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Congratulations on an excellent celebration of Amerindian Heritage  Oct 02, 2024 Letters Dear Editor, I was watching the recent Amerindian Heritage Pageant. The pageant was great to see and the high standards on display were outstanding. Congratulations to all participants on an excellent show. Also impressive was the art work. There is a depth of talent within our Amerindian community. Placing the spectacular artwork in our National Museum and Art Gallery is a must. As one of the delegates spoke of creative expression it became clear that this is a talent deeply rooted in the Amerindian Culture. The traditional wear, poems, monologues and other talents on display were testament to this truth. It was great to see the dignity and celebration of the traditions our first people. Congratulations on an excellent celebration of Amerindian Heritage! Best regards, Mr. Jamil Changlee  Chairman  The Cooperative Republicans of Guyana  Related Similar Articles

Residents of Belladrum have had negative experiences with consecutive PPP/C governments Oct 02, 2024 Letters Dear Editor, The residents of Belladrum have had negative experiences with consecutive PPP/C governments, which have led them to believe that the government does not treat those who did not vote for them fairly. They argue that their voting pattern has significantly impacted the allocation of developmental benefits to the community, despite the ruling party’s claim that it does not discriminate. After a visit by His Excellency Irfaan Ali in October 2022, it was agreed that the residents’ concerns would be addressed. Two significant issues are the restoration of the farmland behind Eldorado to Weldaad and compensation for freehold lands at Belladrum and Eldorado, which were expropriated by the central government without the consent of proprietors. Unfortunately, the Ali-led administration has made no significant efforts to address these requests. In relation to the former, the administration requested that the legal owners of properties give the necessary permission for the restoration of their farmland, regrettably most of the owners are deceased. In our community, it is not unusual for an individual to die intestate, resulting in several lands being in deceased names. However, properties are retained by descendants in keeping with custom, and in most cases, the administrators, though unofficial, are established amongst families. This unconscionable demand has led to significant acreage of lands being unproductive and families unable to gain additional income. On the other hand, residents of Foulis, an adjacent village that is predominantly East Indian and normally votes solidly for the PPPC, were treated differently, although in some cases the lands are in deceased names. Between the five villages Eldorado, Belladrum, Paradise, Golden Fleece and Weldaad, only three lots (41, 42a, and 42b Eldorado) were allegedly cleared of vegetation at the behest of a PPP/C NDC councillor who has a vested interest in those lots. Surreptitious information suggests that these parcels of land are in deceased names. During the first quarter of 2023, the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary – Agriculture Development Authority (MMA – ADA) initiated an exercise to determine the acreage of lands expropriated to establish an irrigation canal in a westerly course from Belladrum Middle-Walk to Foulis Hole. Unfortunately, to date, the affected proprietors have not heard anything of substance from the central government or its agents. I urgently appeal to the central government to address our request since the actions taken at Foulis and the three lots at Eldorado can be replicated in the other villages. In relation to lands repurposed without our consent, we demand an urgent engagement with the appropriate authority to resolve this issue. Sincerely, Lelon Saul Lt Col (Ret’d) Proprietor Related Similar Articles

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Norton’s compounded predicament-trying to build on a lying foundation Oct 02, 2024 Letters Dear Editor, I am amused that Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton, is still defending the former government, APNU/AFC (A Partnership For national Unity/Alliance For Change), for being clandestine over the US$18M signing bonus, that stemmed from ExxonMobil, as well as its initial reluctance to release the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with the oil giant, even amidst mounting pressure from the general public. I mean, we are still in the middle of the last election rig-ma-role court battles, where all kinds of lying will be exposed. Yet this silly game of subterfuge is being practised by the head man of the opposition. I guess bold-faced denial is now a perfunctory response from the opposition. It seems all too natural. Editor, I go back to erstwhile President David Granger, in the latter part of 2017, who virtually was forced to admit he was responsible for the chicanery surrounding the US$18M ExxonMobil signing bonus. In an act of dissimulation, he ‘tried’ to explain that he was responsible for the sum “… being put into an escrow account at the Bank of Guyana, a decision he believes was necessary at the time so that Guyana could be prepared for a National Security Emergency.” We need to remember that this was some months of silence on whether or not a bonus was actually paid. So, after the ‘lying and dodging’ was no more possible, the admission came in the form of an untenable excuse. I recall too, and the records can be checked, that in league with the party top brass, the then Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman, admitted to the National Assembly that his government did receive the signing bonus, which he had for months refused to confirm. He too cracked under pressure. And his denial detoured into saying that “… the bonus was intended to be used for legal fees pertaining to the preservation of Guyana’s territorial integrity in the (then) potential court case stemming from its border controversy with Venezuela.” As a caveat, truth coalesces without variance, while lying ends in all kinds of striations. As we all know, in the end, and backed into a corner, the truth was officially declared that ExxonMobil did pay over a signing bonus of US$18 million. Now in that trend of deception and misleading, Aubrey Norton, knowing full-well that the truth is well documented is saying that his “… Policies, Strategies and Principles for the Development of the Oil and Gas Sector.” According to him, “… this document (is all about) the party’s blueprint for managing the oil and gas industry going forward. So very funny! Readers, he, Aubrey Norton, is avowing that “Among the list of policies is a pledge to “institute a Publication of Information Protocol, ensuring that all information, including, but not limited to contracts, agreements, contractors’ quarterly reports, new discoveries, updated reserves and production data, will be made available and accessible to the public conveniently and timely”. On this point of being transparent, just back in October 22, amidst irrefutable claims by Annette Ferguson, of glaring “irregularities” at the People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) October 2 Georgetown District Elections, Leader of the party, Aubrey Norton still endorsed the polls as “free and fair”. So, I join the host of people who want to know how the main opposition would generate confidence in ‘promises for full disclosure from, given the record (that is so accessible)? Mind you, this is his chorus all the while: “I would say to you that the signing bonus was taken and it went to what it was intended for. That alone should reassure people that we are people to our word… there is no contradiction,” Thus, I reinforce the truth  during the tenure of the APNU+AFC coalition government, the renegotiated PSA with ExxonMobil and its partners, finalized in June 2016, was not made public until December 2017, that is months after the government of that day had faced intense criticism for its ‘secrecy.’ I guess Norton’s denial and refusal to accept reality will be same after all the ruling of  the elections rigging cases are over and done with. Currently, dilatory tactics are delaying the inevitable. As we know, the defendants in these cases include People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) activist, Carol Smith-Joseph; former Health Minister, Volda Lawrence; former Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO, Roxanne Myers; and GECOM staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller. Frightening! They are facing 19 conspiracy charges related to alleged electoral fraud. Norton will do better with some apologies. Yours truly, Hargesh B Singh Related Similar Articles

