Weekend Mirror 7-8 September 2019

PPP/C is in campaign mode – Jagdeo 7-8 September, 2019 / Vol. 10 No. 88 / Price: $100

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

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Indigenous people want Elections at the ‘soonest’ – NTC rep PAGE 19

Major projects part of the PPP/C roadmap for economic growth and prosperity – Ali PAGE 13

Gov’t-nominated GECOM Commissioner under investigation for ‘racist’ remarks PAGE 3

SEE INSIDE

Tensions escalating between APNU, AFC over prime ministerial candidacy PAGE 9

More blackouts coming PAGE 21

‒ GPL says it cannot meet peak demand

No PAGE 17 discussions on elections preparation at latest meeting – Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioners

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Real Time Economic Insights Inflation, cost of living on the rise (An analysis of Guyana’s economic performance)

Notwithstanding the overall economic growth of 4.1 per cent in 2018, the inflation rate has been on the raise. At December 2018, the inflation rate stood at 1.6 percent relative to the 1.5 per cent at the end of 2017.

The Mid Year Report 2019 indicated an increase of 1.6 per cent in June 2019 from that of December 2018. The 12 month inflation rate at the end of June 2019 was registered at 2.4 per cent. This Report highlighted that this increase was mainly attributed to higher food prices, especially meat, fish and eggs, vegetables and vegetable products, and condiments and spices The Report stated that, “Over the 12 months, these prices rose by 6.3 percent, and affected 2.5 percentage points of the increase in the Georgetown-based Consumer Price Index (CPI)”.

The figure above graphs the inlaftion rate recorded for the last 12 months.

The Georgetown Consumer Price Index is the main tool used by the Government to measure the rate of inflation.

Consumer Price Indices are used for monitoring of changes in prices of a commodity basket. This index is calculated by the Bureau of Statistics. The items which make up the baskets were selected after the completion of a Household Budget Survey (HBS) in 2005/6.

The Georgetown basket consists of two hundred and seventeen (217) items (goods and services), which are further categorised in nine (9) groups.

The Consumer Price Index values the basket of goods at 118.9 at the end of June 2018 when compared to the 116.2 at June 2018. This increase in the CPI indicates an increase in the cost of living for Guyanese. This resulted from increases in several items in the basket such as food, clothing, medical care and health services and miscellaneous goods and services.

Guyanese urged to use social media platform to make anonymous submissions about corruption

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ith the four-year mark of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government being in office having passed 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, has urged Guyanese to make use of the social media platforms and participate in the effort to continue to expose the misdeeds of the APNU+AFC Coalition. He assured that the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) will continue its investigations in the push for greater accountability and transparency.

Guyanese can make submissions of information anonymously via Facebook on ‘Corruption Watch 592’ and via WhatsApp on telephone number (592)-653-6637.

Guyanese interested in volunteering asked to contact Party

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he People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) is now available on WhatsApp number 592-611-PPPC (7772) and it encouraging Guyanese, who are interested in political activism and volunteering, to contact the Party.

WhatsApp allows persons to message from Guyana other countries at no cost.

Operators are manning the line on a 24-hour basis and interested Guyanese are asked to communicate this to the Party.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

PPP/C is in campaign mode – Jagdeo

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uyanese people are “tired of the prevarications” and delays and want General and Regional Elections, which ought to have been held since March 21, 2019, to be held as soon as possible, according to People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.

Making comments on

a radio programme on Wednesday (September 4, 2019), he said, “Everything is on hold while this bunch is busy fat-fowling themselves….we are hoping for elections long before the end of the year…we will keep pushing for Elections as soon as possible.”

Jagdeo also made clear that the PPP is in campaign mode. “Elections this year

is possible I think,” he said.

However, he expressed worry about the developments with the Secretariat at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), which is headed by Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield. “The GECOM Secretariat is compromised, in cahoots with the PNC, working to delay the

Flashback -- PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking at a campaign rally

elections further…it’s like pulling teeth to get people to do what they are supposed to do,” he said.

The PPP General Secretary stressed that the Party’s efforts to call for constitutional compliance

by the APNU+AFC Coalition and elections within the shortest possible time will continue.

Caretaker gov’t plans to spend millions on a second 1823 monument Gov’t-nominated GECOM Commissioner J ust over six years after the 1823 Demerara Revolt monument was unveiled, the caretaker APNU+AFC Coalition is moving to spend millions more on a new monument.

In August 2013, the 1823 monument located opposite the The 1823 Monument commissioned in 2013 Guyana Defence ond 1823 monument – more so at a time when Force’s Headquarters on the Sea Wall road, was officially it has fallen with the passage of a no-confiunveiled in commemoration of the 190th dence motion.

The exact cost of the new monument is anniversary of the 1823 slave revolt. unclear.

This historic slave revolt took place on Plantation Success, East Coast of Demerara on August 18, 1823 and quickly spread to other estates.

It was led by freedom fighters such as Quamina, Parris, Hamilton, Achilles and many others, who struck a mighty blow against the system of plantation slavery. It was the second of only two major slave revolts in Guyana’s history, occurring 60 years after that of 1763 in Berbice, then a Dutch colony.

The monument was sculpted by Guyanese, Ivor Thom.

A ground breaking ceremony for the second 1823 monument is set for Sunday, September 8, 2019, at Parade Ground, Georgetown.

The caretaker Coalition government has not explained its decision to construct a secThe planned new 1823 monument

under investigation for ‘racist’ remarks

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n Executive Member of one of the parties in the caretaker APNU+AFC Coalition, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), in under investigation by the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) for racist remarks.

The WPA’s Desmond Trotman reportedly made “racially insensitive comments” against the Chair-

man of the Private Sector Commission (PSC).

Notably, he is also one of the three government-nominated GECOM Commissioners.

A complaint was thereafter filed by the Private Sector Commission on July 31, 2019, via a letter. The letter said, “The Private Sector Commission wishes to register a formal com-

plaint to the Commission with regard to the racist content, the racial hate and the threatening racist tone of the letter and requests that your Commission conduct an immediate investigation into and take appropriate action on this matter.”

Trotman is yet to visit the ERC office to respond to questions by ERC investigators.

Desmond Trotman when he was sworn in by Granger to be a gov’t-nominated GECOM Commissioner

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EDITORIAL Desperate attempts to hang onto power

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lections are slowly approaching, as the APNU+AFC caretaker government prevaricates and continues its pussyfooting to get us to meet this constitutionally required activity.

With this being said the caretaker President, David Granger, and his Coalition government seems to advance their delay tactics because they see that their time in office is coming to an end – given the plethora of broken promises, failures and unprecedented levels of corruption.

However, in a typical People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) manner, they are attempting all means necessary to stay in power.

And in doing so, the PNC/R is attempting to gaslight the public once again. In their recent press conference, they were laying the groundwork, with the repetition of their advocacy for credible elections. They stated: “Guyanese need a voters list they can trust; to hold elections they can trust, to give them a government they can trust.”

Let’s debunk that. Since 2008, the current National Registrar of Registrants was being used, with no complaints from any political party. Suddenly they decided that they need to replace Guyana’s National Register of Registrants – the national voters’ database – via a new national houseto-house registration. Thankfully the Chief Justice, Roxanne George-Wiltshire, put an end to that.

That a nefarious plan is afoot was exposed after the ruling of the Chief Justice. With the efforts to replace the National Register of Registrants stopped, the focus shifted to merging data garnered from the house-to-house registration with the National Register of Registrants. To date there has still not been a decisive move by the new GECOM Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh, on this issue. Needless to say, the GECOM Chairperson can ill-afford to allow further delays.

General and Regional Elections ought to have been held since March 21, 2019. We are now months passed this deadline.

GECOM has a responsibility to comply with the Constitution of Guyana and it must act now.

The PNCR cannot be allowed to succeed in thwarting our democratic process – not after decades of rigged elections under their leadership.

Guyana gained her Independence in 1966, constitutional reforms occurred before this that lead to the creation of the unicameral House of Assembly (National Assembly) we know today with fifty-three (53) elected members and a Speaker.

In 1964 the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) won the election that took placed under the new system. Even though the PPP won the largest amount of seats, the People’s National Congress (PNC) and the United Force (UF) were invited

by Governor Richard Luyt to form a government. The PNC then proceed to rig the 1968 and 1973 elections.

Constitutional reform occurred in 1980, increasing the number of seats in the National Assembly to sixty-five (65).

Rigged elections were held in 1980 and 1985.

In 1980, fifty-three (53) members from the General Elections, two (2) from the National Congress of Local Democratic Organs and ten (10) from the Regional Democratic Councils, one (1) per council.

In 2001’s constitutional reform, the seat allocation became forty (40) from the National Top-Up Lists. Twenty-five (25) from the Geographical Constituencies: two (2) Region One [Barima/Waini], two (2) Region Two [Pomeroon/Supenaam], three (3) Region Three [Essequibo Islands/West Demerara], seven (7) Region Four [Demerara/Mahaica], two (2) Region Five [Mahaica/Berbice], three (3) Region Six [East Berbice/ Corentyne], two (2) Region Seven [Cuyuni/Mazaruni], one (1) Region Eight [Potaro/Siparuni], one (1) from Region Nine [Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo] and two (2) Region Ten [Upper Demerara/Berbice].

The PNCR has always never once single-handedly won an election in Guyana in a free and fair system. The idea that they are the delaying elections to protect this right is laughable.

What is happening is that they are setting up their followers in a tinder box for whatever outcome they envision, should the results become unfavourable to them. Needless to say, violence has always been the solution to any question the PNC/R has had.

Simultaneously, they are peddling in lies. The first major lie they attempted to peddle was that “young people” need to

WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Merging data will complicate the process Dear Editor,

T

he Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, Retired Justice Claudette Singh must be commended for doing the right thing, namely to bring an end to the house to house registration which was unilaterally launched by the previous GECOM Chair.

The decision to halt the house to house registration on August 31st is a step in the right direction and signals a new dispensation in the decision-making process at GECOM which in the past months was not only adversarial but highly skewed in favour of the Executive.

In so doing, she has already signalled GECOM’s readiness to hold elections within the shortest possible time. It now for her to formally indicate that information to President David Granger to allow him to announce a date for elections.

My only concern is the decision taken to merge the data obtained from the house to house registration exercise with that of the existing National Register of Registrants. This will only serve to complicate the verification process, given the fact that the main opposition party, the PPP was not involved in the registration process.

One possible way out is for the

two sets of data to be disaggregated and an immediate verification process put in place involving both the PPP/C and the APNU+AFC. This could form the basis for the statutory Claims and Objections exercise which should be completed no later than the end of September to facilitate credible elections in October.

Time is of the essence. I am certain this fact is fully appreciated by the GECOM Chairman and all those who cherish the ideals of a law-governed society.

Yours faithfully, Hydar Ally

When will the probe be launched on whether fake voters were registered in H2H? Dear Editor,

“O

ur lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” said Martin Luther King Jr. There is a deafening silence about the serious allegation that was made in July 2019 that thousands of non-Guyanese have arrived in Guyana over the last four years and then disappeared into thin air. This situation is further reinforced by the fact that many of these non-Guyanese have secured work permits and are working with two security companies whose owners are closely aligned to the PNC. In addition to that, these non-Guyanese are alleged to have been given all sorts of documents to facilitate their registration during the House-to-House process (H-2-H). This is a dangerous situation for all Guyanese since these non-Guyanese can influence the outcome of our general elections which then compromise its freeness and fairness.

It was no less a person than former PNC Minister Kit Nascimento who explained that the caretaker Minister of Citizenship, Mr Felix, had to rely on the Brazilian authorities to present information on some of these migrants. Is it a case that Guyana has lost control of its borders? Was it not Mr Granger who said he will be the security President and he will bring greater protection to the territorial integrity of the nation?

Yet Mr Felix did not see it fit to launch a probe into this dangerous national security situation involving non-Guyanese who are allegedly parading all over the nation. Some have even advanced to the stage of securing fake documents and are presenting themselves as bonafide voters since they were able to register in the compromised H-2-H process in the absence of non-PNC verification.

While I welcome the Minister’s call to launch a probe into the situation where there is an allegation that persons in the Rupununi are in possession

be registered during house to house. After that was shut down they are now reversing their tune saying that an “extensive” period of claims and objectives is needed to ensure all the eligible voters get registered. The second major lie being peddled by the PNCR is that over the past 23 years under successive PPP/C administrations, the economy was destroyed and the country was brought to its needs.

In all this a few things are clear: one, delay tactics are afoot; two, the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition is playing a game of ‘hide and seek’ where they are hiding from the electorate; three, they are engaged in actions that could have

of fake official Guyanese documents, I would like to point out his hypocrisy in ignoring the wider national security problem of thousands of non-Guyanese arriving in Guyana and then falling off the radar.

When you become a national figure, your first duty is in the service and protection of the entire nation impartially. Your duty is to address the fears of all Guyanese whether they live at Buxton or Albion, irrespective if they are your supporters or not. But what I am observing from the action from Mr Felix is that he is operating like a PNC Minister in a land of only PNC members, in subservience to the diktats of Congress Place and in adherence to the Sophia Declaration which stated in 1976 that “the State is just but an arm of the PNC party”.

Has paramountcy of the PNC party returned to Guyana?

Regards, Sasenarine Singh

devastating outcomes; and, four, they continue to lie to the Guyanese people.

In today’s society, Guyanese are much more enlightened and, after almost five years of the caretaker APNU+AFC Coalition government in office, it is easy to now compare track records of the PNCR-led APNU+AFC Coalition and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C).

Since the 21st December 2018, after the passage of the no-confidence motion that brought the Coalition to its knees, the usual tricks have been playing out – all in an attempt to hang on to power.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

State media being used to engage in distortions and untruths Dear Editor,

T

he GAWU has fully considered the editorial of the September 01 Guyana Chronicle titled “PPP destruction of the sugar industry”.

The editorial of the state-owned newspaper – which is coincidentally funded by the nation’s taxpayers and has a responsibility to be reflective of the views of all Guyanese – unfortunately, it appears, has taken on a partisan political tone, undoubtedly, to justify the incumbent Administration’s bungled and confused sugar policy. While the editorial’s main target was the PPP/C, which is very much capable of responding, our Union’s name was also drawn into the mudslinging that is now a hallmark of the state-owned newspaper. It is against this background, that we find it incumbent to bring clarity to the several misguided contentions which, undoubtedly, were being used to score cheap political points.

The editorial posits that the industry was “…destroyed… through a combination of reckless and ill-advised economic initiatives…”, however, it failed to really provide any empirical evidence of this. It seems to us that the Chronicle, like many who make up the present-day Administration, is engaged in blowing hot air. The paper goes on to say nothing was done to “…improve productivity, to close the gap between production cost and market prices and ultimately to put the industry on an economically sustainable footing”.

Whether the newspaper is feigning ignorance or not, as it more and more dons a political mask, it is engaged in major distortions of the truth. The facts remain that they were concerted efforts to improve production and productivity. Those efforts saw between 2002 and 2004 sugar production averaging about 320,000 tonnes per annum and cane yields in excess of 75 tonnes per hectare.

During the period, as well, there was the introduction of mechanical cane loaders and mechanical cane harvesters and efforts were being made to further the mechanization thrust to improve efficiency and hence lower costs.

The Sugar CoI report, which the Chronicle alluded to in the editorial, had pointed to the cost benefits of mechanized operations. Moreover, thousands of hectares of cane fields were converted to facilitate mechanized field activities. At East Demerara and Skeldon Estates, for instance, a significant proportion of the cultivation were geared towards mechanized operations and, notwithstanding that fact, the Government closed those estates without a second thought. In fact, we believe, the Chronicle may wish to query why the current Administration refused a CDB loan that was approved to hasten mechanization works in the sugar industry.

Apart from that, there were also efforts to diversify and add income streams to the industry. The Enmore Packaging Plant was one such initiative. Again, if the newspaper fully considered the Sugar CoI report, it would have seen the industry’s highest sugar return came from this plant, which now-a-days lie closed with cobwebs and dust taking over the equipment. The very Chronicle, nine years to the day, in its September 01, 2010 editorial said “[a] major component of GuySuCo’s strategic plan to turn around the sugar industry

is moving towards value added and packaged products, and in this regard the Enmore Packaging Plant… will play a major role”.

