delay of General and Regional Elections T

he People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has grave concerns following publicized positions attributed to Government-nominated Guyana Elections Commission

(GECOM) Commissioner, Desmond Trotman, relative to GECOM’s ability to conduct General and Regional Elections when they are declared due.

Commissioner Trotman was quoted in the local media as saying: “We sought the advice of the Finance Secretary and the Finance Secretary said to us that the money

given for a specific item has got to be used for that item and if it is you require money for elections, you have to go back to Parliament.”

The Party notes that these comments are in contradiction with the quintessential message conveyed by the Finance Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, via letter, which was presented to the full Commission, during its weekly statutory meeting on Tuesday (May 14, 2019).

The Opposition nominated GECOM Commissioners have communicated to the Party that the Finance Secretary, who was approached on the issue of funding, advised that the matter was outside of the remit of the Ministry of Finance.

The Party reiterates that the issue of funding is the latest hurdle thrown-up by the government influenced parties at GECOM. This is despite the fact that the laws of Guyana are clear on funding for constitutional agencies like GECOM. In August 2015, President David Granger signed off Act 4 of 2015 – the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMAA) (Amendment) Act 2015. Section 80 B (8) – makes it clear that: “The appropriation of a Constitutional Agency approved by the National Assembly shall be disbursed as a lump sum by the end of the month, following the month in which the appropriation was approved.”

Section 80B (7) of the same act states that: “The annual budget of a Constitutional Agency approved by the National Assembly shall not be altered without prior approval of the National Assembly.” This section clearly prohibits the Minister of Finance from altering the appropriation to GECOM, as he is empowered to do with the appropriations of non-constitutional agencies, but does not prevent GECOM from utilizing the “lump sum” as it sees fit to carry out its functions.

In line with the FMAA amendment, Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, on November 19, 2019, during the consideration of the 2019 budget of GECOM, a constitutional agency, in the National Assembly, said: “Mr. Chairman, the sum of $5,371, 061,000 is given as a lump sum to GECOM to use as it sees fit and as it prioritizes.”

Moreover, Article 222A of the Constitution says: “In order to assure the independence of the entities listed in the Third Schedule – (a) the expenditure of each of the entities shall be financed as a direct charge on the Consolidated Fund, determined by a lump sum by way of an annual subvention approved by the national Assembly…(b) each entity shall manage its subvention as such manner as it deems fit for the efficient discharge of its functions, subject only to conformity with the financial practices and procedures approved by the National Assembly to ensure accountability.”

The issue of funding has clearly become the last ‘hold-on’ by elements within GECOM working to effectively set the stage for a delay of General and Regional Elections when they become due. In accordance with the Constitution and the FMAA, GECOM’s full 2019 budgetary allocation should have been transferred in a lump sum to the Commission by February 2019 latest.

Commissioner Trotman exposed this mindset when he made it clear that regardless of the decision made by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), on the cases related to the challenge to the vote on the No-Confidence Motion, funding is a ‘plausible’ reason to effect a delay in Guyanese heading to the polls. He said: “I believe that if it the CCJ rules against the Government, that the government will have to go ask for money.”

Guyanese would recall the threats at the highest level of the judiciary – the

Caribbean Court of Justice – by Attorney General Basil Williams about “unrest” that might follow if the Court ruled against the Government with regards to the validity of the No-Confidence Motion.

This must be condemned.

HOUSE-TO-HOUSE On the issue of GECOM’s continued push towards a new national house-to-house registration – a process that GECOM insists can be completed by November – the PPP wishes to stress that such a process cannot be credibly, nor accurately completed within six months. Further, the PPP has grave reservations about the planned move to de-register thousands of Guyanese voters who will be subject to a registration requirement that is unconstitutional and illegal.

Moreover the unnecessary nature of a new national house-to-house registration, at this point, was underscored by none other than GECOM’s Legal Officer, Excellence Dazzell.

An opinion expressed

by Dazzell, dated May 13, 2019, states that: “The use of the work ‘revise’ [in the Election Laws (Amendment) Act 15 of 2000] suggest that the process is not one where a ‘new’ List is generated, but one where the most recent list is updated or amended….I therefore advise that procedures be put in place to ensure the revision of the list, otherwise the Commission would be acting in defiance of the law and may prejudice aby by-election that may become necessary.”