Excuses, excuses, excuses Oct 02, 2024 Editorial, News Kaieteur News – ‘The dog ate the homework.’  Believe it or not, that was a favorite fallback option of students in American High Schools, which extended its life into some institutions of higher learning there.  Locally, the PPPC Government is much swifter on its feet where excuses and blame-shedding are concerned, and the Guyana Power and Light, Inc., (GPL) is the place under review.  It has been one pathetic excuse after another when the woeful performance of the GPL comes up for scrutiny under the public spotlight.  Even a man like Vice President Bharat Jagdeo, one who always has a long sack of excuses at his ready reach, could not resist displaying his wisdom on what has gone wrong in the dismal record of the GPL.  In recent times, blackouts have assumed conditions that are blizzard like.  There is nothing white in Guyanese existence, not when they see red amid the thick, rolling blackness.  How many more episodes of this torturous condition is the lament?  How much longer, is what Guyanese shaken and sickened by waves of blackouts want to know? Chief policymaker Jagdeo, as usual, had his policy, answers all lined up.  His first finger is bad management.  It’s a safe policy, one that the ever-clever Jagdeo would not let pass.  Who in GPL management would dare to put up a fight, and bend Jagdeo’s finger to point right back at himself?  Bad management is free and easy to say, and it gives space to ignore the political management foisted on the GPL.  The record is of seasoned GPL managers removed or reassigned, and political managers who know as much about energy as Guyanese know about astronomy being the proxies left to run the GPL show, and pretending to know what needs to be done.  What could be had by citizens when such is the management game played by the PPPC Government?  Only a political sage like VP Jagdeo could put on his blindfold and point in the direction of bad GPL management.  He knows he can get away with making farcical statements like that, so he plunges shamelessly into the ugly GPL fray. His next target worthy of carrying some of the blame load was transmission lines.  The GPL transmission lines are old, as if he suddenly stumbled upon that piece of cast-iron wisdom.  After 23 years in office in phase one of PPPC Government rulership and over four years and counting currently, Bharat Jagdeo woke up in darkness, rolled into some rays of blinding light, and old transmission lines have now been added to the list of GPL scapegoats.  This is not good for blackout plagued Guyanese: if it took the chief policymaker almost 28 years to discover that the GPL transmission lines are ancient, then it stands to reason that he and his government may require another 28 calendars to do something, as in replacing them.  New housing schemes are going up all over and they come with their own energy demands, which puts additional pressure on the system.  No citizen should find fault with that disclosure.  But does a man wait until his new house is built and occupied to start thinking about having some toilet facilities?  Forward thinking, with a comprehensive program with a plan to match, has so much to recommend as a standard.  When things are done for the excitement of sound bites, on the run, and by the seat of the pants, then Guyanese energy consumers get what they get, and live with what they must.  Today, and many blighted years before, blackouts have become a way of life. The much-anticipated relief from a Turkish power boat has turned out to be a blackout bath.  Then policy maestro Jagdeo douses Guyanese with his own version of political darkness.  The PPPC Government used to love treating the PNC rule as “28 years of darkness.”  Presently, the PPPC Government has compiled its own 28 years of darkness record, and it is not only about what is related to the failures of the GPL.  The PPPC Government may think it is nimble footed with excuses: wires tornstand as one culprit, piledriving is a new whipping post.  Nimble with energy excuses, yes.  Nincompoop energy governance also stands unchallenged. Related Similar Articles

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