October 18, 2016

Archives for April 19, 2016

Rice farmers burnt to death by bandits

– botched robbery angered gunmen

By Kizzy Coleman

Pandemonium broke out at Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) late Sunday evening, when an elderly couple were horrendously burnt alive by bandits who set their house alight after a botched robbery.
Dead are Bibi Munir, 70, and Mohammed Munir, 77, of Lot 16 Good Hope, who were both prominent rice farmers in Region Three.
According to reports, at around 23:15h on Sunday, several armed bandits invaded the couple’s premises but they managed to secure themselves in one of the bedrooms.

The ravaging blaze on Sunday night

The ravaging blaze on Sunday night

What is left of the rice farmers' house

What is left of the rice farmers’ house

After not being able to gain access to the couple, the angered bandits then doused the house with gasoline and set it alight.
Speaking with this publication an eyewitness said she heard what sounded like gunshots and got out of bed to investigate.
“I was in my bed when I heard gun shots. I got up and looked outside and I saw the fire and ran outside. When I got outside I was shocked to see that no one was on the road even though there was a huge fire but I was not aware that people were scared because they heard Uncle Munir screaming thief! thief!”
According the eyewitnesses, the couple was heard screaming for persons to break a door of the heavily grilled house so that they could escape the fire. They were seen through a window in the room in which they were trapped.
“A bus driver started to honk his bus horn and then people started to come out to lend assistance but by then the house was almost covered in flames, so no one could really do anything. Uncle Munir was at the window begging for people to use chains to pull out the grilled window so that he and his wife could come out but the heat was too much,” the woman explained.
She added that the now dead man was also giving instructions for neighbours to drive his two tractors out of the yard to prevent them from exploding to which a neighbour complied.
Meanwhile, a businessman known as ‘Dumb boy’ told this publication that after he heard the screams, he went to investigate and it was then that he recognised men armed with guns manoeuvring in the couple’s house.
He added that in an attempt to alert neighbours, he got out his licenced gun and discharged several rounds in the air.
“I saw them in the house and I just went and got my gun and I fired a few shots in the air to alert people of what was happening.”
This publication was told that Jamila Munir had telephoned a businessman in the area, Shiraz Ally, as her house was going up in flames providing him with details as to what was transpiring and pleading with him for help from the deadly blaze.
It is believed the gunmen used the street behind the couple’s house to gain entry to their yard and eventually their house since persons in the area stated that they did not see anyone enter from the front (the public road) entrance.
According to reports, on Saturday night a tinted silver grey Toyota Allion car was “lurking” in the area and it appeared “suspicious”.
Reports stated that the same car was spotted again hours before the fire occurred.
When Guyana Times visited the scene Monday morning, the charred remains of the couple were being removed by undertakers as relatives wailed in agony.
Regional Executive Officer Denis Jaikaran was on scene and expressed sadness at the ‘tragedy’.
The police in a statement Monday said they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deadly fire.
A team of investigators had already visited the scene and took statements from neighbours.
The post mortems have confirmed the couple died as a result of smoke inhalation.
The elderly couple leaves to mourn at least four children, siblings and other family.

125 workers of 846 likely to be fired

LBI operations shutdown
– operations to close by May
The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) plans on completely shutting down the La Bonne Intention (LBI)