It must be noted that the November 2018 Local Government Elections was held with the very list without complaints from any of the contesting political parties.

GECOM cannot be allowed to perpetrate any delay of General and Regional Elections, once they become due – more so, if they are ordered by the Caribbean Court of Justice.

May 15, 2019

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Teixeira calls for investigation into use of taxpayers’ money in Compton Reid appeal at CCJ L

etters were sent to the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) and the Auditor General’s Office on Tuesday (May 14, 2019) calling for an investigation into the use of taxpayers’ monies to fund a private appeal at the Caribbean Court of Justice by Compton Reid.

The letter signed by People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive, Gail Teixeira, read: “This is a complete departure from the financial rules and regulations as the state is not allowed to use public funds to pay for a private legal action brought by private citizen.

“It is therefore inappropriate, and I believe illegal, for the state to use taxpayers’ money to pay for a private action.

“I am therefore lodging a formal complaint and asking that this matter be investigated by SARA. By copy of this letter l am also alerting the Auditor General of Guyana and the Chairperson of the Public Procurement Commission with regards to this matter.

“In anticipation that l may be asked to provide further information, may l suggest that a simple request to peruse the expenditures of the Attorney General’s Office/Ministry of Le-

“It is therefore inappropriate, and I believe illegal, for the state to use taxpayers’ money to pay for a private action.” – PPP Executive, Gail Teixeira gal Affairs and the Ministry of the Presidency commencing from January 2019 may prove useful in this regard.”

Up to press time there was no response from the APNU+AFC Coalition Government on the matter.

BELOW IS THE FULL LETTER: Dr. Clive Y. Thomas (Prof.)

Office of the Director State Assets Recovery Agency 56 Main and New Market Streets Georgetown May 14, 2019 Dear Dr. Thomas, Mr. Compton Reid, a private citizen, and a farmer from Berbice, took it upon himself to

challenge the validity of the vote cast by former APNU+AFC MP Charrandass Persaud as a means of nullifying the December 21, 2018 motion of no-confidence which had ended the term of the government in accordance with article 106 (6) of the Guyana Constitution.

It is publicly known, through media reports, that Mr. Reid was represented by a large team of lawyers at both the High Court and the Court of Appeal of Guyana, and, at the Caribbean Court of Justice – Mr. Rex McKay, S.C., Mr. Neil Boston, S.C., Mr. Robert Corbin and Mr. Roysdale Forde.

Information has become available that indicates that public funds have been, and, are being, used by the state to pay for Mr. Reid’s legal team including expenses incurred.

This is a complete departure from the financial rules and regulations as the state is not allowed to use public funds to pay for a

private legal action brought by private citizen.

It is therefore inappropriate, and l believe illegal, for the state to use taxpayers’ money to pay for a private action.

I am therefore lodging a formal complaint and asking that this matter be investigated

by SARA. By copy of this letter l am also alerting the Auditor General of Guyana and the Chairperson of the Public Procurement Commission with regards to this matter.

In anticipation that l may be asked to provide further information, may I suggest that a simple request to peruse the expenditures of the Attorney General’s Office/Ministry of Legal Affairs and the Ministry of the Presidency commencing from January 2019 may prove useful in this regard.

Sincerely, Gail Teixeira.

CC: Auditor General of Guyana, Mr. Deodat Sharma Mrs. C. Corbin, Chairperson of the Public Procurement Commission

Holding the APNU+AFC Coalition to account – a review of local happenings

Crime, Politics and the Police

By Anil Nandlall

O

n innumerable occasions, I have questioned this Government’s commitment to combat violent crimes, to uphold the rule of law and to act in conformity with the Constitution. I do so once again. On this occasion, I will interrogate its commitment to battle violent crimes.

No one can doubt that Guyanese from all walks of life, in particular, on the coastland, are in a state of terror unleashed by those who perpetrate violent crimes against them with impunity.

The upsurge in recent months has left dozens dead, dozens injured and dozens psychologically and emotionally scarred for life. There has been absolutely no proportionate reaction from either the Guyana Police Force (GPF) or the Government. It is as if it is business as usual.