The editorial points to declining sugar production saying “ [i]n 2013… production had fallen to 186,807 tons…”. What the editorial fails to say, that in subsequent years production was even poorer. Following a production improvement in 2015 when production reached 231,071 tonnes, as a result of hard-work in the preceding year, by 2016, sugar production fell to 183,614 tonnes; in 2017 it was 137,352 tonnes, and in 2018 it was 104,596 tonnes. At the same time, it ignores that sugar production between 1988 and 1990, averaged just over 156,000 tonnes per annum.

The Chronicle also said that the “…subsidy to Guysuco under the PPP was grounded more in politics than economics…”. The support to the sugar industry, to the best of our knowledge, was premised on the industry’s contribution to the national well-being. Support to industries is not by any means unique to Guyana. The world is replete of examples of the State supporting economic activities in recognition of their value to society. It is interesting to note that the September 01, 2010 Chronicle editorial aptly summed this up when it said the sugar industry “…is our largest contributor to the national economy and is the largest employer with over 20,000 employees and creates indirect employment for thousands of others”. It was, undoubtedly, against that backdrop that support to the industry was provided. Moreover, support to the industry was never frowned upon and was supported wholly by all Members of the Parliament. Also, the CDB encouraged such a policy, pointing out in its assessment of the Sugar Industry Mechanisation Project, that it was “…economically viable for GOGY [Government of Guyana] to continue subsidizing and protecting the cultivation and harvesting of sugar cane and processing of sugar for export and local consumption.”

The editorial also was critical of the investment in Skeldon Estate arguing that the investment was not well thought-out. This criticism, however, goes against the grain of reality. Several reports have testified to the consideration, thought and examination that preceded the Skeldon investment. As is well-known at the time of Skeldon’s planning, Guyana was considered an HIPC country and the international financial institutions, obviously with a fine tooth comb, fully examined the project before they gave their blessing. To now come foolhardily and distort the reality is to be disingenuous in our view.

Our Union was also criticized for advocating for improvement of pay levels and conditions-of-work for sugar workers. Is it that the Chronicle is saying we should not advocate improvements to the well-being and welfare of the sugar workers and their families? This is clearly an anti-worker position that is being pursued by the so-called “Nation’s newspaper”. Maybe it is that the paper is taking a cue from its ‘handlers’ who have treated workers and workers issues with disdain and contempt.

The newspaper should not forget that sugar workers, in the era of state-ownership, have always benefitted from improvements in pay, as workers in other areas of the State. There

were only in two (2) instances in the 1980’s when sugar workers, like their colleagues in all areas of the State, did not receive a pay rise.

However, since 2015, there has been naked discrimination as sugar workers have not gotten any improvement in pay whereas their colleagues in the State sector have had imposed increases. Certainly, the sugar workers do not begrudge their colleagues who, like them, are being bombarded by the high cost-of-living arising to a great extent from increased taxation. Undoubtedly, the sugar workers, who incidentally prior to May, 2015 were promised increases of 20 per cent, have now seen the nature of the beast they must deal with. While sugar workers are told no increase, they see the top echelon of the Administration awarding themselves exorbitant pay improvements, reportedly in excess of 50 per cent, apart from other significant enhancements of perks and privileges.

The paper contemptuously charged that monies were given to our Union regarding the training of sugar workers. The GAWU, sometime ago, had answered this fallacy when we pointed out that the sums quoted were paid to sugar workers who were released

by GuySuCo to attend classes organized by the Union through its College. This practice continues onto now and is clearly spelt out in the Collective Labour Agreement between the GAWU and the GuySuCo. Regarding the subjects, it is well within the GAWU’s prerogative to identify the subject matters it wishes to address during its educational classes. It also should not be forgotten that Article 1 of the Guyana Constitution says “Guyana is an indivisible, secular, democratic sovereign state in the course of transition from capitalism to socialism and shall be known as the Co-operative Republic of Guyana”. Certainly, the subjects alluded to are important tenets of the transformation envisaged by the Constitution.

It should not be forgotten, too, that during the era of former Prime Minister and President Forbes Burnham workers were granted paid time-off to pursue studies in the USSR, among other places. Those stints abroad exposed workers to the subjects the Chronicle have now expressed a critical viewpoint about.

We hasten to add, too, that interestingly, and may be conveniently, the newspaper failed to allude to the GuySuCo participation in delivering certain presentations during our educational classes. Moreover, the paid-re-

lease of workers to attend union-sponsored educational courses is by no means a new feature or unique to GAWU and GuySuCo. It is a benefit extended to all other unions and is one of the many battles won by the working-class.

The paper contends that “this government… halted the rapid decline of the industry” and goes on to say that “…the industry was saved”. We wonder how that could be true. The reality is that 7,000 workers lost their jobs; tens of thousands of Guyanese have been plunged into misery, if not poverty; communities have had their breath sucked out; school-aged children have had to leave their educational pursuits; we have seen families broken-up, and how can we forget that it pushed some workers sadly to taking their lives. While the Chronicle wants to engage in distortions and untruths, the naked reality is there to see. Many media reports have confirmed the hardship and suffering that face the now displaced sugar workers.

We see too the Chronicle charging that “…thousands of sugar workers still have their jobs is testimony to the foresight of the government”. But it was this Government which stood, apparently at the sidelines, as the workers and the Guyanese public, looked on horrified, between the very public battle between NICIL and GuySuCo. It is the Guyanese people who today stand to be exposed to a $30B indebtedness should the various actors not get the industry right. It is future generations of Guyanese which stand to suffer from the shortsighted and, seeming, blinded decisions of the present-day Administration. We remind the Chronicle that nine (9) years ago it said “[w]e have the capacity and resources to restore the sugar industry to its former glory.

What is needed now is efficient and effective management of the industry at levels and the will and determination to succeed”. We believe this is very much relevant in our times as well.

So today while the Chronicle is used to do the bidding of its masters and has adopted, from all appearances, an anti-sugar and an anti-worker outlook, we need to be wary of the thousands who are hard-pressed while cheap propaganda is pursued with taxpayers’ monies.

Yours faithfully, Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ Union (GAWU)

There can be no more delays Dear Editor,

T

he Chairman of GECOM has finally put an end to the house-to-house registration exercise, this is a most welcomed act and I must commend her for doing so.

However, that move still falls woefully short of fulfilling the constitutional requirements of the law, which states, that GECOM should now move swiftly into elections mode.

That elections mode means that there must be a Claims and Objections process, which would in effect add to the list of electors those persons who would have attained the voting age of 18 years as well as sanitize the list of those persons who would have died since the last election.

This is the final stage of the electoral process which should take us no more than one month to complete, albeit to officially come to compliance with the constitutional deadline.

On the other hand, the PNC-led Coalition through its political hacks at GECOM are trying to spin a confusing yarn that the present duplicate, and in most cases, suspect list of registrants, must be added to the National Register of Registrants (NRR) data base. This cannot be because here you have a house-to-house exercise that

lacked the scrutiny of the main political opposition (which makes it totally illegal) and an exercise that is wholly incomplete, this brings into focus another nonsensical issue. So this idiotic argument cannot be allowed to flourish even to the point of gaining any sensible attention, you cannot add an incomplete list to the NRR List, it just cannot happen. This is just another delay tactic by the PNC to confuse and delay the holding of general elections.

In the first place, the holding of houseto-house was an order issued by an illegally appointed GECOM Head, which again made that order illegal.

Instead of getting ready for elections, which should have been set in motion since December 22, the day after the successful passage of the no-confidence motion, that illegal chairman began a process political posturing all in the grand scheme to avoid election preparation.

Seeing this new chairperson has decided to get out of that morass, the only logical thing now is to follow the constitution to the letter.

Elections must be held, and there should be no delay.

Respectfully, Neil Adams

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Ramjattan has reached new lows Dear Editor,

Elections must be free, fair, transparent and timely Dear Editor,

T

he coalition Government has once again shown its total disregard and insensitivity for the hard-earned taxpayers’ dollars of the Guyanese people. It matters little that value for money is sacrificed for political expedience and the usual few getting filthy rich in the process.

This caretaker Government made a huge ‘investment’ in the H2H Registration – its bid to remain in power. In November last year, the Committee of Supply of the National Assembly approved $5.4 billion dollars for the Guyana Elections Commission.

The Opposition had proposed after the successful passing of the NCM that GECOM utilise the $3 billion intended for National Registration for the holding of elections, but this never materialised.

The Finance Minister, Mr Jordan, had said that “the sum of $5,371,061,000 is given a lump sum to GECOM to use as it sees fit and as it prioritises” and the coalition made full use of this offer. The CCJ ruling would have negated the H2H Registration in keeping with the 3-month timeline as stipulated by Article 106 but GECOM saw this as a priority to execute the will of the coalition.

The unilateral and legally flawed appointment of Mr Patterson bore dividends on June 11, 2019, days before the CCJ’s rulings on June 18. The GECOM Chairman, Mr Patterson, used his casting vote to initiate the House-to-House Registration which was scheduled to begin on July 20 and end on October 20, 2019. The Order for Registration was signed by Patterson June 11 and was a well-guarded secret since the conspiracy with the coalition to delay the elections as long as possible to pad the electoral list was the decisive factor. The Order came into effect as planned but without the legally required scrutineers from the PPP/C, hence those who would have registered lacked verification. The PPP/C was not even invited to supervise the registration process. This again smacks of collusion between GECOM and the coalition. Hence the entire House-to-House Registration was a farce enacted for the benefit of the coalition to pad the list with foreign nationals.

This H2H should have been aborted since the GECOM Chairperson held her first statutory meeting.

The GECOM Chairperson, even after the court ruling by Chief Justice Roxane George that the H2H is not unconstitutional but recommended GECOM considers other forms of verification, should have halted the H2H Registration immediately instead of allowing it to continue until August 31.

This has allowed GECOM to accelerate the process by working longer hours, again fulfilling the expectations of the coalition.

Why is it that that the process was allowed to continue when it became clear that the

existing NRR will not be invalidated and that there will be an “extensive” Claims and Objections period which would have captured those persons not on the list? The only reasonable conclusion is to afford the coalition ample time to get these foreigners with fake ID cards and birth certificates to get on the list.

Furthermore, the decision to “merge” the data from the H2H Registration with the NRR is again affording the coalition more delaying time since this will take an unduly long time which will again violate the CCJ’s rulings and the Constitution. The data should have been scrapped on August 27 and the Claims and Objections period brought into immediate effect to afford elections within a “reasonable” timeline.

This decision to allow the H2H to continue until month-end and to use the unverified data in a “merging” process is a very poor one and a decision which this country can ill-afford at this time bearing in mind that a successful NCM against this coalition was passed since December 21, 2018, and further ratified by the CCJ since June 18 this year. The GECOM Chair is cognisant of this fact, yet failed to rule accordingly.

This is not upholding the rule of law and the Constitution and enabling free, fair and transparent elections as promised! ‘Compromise’ cannot be used to cure a violation of the Constitution and justice cannot be adulterated with even an iota of illegality!

At this point, some lingering and pertinent questions need to be answered: What is the number of new registrants who are above the age of eighteen? We must take into consideration that the list expired on April 30 this year and persons attaining the age of eighteen would automatically be on that list. Any extraordinarily significant number of new registrants appearing will give credence to the padding suspicions which are already abounding. Why is it that these unverified registrations should be on the Official List of Electors? We must consider that the “extended” Claims and Objections period can take care of those not on the existing NRR. Will this “merging” plus the “extended” Claims and Objections period not take the election into 2020 and so violate the Constitution?

The GECOM Chairperson, Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh must scrap this new H2H data and embark on the Claims and Objections period to sanitise the list and afford Guyanese not only a free, fair and transparent election but a timely one as well. Guyanese are too tired and cannot be held hostage to this deliberate political malingering which has become unbearably ridiculous and extremely absurd given that more than eight months have elapsed since the successful passing of the NCM. Yours sincerely, Haseef Yusuf

T

he GAWU could not have failed to recognise the recent statements by Vice President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan with respect to the sugar industry.

An Inews report of August 26 informed that the Minister, during a meeting held in Corriverton, reportedly told his audience “…that the Government made the right decision to close the estates”. While it is now publicly acknowledged, the Minister is known for his outlandish statements and has found his foot in his mouth on more than one occasion, his utterances this time around has even defied, in our view, the low expectations that many had of him.

While the Minister, seemingly preaching from his ivory tower, justifies, unashamedly, the decision to shutter estates which in its wake put thousands on the breadline, the communities and people linked to Skeldon, Rose Hall, East Demerara and Wales are going through miserable times and hardship-filled days and nights. Today, while the Minister and his colleagues make wishy-washy statements and provide sordid rationales, there are people in the precincts of the closed estates that find it hard to eat or to pay their bills or to send their children to school. The public is well aware of the situation wherein the people of Skeldon must pay NICIL to catch fish in the canals to feed their families. Then there is the more recent instance, where a child of a redundant sugar worker is unable to take up a space at the illustrious Queens College as his parents simply cannot afford to meet the

expenditure.

The Minister went on to tell those he spoke to that “…the citizenry would become filthy rich in the near future with the booming oil sector coming on stream”. It seems the Minister is saying that we should place all our eggs in one basket. It is disheartening that an educated person and more so a national leader is making such outrageous statements. Time, experience and history have thought us that we never should place all our eggs in a singular basket. Moreover, recently, Minister Winston Jordan tempered expectations when he said that oil revenues in the early years will just be a few hundred million United States dollars, hardly sufficient to make us all “filthy rich”. Then, at the same time, we cannot ignore the many views expressed regarding the lopsided arrangements regarding oil exploitation that has been entered into. We really wonder whether the Minister’s feet were on the ground when he was speaking.

Today, while the Minister goes on to justify the unjustifiable, it was not too long ago and not too far away from Corriverton, when Mr Ramjattan told an APNU/AFC rally at Whim, during the 2015 elections campaign, that if elected, they “…will not in any way close the sugar industry…”. Indeed, it goes to show that you can no longer take anything at face value from Minister Ramjattan and his ilk.

Yours faithfully, Seepaul Narine, GAWU General Secretary

House-to-House data is not credible Dear Editor,

G

uyanese citizens and other public observers will not deny that the infused Keith Lowenfield wicked and corrupt Houseto-House Registration lacks credence and authenticity. It has realised results lacking the potency of acceptance by the majority and as it turns out, driven by agents of the PNCR and the Government to cause deliberate confusion by an approach riddled with misinformation. Further, after the Chairman of GECOM ruled that the House-to-House is to cease on August 31, 2019, it is illegal for Lowenfield and the PNC to extend the time for the enumerators to work.

The time for enumerators to do the Houseto-House Registration is gazette to take place in the registration areas of Kamarang, Paramakatoi, Mahdia and Annai as follows: 1. Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 17:30 pm and on weekends and holidays 9:00 am to 15:30 pm.

2. Further, GECOM published in the gazette that official time for the House-to-House Registration exercise is Monday to Friday 15:30 pm to 19:00 pm, and weekends and holidays 09:00 am to 15.30 pm.

Hence, it is illegal for GECOM to change the times at their whims and fancy, which raises numerous questions.

Many enumerators are also complaining bitterly that they are working and they cannot get time off to work all those hours. Inside sources within GECOM informed that the PNC is trying a thing to get some strange people registered.

Why is there a rush to increase the working hours of the enumerators?

One would believe that GECOM has already decided to merge the information of the House-to-House Registration with that of the National Register of Registrants Database (NRRDB), without even ascertaining whether the Jamaican model could accurately handle the merger and the cross-checking for the numer-

ous duplications that would unfold.

We must appreciate that the imminent Justice Claudette Singh as Chairman of GECOM is in the ‘hottest’ seat and that it is necessary for all Guyanese to give her the required support in belling this huge perpetuated corrupt monster.

What the Chairperson has inherited at GECOM is indeed strongly embedded roots of corrupt officials planted to administrate and key aspects of the agency. The auditors are fully aware of serious corruption that took place previously and is taking place at GECOM. Hence, Justice Claudette Singh will have to be thorough in her dealings and sanitise GECOM of all its incompetence.

Resulting from this apparent milieu is the persistence of deliberate advisory misinformation peddled from the Secretariat to the Chairman of the Commission. It is clear that the merging of the current House-to-House Registration information to the existing NRRDB would create enormous problems or delays, as some duplications would not be easily identified for elimination, based on the incorrect recording of information during the registration.

Certainly, more time would have to be utilised to correct the deliberate mishaps. It is of note that Keith Lowenfield did not invite the PPP as the main Opposition to provide scrutineers for the registration exercise, and thus, significantly compromising the validity of the exercise with regards to monitoring.