LBI Estate to be completely closed by the end of May

LBI Estate to be completely closed by the end of May

Sugar Estate and merging its existing operations with the Enmore Estate by May 31, 2016.
This is according to a brief from the Sugar Corporation to Agriculture Minister Noel Holder on the integration of the East Demerara Estates.
Some 125 of the 846 workers attached to LBI Estate are at risk of losing their jobs since the functions they currently carry out are expected to be merged with that of Enmore Estate
The statement explained that the LBI section has 846 employees from which 125 are duplicating functions that are currently being undertaken at Enmore. These include personnel in the Mill Dock, Field Workshop, Field Laboratory, Field Office, and Stores.
The breakdown shows that 58 persons work in Mill Dock, 38 in Field Workshop and the remaining 29 is split in the Field Laboratory, Field Office, and Stores.
Approximately 721 are working at both the LBI and Enmore sections, primarily in harvesting and crop husbandry areas, therefore it is presumed that these jobs are secured.
GuySuCo explained that the number of employees who will be fired will be determined after filling existing vacancies at Enmore Estate; however the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) had expressed concerns that full-time and regular employment will be unavailable.
The Sugar Corporation explained to the agriculture minister that the LBI Factory was closed in March 2011 as a part of a plan to integrate the East Demerara Estates into one production entity to optimise the use of the limited pool of labour.
The corporation further explained that both estates, at the time, were significantly underutilised as a result of shortage of field labour.
It also pointed out that for integration to make sense, the duplicated activities (which were the remaining operations at LBI Estate) would need to be rationalised.
GuySuCo said this should have been done since 2011; however because it was not completed, the results were further deterioration in the economics of the East Demerara operations.
“The East Demerara Estate’s cost of production increased from US26 to 30 cents per pound prior to the closure of the LBI Factory to US41 cents per pound after the closure, peaking at US54 cents in 2013,” it stated.
Consequently, GuySuCo said it behoves the current management to expedite the completion of the integration of the Enmore and LBI Estates to try and prevent sugar production in East Demerara from going out of existence in the near future.
The sugar entity also noted that the Mill Dock operation is only necessary where there is a factory and in the case of LBI Estate, its existence is basically useless.
“Retaining it for the past 5 years represents keeping approximately 58 persons on the payroll with no productive work to do and transporting canes from the LBI cultivation to the Enmore factory in a more costly manner,” GuySuCo said.
Meanwhile, GuySuCo and the two unions are currently in discussion aimed at having the process completed by the end of May, 2016.
However, GAWU and NAACIE are completely against this decision and had asserted that GuySuCo had gave its assurance that there would be no closure of any other department after the closure of the factory in 2011.
Earlier this year, GuySuCo announced the closure of Wales Estate by yearend and that some of the workers would be deployed to the Uitvlugt Sugar Estate while the others would be redundant.
GuySuCo and agriculture ministry are yet to devise a plan for the future of affected sugar workers.
Notably, the closures of both estates follow assurances by the government that no estate will be shut down anytime soon.
In fact, following the announcement on the closure of Wales Sugar Estate, government promised that no other estate would be shut down.
The closures also come on the heels of a multimillion dollar Commission of Inquiry report which advised against the closure of any sugar estate or operation at this time.

PM claims that US wants to damage image of Coalition Govt

US media censorship observation
BY EDWARD LAYNE

Just one day after Guyana Times reported that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo was criticised by the

FLASHBACK: PM Nagamootoo having a conversation with Guyana Chronicle Reporter Derwyn Wills

FLASHBACK: PM Nagamootoo having a conversation with Guyana Chronicle Reporter Derwyn Wills