Indeed, one cannot point to a singular measure implemented or even conceived to confront these morbid atrocities. Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan, seeks to appease a fearful and brutalized citizenry with the least comforting “it is not that bad” remark. His recent penchant of revealing statistics

which show a decline in violent crimes assuages no one: the statistics are incredulous, as the people are living, nay, suffering a different reality.

To withhold the truth from the public, the GPF stopped publishing their monthly statistical data to which the press had become so accustomed. One is therefore left with Ramjattan’s ipsit dixit on the matter.

Four years ago, I publicly opined that the leadership of the GPF is being undermined by political interference. I essayed multiple examples to support my contention. I condemned such interference

as unlawful and contrary to both the Police Act and the Constitution. I predicted that this will naturally lead to a destruction of morale and authority in the Force and impact negatively, on its capacity and performance. The nation is now enduring the results of such interference.

Police officers are now afraid to use lethal force where the situation so demands because policy statements have been issued from the highest Office of the land absolutely eschewing the utilization of lethal force. That policy directive not only emanated from the wrong Office but it

is also legally flawed.

One Commissioner of Police was virtually hounded out of Office by the Government, in abrogation of the ‘security of tenure’, which the Constitution accords to that Office. A similar fate swiftly followed the next Police Commissioner who was appointed to act in his stead. It is not insignificant that they are of the same ethnicity.

In May 2015, a Senior Superintendent of Police, Wendell Blanhum was elevated to the post of Crime Chief. Prior to his elevation, he was second in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Mr. Blanhum remains one of the most educated and highly trained officers in the GPF. His training, both locally and overseas, include crime prevention policing, investigation of organised crimes for the Americas, policing and management, intelligence-led policing and law enforcement leadership, to name a few.

He holds a Degree in Public Management, a Master’s Degree in Public Administration and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Laws Degree.

He is not yet 40 years old but has already served nearly 2

decades in the force.

Minister Ramjattan was quoted in the press (Stabroek News- December 6, 2017) as saying that “Blanhum has been an absolutely competent Crime Chief. He solved a lot of crimes.” Yet, Officer Blanhum was removed from that post and reassigned to a desk as Deputy Commander of ‘A’ Division. This bizarre move constituted the implementation of recommendations emanating from a most jaundiced Commission of Inquiry (COI) held, to investigate, what many believed to be a fabricated plot, to assassinate the President. Mr. Blanhum has been deliberately kept away from active duties since.

However, it does not end there. I am reliably informed that recently, Mr. Blanhum has been transferred to Mabaruma, Region One. I am further informed that this is the first time that an officer of such rank has ever been assigned to such a remote location. It is not that I am implying that remote locations of our country do not require officers of the stature of Mr. Blanhum. But it was never done before. In any event, one can hardly compare the incidence of crime

on the coastland with that of Region One. The quintessential question however, remains: on what basis can one justify assigning one of the most qualified and able investigators in the Force away from the heart of the country’s crime zone, the coastland, particularly when violent crimes are peaking?

There is more still yet. I am informed that there is a “shake-up” taking place right now in the Force, driven by political diktat, to remove from key positions and locations, officers whom the government feels they cannot influence and direct, and to replace them with those perceived to be malleable and controllable. This is being done specifically in preparation for the impending Regional and General Elections.

We know too well the implications and ramifications which will flow therefrom.

In the meanwhile, the Force continues to hemorrhage from lack of confidence and competence and citizens’ lives continue to be lost, families continue to be destroyed and sparse money to survive continue to be plundered by violent miscreants in our midst. Clearly, we deserve better as a people.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Leaked Letter exposes damning allegations…

Staff complains about Basil Williams exposing genitals to female staff, abuse and more ‒ Granger received complaint months ago, does nothing

I

t has been almost six months since a letter from staff of the Ministry of Legal Affairs was sent to President David Granger, as well as Executives of APNU and AFC – a letter that details repugnant behaviour from Attorney General, Basil Williams, ranging from sexual harassment to verbal abuse.

And months later. Nothing has been done. The letter has since been leaked to the local media corps.