The way to go to ensure a valid list is simply to go straight to the Claims and Objections where names of those qualified to register is added to the preliminary List of Electors, and the names of the deceased on the list are verified and deleted. This process would provide a far more accurate list than the merging factor and considering that the elections have been due since March, this process would enable an election by October of this year.

Sincerely, Neil Kumar

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Falsehoods about current political situation must be rejected Dear Editor,

Volda Lawrence seems I to have forgotten that Wakenaam hospital is part of public health system Dear Editor,

E

very day, another horrifying public health story shocks the people of Guyana. Last week, at least three families were forced to use ice-boxes to store the bodies of their deceased relatives in Wakenaam.

Even as storage was a problem because of the malfunctioning mortuary refrigerators, deceased bodies could not be removed from the hospital because there was no doctor to sign-off the death certificates. One family complained that their relative died on Friday, but was still there on Sunday because they have to await the arrival of a doctor. Up to Sunday afternoon, there still was no doctor and, when checks were made about noon on Monday, a doctor was still unavailable to sign-off the death and so relatives were forced to continue using the ice-box to keep the body from deteriorating.

At Wakenaam District Hospital, the problems are many - the malfunctioning mortuary is obscene. But there are other problems. Availability of doctors has become a major concern for citizens in this humble farming community. In a discussion with the Chairman of the NDC on the island, he confirmed there is a major problem with missing doctors, with availability becoming periodic rather than sustained. This important district hospitals most often now has no doctors. The Ministry of Public Health has completely ignored the urgent calls from citizens in Wakenaam and from the RDC of Region 3 to address the doctor availability problem. Even as the availability of doctors, nurses and other service providers at the Wakenaam Hospital affect the delivery of public health, the availability of medicines has become a chronic problem. It is as if the Ministry of Public Health is in a mode of phasing out the Wakenaam District Hospital.

Public health in Guyana has rapidly declined since May 2015. For most of that time, Ms. Volda Lawrence, the People's National Congress (PNC) Chairman, has been in charge of the Public Health Ministry. This lady who vowed her only friends are "PNC-people" and that as the Chairman of the PNC and as a senior minister in the APNU+AFC Cabinet her mandate is to find jobs "only for PNC-people" failed to appreciate that public health must be for all people. She failed to recognize that when public health fails, it affects all Guyanese, including "PNC-people". The next person who requires the use of a mortuary or an X-Ray or medicines or doctors might well be one of these "PNC-people". We never know the next person who needs the public health system.

The rapid deterioration of the public health system is on display every single day, with newspaper, TV and radio news and public discourse stories highlighting the many struggles people endure as they

try to access public health. A week ago, I had frantic calls from the Essequibo Island of Wakenaam about troubles at the District Hospital there. This hospital which should be a place where people go for their ailments is now a place filled with its own ailments as described above.

As Minister of Health, I worked diligently with our people, the public health staff and the Government to ensure we stopped the practice of ice-boxes to preserve the bodies of our loved ones. We ensured that all our district hospitals were equipped to provide refrigerated storage of the bodies of deceased persons. But non-functioning mortuaries have become a malady of the public health system. There are occasionally reports that the mortuary of the GPHC, the premiere hospital in Guyana, is down. There have been reports of other non-functioning mortuaries around the country. For many months now, the mortuary at New Amsterdam has been unavailable. Passing through Mahaicony two days ago, I was similarly told by residents that Mahaicony is not offering refrigerated mortuary service presently.

At Fort Wellington, refrigerated mortuary facility used is a private mortuary, paid for by the families of the deceased patients. It is heart-breaking that the public health sector adds further trauma and stress to people because they must worry about the preservation of the bodies of their deceased relatives.

As this unnecessary stress intensifies within the public sector, the Minister herself has treated this important function of the public health sector as an orphan. In a recent trip to commission a repaired kitchen at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, a few feet away from the empty, unused, broken-down mortuary, she completely ignored that the hospital forces people to use private mortuary services, at cost many of them cannot afford. Even as people outside picketed her, trying to draw her attention to the non-availability of mortuary services at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, she ignored any recognition that there is a problem.

In the last week, Volda Lawrence who still refuses to acknowledge the people fired her on December 21st and that she is illegally squatting as the Minister of Public Health since March 21st, has visited Regions 6, 5 and 3. Ms Lawrence and her APNU+AFC colleagues have unfortunately been rejected by the people, having to speak to only people who were bussed-in and greeted with protesters everywhere. But even as they parade across these regions, brazenly funding their political campaign with taxpayers money, she totally ignores the many, many problems in a rapidly declining public health system.

Ms. Lawrence must take responsibility for a declining public health sector.

Sincerely, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

n a recent edition of the Kaieteur newspaper, one, Oscar Dolphin spouted some of the most ill-informed points of view that I have seen in recent times in a letter under the headline ‘The government is not illegal’.

Proud in his ignorance, Mr. Dolphin ignores accepted points of fact, which are now known to most all Guyanese. Editor, I will highlight a few aspects of his letter, to demonstrate how far from reality Mr. Dolphin seems to have comfortably settled.

His very first point, the no-confidence motion was unsuccessful, has to be the most ignorant thing I read. The apex Court of Guyana, the Caribbean Court of Justice, ruled that the motion was successful.

Headlines in the local daily newspapers screamed this fact on the front pages.

President of the Caribbean Court of Justice, Justice Adrian Saunders, even went as far as saying to the GECOM lawyer that they should be ready for elections.

I am not sure where exactly the writer read that the Guyana Election’s Commission (GECOM) has an inability to conduct snap elections. GECOM’s primary function is to conduct elections, whenever they are called upon to do so.

In his second point, Mr. Dolphin claimed that the Court of Appeal invalidated the No-Confidence Motion. However, the Motion was challenged on three grounds, and the Court of Appeal only invalidated it on one ground, claiming that the majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly, 65 members, is 34. The Caribbean Court of Justice subsequently ruled that this was just some bad mathematics and the majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly is, indeed, 33. As such, for emphasis, I repeat that the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that the no-confidence motion was validly and successfully passed.

Thirdly, Mr. Dolphin also claimed the court challenge was to force the Government’s resignation and impose a date for elections. First, the Caribbean Court of Justice was clear that the Government must act in a caretaker capacity. Second, the Constitution is clear on when elections should be. Article 106 of the Constitution says elections within three months.

The ill-informed letter writers’ next point is so ludicrous, it is almost laughable. In 2014, then Leader of the Opposition, Mr. David Granger, protested daily with a handful of people when President Ramotar simply prorogued Parliament, a power he has in the Constitution. The very important point here is that President Ramotar never faced a No-Confidence Motion.

Editor, the remainder of Mr. Dolphin’s letter makes me wonder whether he is reading from a copy of the ‘Burnham Constitution’ or if he is being deliberately obtuse.

I make the latter comments because what is amazing is that the letter writer seems to comprehend that the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled that the Government must function in a caretaker capacity. As such, how does the writer not comprehend that the No-Confidence Motion triggers elections within three months, in accordance with Article 106 (6) of the Constitution?” It appears the writer does not understand the concept of a No-Confidence Motion. The people elect the Members of the National Assembly, the National Assembly declared no confidence in the Government, thus cutting their term in office short. As a result, elections should have been held since March 21, 2019.

Mr. Dolphin’s attempt to paint the Government as legal and righteous and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) as the ‘bad guys’ must be rejected by all Guyanese – regardless of which side of the political fence they stand. Such reckless, ill-informed commentary, that is blatantly false, cannot be allowed to stand unchallenged.

Editor, the facts of today’s situation are clear. A no-confidence motion was validly and successfully passed. The APNU/AFC Coalition Government has fallen. Elections should have been held since March 21, 2019. Our Constitution, the supreme law of the land, must be respected and upheld.

I, therefore, urge all right-thinking Guyanese to reject these falsehoods contained in that letter and to join in demanding that the Constitution of Guyana be uphold.

Yours sincerely, Roodi Balgobin, MBA

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Transparent management architecture for oil sector will be done in six months by PPP/C gov’t – Jagdeo G

uyana’s total take from the oil contracts that have been signed by the caretaker APNU+AFC Coalition is well below the average other oil producing countries have benefited from, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

On a live radio programme on Wednesday (September 4, 2019), he said, “When you look at a model contract, it has to look at what is the total take that comes to Guyana. In some countries, there are frontier advantages – the first people who find oil should benefit from some advantages – and in other countries the average take is about 60 per cent, but in Guyana it is 52 per cent, so it is lower.

“Royalties is one way you can get more. You have to also look at other ways you can get more and this is what we have said to Exxon and others – through better administration of the contract; through rigid audits of the pre-contract costs, etc… the total take should be looking at tax matters and these issues. “…in the Exxon case, we made it clear that through better contract administration we are going to get more.”

That said, he made clear that every contract signed after the ExxonMobil agreement will be reviewed by a new People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government. “We have made it clear that we intend to review this…we will do this,” he

said.

COALITION HAS FAILED The Opposition Leader explained that Guyana is at the cusp of transformation, but not everything is auto-

“You want for me to forget the Constitution and run and sit with them to address their failures in the oil sector. That is not our business now…the main issue is constitutional compliance now…a partnership now is not possible.”

– Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo

“Let us have the elections and when the PPP wins one of the first priorities would be to address the failures in the oil sector…we will be looking at everything – a local content policy, a regulatory framework, a Sovereign Wealth Fund, auctioning the remaining oil blocks to ensure we get the most from that, everything.” – Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo matic. He said, “This bunch we have in government is compromised. They cannot renegotiate anything…half of the time they are defending the issues.”

According to him, opportunities were squandered.

He said, “I have seen many countries being where we are today – that is at a place with a transformational opportunity with a massive oil find – but they have squandered that opportunity. We must not take it for granted that because we have found oil, we are going to be prosperous tomorrow or in the future.

We have seen the experience around the world. An oil find can destroy other industries because of what we know as the Dutch Disease.

“Critical to the future will be how we manage the resources. They have to be managed properly, it cannot be squandered or stolen, and

Guyanese must benefit primarily – the bulk of the benefit must flow to our people.

And in all three of those areas we have found the Government lacking – reflected in the engagements with the oil companies, in the lack of a regulatory infrastructure and the experience we have had with the US$18M signing bonus. In those three separate acts, we have isolated one fact – the government does not look out for our interests.

“If we thought the Exxon agreement was bad – the blanket tax waivers, the absence of ring fencing and the low royalty – then the Tullow agreement, signed by Trotman, was even worse, where it is zero royalty in that contract. What is even more worrying is that Trotman say he was following instructions. Whose instructions was he following if not that of the President?

“As for the infrastructure.

They government hurriedly passed the Sovereign Wealth Fund legislation, after the no-confidence motion was passed….if you look at how it is structured, the Minister of Finance is overall in charge of the fund – the operational management of the Fund will be done by the Central Bank, which reports to the Minister; the Macro-Economic Committee is appointed by the Minister and chaired by the Ministry of Finance, and this is the body that determines how much funds can flow into the Budget; and the Investment Committee is appointed by the Minister and chaired by the Ministry of Finance. So all of this, you see, will have political control.

“The third thing, the signing bonus. Had civil society not exposed that, this country would not have known that we received US$18M. In fact the Minister of Finance

lied when he said we never requested, nor did we receive a signing bonus. We made it clear that we intend to criminalize non-disclosure of receipt from the oil companies. Politicians, including ministers, can go to jail for 10 years for not disclosing to Parliament the monies that are received.”

Jagdeo also referred to the problems with the Petroleum Commission. “The regulatory body – the Petroleum Commission – that is stalled and they just replaced this now with a Department of Energy and the President is in charge,” he said.

PARTISAN ACTIONS Asked about a meeting between the Parliamentary Opposition and the APNU+AFC Coalition to address the failures of the government that put Guyana at a disadvantage, Jagdeo made it clear that the issue at hand currently is constitutional compliance.

He said, “It seems that being responsible is only the responsibility of the Opposition. This Government is squandering our resources and opportunities. They have no intention to meet to talk about this, not to respect our

Constitution. If you can’t respect the Constitution, how do your respect the Opposition? How do your respect Guyanese? You are asking us to meet with people who believe that they can be feted by oil companies and receive all kinds of things…they are not interested in hard core policies. “…you want for me to forget the Constitution and run and sit with them to address their failures in the oil sector. That is not our business now…the main issue is constitutional compliance now…a partnership now is not possible. “….this president is not president in the true sense. He is a caretak er president…this president is running an illegal and unconstitutional government since March 1, 2019…Granger is there for one purpose, holding elections…so I don’t want to waste my time…let us have the elections and when the PPP wins one of the first priorities would be to address the failures in the oil sector…we will be looking at everything – a local content policy, a regulatory framework, a Sovereign Wealth Fund, auctioning the remaining oil blocks to ensure we get the most from that, everything.”

The entire architecture for proper and transparent management of the oil resources, he assured, will be completed in six months.

Opposition Leader says…

Composition of growth rates being touted by Jordan exposes how troubled local economy is ‘T

he caretaker APNU+AFC Coalition government would welcome Guyanese getting lost in growth rates and ignore the fact that Guyanese people are not better off today – after almost five years under the Coalition, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

On a live radio programme on Wednesday (September 4, 2019), he said, “The thing is that often you can look at growth rates and lose yourself in the growth rate. If you listen to the Minister of Finance, we are doing extremely well because we have had sustained growth rates. “…if you look at the

composition of the growth rates that is where the problems are. In manufacturing we are stagnated…in forestry we are producing less…the mining, the small miners are totally devastated…sugar production is half of what we are producing...rice is just under 2014 production levels… the only sector that has been a bit more buoyant has been the oil and gas sector because of investments in the sector and oil was not found under this government, since 1999 Janet Jagan signed the agreement.

So what efforts have they made to keep the economy going?

“They have increased the tax collection by over $88B per annum over the 2014

level. So every year, they are taking $88B from our businesses and regular Guyanese than we (the former PPP/C government) was collecting in tax takes in 2014. That does not help to stimulate the economy. …they have borrowed over US$900M…they have practically displaced the private sector from borrowing in the local market…the debt has gone up. “…we have lost 30,000 jobs, so Jordan talks about economic growth and 30, 000 people have lost their jobs – that is 30,000 less people who can feed their families, can subscribe to NIS, etc…. if they just walk down the street they will get a feel for

what is going on, but they prefer to talk about economic buoyancy.”

The reality, Jagdeo stressed, is clear for all to see, with the exception of the caretaker Coalition government officials, it would seem.

Addressing the stewardship of the economy by successive People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) governments, he said, “We took a country where all the all the macro-economic variables were out of whack….the fiscal deficit was 25 per cent of GDP, every four years we were doubling the debt of the country to finance the fiscal deficit; the balance of payment deficit was 45 per cent of GDP, every two years

we were doubling our debts with the rest of the world to finance that debt; and we were using 153 per cent of revenue to service debt.

“By the time we left office: five per cent of revenue was used to service debt and the stock of debt had come down from 900 per cent of GDP to 50 per cent – half the size of our economy; inflation was single digits when it was triple digits in the past; interest rates were like 38 per cent when we took over when today, if you are a prime borrower, you can borrow at eight or 12 per cent today. “….we took a bankrupt country and left it as viable, the fastest growing economy in the hemisphere over a 10-

year period. We left $16B in gold reserves and they have run it down to just over $500M now. The $40B in the semi-autonomous agencies, they have squandered that – all of the money is practically gone. They tax people more, borrowed more and spent all our reserves…they have spent, not on the economy or on the people’s welfare.”

The Opposition Leader, stressed that the PPP/C left a buoyant economy with very little debt by May 2015. As such, he trashed the claim that by the APNU+AFC Coalition that it inherited a ‘basket to fetch water’ is false. “It is utterly nonsensical…what we got is a lot of propaganda,” he said.

WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

9

Tensions escalating between APNU, AFC over prime ministerial candidacy A

Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) have not discussed its prime ministerial candidate although Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan was selected to take up the post once the Government gets back into power.

General Secretary of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Amna Ally, said, “With regard to endorsing Minister Ramjattan, we have not received any formal request, notification or whatever…We are still about to engage the AFC for consultation to deal with Cummingsburg Accord among other matters that are important, and so maybe, maybe that is going to be one that will come up for discussion but at the moment we have no notification or no request from the AFC about a prime ministerial candidate.”

The position of the PNCR is likely to escalate the infighting between APNU and AFC over the position of the prime ministerial candidate.

This is the latest rejection of Ramjattan as the prime ministerial candidate by the PNCR. In July 2019, Ramjattan’s selection as the prime ministerial candidate was been dismissed by Volda Lawrence, Chairperson of PNCR – the majority partner in the APNU+AFC Coalition.