United States’ Department of State over his 2015 attempt to suppress Freedom of the Press, particularly in the state media, the government in a strongly worded statement rejected those claims.
US State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2015 said while the government “generally respects the laws which provide for freedom of speech and press, there have been attempts by the administration to suppress freedom of the press.
Under the heading Censorship or Content Restrictions the report pointed to an attempt by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo to restrict and control the content of the state-owned Guyana Chronicle.
“In August (2015), the Prime Minister issued a directive that all headlines in the state-owned print media be first scrutinised and approved by his office before they are published. The directive was a response to a headline criticising the government. The prime minister also serves as minister of information,” the report noted.
However, in a brief statement Monday, Office of the Prime Minister’s Department of Public Information (DPI), while not making direct reference to the report said government was repudiating, “in the strongest terms irresponsible allegations repeated in the media alleging censorship in state media.”
“Such claims are wholly false and baseless and attempt to damage the image of the Coalition Government which is trying to repair democratic institutions, including state media which had been left in a shambolic state under the previous administration,” the statement said.
It argued that the coalition government has established independent and professional boards for major state media entities.
However, a close examination of the board of directors of the two main state media entities, Guyana Chronicle and the National Communications Network Incorporated are loaded with persons who are linked directly to the coalition government, including APNU/AFC candidates in the 2015 general and regional elections.
Also, the Government Information Agency (GINA) is headed by APNU/AFC candidate Beverly Alert.
“The Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana reiterates its commitment to the free media that provides for national coverage that is not driven by partisan politics,” the statement added.
It said that for the first time in many years, state media have been carrying articles and reports critical of the government.
It added that for the first time, state media have been “providing extensive positive coverage to the opposition.”
However, many are of the view government’s actions, particularly those of Office of the Prime Minister, and the Director of Public Information Imran Khan contradict this declaration.
For example, Khan, during the 2016 Budget debates, declared on his facebook page that the GINA was only required to cover the affairs of the sitting Government.
Further, during the same debates, the Prime Minister, a trained journalist, who often portrays himself as a bastion of Press Freedom, reproached a young Guyana Chronicle reporter over an article which criticised the government.
The article headlined: “Gov’t blunders on Budget Estimates …violates laws assented to by President Granger” took the government to task after it was uncovered that budgetary estimates presented by Finance Minister Winston Jordan were done against two laws, which were passed under the David Granger Administration.
PM Nagamootoo, who once declared that the Guyana Chronicle should reflect nonpartisan views so as to objectively inform the public to make “wise decisions”, subsequently told reporters that “the Chronicle is a Government paper”, suggesting that all the reports must be subjective to the Government.
Nagamootoo’s Office later instructed the management of Guyana Chronicle that all headlines must be approved by Khan before the paper goes to press.
Sources close to that newspaper said up until this time, Khan still throws his weight around and issues directives to the publication, as well as the state-owned broadcaster, the National Communications Network (NCN) Incorporated, on a daily basis as to what its content should be, including instructions to limit the opposition access.
The Guyana Press Association (GPA) had criticised Nagamootoo for his “interaction” with the reporter, which it said could have been viewed as a method of intimidation, which may have a dampening effect on press freedom.
The GPA further stated, it regards the Prime Minister’s stated pro-government expectations of the publicly-funded Guyana Chronicle newspaper and presumably all State-owned media as “a retrograde, and intolerable step that betrays the governing Coalition’s campaign and post-election promises, not to engage in the same press freedom violations previous administrations were accused of.”
Reporters without Borders in its 2015 World Press Freedom Index ranked Guyana 62nd out of 180 countries.

Cabinet approved without tendering

$420M fertiliser deal

… while other company offered cheaper price

One of the biggest criticisms facing the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC)