The document details Williams’ “abusive conduct” that has “all been targeted mainly to the female staff” of the Ministry. It added that 15 of the 19 staffers who left the Ministry at the end of 2018 were all women.

In addition to sexual misconduct, which includes complaints that Williams’ exposed his genitals to female staff, the letter details: complaints to deal with abusive language; derogatory statements and expletives used in reference to local lawyers and judges, as well as colleague APNU+AFC Ministers; incompetence; and a pattern of blatant lying not only to the President and the APNU+AFC Cabinet, but also lying in court

document.

At the end of the seven-page letter, those who penned the correspondence called for an investigation into Williams’ deplorable, unprofessional and unlawful actions. “Many members of staff are prepared to give their statements,” the letter said in conclusion.

SEE THE FULL LETTER BELOW:

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

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

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office

C

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

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office The Parliamentary Opposition has been monitoring the APNU+AFC Coalition government’s use of public funds and the levels of transparency and accountability. From June 10, 2015 to date, over 55 scandals have been uncovered – an average of one scandal for each month – some of which are listed below:

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. W r i t e - o f f s b y t h e 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 cashstrapped 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

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WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

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

APNU+AFC gov’t has racked up over 55 scandals since taking office 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 relating 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 Supplementary 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.

24

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Fishermen engaged on welfare concerns

Teixeira raps SARA for ‘pathetic’ excuses after failing...

(From page 27)

the information with regards to each case. (I have attached a copy of this letter to Dr. Thomas) That was the last l heard from the Director of SARA, Dr. Thomas, or, any one from SARA until I saw Mr. Heath-Retmeyer’s comment.

What information is SARA waiting on with regards to the $18MUSD signature bonus? The letter from the Ministry of Finance to the Bank of Guyana advising it to deposit the US$18M in an interest bearing foreign currency account was published in the media in December 2017, a year after

the government received the money. The US$18M has to date not been deposited in the Consolidated Fund, despite the matter being raised in National Assembly on several occasions and in the media on numerous occasions.

Is SARA living in a bubble? An expensive bubble for the Guyanese taxpayers with budgetary provisions of $260M in 2018 and $285M in 2019, yet the Deputy Director wants to give the public the impression that SARA cannot investigate unless l, the complainant, provide more information on the US$18M ? This is his re-

sponse on a serious violation of the Constitution?!

What a pathetic whimper from SARA! Maybe SARA should first “clean up” its own act. The Act was assented to on May 4, 2017, more than two years ago, yet a Director has not been appointed and approved by the National Assembly within the 4 months of the commencement of the Act. Or, does SARA need a complaint to filed and additional information on this matter too?

Sincerely Gail Teixeira

25

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Man executed outside Bartica bar

A

21-year-old resident of Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) was fatally shot on Monday (May 13, 2019) by a man, who later fled the scene.

Dead is Antonio Dos Santos of Lot 22, Second Avenue, Bartica. According to information received, the incident occurred in front of an entertainment bar at First Avenue Bartica at about 02:25hours. Dos Santos was said to be imbibing at the said location when he was approached by the suspect and shot twice in the left region of his chest. The shooter then quickly fled the scene.

The injured man was rushed to the Bartica Regional Hospital, where he was treated and referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital

Corporation. Dos Santos succumbed to his injuries at about 07:05hour at the Bartica Airstrip while being moved via aircraft to Georgetown.

Investigations are ongoing.

Pensioner’s body found in canal T he body of a pensioner was on Monday (May 13, 2019) discovered face down in a canal at Number 29 Village, West Coast Berbice, Region Five (Mahaica-Berbice).

Dead is Michael Christopher Nathaniel London also called “Chucky”, 68, of Lot 546 Number 29 Village, WCB. Reports are the body was found at about 11:00 hours. The dead man’s daughter said that her father had gone to her home, which is located two villages away, to spend Mother’s Day with her mother – his former wife. She explained that she received a telephone call informing her that a body was discovered in a canal which is adjacent to the school dam and that the body was that of her father. According to the daughter, it appears as though her father was killed and his body was dumped in the canal.

At the time of the discovery both of his eyes appeared swollen and what appeared

to be blood was seen around one of them.

Investigations are ongoing.