“The coalition and the AFC have not reached that stage in terms of discussions on

prime ministerial candidate,” Lawrence during a recent news conference.

In the meantime, AFC’s General Secretary of the Alliance for Change (AFC), David Patterson, has declared that neither the PNCR, nor any party that forms the APNU, can dictate or direct the selection of a prime ministerial candidate. Stressing that the Cummingsburg Accord, which sealed the partnership of APNU and AFC as a Coalition, is clear, Patterson said: “It is very clear that the AFC shall nominate the PM candidate and it is very clear that the APNU shall nominate the Presidential candidate. I don’t see anything, I don’t know anything, there has not been any discussion and we would not entertain any discussion that changes that. And that is just the way it is.”

Adding to the tense exchanges between the PNCR and the AFC and fueling doubts that the AFC will be allowed to keep the prime ministerial candidacy is the talk about APNU member, Dawn Hastings-Williams being given the nod to be the prime ministerial candidate.

Hastings-Williams, the current Minister of State, was elevated to her new ministerial post this year after the resignation of her predecessor, Joseph Harmon, owing to his dual-citizen status.

Commenting on accepting the nomination as prime ministerial candidate, she

said, “When that day comes, I’ll know what to do.” Notably, she did not decline or make it clear that the AFC has say over the prime ministerial candidacy.

Prior to the General and Regional Elections of 2015, APNU and the AFC signed the Cummingsburg Accord that stipulated conditions for the two parties to contest the elections as one.

Several of the points in the Accord were not adhered to.

In addition, there has been the strategic reallocation of responsibilities away from Ministries headed by AFC officials, to other Ministries.

There is also the fact that the Cummingsburg Accord stipulation that the Prime Minister has responsibility for chairing Cabinet and domestic issues was not followed through.

The AFC top leadership had, in mid-November of 2017, moved to revise the Cummingsburg Accord with its majority coalition partner with no progress.

Talk of revising the agreement petered out after the AFC’s showing at the 2018 Local Government Elections, where it failed to win a single Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC).

At present, talks between the two parties still seem to be stalled. A meeting that was supposed to have been held last week between the two coalition partners was cancelled.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Increasing show of support for PPP/C during community meetings

Barnes - Region 3

Broken Water - Region 5

Bush Lot - Region 5

Good Intent - Region 3

Hague - Region 3

Helena - Region 4

Mon Repos - Region 4

Number 52 Village - Region 6

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

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

Granger, Jordan clash on new ‘empty promise’ An admission from Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, about the amount of oil revenues that will flow to Guyana in the first year, contradicted the promises being made

by President David Granger.

Jordan said only about US$100M will be available for spending in Budget 2020. He said, “In [the] whole year of 2020, and using US$50 per barrel of oil, our take will probably be two hundred and something million.

And based on the formula that we have for withdrawal and so on, what you may have available to the budget is one hundred and something million.”

However, Granger, in contradictory comments, said from petroleum revenues, citizens will be able to benefit from free education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

This has been dubbed the latest ‘empty promise’ from the APNU+AFC Coalition, which is facing an election.

Notably, according to Granger, his Government commits to widespread development from 2020 – a comment made even as he failed to addressed the many failures of his government to deliver on the promises were made before May 2015.

VAT on education remains unaddressed Touting Guyana as an ‘Education Nation’, Junior Minister Valerie Garrido-Lowe talked up the award of scholarships to a Guyanese children.

However, the Minister remained silent on the fact that Value Added Tax (VAT), imposed by the APNU+AFC Coalition, on educational materials remain in place.

Additionally, the hinterland communities in particular continue to be affected by the Government’s failure to deliver promised school uniform materials. The school uniform material/vouchers initiative was started under the former People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) government, in an effort to support vulnerable families and ensure that there are less barriers preventing children from attending schools. The vouchers were redeemable at businesses that patterned with the government on the Coastland, while in the hinterland uniform material is usually delivered.

Bottom line issues preventing Guyana from truly becoming an ‘Education Nation’ remain unaddressed by the Coalition.

Lighting Up, for votes?

After almost five years in Government, APNU+AFC cabal is now attempting to gaslight the public into believing they care.

The most recent example of this was the delivery of fifteen (15) street lights in certain sections of La Parfaite Harmonie. Notably, while 100 streetlights were promised, only a fraction of this was actually delivered. A mere15 light-emitting-diode (LED) lights have been installed at intersections along the access road to La Parfaite Harmonie from the red bridge at Canal. No. 1.

After making all these lofty promises in 2015, when courting the electorate, the APNU+AFC Coalition failed to deliver on almost all.

National debt on the rise This week, the Coalition government borrowed a massive $3.5 Billion from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Guyana’s increasing debt remains a major issue of concern.

At the end of 2018, the total stock of government’s public debt increased by 1.5 per cent, representing 43.9 per cent of GDP, with the stock of external debt increasing by 5.5 percent and accounting for 33.9 per cent of GDP. The External debt service payments increased by 27.7 per cent to US$78 million from US$61 million in 2017. This represented 5.1 percent of export earnings and 7.5 percent of Central Government’s current revenue.

In the first quarter of 2019, Bank of Guyana reported a decline of 4.1 per cent in the stock of external public debt, resulting mainly from lower bilateral debt stock by 10.4 percent or US$52 million. This outcome was primarily as a result of a US$50.7 million debt cancellation from Kuwait during the first quarter of 2019. The External debt service payments rose by 2.8 percent to US$25 million due mostly to higher principal and interest payments to multilateral creditors.

APNU+AFC continue to campaign with taxpayers’ monies Ministerial outreaches across the country are continuing, at the expense of Guyanese taxpayers.

The continued activities comes on the heels a damning admission by AFC Leader and Public Security Minister, Khemraj Ramjattan. He admitted that taxpayers’ monies are being used by the APNU+AFC Coalition to campaign. On June 20, 2019, on a radio programme, he said: “We started our campaign in a sense. We were outreaching in all the areas, even having Cabinet in different areas, having lots of meetings on the weekends especially and carrying our Government projects and programmes for the people to see it themselves and promoting our accomplishments. And that is what part of the campaigning was all about.”

This is despite the fact that the President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), on June 18, 2019, ruled that the passage of the no-confidence motion on December 21, 2019 is valid. He said, “The provisions of Article 106 (6) and (7) are clear on their face.” He added that: “Article 106(6) of the Constitution 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’. Article 106(7) goes on to state that notwithstanding its defeat, the government shall remain in office and shall hold an election within three months.”

Nagamootoo refuses to address Coalition’s broken promises Caretaker Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, insisted that the APNU+AFC Coalition Government is on “good footing” since it has a credible record of achievement over the last four-plus years.

Nagamootoo failed to address the many broken promises made by the Coalition Government, prior to the May 2015 General and Regional Elections. He also failed to address the loss of jobs, increased cost of living, corruption and other issues affecting Guyanese people.

“This is the best government we (Guyana) have had,” Nagamootoo insisted.

WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Perspectives from the PPP/C Presidential Candidate

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Major projects part of the PPP/C roadmap for economic growth and prosperity – Ali T

he transformative agenda envisioned by the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C), after it takes office at the next General and Regional Elections, encompasses major initiatives and major projects, according to the PPP/C presidential candidate, Irfaan Ali. During a televised interview on Sunday (September 1, 2019), he said, “Sometimes when you go out to the community persons would like to hear, yes you're doing roads, you're doing drainage, you will be building schools, and you will be building health centers.

“But what are those new initiatives, the key initiatives that would expand opportunity, create jobs, enhance livelihood, improve community life and result in the benefit – not only of citizens in our country, but will result in a sustainable roadmap for economic growth and prosperity for Guyana and Guyanese?

For this, there are some major initiatives.”

Among the initiatives he detailed were: • Investments in hinterland roads, in improving transportation link, in reducing the cost of transportation. Some $2B will be set aside every year at a minimum in terms

of helping to maintain and build hinterland roads.

• Upgrade of Hinterland air strips.

• Expand agriculture and mega farms to ensure that there is greater, easier and less costly access to markets.

• Affordable and clean energy, since the present cost of energy is unsustainable and Guyana cannot be competitive, while the present cost also sees much of household disposable income being sucked up in the cost of energy.

• Hydropower for clean and affordable energy.

• Development of community grids via the use of solar panels in different communities that are off the national grid.

• A review of the gas potential and natural gas, with a view of having clean, sustainable and affordable energy that will drive industrial that development, manufacturing, processing and reduce household cost of electricity.

• A deep water habour.

He said, “We have to make sure that the infrastructure we are investing in creates great growt, so we have new areas of growth, new areas of opportunity, new areas of economic life and this will help us to really diversify…. it is not only about doing a

project, it's about planning, on understanding how that project or how that initiative or how that investment would lead to wider more sustainable growth and opportunities for people down the road.”

Ali added, “Critically linked to all of these initiatives that has what we call the transitional benefit or what we call a multiplier effect…. an example is with housing, you will have hardware stores benefit and the trucks that has a transport stone and the quarries will benefit from the production of stone, the production of sand…so all of these things are linked.”

FOCUS BEYOND OIL AND GAS According to him, oil and gas will be a catalyst to creating a transformative agenda and creating the opportunities for the expanded base of the economy, as well as creating an output that would widen job access and economic opportunities for all Guyanese.

“The oil and gas sector will help us as a catalyst to move this forward very quickly,” he said.

However, he stressed there must also be a focus outside of the oil and gas sector to ensure sustainable development. He said,

“When the 2019 manifesto is released, Guyanese will see a number of other major projects that are critically linked to the sustainable pathway for Guyana and many of these projects are outside the realm of oil and gas.

“Of course oil and gas will be a catalyst it will help us get there faster. It will help us to reach the destination faster to be a catalyst for growth and development, but it's not the all means to an end and that is how we're going to avoid a Dutch disease – by ensuring you build these sectors and build these opportunities in other areas and other sectors that will create wealth and are sustainable.

“It is important for us to understand this and for us to do this and I know that it has to be part of the equation of growth and development… we have to ensure that our economic growth is multifaceted and it's not focused in one area and that is why we were able to ride out the economic depression about ten years ago – and do so successfully while many other countries suffered. It was great planning and great initiatives that help us to do that.”

2015 PLANS

Ali noted that the plans detailed by the PPP/C in its 2015 manifesto address critical issues, but were left unimplemented.

He pointed out too that most opportunities for advances were squandered by the caretaker APNU+AFC Coalition government.

The PPP/C presidential candidate said, “I want persons who were listening to this program and who will be reading our 2019 manifesto to do so in conjunction with our 2015 manifesto because in our 2015 manifesto we identified some critical issues and some critical items some critical projects that would have propelled that into a future that would have been prosperous a lot of those initiatives were left unimplemented as a result of the what took place in 2015.

“We have seen a lack of clarity and vision that is really resulted in a lack of vision there is no clear vision there is no clear path way under this government as to where Guyana is going.”

PARALLEL APPROACHES Outside of the major plans, Ali pointed out that the move forward must be done on parallel approaches.

He said, “We have to understand as a country that we have to operate on two parallels. One on the first parallel we have to fix the existing because the existing has many difficulties. While we're fixing the existing we have to work rapidly on the other parallel of leapfrogging our country in the future…we have to invest strategically in training and certification for young people ensuring that we have the necessary human resource potential qualified and competent with a necessary experience to leapfrog us into the future.”

“If we work in a continuous flow to get there it will take us too long. The lag would be too long so what we have to do is work on two parallel approaches… we have to set up the type of investment initiatives on this parallel that will drive us into the future that will sustain that future.”

The PPP/C presidential candidate noted that once the manifesto of the PPP/C is released Guyanese will have a deeper understanding about the pathway, to progress, development, job creation and opportunities for all Guyanese.

PPP/C presidential candidate continues outreach Foulis - Region 4

Hururu - Region 10

Ituni- Region 10

Mibicuri - Region 6

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 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 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

A plan for all of Guyana – PPP General Secretary on manifesto promises

T

he policies and plans of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) for Guyana and the Guyanese people are currently being rolled out.

And People’s Progressive Party (PPP), General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, has disclosed that work is being done in phases, ahead of the official launch of the PPP/C manifesto, to familiarize Guyanese with the Party’s plans for the future after it takes office.

PHASE ONE He explained that the first phase of action will relates to the circulation of posters containing some of the policies the Party plans to institute immediately upon taking office.

Already, the PPP has published on its social media accounts several of these posters, outlining the removal of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on key areas such as electricity, water and healthcare, among other things. Added to this, Jag-

deo disclosed at his press conference that high, also, on the Party’s agenda is the reversal and/or reduction of the over 200 tax measures imposed by the coalition administration— such as on building materials, on data, and exports. He pointed out that a government should be encouraging more exports so that foreign currency can be earned and more jobs created locally, not trying to stifle exports.

The PPP General Secretary went on to outline too that the Party will reverse the VAT on farming, mining and forestry equipment, which he said has caused untold difficulties for farmers, miners and those in the forestry sector. “I met with some small loggers, etc, and having to pay taxes on their equipment now is just pushing them out of production. We want that changed and we want to reverse the land rent, and draining and irrigation charges that are making cattle rearing, rice farm-

ing and all those activities basically much harder…

[We will also] reverse new taxes on Guyanese miners,” he stated.

These, Jagdeo said, are just some of the reversals, as he promise no new tax burden under a PPP/C government. “There are lots of [the tax reversals]… like on hinterland travels and so on. But the reversals first and then a promise of no new taxes…so when you vote for a PPP government, you know in the five year period, you’re not going have an additional tax burden from our Government like how people, for every budget [under the coalition], they’ve had to worry about new taxes all the time. So that’s the difference between the two,” he stated.

Another area Jagdeo said much emphasis will be placed on is the education sector, which will include 20,000 online scholarships.

This, he said, will be in addition to what is being

done at the University of Guyana (UG). “This will help private education and a large number of people to get scholarships for courses in professions that may not be offered by the University of Guyana. So the online scholarship is one thing that is critical for us,” he said.

Further, the PPP General Secretary also spoke of his Party’s plans to offer free university education within its five-year term in office.

“We could’ve easily said free university from day one but we’re not APNU. They promised free university, but they increased the University fees by 25 per cent. We’re not going do that, we’re making it clear within the five year’s we’re going do it…the way it’s going now, we’re looking at running the numbers, probably in year two or three we can move into this policy, but once we promise this, you know it will be done because we’re not making wild promises,” he said.

According to him, the

Party’s education policy is a comprehensive approach not just focusing on the tertiary level. “I don’t want for a moment for people to think for focus is confined to tertiary education because it’s also at the [technical vocational] level and at the nursery, primary and secondary levels. They also have plans for those areas.

The overall objective of the PPP government is to have a world class [education system] because we will have a bit more resources from the oil revenues to pump into education,” he explained.

Other areas the PPP plans to address when it gets into office include reducing the age limit on the importation of vehicles, which Jagdeo said will take more than $1 million dollar off the current costs of vehicles, thus, more affordable for Guyanese. Added to this is the reversal of the 2AM curfew, the restoration of the Joint Services bonus, as well as the support for small businesses via grants and interests free loans to promote entrepreneurship.

Moreover, the PPP General Secretary outlined too that his party will roll out an extensive plan on how Guyanese will benefit from the riches expected from the impending oil and gas sector. “We made it clear that more Guyanese have to benefit from this. The way it’s structured now, the foreigners are going to hog everything and that can’t be sustainable in the long run,” Jagdeo posited.

OTHER PHASES The second phase, he noted, will be a more popular version of the manifesto. With the first phase of the manifesto roll-out already on the way, Jagdeo said the popular version of the document will soon be released.

The final version will be a detailed technical document – this will be launched closer to elections and will give people more insight into the PPP/C vision for the future of the country and its people.

“We have a clear plan… this is our plan for all Guyana, for all our people,” Jagdeo declared.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

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

GECOM must start preparations for Elections now T

he Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has had over four meetings, since the appointment of the new Chairperson, retired Justice, Claudette Singh, and we are nowhere closer to starting preparations for General and Regional Elections, which must commence with the production of a Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) from the National Register of Registrants.

The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) notes the delay tactics being directed by the APNU+AFC Coalition government.

The government-nominated GECOM Commissioners continue to push for the merger of unverified – and probably padded – data garnered from the now scrapped house-to-house registration with the National Register of Registrants. They have a complicit partner at the Secretariat of GECOM, as is evidenced by the production of timelines for election activities that accord with the APNU+AFC Coalition’s position on Elections in 2020 – despite the fact that Elections should have been held since March 21, 2019.