Nizam-Hassan

GRDB General Manager Nizam Hassan

Government is its lack of transparency as it pertains to the administration of State affairs. Against this backdrop, information has surfaced which suggests Cabinet disregarded the accountable process of tendering in awarding a $420 million fertiliser contract to HDM Labs, although another company was offering to provide the fertiliser at a cheaper price.
HDM Labs had highlighted, in its cease-and-desist letter to Guyana Times, that the company’s President, Hardat Singh, during one of his frequent trips to Guyana “became aware that urea fertiliser being used by rice farmers were being sold at exorbitant prices, at the approximate price of G$5600-$5800 per 50kg bag, and accordingly made contact with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture to offer for sale fertiliser at prices significantly below the then locally available market price, at approximately G$4160 per 50 kg 3 bag (i.e. US$400 per metric tonne). Naturally, given the fact that this significant price disparity in favour of local farmers was overwhelming, being more than 25% cheaper than was currently being retailed on the local market, the Permanent Secretary referred the matter to the Guyana Rice Development Board (“GRDB”)”.
It was further stated in the letter that “the GRDB accepted HDM Labs’ offer and on January 14, 2016 executed a contract with it for the supply of 5000 metric tonnes of fertiliser (the “Contract”)”. The pertinent fact is that no one involved in the contract award can claim the requirement for an open bidding process was followed. The Procurement Act of 2003 (effected in 2004) in accordance with Section 16 (1) establishes the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) which is the body that “facilitate[s] the establishment and implementation of regulatory environment conducive to transparency, economy, efficiency, openness, fairness and accountability in public sector procurement”. It is through this body that the $420 million fertiliser contract should have been awarded, to the lowest appropriate bidder, after open, competitive and transparent bidding from different companies.
Furthermore, when this news agency spoke to GRDB General Manager Nizam Hassan on the statements made by Singh, Hassan said: “The GRDB entered into a contract with HDM Labs based on a Cabinet decision. There was a Cabinet decision and based on that decision, the GRDB executed.”
One of the GRDB Directors, Jinnah Rahman, who in previous articles accused HDM Labs and its President, of being connected to the AFC, and being awarded the contract as a result, confirmed that the contract was not tendered for nor were the particulars released to the GRDB.
Rahman outlined that the Board had wanted to help the farmers by providing some form of concessions and it was decided that the farmers should get cheaper fertiliser. Recommendations were made to the Agriculture Ministry, but it was later discovered that a contract had been signed between HDM Labs and the GRDB to supply the fertiliser at the price outlined above. “I understand that the matter went to the Cabinet and the Cabinet approved of this person, so the Board didn’t know who this person was before, it came to us as a surprise.”
What is worthy to note at this juncture is that another company, Nova Scotia Manufacturing Company Limited (NSMCL) had expressed interest since December 30, 2015 in supplying the fertiliser at a cheaper cost.
The Director of NSMCL, in a letter to the GRDB General Manager, which was copied to Finance Minister Winston Jordan, Agriculture Minister Noel Holder and Minister of State Joseph Harmon, stated that the company was offering to supply “6000 m/tons of Urea Fertilizer ex United States of America as a cost of GUY$3600 per 50 kg bag delivered at Friendship Wharf”. The company outlined further that the “contract can be done and signed today for supply of same” and the fertiliser would be delivered 8-10 days after loading.
NSMCL again sent a letter to the GRDB on January 11, 2016, three days before the contract was executed with HDM Labs, expressing interest to supply the fertiliser, the only difference being that when it arrived at the wharf “before breaking bulk”, the price would be G$3700 per 50kg bag. It is not clear what HDM Labs price would have been when the fertiliser reached Guyana, but it would certainly not have been less than the G$4160 per 50kg bag.
What is clear, is that had the fertiliser contract been tendered and awarded to the lowest bidding competitive price, which in this case might have been NSMCL, the Government of Guyana could have saved G$470 on every 50kg bag of fertiliser (i.e. US$370 per metric tonne) or even more were other companies given the opportunity to bid.
HDM Labs has since said that its contract to supply the fertiliser is in “full force and effect”, although it is now four months after the signing and the company has missed the deadline to supply the fertiliser for the rice farmers to use, since their last crop.The company President had even said that “HDM Labs made the necessary arrangements for 5000 tonnes of urea to be available at port for transport to Guyana, that cargo [is] currently awaiting approval from the GRDB to be shipped”.
This approval would appear to be up in the air at this time since the GRDB GM highlighted that “while payment for the fertiliser was by Letter of Credit established through a local commercial bank, the supplier requested that the Letter of Credit be irrevocable and transferable”. And this last requirement cannot be complied with by local banks because of local anti-money laundering laws.
As such, Nizam said: “GRDB continued to monitor the supply and prices of urea on the local market and has been in constant communication with HDM Labs Inc, since the supply of this commodity can no longer be considered urgent and immediate.”
Rice Producers Association General Secretary Dharamkumar Seeraj had alleged in a press briefing months ago that Cabinet approved a contract for the procurement of $420 million in fertiliser from a “known campaign financier of the AFC/APNU coalition”. He also alleged that the contract was not tendered nor advertised and Government’s actions were “in direct contravention of the laws, norms and conventions applicable to the acquisition of farmers’ inputs”.
HDM Labs and its President have since denied all the accusations levied against them by different personalities, including GRDB Director Rahman. Singh had stated that he was not an “investor” nor “campaign financier” of the AFC or APNU, but a “philanthropist” and neither himself nor “HDM Labs have been subject to investigations, or involved with or accused of money laundering, fraud or otherwise since the formation of HDM Labs or at all”.

