RENAISSANCE YEAR — President calls for unified, peaceful and prosperous Guyana

FOR Guyanese, 2016 marks 50 years since independence was won from the British Government, and President David Granger last evening raised the curtain on Guyana’s Golden Jubilee by calling for Guyanese to work towards remaking the country as the most beautiful and bountiful in the Caribbean, “enabling citizens to enjoy the good life”.Dubbed the year of “National Renaissance”, President Granger, in his 2016 address, acknowledged the shift in political culture brought on by Guyanese who embraced “a multi-party coalition in 2015.”

“It is time for a new beginning. It is time to redouble our efforts to banish crime, disease, ignorance and poverty. We aspire to strengthen national unity, expand national infrastructure, fortify national institutions, ensure national security, and extend public services,” President Granger declared.

He called for the reinforcement of national unity, wherein all sections of the population can play a role in the country’s development.

“We must, in 2016, dispel hatred among individuals and groups. We must move forward as a united nation, constantly reaffirming our national motto –‘One people, One nation, One destiny’.”

WHEN the history of Guyana is properly written, the year 2015 will go down as one of the most significant years in the history of Guyana. It was the year when the Guyanese electorate went against the political grain by electing a majority government that was not the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP).On account of our ethnic voting patterns, the PPP, whose traditional base has been the majority Indian-Guyanese community, had hitherto won all certified free and fair elections since 1955. Even in 2011, when, for the first time, it failed to win a parliamentary majority, the PPP still garnered a large plurality of the vote, which enabled it to retain the powerful presidency. So when that party was relegated to the opposition benches after the May 11, 2015 polls, that relegation represented a break with a six-decade-old tradition.

The President, in his charge to the coalition’s parliamentarians this past week, declared that the coalition must work. His charge has resonance beyond his side of the aisle. Partnership Politics is never easy, and this governing coalition brings together parties with differing political cultures and ideological groundings. Significantly, it brings together at least two parties that were once political enemies. The presence of a coalition does not mean the absence of tension; the latter is inevitable. Yet, if each party intentionally puts the interests of the entire country ahead of partisan disagreements, the country would inevitably benefit. As Professor Clive Thomas, one of the early architects of the APNU, put it, the test of political substance lies not in how well one works with comrades, but in how well one is able to work with those with whom one does not share a natural political culture.

Eighteen years after it was disestablished by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC)-led administration, the Guyana People’s Militia (GPM) has been re-activated and hopes to recruit an additional 1,500 persons as reserves.
Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Mark Phillips has announced that the GPM has been re-established with effect December 1, 2015 in keeping with the defence policy of the six- month old civilian administration.
“These are not full-time, these are part-time soldiers. The whole concept is to have a small regular army and a larger reserve that could augment the regular army,” he said.
Phillips explained the advantage of having the GPM as a separate entity rather than being part of the GDF as the 2^nd Infantry Battalion since August, 1997. “They will have a separate budget and a separate organizational structure, greater involvement at the regional and community levels in defence and security activities, not to mention training and employment activities,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

The opposition People’s Progressive Party, is demanding that the David Granger led administration issues a public statement on the reported surveillance of the residence of Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington.
News surfaced last week that surveillance was being carried on the home of Brassington who is currently on administrative leave following the completion of an audit and the submission of report to the government.
The audit report was handed over to the Police and the State Asset Recovery Unit (SARU) to carry out a detailed probe. The opposition Party is also questioning the reported use of a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant to conduct the Surveillance.
General Secretary and former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee said the Party wants the government to make a full disclosure following media reports. Mr. Rohee said all he wants is for the government to present some answers.
GDF Sergeant Robert Pyle his wife, Stacy Pyle and a third person were killed in a head-on collision last week on Carifesta Avenue.
Pyle was reportedly trailing a vehicle at the time.
In keeping with the subsequent media reports, the PPP now wants the government to say who gave the political directive to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) to carry out such an operation and make use of the GDF Sergeant to conduct the alleged surveillance.
Sergeant Pyle was attached to the Military Police of the Guyana Defence Force and worked under SOCU.
The PPP also wants to know why the GDF Sergeant’s wife was in the vehicle while he was on a “covert” mission.

thats what you want the gdf to be used for?