The position of the Party has been repeated ad nauseam – the data garnered from the now scrapped house-tohouse registration must not be used to contaminate the

National Register of Registrants; a Preliminary List of Electors must be produced by GECOM; and there should be a move to Claims and Objections, which is a time-tested method, to allow for persons who are first time voters to be registered, among other transactions.

Talk about the production of re-designed national identification cards is wholly unnecessary at this point in time and is designed to delay the Elections. The history of the matter is well known; a national identification card is not necessary to vote, since other means of identification

Government controlled newspaper slammed for fake news

T

he People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is calling on Guyanese not to be misled by the increasingly desperate APNU+AFC caretaker government.

The latest example is an article carried today, Friday August 30th, by the taxpayer-funded Guyana Chronicle, under the headline “Fake birth certificates surface in Lethem”, in which it is claimed that the PPP Region Nine office is issuing fake birth certificates.

This false accusation is demonstrative of the gov-

ernment’s increasing desperation since the successful passage of the December 21, 2018, no-confidence motion (NCM).

The taxpayer-funded state newspaper has been usurped as the mouthpiece of the dominant Party in the coalition, the People’s National Congress (PNC), which will spare no effort to wantonly spread misinformation to deliberately mislead and to create a sense of uneasiness as election looms.

Having failed abysmally in office through unbri-

dled ineptitude and corruption and having failed in its sinister plan to disenfranchise thousands of Guyanese through houseto-house registration, the caretaker government will continue to fabricate scenarios to distract from its unrestrained violation of the constitution and the rule of law.

The PPP urges that Guyanese not succumb to the deviousness of this most desperate APNU+AFC caretaker government. (August 30, 2019)

can be used. It must be noted that the European Union in its 2001 Observer report said: “In 1998 Esther Pereira, a PNC supporter, petitioned the High Court to set aside the results of the 1997…Justice Claudette Singh found that the requirement for voters to have a voter ID card in 1997 was ultra vires Articles 59 and 159 of the Constitution (despite a parliamentary agreement to use the cards). Consequently the

elections were therefore null and void.”

Further, talk about cross-matching of fingerprints of the 370,822 persons GECOM claims to have registered during the now scrapped house-to-house registration stirs up more concerns. The purpose of this time-consuming and costly exercise is to try to identify the new registrants, which could be easily be done otherwise. However,

it will not identify where padding occurs. Cross-matching of fingerprints will only ascertain where there are cases of duplicates. And in any case cross-matching of the fingerprints will have to be done upon the completion of the Claims and Objections period.

Too much time has passed already. The Party stresses the call for GECOM to begin preparations for Elections now.

It would seem that the Constitution of Guyana and the rulings of the Court are secondary in the considerations of GECOM. The Constitution of Guyana remains the supreme law of the land and GECOM has a responsibility to uphold it. Moreover, Guyana’s apex court – the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – on July 12, 2019 made clear that Elections should have been held since March 21, 2019; this point was reiterated on August 14, 2019

by Chief Justice, Roxanne George-Wiltshire. Of import is that the CCJ made clear that: “The Guyana Elections Commission (“GECOM”) has the responsibility to conduct that election and GECOM too must abide by the provisions of the Constitution.”

The Guyanese people have a constitutional right that must be respected. Our Constitution must be respected. Our democratic standing cannot be diminished.

Elections preparations must commence now. (September 5, 2019)

Support must be extended to Bahamas as quickly as possible

T

he People’s Progressive Party and all Guyanese extend our sympathy and whole-hearted support to the Government and people of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas in their time of need following the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian.

Guyanese are horrified by the unspeakable destruction of life and property on

the Abaco and the Grand Bahamas Islands. At the same time we salute the bravery and selflessness of so many Bahamians to rescue people in their communities under dangerous conditions.

Prime Minister Minnis has called this a tragedy of epic proportions and has recognized that the reconstruction of these islands will

take years.

We recognize that Bahamas will require consistent regional and global support for a long time to come.

Guyana must extend its support to Bahamas as quickly as possible, as it has unflinchingly done in the past for fellow brothers and sisters in the Caribbean who suffered terrible natural disasters. (September 4, 2019)

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

No discussions on elections preparation at latest meeting – Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioners

T

uesday’s (September 3, 2019) statutory meeting of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) ended without any advance toward elections preparations – despite the fact that the General and Regional Elections ought to have been held since March 21, 2019.

Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioners, after the three-hour meeting, contended that their time was spent on further fruitless discussions, with no decision as to the way forward being made.

In comments to the media, Opposition-nominated Commissioner Sase Gunraj, said production of re-designed identification (ID) cards was placed on the agenda. He added that there were also discussions on cross-matching of fingerprints, which is something that will only take place after a Claims and Objections – making the discussion now nothing more than delay tactics.

Gunraj added that these proposals could delay elections by months – to sometime after March 2020.

He said, “It was a wasted day… we are nowhere closer to the decisions of holding elections. We sat down and

“The smallest timeframe provided by Secretariat is 92 days. And it goes all the way to 140 days. While those are overlapping events, those are things that will take a long time. And all the courts have spoken about the necessity of elections.” - Opposition-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Sase Gunraj dealt with lots of irrelevant discussions, I believe, to holding credible elections in a timely manner. We have failed to come to any meaningful discussions. The proposals that are coming are all very lengthy processes”.

“We’re hearing about production of ID cards now.

The smallest timeframe provided by secretariat is 92 days. And it goes all the way to 140 days. While those are overlapping events, those are things that will take a long time. And all the courts have spoken about the necessity of elections. I don’t believe we have to worry about the issue of production of ID cards at this time,” Gunraj said.

Tuesday’s non-starter of a meeting comes even as GECOM Chairperson, Justice Claudette Singh, ordered that an extended Claims and Objections should follow the production of a Preliminary List of Electors – an order

than came after the decision to scrap House-to-House registration last week.

Meanwhile, Opposi tion-nominated GECOM Commissioner, Robeson Benn, did not mince words.

He made it clear that he considered the meeting a waste of time and more attempts at foot-dragging. “There are no updates. There is no appetite in my view at GECOM for the holding of elections. Every ruse, every resort, every stratagem is being employed to further delay elections,” Benn said.

According to his counterpart, Bibi Shadick, GECOM was moving further away from discussions on election readiness.

It will be the latest in a long line of meetings at GECOM that have seemingly led nowhere.

GECOM’s next meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 6, 2019, at 11:00 hours.

Voters’ database cannot be allowed to be contaminated – PPP General Secretary

T

here can be no merger of data garnered from House-to-House Registration with the National Register of Registrants (NRR), declared People’s Progressive Party (PPP), General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo.

And he contends that any such merger could call the integrity of the future Preliminary List of Electors (PLE) into question.

A PLE is extracted from the National Register of Registrants – Guyana’s national voters’ database – and subject to a Claims and Objections exercise before an Official List of Electors (OLE) is produced.

The PPP General Secretary noted that the merger will also take many months and further delay constitutionally mandated General and Regional Elections – elections that ought to have been held since March 21, 2019. Plans to merge the data with the existing database will push the hosting of early elections to 2020, according to him.

He said, “I’ve seen their latest work programme [and] with this merger, the most optimistic scenario is to go to Claims and Objections in November because the merger will take about three months and then elections on the 27th April, next year. So you understand this merger will not improve the database.

It’s a delaying tactic once again. It will not improve the database. If you don’t merge the data, you have a

“I’ve seen their latest work programme [and] with this merger, the most optimistic scenario is to go to Claims and Objections in November because the merger will take about three months and then elections on the 27th April, next year.” – PPP General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo simpler way of capturing all these people by getting the 2000 new registrants of the 285,000 to just go back and get re-registered.”

Further, he stressed that the House-to-House exercise was not scrutinized by the PPP. Jagdeo said, “What we’re now attempting; to ensure that this so call merger of unverified data with a verified database doesn’t contaminate the database and doesn’t fall into APNU’s plan again to delay the elections using this so call merger, which is unnecessary, for another three months… so this is the new fight for decency.”

LOGICAL DECISION IS CLEAR All considered, Jagdeo had also stressed that the logical decision to ensure elections in the shortest possible time is a move to a Claims and Objections exercise.

He argued that this is a tested method - a faster and simpler way – of ensuring that everyone, including new registrants, gets on the Voters’ List.

Jagdeo said, “We are op-

posed to the timeline when there is a simpler way of ensuring everyone gets on the list. Call claims and objections and…every new person can be registered and get on the list. Simple, easy, “…all we’re saying to GECOM, without telling them what to do, is that the Constitution of Guyana stands above everything else.

The caretaker President is not respecting the Constitution, but we expect, we have great faith that under the new leadership, GECOM will.”

Notably, GECOM has said that a Claims and Objections exercise will allow: Allow any eligible Guyanese who has reached the age of 18-years-old to be registered if their name is not on the Voters’ List; Allow any eligible Guyanese to get a transfer from one voting district to another, in the event that they changed their place of residence; Allow any eligible Guyanese to do a name change; Allow for the removal of a dead person from the Voters’ List; and Allow for objections to be made to the name of someone not eligible to be on the Voters List.

Police ranks asked to prove that they registered in HTH activity to supervisors P

olice ranks from across the country are being summoned to produce relevant information to their superiors to verify whether or not they were registered for the upcoming regional and national elections during the now scrapped House-to-House registration (HTH) activity.

According to a senior Police source, the ranks have been instructed to report to their superiors in their respective divisions whether they had completed the registration exercise that was conducted by the Guy-

ana Elections Commission (GECOM) recently.

According to the policeman, the instruction was sent out via a WhatsApp text in a group that was created and is being used by all Police officers in that Division.

He further explained that in “B” Division (Berbice), this information, which is being garnered at all Police outposts and Police stations, will be forwarded to the office of the Commander there.

Meanwhile, in “C” Division, (East Coast De-

merara), Police ranks were given a different instruction.

However, even though they are being mandated to supply such information to their commanding officers, the police ranks are uncertain as to what will happen to those who have not yet registered for the impending elections.

Chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice (retd) Claudette Singh, last week put a halt to the House- to-House Registration. The last day for such an activity was August 31, 2019.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

Focus on Guyana’s First People Op-Ed: Sydney Allicock again shamefully betrays Amerindians as he sings for his supper S

ydney Allicock must apologize to his Amerindian sisters and brothers. His insult to them in the opening of Amerindian Heritage Month 2019 is, unfortunately, only the latest betrayal and disrespect for Amerindians that started since May 2015. Calling Amerindians unreasonable when they simply ask their legal rights to their lands be honored is disgraceful for a man who is supposed to ensure the welfare of Amerindians is promoted, protected and respected. The latest betrayal is even more disgusting since Allicock in the past has sided with persons like Eric Philips and Keith Scott who have sought to derail Amerindian Land Rights.

In almost five years, as Minister of Indigenous Affairs, Allicock has stewarded a policy designed to derail Amerindian Land Titling.

This past week in launching Amerindian Heritage Month 2019, in his caretaker role, he admonished his Amerindian sisters and brothers for demanding titles to their land while not fully utilizing their land. Allicock sided with APNU+AFC which has stalled or even completely abandoned the demarcation and titling of Amerindian lands. Instead of using Amerindian Heritage Month 2019 for appealing to his APNU+AFC colleagues to resuscitate Amerindian Land Demarcation and Titling, he castigated Amerindians for being unreasonable. In so doing, Allicock showed he is more intent on singing for his supper, shamelessly betraying his people.

Allicock's repugnant attitude to Amerindian Land Rights ignored that Joe Harmon had announced on February 22, 2019, in Sand Creek, Region 9, that Granger had ordered land demarcation and titling would restart in March. Eight months later, nothing has happened.

Harmon and the whole APNU+AFC Cabinet visited Region 9 in February because of the No-Confidence

Motion which required an election before March 21st.

They were very aware that Amerindians considered they were betrayed since APNU+AFC had promised them before the 2015 election that land demarcation and titling would be accelerated. Instead, it is now stalled, going absolutely nowhere and now Allicock blames his Amerindian sisters and brothers.

This is not the first time Allicock used an important Amerindian event to insult, disown and betray them. In October 2017, during a meeting of the National Toshaoas' Council, soon after Amerindian Heritage Month 2017, Allicock shamelessly rebuked the Toshaoas for objecting to David Granger's appointment of a Land Commission of Inquiry to, among other things, study the demand of certain Afro-Guyanese organizations for rights to ancestral land.

Granger and APNU+AFC callously used ancestral land claims by certain Afro-Guyanese organizations to derail the Amerindian Land Titling Project that was initiated under the PPP/C and that had made significant progress since 2013.

When Allicock forcefully admonished Amerindians in 2017 for protesting the appointment of the Lands Commission of Inquiry, he sided with those who were openly or silently opposed to Amerindian land titling.

Without saying it, Allicock sided with Eric Philips of ACDA who is a known objector to Amerindian Land Rights and who still insists he had proof Afro-Guyanese were the original people of Guyana. In addition, Allicock had, in June 2017, defended Keith Scott who had called Amerindians greedy and avaricious for demanding "so much land".

The Hansard of the 66th sitting of the 11th Parliament in June 201 would prove Scott insisted lands was a sovereignty issue and that sovereignty belonged to the State (represented by the

President) and not the people. In other words, land did not belong to the people, but to the State and the President decides who gets lands. This is contrary to Article 9 of the constitution. Scott chided the Toshaoas for wanting consultation before the appointment of the Lands Commission, declaring the President “does not have to engage in any form of consultation”.

Scott totally ignored one of the founding principles of indigenous affairs, now regarded as a right - Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). Repugnantly, Keith Scott argued that Eric Philip's position clearly showed "weakness in the Amerindian Land Claims".

Allicock, disgracefully standing on the side of these perverse positions, disowned his Amerindian sisters and brothers. He betrayed them, he sang for his supper. He embraced those who were forcefully abrogating indigenous land rights. He is not the only one - there are others, like Dawn HastingsWilliams, George Norton, Garrido-Lowe and Mervyn Williams.

Allicock's track record of betraying his people started immediately upon appointment as Minister. Together with other senior PNC operatives in the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples, such as Mervyn Williams and Martin Cheong, just a month after APNU+AFC took control of the government in May 2015, Allicock disbanded the then very successful Amerindian Land Titling (ALT) Unit.

Some of the persons in that Unit have since sued the government for wrongful termination. But there could be no equivocation - the AMT Unit was fired because from the very inception Allicock and his PNC Amerindian colleagues at the Ministry were tools for APNU+AFC to stop the demarcation and titling of Amerindian lands.

In fact, funds for demarcation and land titling, acquired and allocated by the PPP ($US10,7M from the REDD+ GRIF Project), were then squandered, for other non-related activities.

The disbanding of the ALT Unit in June 2015 exposed APNU+AFC's intention to discontinue the PPP/

C’s ALT policy. This policy was codified by the Amerindian Act of 2006, which was unanimously passed in the National Assembly after widespread consultations with Amerindians. Consequently, since May 2015, no progress has been made in Amerindian Land Demarcation and Titling. Allicock confessed this is true before a Parliamentary Committee in May 2018. Five years of nothing in ALT is an egregious violation of the Amerindian Act 2006 which sets out a process for these titles to be granted.

Not only has APNU+AFC, through Allicock's Ministry, instituted a de facto cease order on titling of Amerindian lands, there has also been a corresponding intrusion into Amerindian communities, reducing lands available to Amerindians and abrogating their fundamental rights. In converting Lethem, Mabaruma and Bartica into townships and in creation of NDCs in Amerindian communities, without FPIC, boundaries have been extended encroaching on Amerindian lands. This dim-

inution of Amerindian lands and change of governance collide with the Amerindian Act 2006. Allicock has been the instrument for this hatchet job on Amerindian Rights, guaranteed in Guyana's constitution and in the Amerindian Act 2006. Furthermore, Allicock, Dawn Hastings, George Norton, Garrido-Lowe and Mervyn Williams have stood silently as APNU+AFC has utilized other laws, such as the forestry and mining legislations, to breach the Amerindian Act 2006, robbing them of sub-surface benefits.

Amerindian Land Titling is a Rights Issue, one that Amerindians care deeply about. It is one thing that APNU+AFC has betrayed them with broken promises.

But for permitting himself being the instrument for Granger and APNU+AFC denying Amerindians their lands guaranteed under the constitution and the Amerindian Act 2006, Allicock has disgustingly betrayed his people. He has sold his soul for a cup of soup, a soup-drinker who has no care for his sisters and brothers.