International Day of Monuments and Sites observances

– National Trust launches Linden Heritage Trail publication
In keeping with the observance of International Day of Monuments and Sites, the National Trust of Guyana

The unveiling of the Linden Heritage Trail publication

The unveiling of the Linden Heritage Trail publication

(NTG) in collaboration with the Education Ministry’s Department of Culture, Youth and Sport on Monday launched the Linden Heritage Trail publication – featuring 48 pages of monuments and sites across the Linden community.
A ceremony was held at the Egbert Benjamin Conference Hall at Mackenzie, Linden to mark the occasion.
NTG Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Nirvana Persaud, board chairman Lennox Hernandez, Regional Chairman Renis Morian, Mayor of Linden Carwyn Holland and Regional Vice Chairman Alroy Adolph were among the dignitaries present to witness the historic event, observed under Guyana’s 50th Jubilee theme, “Reflection, Celebration and Inspiration”.
During her remarks, Persaud said the National Trust was pleased to be a part of the publication, which features over 42 monument sites within the community. It also contains a corresponding map that contains the locations of heritage sites and the trail, which begins at Amelia’s Ward along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
In relating an overview, Persaud said the aim is to encourage locals in the communities and individuals to consider the importance of cultural heritage to their lives.
“Our vision is that our heritage must be valued or preserved, our history recorded and our people inspired and empowered and I’m confident that this new publication fulfils this… With this special book-launch of the literary heritage of Linden… showcases the history of the Municipality… of cultural, historic, socio-cultural and national importance within the Municipality, including some sites which are no longer a part of the landscape of the locality, that have all contributed to the legacy of the township”, she related.
In his presentation Adolph thanked the National Trust for assisting in the preservation of the heritage sites, while emphasising the importance. He further encouraged those gathered, who also included school children, to not only read the publication, but visit the sites as well.
Meanwhile, Gordon who is a contributor to the publication, expressed disappointment at the small gathering which he referred to as a “sparse sprinkling of people”, as he noted that a lot of effort was put in by the National Trust in making the publication a reality.
He nevertheless provided lots of information on the history of Linden as a bauxite mining community, noting that the community’s heritage is extremely rich.
“Linden has and continues to have a very rich cultural and historical past which equates to any living space in this country of Guyana. We have to understand that this cultural heritage… is rich precisely because of the interwoven nature of the peoples of diverse backgrounds”, he noted.
Holland said there is need to promote Linden’s heritage and to connect the disconnected as the community showcases its wealth and heritage. In an effort to ensure this, he said he recently made a call for all public institutions in Linden to promote a part of the community’s heritage.
“…Our heritage is our link to the future. It is our foundation and you cannot build without a foundation. The future that we aspire to attain, it must be predicated on the solid foundation derived from our exemplary heritage of our people… our heritage is diverse and extensive and its influences are rich and deep…,” the Mayor related.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Morian, who indicated that young people should also be involved in the preservation of monuments and heritage sites.
Following the launch, Holland and Persaud unveiled the photographic scenery of sites contained in the Linden Heritage Trail, following which attendees were treated to a tour of the sites.

Vendors peeved at slow pace of works

By Rennella Bourne

Vendors of the Kitty Market, which is currently under renovation, have expressed frustration at the slow