Armed men rob Albion supermarket, open fire on responding Police ranks Armed bandits target Alness pensioners

T

T

he proprietors of a Chinese Supermarket in Albion, Berbice, along with customers, were on Saturday (May 11, 2019) robbed after two masked gunmen invaded the business establishment.

Reports are around 21:30h, the two perpetrators arrived at the ‘Z-One Chinese Supermarket’, located at Lot 16B Albion Front, Corentyne, Berbice, armed with an AK-47 assault rifle and a small handgun. The men stormed the premises and immediately ordered the customers inside to lie face down on the floor while ordering the owners to hand over the cash.

Reports are that while making demands, one bandit hit one of the proprietors across the head with his handgun. Meanwhile, the other suspect proceeded to relieve the customers of their cash and cellular phones.

While the robbery was in progress, the Police were notified, and a three-member team from the Albion Police Station was deployed to the scene. As the ranks arrived at the robbery scene, the gunmen fired multiple shots at the vehicle, resulting in the officers having to shield themselves while

Twelve busted with illegal ammo

A

number of foreign nationals are among 12 people who were held on Thursday (May 9, 2019) after army and police ranks intercepted a boat containing ammunition in the Cuyuni River.

The ranks found 25 live cartridges in the 40 foot vessel.

Two females were also are among those held.

running for cover to avoid being hit by the bullets that were fired in their direction.

The gunmen made good their escape on foot.

The Police have since recovered 20 spent shells outside the supermarket and another six inside.

Investigations are ongoing.

wo pensioners were beaten and robbed, on Thursday (May 9, 2019) after two armed bandits broke into their Alness Village, Corentyne home.

The attack, according to information received, occurred at about 03:30h at the Lot 53 Alness home.

The two masked men reportedly cut the grill work to a window in the lower flat of the building to gain entry. The men then went into one of the bedrooms in the upper flat occupied by the two pensioners – Guildford Goodchild, 76, and his wife, Kaymeah, 71.

According to the elderly woman, the bandits demanded cash and jewelry, but she told them that she did not have any. The bandits resorted to beating her. Meanwhile, her husband, a former Transport and Harbour

The grill was cut on this window and was used by the bandits to gain entry

worker, was hit in his head and abdomen. The bandits took away a gold ring he was wearing.

The woman’s grandson, Erwin Scarville, said he was in another bedroom and heard his grandmother screaming. According to the

20-year-old, he came out of his bedroom to investigate but as soon as he opened the bedroom door, he was confronted by one of the bandits who was carrying a gun. The young man was also beaten.

Investigations are ongoing.

Son of businessman gunned down at Bagotstown

T

he son of the owner of C&F Meat Centre was shot and killed at Norton Street Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara, on Thursday (May 9, 2019).

The victim has been identified as Patrick Matthew Fraser, 23. Reports are that the man was shot twice to his body in the yard of a burnt house. He was picked up and rushed to the

Diamond Diagnostic Centre, where he succumbed while receiving medical attention.

Persons in the area confirmed that they heard the sound of the gunshots, and as they rushed to the scene, they saw the young man lying on the ground with blood oozing from his stomach.

Investigations are ongoing.

26

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

OBSERVER

A peak into the psyche of the PNCR A

historical examination of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) reveals that the Party has no disinclination when it comes to using fear and violence to advance its position. This type of political strategy has been done away with.

Sadly for Guyana it is clear that the PNCR refuses to evolve and continue to depend on this type of despicable practices. What is worrying is that the person who is supposed to be the leading advocate for law and order in Guyana, our Attorney General is the one who it appears is

willing to use the possibility of violence to advance his Party’s agenda.

The PNCR is so fearful of facing the Guyanese public at elections, knowing fully well they will be severely beaten, but are now using the threat of violence to further delay the inevitable.

The Attorney General, Basil Williams, while at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), predicted that there will be violence in Guyana if the CCJ does not rule in his government’s favour. This prediction by our Attorney General has far reaching im-

plications. This can easily be viewed as a veiled attempt to intimidate the Justices of the CCJ. One can deduce that this is an attempt to let the Justices believe, incorrectly, that they will be held responsible for any violence in Guyana that follows their ruling.