THE APNUAFC GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED THE AMERINDIAN PEOPLE AND COMMUNITIES: ► NO INCLUSIVITY ► NO FREE PRIOR AND INFORMED CONSENT ► DISRESPECT SHOWN TO THE TOSHAOS AND VILLAGE COUNCILS ► DISRESPECT SHOWN TO THE NTC ► NO JOBS ► INCREASED POVERTY ► NEGLECTED COMMUNITIES ► NO LAND TITLES ISSUED ► UNDERMING LAND RIGHTS ► NO ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY IN SPENDING $$$ FOR AMERINDIAN COMMUNITIES ► NO INTEGRATION OF THE VILLAGE ECONOMIES ► NO MODERNIZATION OF THEIR ECONOMIES ► ABANDONED PROGRAMMES THAT HELPED TO ADVANCE AMERINDIANS AND COMMUNITIES ► WORSENING OF THE CONDITIONS OF ACCESS TO HEALTH AND EDUCATION SERVCIES ► NEGELCT OF INFRASTRCUTURE IN COMMUNITIES AND BETWEEN COMMUNITIES WITHIN REGIONS WITH THE NO CONFIDENCE MOTION PASSED AND VALID THE CORRUPT APNU+AFC CABAL MUST GO!!!

19

WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019 18 WEEKEND MIRROR 29-30 JUNE, 2019

WEEKEND MIRROR 11-12 AUGUST, 2018 15

APNU+AFC gov’t promises Focus on Guyana’s First People Granger’s 10 Focus First People to settle land titling Indigenous people concerns ‘once and want for all’ Nagamootoo’s claims major promises Three years later: List of APNU+AFC ignores Elections at the ‘soonest’ - NOTHING DONE years later: List of promises made to Amerindians and broken by gov’t – issues affecting AmerindianThree people and communities sincreasing On August 18, 2015, President David Granger outlined a 10-point “strategic and holistic plan” for Hinterland development. He claimed that the plan would have seen Amerindian communities becoming thriving economic units, extreme poverty being eradicated, youth unemployment being addressed and increased prosperity realised.

promises made with to Amerindians out of sync reality Amerindians’ rights, and broken – NTC rep ‒ ALL BROKEN by gov’t increasing M Three years later, that plan stands as evidence of more failures of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government and increases the list of promises made by the Coalition and broken.

onths after Minister of Indigenous Peo- ers, Eric Phillips, in a series of letters written ples Affairs, Sydney Allicock, admitted to the media in March and April 2016. He caretaker government of-arguments end.” in 2017 that the Amerrepeated his thatheheNational failed to Toshaos make progress with the indians already had According too much land and posited Amerindian Land Titling (ALT)ficials, programme, Council (NTC) has added including caretaker to him, many thatGranger, Afro-Guyanese, were exploited and which gave the indigenous people legal rights its voice to calls for elections President, David of thewho Indigenous commuas slaves before of the now extobe their little has Prime been done to brought to heldcommunities, even as it reiterated Minister Moses Nagnities aresome highly vulnerable Amerindian had none. correct “I have not been to title any the needthis. for the inclusion of able amootoo, Viceisting President to groups, the “land grabs” and This was followed statementprobby a village,” Allicock hadinsaid in May Indigenous Peoples matand2018.

Minister of Indigenous there is by thea pressing Advisor, Mr.some Vincent Alexander, 13 communitiesPeoples’ applied Affairs for Ministerial ters Although that affect them.

Sydney Allem of of their lands inister for of Communiboundaries of what will be- of given up toElections the end of last a member theyet Guyana Comabsolute first in thisand periAt thegrants ceremonythe that of-timelicock juniorand Indigenous not being recognised ties, Ronald Bulkan come the municipality of month, to decide whether mission, on April 4, being 2017, that, “there can tibe od, seven (7) haveIndigenous received approval and six ficially launched Peoples’ Affairs Minister and without land no discussion Amerindian lands is notof have demarcated. ofValerie the pending saidbeen theMonth, government at an Mahdia, it encompasses twoontles. they“Official would like tothat be part Heritage at theisOut SoGarrido-Lowe. demarcation an integrated discussion on landBoth as we are all 23advanced communities, 14 been issued with villages; stage in have itsNTC quest Amerindian Campthe our township. phia Exhibition Center, Hastings also detailed the and claims forcommuland certificates of title. But not one single com- Guyanese and why must there be a separate representative Mario Hastmany challenges facing Amextension move at an unto have Mahdia in Region belltown and Micobie,” he nities rejected the governmunity has so far received a title under this treatment of Amerindian lands” ings, said,Potaro-Siparuni “The Indigenousbe- erindian Guyana. acceptably slow pace.

We Eight, said. people in Then ment’s moves. came the statement by the Minister new Government.

Peoples of of Guyana need was to earned He said, is yet a excuse long need our land – our land Ministry ofMahdia Social Protection, A total US$10.7M by“There the a within come Guyana’s tenth town.

Offering feeblethe was amongKeith a list become more andProgressive fully en- way to Civic go and Scott, much inmore is our Assembly life. The also Indigenous the National in 2017 former People’s Party/ And the APNU+AFC for the actions of his Governof communities identified gaged all development be purpose done to curb many peoples of Guyana needand to thatthe “Amerindians had too much land” (PPP/C)ingovernment and left fortothe Coalition Government in ment, Bulkan has said that by President David Granger projects, programmes and disadvantages that we face on become more and fully enof completing the Amerindian Land Titling they were “avaricious” and threatened that violation the Amerindian government could not proin 2015 to be policies thatof would affect a daily basis. We need qualinfrom all developmental they would not gaged benefit thecommissioned oil revenues (ALT) programme. us…we uncertain ofAmerour ityceed education and improved and asthe they had too projects, much land.programmes, As has ofare May 2015,two 103 Amerindian villages Act included and create township to towns.

The other three At no time has the Bartica, APNU+AFC Coalition were awarded Absolute (and Forever) com- the Amerindian political landscape call health services…our many policies that will affect us,” indian villages – and Campbelland exclude are Lethem, and government dissociate itself from these public munal grantsto ofbe which were demarcated byimprovement; for elections held83 soonroads need he said. town and Micobie – in the villages as the law makes Mabaruma.

The establish2014. extensions est so Fifteen that we(15) canapplications return to for social and legal pronouncements. services are The government officials boundaries township. provision theThe inclusion ment of latter three also bythe President David were pending of andthe 6 were awaiting title by thefor normalcy.” still missing, for most part,appointment in present while Hastings spoke Granger of a Commission of Inquiry into time General and Regional Elections were haswere admitted all. However,and it is hence unclear did saw about to a lack HisBulkan comments made to ourofcommunities notcriticisms directly respond his to address Amerindian held inbreach May 2015. in the presence of law. senior is at aostensibly low the of the “We access what to lawjustice he isLands, referring to. concerns. of consultation with lands those This success was the culmination of a and lands of the Freed Africans and any other have arrived at the external The two villages affected. lands, on were March 10, 2017 has stirred concerns very long struggle

by Amerindian communi-

Tincludes

M

titled villages in new township

ties to have their rights and their land rights – majority of which remain unaddressed.

This COI followed fast and unexpectedly recognized. Following the Amerindian Lands APNU+AFC gov’t makes on the heels of the previous disturbing stateCommission Report of 1969, an amendment Gov’t not budging: was enacted in 1976 to the 1951 Amerindian ments by government officials and treatment additional on Indigenous communities in annual budgets and Act which provided for the demands granting of lands of these programmes throughout this government’s to Amerindian Amerindian communities. representation term. rights In the same yearseeking sixty-four (64) Amerinvillages land The National Toshaos Council, the sole dian communities received legal recognition

on Indigenous People’s TCommission to be reduced D

C O

laims ofdespite grandthe progress continue done.”

However, failures to address to thebe promises made in his 10-point plan, Granger and his made by the caretaker Prime Minister, Government ministers have gone silent on the issue. He added that there has been a general

Mosesn Nagamootoo. improvement in the “strategic lives of indigenous August 18, 2015, President David Granger outlined a 10-point and holistic This week, he claimeddevelopment. that his the carepeople, who reside mostly theAmerindian hinterland plan” for Hinterland He claimed that the plan would have in seen taker APNU+AFC Coalition government communities. communities becoming thriving economic units, extreme poverty being eradicated, youth has accelerated being development hinterland However, a look at the 10-point plan for unemployment addressedinand increased prosperity realised. regions over thelater, pastTABLE fourplan years.

Heassaid, development in the hinterland, as well MAKE THE STAND OUT A failures BIT WHEN YOU DOas Three years that stands evidence of more of the APNU+AFC Coali“In the last four years there has been an specific promises made to the Indigenous tion Government and increases the list of promises made by the Coalition and broken.

THE LAYOUT PLEASE accelerated pace in which things to have beenthecommunities have not10-point been fulfilled.

However, despite the failures address promises made in his plan, Granger and his Government ministers have gone silent on the issue.

PROMISE MADE 1. Hinterland Education Support Programme

REALITY

No major initiative has been embarked on to date.

The 2017 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Guyana released by the United States of America’s (USA) State Department, on page 11 states that: “They (Amerindians) have limited access to education and health care.”

2. Hinterland Employment and Youth Service Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs,

Sydney Allicock, has gone on record to say that 40,000 persons are unemployed to date in the Hinterland communities.

3. The Hinterland Poverty Reduction Programme

No mention of any substantial work to improve the lives of Amerindians in Guyana was made in the 2017 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Guyana released by the United States of America’s (USA) State Department.

Page 11 of the 2017 report states that: “The standard of living in indigenous communities was lower than that of most citizens.”

to the lands they used and occupied. In 1991, legitimate representatives of all the elected h everyc astate r e tlands a k e rforAanPadditional - development Indigenous along with two otherinmemof the Amerindian villages Guythese ten (10) ofleaders N U + A F Cwere C o granted a l i t i o n under peoples are being bers of the non-governmental Village Council.

No major initiative has been embarked on ana,stymied with five Amerindian communities the State 4. Hinterland Infrastructure Extension to date. organizations, the imposition of the Lands Act through the issuance of Absolute Programme Government is now making it because of policies that the protested The application shall be Commission of Inquiry into Amerindian land Grants.

This brought the total percentage of No major Initiative has been embarked on 5.

Hinterland Energy Development more difficult for Indigenous current Government has im- accompanied by a plan showlands owned by Amerindians to almost 6% of titling in April 2017 and called for its revocato date. The 6,000 solar panel systems Programme peoples toterritory. obtain lands andthe plemented. underscpred the existing village lands tion. promised the NTC in Guyana’s earmarked for distribution to Amerindian saying that “the majority of espite criticisms, to 30 perShe cent.

Of The the government 15 ing communities by the former PPP/C 2017 to put on hold the COI’s examination of after taking office, that themembers, Coalition landNotably, extensions

by Government stipulating the Indigenous populace prepared by apeople” qualified land indigenous may not Coalition three representagovernment were taken away from the issues relating to Amerindian lands, pending Government, sent home the entire unit dealing that they provide a Village depends heavily on farming surveyor on the basis of a is maintaining its push re- tives are from the National be Christians. communities by the APNU+AFC Coalition with the Amerindian Land Titling programme. discussions with the NTC. This has been Toshaos and two Meanwhile, theby Coaliduce the Management Amerindian rep-was Improvement Plan (VIP) activities on Council these lands. authorised the government. stalemated withsurvey no follow up meetings and no The Project Unit ben estabtion Government has come localamendment Amerindian resentation on the Indigeas part in ofJune the process in the the are Thefrom Amerindian Act ofof the Guyana Lands Surveys gazetted termsand of reference lished 2014 to support implemenin for blows over theofpast organisations. nousofPeople’s No major initiative has been embarked on 6. Hinterland Happy Household Programme exclude the COI’s continued scrutiny all tation the In 2010, MoAA together granting of project. their Commission rightfully 2006 states that atovillage may Commission (GLSC). to date. years for cutting the budgets (IPC).

The other 10 members Amerindian communal lands titling. with UNDP and the Office of the President has owned properties. apply in writing to the MinAdditionally, according TheMinisParliamentary Opposition’s to initiated a LandGeorge titling Project sought of the Indigenousrequest Peoples Minister Norton thatwill cometofrom the: And People’s Progressive ister (of Indigenous Peoples’for to the Amerindian Act ofa the Speaker Adjournment Motion process for of titling of Indigenous Peoples’ anCommission, despiteonarchairsapplications the Committee Ap- andtrydemarcaNo new villages have received titles to 7. Hinterland and Indigenous People Lands Party/Civic (PPP/C) ParliaAffairs) for a grant of State 2006, the State shall pay for Definite Matter of Urgent Public Importance tion.

Under the Guyana REDD + Investment lands in the last three years.

Commission pointments, which made the Affairs; Ministry of Public guments by the People’s to discuss the Commission andsurvey. to call for its Fund (GRIF),Yvonne the former People’s Progressive mentarian, Pearlands as anMinistry extension toSocial its theProgressive cost of the Health; of Party/ Civic controversial move, via its 13, 2017 wasfor considered Party/ Civic out (PPP/C) Government inlands.

2013 revocation on AprilMeanwhile, The Commission of Inquiry into Lands, son, pointed that such abe- village the InSector (PPP/C) Parliamentarians report which is current “not urgent”. signed a US$10.7M document forProtection; the imple- Private which combined Amerindian and African demand with the Land Commission; The application should d i–g eAlister n o u s cCharlie, o m m u nYvonne ities, Environmenfore theconflicts National Assembly. mentation of the Amerindian Titling and land rights issues raised concerns that Pearson, Gail Teixeira and Approval of the report include tal Protection Agency; Bar they rights of Indigenous peoples the nameCLEAR of the vilcan apply in writing GOALS Demarcation project.

Amerindians would be dispossessed of ALT project, theMinister former PPP/C February 2019, Director the their lands.

Dharamlall – for them –In and the reduction of Am- General Association of Guyana; enshrined in the Amerindian lage, theatnumber ofThe persons toNigel theunder subject progovernment, sought three major Ministry of representation the Presidency, Joseph Harmon, Guyana Goldvillage, and Diamond not to to achieve do so. been The in PPP/C erindian of living Act of 2006. in that the vided that it has exgoals: completion of land titles issues and disclosed that an efforta to settle the burning No major initiative has been embarked on 8. Hinterland Public Service Provision Miners Forest istence Parliamentarians argued the – in requires twoSheofIPC pointed out that landAssociation; which the village 25had years at demarcation process forfor allover Amerindian vilissue Amerindian land the titlingarea onceofand for to date.

Scheme that the Indigenous Peoples Products Association; Nathirds vote of support in the lages that for submitted requests, increased use of all, President should David Granger be meeting Government not be will already owns, the reason the time of application and Commission has atomandate tional Research National and alternative mechanisms resolve shortly withAssembly. officials of Opposithethe Guyana LandsAgricultural and a existing The Language Preservation Project started withholding lands from application, description fortothe immediately preced9. Hinterland Language Cultural and Sport and Extension Institute investigate treat with tion Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, communicaSurvey Commission (GLSC) and Minister of land titling disputes and thirdly aand under the former PPP/C administration in Service Indigenous communities; of the area and a resolution ing five years, it comprises the rights of Amerindians. has already saidAffairs, that the (NAREI); the strategy Inter-Reincluding a handbook describing Indigenous People’s Sidney Allicock,andtion 2013 is the only major effort being lands belong to byOrganisation. two-thirds of theof titling, at least 150 persons among the process demarcation and social so PPP/C thatthat together theysupport canthem, brainstorm the matter The seventh report of will not this passed ligious currently made in this are. impact of secured land tenure. and come up withtoa honour win-win solution.

To economic but should seek “Village Meeting” others.

However, Act TheGeneral latter, the Inter-Rethe Committee of the Appointposition.

Indigenous people in many Coundate there has been on this.

The Project aimed to preserve the Arawak ligious Organisation, was ments, in relation to the According tono theprogress report, report its obligations to Indigenous which authorises theWhile Village does not require a Village tries have right of use of the Land only, in and other Amerindian languages. appointment of members a proposal that came from the theinCoalition folks the countryGovernment and abide Council to make the appliImprovement Plan for the Guyana where Indigenous People account LAND RIGHTS QUESTIONED of 9.7% the Indigenous People’s PNCR that General to reduce Amerinby plans the guidelines Amcation. processing of for Secretary, approximately of or thegranting population, Notably, one of the early indications No major initiative has been embarked on 10. Hinterland Tourism service Commission, was tabled dian representation on the Amna Ally, who defended Amerindians own land including the forests Amerindian land rights were being questioned to date. erindian Act of 2006.