Ongoing renovation work at the Kitty Market

Ongoing renovation work at the Kitty Market

pace at which the work is being carried out, since it is affecting their businesses.
Rehabilitation works on the dilapidated market got underway some two months ago, after many years of neglect. Vendors had been relocated nearby to facilitate the process.
However, according to them, the process seems to be taking “too long” to be completed.
Guyana Times visited the market on Monday, where vendors, who were relocated to the eastern side of the market, related their distaste for the temporary location.
According to one of the vendors, C Persaud, the process seems to be moving at turtle pace much to their discomfort.
“I don’t know when they will finish for us to go back in there. Don’t you see they have not gone anywhere with the top much less to start the bottom and that is where we have to go,” Persaud said.
He added that he and the other vendors were relocated on February 5 and were told that they would be able to access their new stalls in May.
As one vendor who asked not to be named said, “It looks like Christmas will come and reach us here and pass us too.”
During the visit on Monday, this publication noticed that several stalls were unoccupied as a result of the heavy downpour on Monday.
According to the vendors, the temporary location is costing them dearly since they are not getting adequate sales to sustain themselves and families.
“I did not get a sale for the day here and people don’t even know where we are; I have to be looking for customers on the road to catch my hand a little,” another vendor told this newspaper.
Vendors complained too that the small spaces they were allotted at the temporary relocation area are preventing them from displaying their goods hence hampering their sales.
The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) had estimated that the rehabilitation of the landmark would take three to five months to be completed.
The Kitty Market was established in 1882 at the railway line. In 1970, it was extended after it was taken over by the M&CC. The Market was meant to be utilised by Georgetown’s Atlantic Coast neighbourhoods in the city’s east end including Bel Air, Campbellville and Prashad Nagar.

Book Review: Hillary McD Beckles, Britain’s Black Death: Reparations for Caribbean Slavery and Genocide, Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, 2013.

Given the recent discussions in the letter columns of the dailies on reparation, I thought my review of the above book might be useful.
Over the past three decades or so, there have been a number of organisations, associations, countries, regions, and conferences on reparations for African slavery in the Americas. However, the call for reparations was uncoordinated and fragmented among the aforementioned institutions and agencies.
Not until the UN conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa in 2001 that a sound platform for reparations became a serious issue.
Government officials, delegates, activists, representatives as well as academicians from the world over, including Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe, attended this conference. Various positions for and against reparations were discussed and debated.
Professor Beckles’ book builds on this conference and intensifies the call for reparation in the British Caribbean, home to a majority of Africans.
Beckles presents a compelling case for reparation in which he argues that Britain and other European slave regimes should take responsibility, apologise, and pay reparation for three centuries of African enslavement in the Caribbean.
Beckles uses international law as well as morality and argues impressively that African enslavement in the Caribbean was a crime against humanity. He posits further that the link between slavery and the continuous harm and hurt of the descendants of Africans is still prevalent in the Caribbean.
While Beckles’ case for reparation is impressive, one is forced to ask whether the call for reparation will receive support and whether former slave regimes in Europe and in North America will answer in the affirmative. Caribbean countries have wholeheartedly supported reparation through Caricom.
Most African countries have followed the position of Caribbean countries but some have rejected the idea on the basis that there are pressing issues to be dealt with in Africa. Some African countries have taken a neutral position on reparation.
The United States and former slave regimes of Europe and the European Union have rejected reparation. They stated that they will not apologise or pay reparations for African slavery in the Americas because slavery was a legal institution, and therefore they should not be held accountable for a situation that occurred a long time ago. They argued also that slavery was too remote for any recuperative strategy.
Furthermore, “Officials of the British state have also suggested that even if one accepts that a crime against humanity has been committed, the challenge of meeting reparation case is impossible owing both to enormity of the slavery system and to the impossibility of crafting a reparatory response that would be meaningful and would bring closure to the case” (p 167).
The United States condemned African slavery but refused to accept one nation holding another financially liable for a historical situation that happened a long time ago. Britain offered a statement of regret and deep sorrow but refused to apologise or pay reparation for African slavery in the Americans.
What is sad and disappointing when reading the conversations for and against reparation is that the delegates who represented and spoke on behalf of former slave regimes (the United States and Britain) were of African descent. For example, Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, and Condoleezza Rice, a national security advisor, spoke against reparation.
Beckles’ contribution is not so much that he shows former slave regimes are reluctant to apologise or pay reparation. This is expected because to apologise for slavery would mean guilt and subsequent financial compensation which amounts to 7.5 trillion pounds.
Beckles has done remarkably well to first, have contemporary leaders of former slave regimes recognise and respond to the horrors of slavery, and second, to mobilise and internationalise the call for reparation.
Because of Beckles’ book, the call for reparation, like slavery, is the newest common thread that binds Africa and the African Diaspora. One suspects that the call for reparation will persist, and perhaps someday it will be decided in the international court of justice.
Meanwhile, the book will be useful to professionals, researchers, and to the descendants of African slavery in the Americas
([email protected]). Review was first published in the Journal of Third World Studies (2015)