The Attorney General hopes, therefore, that based upon this fear the Justices will rule in his government’s favour.

This prediction, or threat, by the Attorney General gives us a window into the psyche of the PNCR. This country has had terrible experiences with the

Lethem promised asphalt road, works downgraded D

uring his 2019 budget presentation, Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, told the National Assembly that residents in the Municipality of Lethem, Region 9, will receive a five kilometers of

asphalt road.

Road works commenced recently.

However, the road is of not asphalt nor it is close to a Double Bitumen Standard Treatment (DBST).

Resident in Lethem

contend that the nature of work is yet another portrayal of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government incompetence, wasteful spending and pattern of broken promises to Guyanese.

PNC, more so at times when things do not go their way.

The aftermath of all our elections from 1992 to 2011, all of which the PPP/C won, the PNCR unleashed fear and violence on our citizens. The business people in Guyana know fully well all the negative effects of their violent actions. It would appear that the PNCR is willing to have the country’s economy and image negatively affected – yet again – to punish us all because they would have lost at the CCJ. It is sad, that a government who got into power, as a government who respected law and order, is now willing to throw that out the window to punish us all for their loss.

It would be disingenuous

on the part of the PNCR to attempt to lay blame elsewhere for some of the atrocities Guyanese have been made to suffer through. This is a Party whose parliamentarians say that they follow the instructions of their Chief Whip without questions. This is a Party whose lawyers argued at the CCJ that Party members in Parliament are supposed to do whatever the Party demands, without question.

Should the Justices of the CCJ uphold validity of the vote on the no-confidence motion, and violence follows that ruling, we must all hold the current PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition Government accountable. We must all condemn the Attorney

General now for what he intimated and if there is violence he must be held personally responsible for any and all losses and sufferings that will ensue.

The PPP/C has always demonstrated that it is a responsible Party. When the PPP/C lost the 2015 General and Regional Elections, unlike the PNCR they did not call on their supporters to protest or act in any way to harm the country. The PNCR however continues to show its true colours. It would seem that the overall interest of the country is secondary to them. The survival of the PNCR in Government seems to be what is of greater importance – the cost to the country be damned.

Kidney transplant patients worry about shortage of drugs at GPHC, more

W

ith one death already recorded, a total of 34 kidney transplant patients have gone public, calling on the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to urgently address the shortage of drugs at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) – drugs that are critical to ensuring they stay alive.

Those affected related that the hospital is without Mycophenolate, a suppressant medication which is used in conjunction with others to ensure that the human body does not reject the transplanted kidney. The second drug used by the group, Tacrolimus, currently has an expiry date of July 2019, and there is no clarity as to whether this too will be replenished.

Further, they complained that GPHC is using Mycophenolate drug, which was not approved by the FDA – a

Mycophenolate – the drug being used at GPHC, but not FDA approved

United States of America regulatory body.

The patients, who have all done surgeries over the past three years, are also calling for isolated rooms in the male and female wards to be used to administer their treatments when necessary.

According to those affected, Drug Level Tests, another necessary service, is not available locally. The blood samples are sent to the United States to conduct

tests every three months.

The Drug Level Tests are done to determine whether the medications in the body are between a required range to ensure that it does not become toxic.

Reports are that correspondence have been sent to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GPHC, Brigadier George Lewis and the Ministry of Public Health – with no positive response to date.

27

WEEKEND MIRROR 18-19 MAY, 2019

Teixeira raps SARA for ‘pathetic’ excuses after failing to investigate US$18M signing bonus issue T

he State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has said that it can only proceed with the investigation of the controversial US$18M signing bonus received by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government from ExxonMobil, once it received additional information from People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Executive, Gail Teixeira.

Receipt of the US$18M was denied by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government for over a year and to date has still not been transferred to the Consolidated Fund – where all state revenues must be placed according to law.

The issue of a signing bonus was first raised after Stabroek News on October 30, 2017, reported that: “While the government has remained silent on the matter, columnist Christopher Ram says he has been told that there was a US$20M signature bonus paid by ExxonMobil as part of the new contract agreement signed when the APNU+AFC government took office.”