It further states that an land extensions to any In-in 15-member her Advisrecommendation by their the House March 2018. resources within Titled in Lands. came from one ofCommission the new Presidential According to Pearson, at application shall be signed digenous village or comGranger's 10 point plan of action to support hinterland communities present, the livelihoods and by the Toshao, the Secretary, munity.

20

OBSERVER

WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

A deliberate attempt to mislead to protect self-interests?

T

he making of outlandish statements by some politicians can either be an unfortunate occurrence or a most deliberate attempt to misinform in an effort to foster a particular agenda. The latter seems to be frequently manifested both here and internationally.

Over the past eight months following the December 21, 2018, no-confidence motion (NCM), there have been innumerable outlandish statements made publicly by some government officials to defend their indefensible position of directly defying the constitution.

Aside from the unashamed flip-flopping on accepting the constitutional process following the NCM by the holders of the country’s top two political offices; aside from the rabid vilification of the former Member of Parliament whose vote on December 21, 2018, toppled the APNU/AFC government; aside from attacking the Op-

position People’s Progressive Party (PPP), some officials and affiliates of the current administration still find creative ways to make outlandish statements with regard to the present political situation.

Just a few days ago following the August 14 ruling by the Chief Justice, a government coalition partner, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), released a statement in which it urged the PPP to agree to an extension of September 18, 2019, deadline for elections to be held.

Also, and in what appears as a demanding tone, it called on the PPP to “acknowledge that the game is over and that its attempt at railroading the judicial process has been defeated”. It added that refusal by the PPP to extend the deadline would “further tarnish that party’s image and render it unfit to lead Guyana”. To say that such utterances are outlandish, would be putting it mildly.

The most obvious question

from the statement is; how did the PPP railroad the judicial process?

The WPA has in its midst a very vocal professor who lectures at a North American university and who was part of its panel which hosted a press conference recently.

One can therefore assume that basic understanding of the simple language in the constitution would not be a challenge. The WPA cannot be oblivious of the fact that in the wake of the valid NCM, the constitution mandates fresh elections within ninety days unless an extension is agreed to by a two-thirds majority of the National Assembly. It must know that the President and the Prime Minister initially accepted the NCM and promised to uphold the constitution. It must know that the coalition government which it is a part of, then rushed to courts on that laughable grounds that 33 is not a majority of 65. It must know that recourse to

the courts was not without a threat of dire consequences if the decision was not deemed favourable to the government. It must know that said recourse was also a deliberate ploy by the government to delay the constitutionally mandated elections which should have been held as of March 21, 2019. It would also know that the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled the NCM as valid and instructed that the constitutional process be followed. It would also know that it is the APNU/AFC coalition which refuses to accept the NCM and continues to operate as if it never happened even eight months after.

From that, the WPA cannot be blind as to who really railroaded the process; itself, since it is part of the government! It cannot be blind to the fact that if the government had adhered to the Constitution in the first place there would have been no need to talk about an ex-

tension of a deadline.

That very vocal North American professor also alluded that elections could be held in December this year. He posited that if the elections were to roll over to 2020, it would cause the accusation that the government is delaying the process, to stick. In other words, according to him - elections in December, accusation of defiling the constitution cannot stick; elections in January, it would. One thing seems clear from that; WPA is not blinded to accusations that the government is in defiance of the constitution.

Why then, according to it, the accusations would stick in January? Again, the fingers are pointing back at who really is railroading the judicial process.

Often, there is a reason why a prominent person would make statements that contradict reality. It is not unique to Guyana and in many instances,

self-interest is foremost.

It’s in that context one may be tempted to ask if the learned professor has a vested reason to make outlandish statements now, when, not in the too distant past, he was critical of the APNU/AFC government, especially since he was unceremoniously dropped as a columnist. Then, he reportedly lamented the railroading of democracy by the said government he now vehemently defends. Is the about-turn related to the suspicion that a close relative of his was not too long ago appointed a Minister? If that were the case, then it probably gives credence to the strong suspicion of uttering statements design to deliberately misinform and discredit to foster a specific agenda of reported self-interest.

In such scenarios, the outlandishness cannot be masked.

Caretaker gov’t still increasing Guyana’s debts with more foreign loans

O

n July 12, 2019, Guyana’s apex court – the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – in ruling that that the APNU+AFC Coalition government had fallen to a validly and successfully passed no-confidence motion, declared that, “The government is expected to behave during this interim period as a caretaker and so restrain the exercise of its legal authority.”

However, in clear defiance of the CCJ and the Constitution of Guyana, caretaker President, David Granger, and his Coalition continues to function in a ‘business per normal’ mode.

This week, the Coalition government borrowed a massive $3.5 Billion from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).

Guyana’s increasing debt

remains a major issue of concern.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has expressed concern about the worrying trend. On Wednesday (September 4, 2019), he said, “we took a country where all the all the macro-economic variables were out of whack…. the fiscal deficit was 25 per cent of GDP, every four years we were doubling the debt of the country to finance the fiscal deficit; the balance of payment deficit was 45 per cent of GDP, every two years we were doubling our debts with the rest of the world to finance that debt; and we were using 153 per cent of revenue to service debt.

“By the time we left office: five per cent of revenue was used to service debt and the stock of debt had come down from 900 per cent of

GDP to 50 per cent – half the size of our economy; inflation was single digits when it was triple digits in the past; interest rates were like 38 per cent when we took over when today, if you are a prime borrower, you can borrow at eight or 12 per cent today.”

At the end of 2018, the total stock of government’s public debt increased by 1.5 per cent, representing 43.9 per cent of GDP, with the stock of external debt increasing by 5.5 percent and accounting for 33.9 per cent of GDP. The External debt service payments increased by 27.7 per cent to US$78 million from US$61 million in 2017. This represented 5.1 percent of export earnings and 7.5 percent of Central Government’s current revenue.

In the first quarter of

2019, Bank of Guyana reported a decline of 4.1 per cent in the stock of external public debt, resulting mainly from lower bilateral debt stock by 10.4 percent or US$52 million. This outcome was primarily as a result of a US$50.7 million debt cancellation from Kuwait during the first quarter of 2019. The External debt service payments rose by 2.8 percent to US$25 million due mostly to higher principal and interest payments to multilateral creditors.

FURTHER INCREASE PROJECTED The Bank of Guyana 2018 Annual report projected an increase in Guyana’s external debt stock for 2019.

The report said, “The stock of outstanding public external debt is projected

to increase by 5.6 percent to US$1,370 million at the end of 2019. This outturn is expected to be on account of higher multilateral and bilateral debt by 8.2 percent and 2.2 percent to US$834 million and US$503 million respectively.

“Liabilities to IADB and CDB are forecasted to increase by 5.1 percent and 3.2 percent to US$535 million and US$154 million respectively.

“Liabilities to the EximBank of China are also estimated to increase by 2.1 percent to US$204 million while liabilities to Venezuela are likely to decline by 4.2 percent to US$110 million.”

The report also noted massive increases in debt servicing.

It said, “Total external debt service payments are

projected to increase by 3.6 percent to US$80 million during 2019 compared with US$77 million in 2018, resulting primarily from an increase in principal and interest payments to multilateral creditors. Principal payments are expected to increase by 1.6 percent to US$56 million while interest payments are projected to increase by 8.7 percent to US$24 million.

Payments to multilateral creditors are likely to rise by 9.0 percent to US$43 million, while payments to bilateral creditors are expected to decline by 2.9 percent to US$35 million.”

The APNU+AFC Coalition government continues to come in for criticism because of its decisions that increase Guyana’s public debt; not only external, but also at the domestic level.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

More blackouts coming ‒ GPL says it cannot meet peak demand

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he Guyana Power and Light (GPL) company has admitted that blackouts will be the order of the day in the coming days – the latest in a wave of power outages over the last few months.

In a statement on Wednesday (September 4, 2019) GPL noted that due to unforeseen occurrences and generation/operational issues, it was challenged to meet the peak demand.

GPL said that it is currently experiencing a shortfall in generation in the Demerara-Berbice Interconnected System (DBIS).

In Berbice, due to a defective transformer at the Onverwagt, Berbice Substation, GPL said that it is unable to export 6.9 MW of power to the Demerara-Berbice Inter-connected System.

Further, a 5.5 MW generator at the Canefield Power Plant is unavailable because of scheduled maintenance.

In Demerara, at the Kingston Power Plant, a 6.9 MW unit is unavailable be-

cause of a defective alternator, which had to be sourced overseas. The alternator has arrived, and repairs are not yet completed. At the Garden-of-Eden power station, a 4MW set is unavailable as it is awaiting the arrival of replacement parts for the defective components.

GPL admitted to a deficit of approximately 23 MW. As such, customers in Demerara and Berbice will experience periods of blackouts.

WARNING For months, the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, has warned the David Granger-led caretaker government about the “lag effect” of its failures to invest strategically in the energy sector.

“If you are not putting in generating capacity and you have older units and you are at peak with no reserves you will have what we are having. Your install capacity and peak demand can’t be the same… it is just that these guys did not have enough

investments in the right areas and they are struggling with the system,” he said.

Jagdeo had stressed that the Coalition’s inaction is worsening the current state of affairs.

He also noted that the current installed capacity to generate power is close to what is the peak demand, and, with no new capacity being added to the power grid, the unreliable power supply situation will worsen.

“Right now there is no plan to fix it…there is no new capacity being added…no plan for new power generation…. this can only get worse,” the Opposition Leader said.

According to him, in the 21st century, Guyana should have already reached the stage there the capacity to supply power, surpassed the peak demand for power.

Jagdeo said, “This Government has failed on every plan it touted….we heard about solar…we heard about wind…nothing so far…they went to tender for a massive

dual system, fuel and hydro, and nothing….the situation does great harm to business.”

Jagdeo underscored the fact that the decision to scrap the Amaila Fall Hydropower Project was ill-conceived.

The recent decision of the APNU+AFC Coalition Government to pursue a wind power project was also similarly described.

He said, “How many times are we going to say this? Buying wind power even if it is feasible and it is not corrupt, even if it was a clean contract, wind power is not buying capacity, it is buying energy. What about the periods when the wind stops blowing and there are several periods during the course of the day and in the night? You still need the fossil fuel to step up at that time, because when the wind stops blowing, it goes down to zero, you go down to zero and so you have to then match that with the comparable capacity to pick up that, you cannot build future or satisfy future demand on buying just energy, you have to also install capacity.”

Notably, none of the renewable energy projects that

are being undertaken by the Coalition Government will contribute to the national grid.

The Amaila Falls Hydroelectric Project was initially expected to deliver a steady source of clean, affordable, reliable renewable energy to meet approximately 90 per cent of Guyana’s domestic energy needs and remove the country’s dependency on fossil fuels. Additionally, the independent, facts-based assessment of the Amaila Falls Hydropower project in Guyana, which was done by an independent Norway-based engineering and design consultancy firm, Norconsult AS, found that the project is the only realistic path for Guyana to achieve greater levels of renewable energy.

“The fastest way forward is to maintain AFHP as the first major step for substituting its current oil fired generation.

AFHP was prioritized as the first hydropower plant because it was the only project with a full feasibility study completed, it has a higher plant load factor than the alternatives, a smaller reservoir and a levelised unit

cost in the same range as the most attractive alternatives,” the summary of the 49-page report said. The report also highlighted that Hydro power is the only way in which we can achieve the 2025 renewable energy target; that the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project is the fastest way to get to renewable energy by 2025; that the BOOT model is the most appropriate way of structuring the project and should be maintained; and that the project should be re-tendered since the last tender was in 2008. As at 2014, approximately US$70M of this had been deposited by Norway in the Guyana REDD+ Investment Fund (GRIF) which is channeling investment into seven LCDS projects. The Norwegian Government had announced that it plans to transfer US$80M to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to be used as Guyana's equity contribution to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project. With the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project scrapped by the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, the financing was also lost.

Resignation of Cabinet, including President….

Case set for hearing on September 9

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he action advanced in the High Court by Attorney-at-Law, Manoj Narayan, acting on behalf of his client former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, to compel the David Granger-led APNU+AFC Coalition to comply with the Constitution of Guyana has been set for hearing.

Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire will hear the matter on September 9, 2019, at the High Court.

The Application, filed in the High Court, is seeking several Orders of Court to compel the Cabinet, in-

cluding the President, to resign having been successfully defeated by a Motion of No-Confidence on the 21st December 2018.

In accordance with the Constitution, Article 106 (6) mandates that the Cabinet, including the President, should resign following a majority vote of all the elected Members of the National Assembly.

Article 106 (6) states: “The Cabinet including the President shall resign if the Government is defeated by a vote of majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly.”

Nandlall is asking the Court for several orders,

including: 1. An Order compelling the Cabinet, including the President to resign consequent upon the Government being defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of no- confidence on the 21st day of December, 2018, in accordance with and pursuant to Article 106(6) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana;” 2. A Mandatory Order compelling the Cabinet, including the President to give effect to the resignation of the Cabinet, including the President, which

occurred by operation of law, consequent upon the Government being defeated by the vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of no- confidence on the 21st day of December, 2018, in accordance with and pursuant to Article 106(6) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana; and 3. A Conservatory Order or an order restraining the Cabinet, inclusive of the President, from meeting, making decisions as, or performing the functions of Cabinet, consequent upon the Government being defeated by the vote of a

majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly on a vote of no- confidence on the 21st day of December, 2018, in accordance with and pursuant to Article 106(6) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

The Attorney-at-Law, Narayan, in the court documents, said, “On the 21st December 2018, the Applicant was present in the National Assembly and voted in support of a No-Confidence Motion, tabled by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, against the current Government of Guyana, which was successfully passed,

by a vote of a majority of all the elected members of the National Assembly, and in consequence thereof, Resolution 101 was issued under the Hand of the Clerk of the National Assembly, certifying that the said No-Confidence Motion was lawfully and properly passed….nine (9) months after the passage of the said No-Confidence Motion the Cabinet, inclusive of the President, has failed, and or neglected, and or omitted, to resign in accordance with the unambiguous prescription and mandate of Article 106(6) of the Constitution, the Supreme Law of Guyana.”

22

WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

The choice facing the electorate is very clear Dear Editor,

U

sing a nonsensical ‘poll’ as an excuse, GHK Lall intimated that Irfaan Ali is not the preferred candidate for the PPP/C – nothing could be further from the truth, but that is not my focus. I have noticed while every opportunity is taken to attack Irfaan, what these so called ‘independent minds’ never do, is conduct a (long-overdue) review of the record and character of Caretaker President David Granger, ostensibly Irfaan’s opponent for Elections 2019.

Please allow me to be of assistance.

1. UNTRUSTWORTHY Granger the 2015 candidate made promises that Granger the President never acknowledged. “Jobs for every graduate of the University of Guyana”. One year on morphed into “There is no magic wand. The government cannot provide jobs in the government service, in the police force or the defence force”.

When asked about job creation under his administration after two and a half years in office Granger shrugged and said “It may start with plantain chips… small things could end up big,” Granger never made mention about job creation again until after his administration fell in 2018. This pattern of indifference and untrustworthiness is evidenced throughout Granger’s term in office.

Granger promised revitalization of the Village economy. His first act, however, was to shut down the thriving village entertainment, Bars, BBQ and Fish & Chip establishments. Granger advised young people to stop ‘liming’ and plant crops instead. He did not offer any support to go with this ‘advice’. Support was provided

to the ‘African Business Round Table and The International Decade for People of African Descent-Guyana.

Neither of these organizations represent African Guyanese in the slightest.

Billions are spent on Ministers’ lavish lifestyles with meal allowance costs now increased by $1.6 Billion from the 2014 figure.

Granger cares, just not about me or you.

Granger took away $8 Billion of direct support provided to schoolchildren with the removal of the $10,000 cash grant. As September approaches sugar workers have not been paid for August, they cannot buy back to school supplies, in what seems like targeted suffering. Granger approved a 50% salary increase for his Ministers and at the same time callously took away the year-end bonus from our hard working men and women of the Joint services.

Other major promises made and broken by Granger include; 1. To create a new economy that will stimulate rapid development through Guyana’s transformation from a raw material producer to a Manufacturer of Value Added Goods.