APNU/AFC “knocking from pillar to post” – Rohee

The A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) has been criticised by People’s

PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee

PPP/C General Secretary Clement Rohee

Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary Clement Rohee for its abysmal failure to implement a clear-cut economic plan and social model to improve the livelihood of the Guyanese working class.
“The APNU+AFC coalition administration has been knocking from pillar to post in an aimless attempt to find an appropriate development model to build on what the PPP/C left behind for the advancement of the socio-economic development for Guyana. Thus far, it has failed ignominiously to do so,” he told a news conference at Freedom House Monday.
During the press conference Monday morning, Rohee concluded that the government has no interest in focusing on economic and social development but rather on meaningless projects including beautification and celebratory initiatives.
“The Granger administration for its part, rather than focusing on economic and social development to benefit the Guyanese working people, resorts to stealing votes at both the General and Regional as well as the Local Government Elections, beautification, celebratory and alternative capital projects in an effort to show that they are different from the PPP/C as if such projects really matter,” Rohee stated.
Rohee also posited that the persistent corruption scandals rocking the Granger administration has resulted in growing disillusionment and dissatisfaction on the part of its own supporters in particular and the Guyanese people in general.
He said the socio-economic model based on the programmes and policies of the PPP/C served to sustain persistent growth rates resulting in consistent improvement in the lives of the Guyanese working people in general but more particularly, for single-parents, pensioners, young Amerindians and workers in general.
Rohee reminded that President David Granger had promised to craft a long-term national economic strategy but to date, nothing of the sort has been presented.
“Nothing of the sort has come to pass though almost one year is nearing with the APNU+AFC in government. Instead, all that has happened is the snatching of votes from the electorate, the monstrous salary increases, racial and political discrimination, corruption scandals, victimisation and the persistent witch-hunting of persons who do not please the Granger administration politically nor ethnically,” Rohee stated.
He also reminded that during his inauguration, President Granger had stated, “The fight against poverty cannot be won through handouts but through providing jobs.”
But Rohee pointed out that contrary to his declaration, “Granger himself has been handing out buses, bicycles and boots while at the same time neglecting large numbers of young people, some of whom “Voted like a Boss” hoping for change but who, much to their regret have not seen any benefits coming their way since the APNU+AFC assumed office.”
And Rohee predicted that nothing better will come once the APNU+AFC continues to govern the nation.

Kuru Kururu man remanded on drug charge

A Kuru Kururu man on Monday appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after he was allegedly busted by Police with cannabis.
Twenty-seven-year-old Andell Solomon of Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on April 14 at Kuru Kururu, he had in his possession 1000 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones told the Court that the analysis report for the case was currently outstanding. As such, Solomon was remanded to prison. The case will continue on May 12.

City Constable, accomplice remanded on B&E charge

A City Constable and his accomplice on Monday appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Magistrate Alex Moore charged for breaking and entering and larceny.

Seon Isaacs (left) and his alleged accomplice, Delmar Booker, being escorted to court by a City Constable on Monday

Seon Isaacs (left) and his alleged accomplice, Delmar Booker, being escorted to court by a City Constable on Monday

Seon Isaacs, 22, a City Constable, and Delmar Booker were both charged for the offence which stated that between April 13 and April 14 at Stabroek Market, they broke and entered an electronics store and stole a quantity of items.
The articles valued in excess of $2 million are the property of Bhagmattie Haripershad.
It was reported that the two were caught red-handed by a passing civilian, who alerted the Police.
They were remanded to prison. The defendants will make their next appearance on April 29.