The Department of Public Information (DPI) on November 3, 2017 reported that: “Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, in response to Attorney-at-law, Christopher Ram’s claim that the Government has signed a new US$20M agreement with Oil company, ExxonMobil, which it has refused to make public, on Friday, endorsed a public statement made by the Minister of Natural Resources that the contract would be made public at a later date to be announced. He stated that he will not speculate about contents of GoG’s contract with ExxonMobil.”

Kaieteur News on, November 23, 2017, reported Jordan as saying that: “Such a claim is ‘a figment of the imagination’ and that there is ‘no agreement for any bonus’. Further, he noted that the Government did not request such a bonus.”

Local media reports on Friday, December 8, 2017 referred to a leaked letter that addressed the issue of a signing bonus. The letter, dated more than a year ago, September 20, 2016, stated that: “I shall be grateful if you would arrange for the under-mentioned Foreign Currency Account to be opened at the Bank of Guyana, in order to receive a deposit in the form of a signing bonus to be given by ExxonMobil.

This account shall not be treated as part of the Bank’s foreign reserves. Instead the proceeds should be held in the currency of the deposit, that is, United States dollars, and invested in secured interest-bearing securities.”

The letter was copied to Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, who also refused to admit that a signing bonus was paid

by ExxonMobil. As such, Jagdeo stressed that he too should resign from his post.

A complaint from Teixeira to SARA was then made in June 15, 2018. To date SARA has not acted.

This week, Deputy Director Aubrey Heath-Retmeyer, in an effort to stress that SARA is not acting in a partisan manner, stated that the matter will be treated with the “same level of seriousness that the agency treats others with.”

Teixeira in response said, “What information is SARA

waiting on with regards to the $18MUSD signature bonus?

The letter from the Ministry of Finance to the Bank of Guyana advising it to deposit the US$18M in an interest bearing foreign currency account was published in the media in December 2017, a year after the government received the money.

“The US$18M has to date not been deposited in the Consolidated Fund, despite the matter being raised in National Assembly on several occasions and in the media on numerous occasions.

“Is SARA living in a bubble? An expensive bubble for the Guyanese taxpayers with budgetary provisions of $260M in 2018 and $285M in 2019, yet the Deputy Director wants to give the public the impression that SARA cannot investigate unless l, the complainant, provide more information on the US$18M ? This is his response on a serious violation of the Constitution?”

She equated SARA’s comments as a “pathetic whimper” and nothing more.

BELOW IS THE FULL LETTER FROM TEIXEIRA ON THIS MATTER: Dear Editor, Several media houses reported that “SARA was awaiting additional information from Teixeira on signing bonus complaint” or similar such words. All reported that this emanated from the Deputy Director of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Mr. Heath-Retmeyer.

For the record, I wrote three letters to the Director of SARA, Dr. Clive Thomas in 2018. I have had no dealing

with the Deputy Director.

In the first dated April 16th 2018 l called on SARA to investigate a number of cases which l chronicled with regards to corruption, breach of the procurement laws and wastage of taxpayers monies and state resources:1. Ministry of Public Health $620M purchase of drugs and medical supplies without any recourse to the procurement process; 2. The Ministry of Public Health contract for the rental of the Sussex Street House as a Pharmacy Bond without resort to any procurement process; 3. The construction of the Jubilee D’Urban Park facilities costing over $2Billion with no resort to public procurement. (The Auditor General to date cannot access required documents); 4. The pre-feasibility study of a New Demerara Harbour Bridge in violation of the procurement laws ( this matter was sent to the PPC and its report was sent to S.O.C.U. by me to bring criminal charges against the subject Minister and a copy shared with SARA); 5. The Petroleum Production Sharing Agreement with Exxon in 2016; 6. The $18M USD Signature Bonus deposited in an interest bearing foreign currency account in the Bank of Guyana and not deposited in the Consolidated Fund as required by the constitution nor reflected in the country’s revenue; 7. Breaches of the FMAA identified in the 2016 Auditor General Report

I received a reply from the Director of SARA, Dr. Thomas on April 19th 2018 in which he acknowledged “receipt of the complaints in your letter. SARA does not and cannot initiate investigations without first receiving a complaint such as yours....”