Granger’s first year in office, 2015-16, saw value-added within the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector decline by more than US$67M. Within the manufacturing sector, value-added declined by more than US$18M, with wholesale, retail and trade, by another US$5M. At the local level, in 2017, lending to the manufacturing sector contracted by more than $4.2 billion or 14.6%, when compared to 2015.

According to the latest available data, in mid-2018 the manufacturing sector contracted by another 5.7% to $26.0 billion. Specifically,

credit to the beverages, food and tobacco industry, and for other construction and engineering decreased by $2.6 billion (39%) and $1.8 billion (15 %), respectively.

2. Macroeconomic Stability.

Fiscal deficit increased from $9.3B in 2015 to $43 Billion at the end of 2018.

Public enterprises moved from producing a surplus of $8B in 2015 to a deficit of 22.8 billion at the end of 2018. APNU+AFC Coalition took office in June 2015, the Gold reserves moved from $16.268B to $589.3M in June 2019.

2. MISMANAGEMENT Granger proudly boasts of 4% growth, the fact is that had it not been for Granger’s disastrous mismanagement of the economy, a lack of vision that saw closure of sugar estates and dismantling of the Amerindian CSO program with no alternative employment plan in place that has led to decline in all of the traditional sectors, growth would have been in the high double digits; 4% after the discovery of oil is an admission of failure.

All of the Government corporations are bankrupt or in serious debt; GuySuCo, which the government claimed it has right-sized two years ago, is now projected to make a loss of $920 million and it even has shelved the responsibility of drainage. GPL is projected to make a deficit of $9.5 billion; GPOC, GRDB, GUYOIL, and MARDS Rice complex are the only four public enterprises projected to have a surplus, but the end of 2019 will earn less than was projected at the start of the year in the minister’s budget speech.

The parent company of the Chronicle – Guyana National Printers Limited – continues to be run into the ground, it is expected to

finish the year with at $80.5 million deficit. NIS is projected to lose $546 million.

After four years in office and $1.4 Trillion in budget expenditure, all we have to show for it is two arches, five overpasses and a roundabout to nowhere.

Granger was elected President despite his lack of experience in delivering programs or creating policy, his performance since then reveals the true nature of the man.

3. LACK OF LEADERSHIP Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman was ordered to sign the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Tullow that did Guyana’s citizens no favours with its lack of ring-fencing provisions and a ‘1% royalty’. Given that Guyana was no longer a frontier oil nation, this was a poorly negotiated deal – it has Guyana paying a 1% royalty from its own portion of ‘profit-oil’.

Where was the leadership?

Granger has also passed legislation that put the Sovereign Wealth Fund under the control of one man, the Finance Minister, one of the persons who vacillated on the existence of a signing bonus. Granger has a plan for Oil money, are you in it?

4. TRIVIAL PURSUIT Less than two weeks after being elected President, Granger was informed along with the nation that Oil had been found in commercial quantity. Granger did not prioritize ‘local-content’, instead, he spent the first year in office planning a Jubilee celebration. D’Urban Park was transformed into a Drill square, at a cost to businessmen and taxpayers yet to be determined. $600 Million remains unaccounted for and the square is now home to vagrants and stray dogs.

PNCR-led Coalition is prefacing political... think that the fact that he's a young man, he would be somewhat different, he would be wiser than the old comrades of his party… what is clear is that whether old or young they seem to be cut from the same cloth….

Mr. Bond did not go to Campbellville to tell youths what his Party will do for youths…or what his Party will do for job creation… his only conversation was attempting to intimidate, warning them not to vote for ‘these coolie people’. That is his only conversation he is having with these youths.

Nothing about their future. “…with Mr. Felix, he took the racism to another level…the conversation with Mr. Felix is about people being excluded.”

The PPP/C Parliamentarian stressed that such conversations are troubling, to say the least. “What we are seeing is a racist, ethnic line that is being peddled….all Guyanese have to denounce this kind of behaviour…we have to call out the persons who are engaged in such acts…this is race-baiting.”

Hamilton likened the

community meetings where racist remarks are being made by PNCR elements to whisper campaigns that were seen in the past.

“They are subtly peddling racism….they're trying to preface their political campaign based on ethnic origin and not policies….it is the totality of the Coalition that is engaged in this…Winston Felix and James Bond are only two of them…there are many and I am sure we will hear them speak very shortly in the public,” he said.

The PPP/C Parliamentarian added, “…this is the

Granger spent four years persuading persons to ‘donate’ buses, boats, bicycles (and now book bags) that carry his ‘David G’ insignia.

I am unsure if these buses are the property of the state as they do not appear on the asset register of any state entity. Granger’s idol, Burnham, was Prime Minister for over 15 years before he appeared on the cover of exercise books, David G did not tarry. Painting everything Green is an obsession; State buildings, Schools, Roundabouts, sidewalks and even outhouses.

5. UNDEMOCRATIC Granger struggles with the ‘Rule of Law’ concept as he sees himself apart from the system. When the Chief Justice ruled that while the President has the ultimate say on who is determined fit and proper to serve in the post, and could also reject the list of nominees, he should provide reasons as to why specific persons are unsuitable.

Granger said “while the Chief Justice gave an appointment based on her perception of the law I will continue to act based on my perception of the Constitution….” When the Caribbean Court of Justice ruled his appointment of James Patterson as Chairman was “constitutionally flawed” Granger maintained “I did nothing wrong”.

This disconnect between word and action has led to refusal to act in accordance with constitutional requirements following the passage of a no-confidence motion.

Granger is struggling with the concept that he is a ‘caretaker’ and his cabinet stands resigned as of 21st December 2018.

CONCLUSION Granger may delude himself by placing his

name on buses, boats, bicycles and book bags; his real legacy, however, is an Tullow Oil PSA that gave away our oil revenues carelessly; a disrespected and destroyed constitution; an unstable economy where investments are frozen; 30,000 jobs destroyed; a high crime rate as criminals remain undeterred by his ‘dogs and ponies’ security upgrades.

Granger’s lack of concern for the Guyanese people is evidenced by the fact that he never bothered to produce a local-content policy or pass enabling and enforcing legislation for the same purpose.

I welcome comparisons between David Granger and Irfaan Ali, who has a strong track record of delivering on promises. Irfaan’s innovations include taking the ‘One Stop Shop” for housing to the people; house lots distributed at a record rate; wells were built, construction boomed; special projects were implemented, including the Young Professional and Remigrant Schemes.

Irfaan is backed by a solid team including Bharrat Jagdeo, whose term as President coincided with the greatest period of prosperity in Guyana’s history. The PPP/C can offer its history of preparing manifestos and achieving 85% of the promises and projects contained within, the APNU/AFC did a ‘cut and paste’ manifesto and delivered nothing contained therein.

The choice facing the electorate is stark; the empty suit of David G, or the man with a proven record, Irfaan Ali, the hard-working farmer/economist/politician.

Respectfully Robin Singh

(From page 24)

PNCR of old…they are forgetting that the people are educated and more sophisticated and they have access to information.”

Hamilton declared that this kind of action/ comments have no place in Guyanese society today.

He said, “The fact that we can have all this information coming out of what Felix would call a closeddoor meeting show that the persons, who were at the meeting, found the racism so reprehensible they have been volunteering the information on what took place

to us…it suggest to us that the PNCR are the ones who are foolish to think that this sort of behaviour will be tolerated in this day and age. “…they, in the PNC, think they can spew these racist statements and everybody sitting there will be comfortable with it, not understanding that most Guyanese see these comments are reprehensible, as an abomination…so they're fooling themselves. People are wiser now….people's concern is not how the leader looks, it is about a government that will deliver for them.”

Hamilton appealed for all Guyanese to rebuke any leader who peddles “dangerous” language that could create negative conditions in Guyana.

“The People's Progressive Party Civic, we will resolutely and robustly defend the democratic culture of this country….whether you're a young person or you are an old person, regardless of your ethnicity, you have to reject racism and to reject the Coalition.

We cannot allow them to divide us,” the PPP/C Parliamentarian appealed.

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WEEKEND MIRROR 7-8 SEPTEMBER, 2019

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

APNU+AFC's admits to misleading Guyanese

By Dr. Leslie Ramsammy

T

he recent HTH exercise, now thankfully ended, is another stain in our history of rigged elections. From the inception, it was evident the House-to-House (HTH) registration by GECOM was politically directed and an effort to create a rigged electoral list for a rigged election.

Ordinary citizens were threatened with being charged for not registering, police officers were forced to prove they registered and citizens were terrorized their existing ID cards would become illegal. David Granger and his APNU+AFC leaders were everywhere telling people without HTH there would be no elections.

Director General, Joseph Harmon, and senior members

of APNU+AFC are now telling the miniscule few people who attend the "government" outreaches in the last week not to worry about the termination of HTH. They tell people they can register, if they never registered previously, in GECOM's Claims and Objections (C&O) period. This is good, sound, correct advice, in total accordance with the laws of Guyana. Finally APNU+AFC is being truthful, telling people that in any election period, C&O allow new registrants to become part of the National Register of Registrants (NRR) and, if 18 years and over, will list them in the Official Voters List (OVL) for the upcoming elections. They now confess to their supporters, no one will be disenfranchised by C&O and that HTH was, in fact, just a ruse. Their new position is a confession they knew all along, but misdirected people in a desperate strategy to avoid elections this year.

This position, that C&O permits new voters to register and the fastest route to elections, was the position of Bharat Jagdeo and the PPP, the majority of civil society

and the judiciary. It was also the position Keith Lowenfield, the Chief Elections Officer of GECOM, expressed publicly more than once, but refused to act in accordance with the law, choosing a political pathway congruent with that of APNU+AFC. Justice Claudette Singh, the new Chairman of GECOM, kept her promise to act only in accordance with the constitution and the law by voting at GECOM in favor of ending HTH and proceeding to C&O. Without saying it directly, the leaders of APNU+AFC now shamelessly admit they misdirected people, deliberately, over many months simply to avoid elections, intentionally violating the constitution, the Parliament and the judiciary. There was no eureka moment - the truth did not dawn on them suddenly, they knew it all along.

The difference now is they do not have a Chair of GECOM who is totally a creature of Granger and APNU+AFC. Thus far, the constitutionally appointed Chair has acted in accordance with the law and has shown independence.

Hopefully, she has the stami-

na not to buckle under the inevitable pressure.

APNU+AFC's embrace of C&O comes after months of Granger, Harmon, Nagamootoo and other leaders insisting people, especially those now reaching the age of 18, who had not previously registered, can only register for the upcoming elections through a new HTH. They had spent months arguing the only reason they had not dissolved Parliament and called elections which were due before March 21st is that the existing Voters List and the existing NRR cannot include new registrants unless the NRR is thrown out and a new HTH conducted.

They had argued that new registrants cannot become included in the existing NRR through C&O, but ONLY if an entirely new list is created by registering every citizen above 14 through a HTH. After the Chief Justice ruled that &O is a legal instrument to add new names to the existing list, they still sought to intimidate GECOM and others that HTH must continue.

APNU+AFC not only pushed GECOM towards HTH, they intimidated peo-

ple to register in the HTH, forcing them to break the law. With an existing NRR, it is illegal for anyone to register more than once. For the majority of people who were forced to register in the recent HTH, they were forced to break the law by double registration. In fact, there are cases of people charged criminally for double-registration in Guyana in the past.

But there is now evidence the HTH was a centrally-directed intimidation playbook. Police officers are whistle-blowing they were forced by their commanders to register in the recent HTH, even though they were already registered in the existing NRR. These whistle-blowing officers have told stories of how they had to produce slips proving they had registered in the new HTH. Previously, the Bank of Guyana was forced to advise banks they cannot ask customers if they had registered in the new HTH. Why was the Bank of Guyana forced to issue such an advisory and why did banks asked customers if they had registered in the new HTH? It was simple GECOM's HTH staff and AP-

NU+AFC's propaganda were telling people they had to register in the HTH because their existing ID cards would become illegal. The storyline was that without a new ID card issued through the HTH, people will not receive pension, able transact banking business or able to become customers of GPL, GWI, cannot apply for passport, etc. In addition, people were told they could be criminally charged and locked up for not registering in the HTH. Clearly, APNU+AFC misdirected people, deliberately lying to people they would be disenfranchised if the existing NRR is not discarded and a new one created with a new HTH. It was always part of a sordid, reckless and illegal strategy to invalidate the No-Confidence Motion, acting in contempt of the Parliament, the Judiciary and the Constitution.

It was all designed for one purpose - avoid the elections for as long as possible and then rig the elections whenever it is held with the help of a rigged voters list. It begs the question - why are they so dreadfully afraid of free and fair elections?

Jagdeo questions…

Whose orders did Trotman follow when he failed to represent Guyanese interests?

W

hether the issue at hand is “first oil, second oil or last oil,” the APNU+AFC Coalition government has proven itself incapable of protecting the interest of the Guyanese people, according to Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo.

“They can’t represent the interests of Guyana. They’re

incompetent. They’re all talk.

They’re not looking out for our interests,” he lamented.

Jagdeo also took caretaker Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, to task over his response to criticism about the deal he signed with Tullow in January 2016.

Trotman had said, “I’m unable to discuss beyond

saying that as with the contract, I acted on directions.”

Questions have been raised as to whose directions Trotman was acting on. Caretaker President, David Granger, has not commented on this issue.

Jagdeo in response said, “Trotman said he’s been following orders to sign these

contracts. Whose orders?

This is something we should really pursue.”

Tullow has been the subject of local media reports after it was disclosed that the one per cent royalty that the company agreed to in its deal with the government, can be recouped as costs.

The Opposition Leader

said, “It’s not one percent because it’s recoverable.

Recoverable means it’s zero.

We have to pay their one percent royalty for them. That is the problem.”

Already, the contract exempts Tullow from paying a range of taxes and duties.

Section 15.1 of Tullow’s contract states that “subject to Article 32 and except as provided in Article 15.2, 15.8 and… Article 15.1, no tax, value added tax, excise tax, duty, fee, charge or other impost shall be levied at the date hereof or from time to time thereafter on the contractor or affiliated companies in respect of income derived from petroleum operations or in respect of any property held, transactions undertaken or activities performed for any purpose authorized or contemplated hereunder”.

The only exceptions are import duties at rates set out in the Customs Act and subject to Article 21 of the contract; income unrelated to what is derived under the agreement and rent owing to the government for any land rights granted or assigned. Additionally, it was only this year that the government passed a motion in the National Assembly, moved by Finance Minister Winston Jordan, to confirm tax waivers for Tullow.

It was announced on Au-

gust 12, 2019 that Tullow discovered oil in commercial quantities at the Jethro-1 exploration well in the Orinduik Block.

This is the first discovery in the Orinduik Block, which is located in close proximity to the Stabroek Block – where United States oil giant ExxonMobil had already made 13 lucrative oil discoveries.

The Jethro-1 well was drilled by the Stena Forth drillship to a total depth of 4400 metres in approximately 1350 metres of water. According to a statement from the company, evaluation of the logging data confirmed that Jethro-1 comprises high-quality oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs of Lower Tertiary age, which simply means they date back to millions of years ago.

According to Tullow’s statement, the well encountered 55m of net oil pay, which indicates a recoverable oil resource estimate that exceeds Tullow’s pre-drill forecast of 100 million barrels of oil.

Tullow Guyana BV is the operator of the Orinduik Block, with a 60 per cent stake. Total E&P Guyana BV holds 25 per cent with the remaining 15 per cent being held by Eco (Atlantic) Guyana Inc.

PNCR-led Coalition is prefacing political campaign on racism – Hamilton

A

number of small community meetings have been held by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) led APNU+AFC Coalition Government, where racist remarks were spewed.

And People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Parliamentarian, Joseph Hamilton, has taken the offending PNCR officials to task on this matter, stressing the danger in such acts.

“Elections are upon us and the contrast for the two political entities is that in the last 48 hours the PPP has begun to roll out its manifesto, putting posters around town…while we are doing that the PNC's campaign machinery has kicked in… because there is no policy initiative to present they

have gone into the mode of ethnic conversation, of racism.”

Hamilton referred to comments from PNCR’s James Bond and Winston Felix.

Felix at a meeting held at the Critchlow Labour College, last week, urged Afro-Guyanese and others not to support the PPP/C because they will targeted by the Party.

Bond, at a meeting in Campbellville, Georgetown, last week, told a group of young people not to vote “them coolie people” – meaning the PPP/C – back into office.

Hamilton lamented the nature the comments.

He said, “With Mr. James Bond, you would (Turn to page 22)

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