I then responded in a 5 page letter dated April 21st 2018, in which l made additional complaints which “fall squarely in your remit:1. The acquisition of a house and land in Bel Air Gardens, then state owned, below market value at that time and with no recourse to any procurement process by the former Minister of Finance of the PNC government and now 2nd Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Carl Greenidge of the APNUAFC Coalition. .

2. The PPP/C government responded to the Burnham family’s request for land and issued 5 acres of prime land in Georgetown at no costs to former Vice President and First Lady Mrs. Viola Burnham and widow of President Forbes Burnham in D’Urban Backlands.

3. The acquisition of a huge tract of land to the People’s National Congress for their party headquarters, Congress Place, in Sophia, at no cost and where sections have been sold over the years at market value and for profit, the most recent sale took place after the 2015 general and regional elections. ….”

“As such, l am now formally laying my complaint with reference to the cases regarding corruption, abuse in public office and violation

of the constitution, Procurement Act, and financial laws listed in my letter dated April 16, 2018 and those listed above and call on SARA to investigate them.”

The most egregious case relates to the sale of our national patrimony in oil and natural gas well below what is observed internationally and “relatively favorable to investors by international standards,” as stated in the IMF report prepared for Guyanese officials.

Follow the trail Dr Thomas you will find the answers and the accounts of those who benefitted.

In closing, I note your statement that “the goal is to repel procurement fraud, stolen state assets, corruption so that Guyanese of all walks of life can be assured their roads, national patrimony , gold and other state assets are used for the betterment of all Guyanese”. In other words all the cases I brought to your attention in my first letter and this follow up fall into that stated goal.”

On June 5th 2018, Dr. Thomas responded to my April 16th, 2018 letter in which he listed 6 of the 7 cases l referred to excluding the $18MUSD signature bonus requesting “ that any evidence which you might have in relation to any unlawful conduct in this matter be forwarded to us to aid in our consideration and investigation.”

I then responded on June 15th 2018, to Dr. Thomas advising that the information l referred to in my letters were all publicly available.

Further l then advised Dr. Thomas where he could find (Turn to page 24)

Granger creates positions for three more Ministers who resigned T

he Government of Guyana has created two new positions to accommodate the rehiring of former Ministers Carl Greenidge, Dominic Gaskin and Dr Rupert Roopnaraine.

This week, President David Granger’s office announced that: Greenidge has been appointed Foreign Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Gaskin, Granger’s sonin-law, has been appointed Director of Manufacturing and Marketing within the Ministry of Business; and Roopnarine has been ap-

pointed Director of Public Service Training within the Ministry of the Business.

Already, the fourth Government Minister who resigned, Joseph Harmon, had a position created for him – Director General of the Ministry of the Presidency.

The four men, all dual citizens, resigned as Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) effective April 25, 2019, in compliance with an interpretation from the Court of Article 155 (1) of the Constitution of Guyana – the first time this was done.

Article 155 (1) states that: “No person shall be qualified

for election as a member of the National Assembly who (a) is, by virtue of his own act, under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state”.

The APNU+AFC Coalition has come in for criticisms since with the resignation of the four Ministers – four new appointments were made, three new Parliamentarians were sworn in and now taxpayers are being made to pay for the retention of the four who resigned.

The APNU+AFC Coalition has been silent on the criticisms raised.

How much of taxpayers’ dollars was used on ministerial trip to T&T?

Q

uestions about the presence of five minsters – Sydney Allicock, Tabitha Saraboo-Halley, George Norton, Nicolette Henry and Hemraj Ramjukar – in Trinidad and Tobago, last weekend, for the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) hearings, related to the no-confidence motion challenge, remain unanswered.

The top concerns relates to the amount of taxpayers’ dollars used to fund the trip.

In addition to the ministerial delegation, the Attorney General, Basil Williams, and his team was also eating up tax dollars during their stay in Trinidad and Tobago.

Among the expenses were: first class tickets on the flight to Trinidad and

Tobago, hotels, meals, transportation and other spending, as well as a per diem allowance for each government official. Estimates are that the cost has surpassed the $4M mark.

Wasteful spending by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government remains one of the key areas of criticism during its four years in office.

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