Breaking News: Guyanese home and abroad: Granger the new LFS Burnham

As the Opposition Leader’s non-cooperation campaign against the government begins, the Opposition Leader is now calling on citizens across the political divide to join forces with him.

The PPP continues to press President David Granger to reverse the appointment of retired Justice James Patterson as the Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission following the President’s “unilateral” appointment last week.

At a press conference today, Mr. Jagdeo observed that since then, a number of civil society organizations and individuals have expressed views on the matters.

He said notwithstanding the immediate concerns of the appointment being in contradiction to the Constitution, he fears that the move is a precursor to rigged elections.

He said Guyanese must not accept the government’s dismissal of the matter with pleas to “move on from it” but instead continue to reject the decision.

“They want to put this undemocratic illegal act behind them and country must accept this. This is the beginning of the road to the denial of free and fair elections,” he added.

Jagdeo said there is a need for citizens to reject the appointment as a country and not look at it as a task only for the PPP.

“It is not a fight for the PPP alone, it is for the country and all citizens,” he added.

As the debate continues on the controversial appointment of the new GECOM Chairman, Jagdeo is also questioning the suitability and effectiveness of Patterson as the best candidate for the job.

Jagdeo had submitted three lists to the President David Granger, comprising a total of 18 names but all three lists were rejected by the Head of State on the grounds that the nominees were not fit and proper.

“And then he [the President] said he will hold me responsible for acts of civil disobedience. I’m not scared when these fools threaten me […] look at the CVs of those 18 individuals.”

Chartered Accountant and lawyer Christopher Ram today followed the example of Major General (Rtd) Joe Singh and quit government-related posts.

A statement from Ram follows:

In support of the heroic and exemplary decision by Major General (Ret’d) Joe Singh to resign from all government-related posts, I am today informing the Attorney General Mr. Basil Williams of my withdrawal from membership of the planning committee and de facto leader of the Guyana negotiating team for the establishment of the JOF Haynes Law School. If the truth be told, Mr. Williams has been so impressed with my contribution that he asked for my CV to recommend me for a National Award. I declined, saying my service was for country, for neither award nor reward.

Given that the Constitution deems me a fit and proper person makes President Granger’s assessment of me of no import. Indeed, I am fortified in my conviction that his decision is entirely wrong and unconstitutional.

While I remain committed to serving my country, I make the clear distinction between Guyana and the Government. The blatant disregard by the Granger Administration for the Constitution, the courts, the principles of good governance and for social cohesion, is a matter which should be of grave concern to all of us who claim respect and love of country.

THE High Court action taken by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) seeking to quash President David Granger’s appointment of retired Justice James Patterson as chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) has not impeded the work of the Commission, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo said on Thursday.

Speaking during a live televised interview on the National Communications Network (NCN), in the presence of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Basil Williams, Prime Minister Nagamootoo said the work of the Commission will go on.
“It is not going to stop the work of the Elections Commission (and) it is not going to stop the work of the Government,” the prime minister told the moderator, Beverly Alert.
In filing the High Court action, the PPP has argued that the presidential appointment of Justice Patterson is unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, null and void and of no effect, and as such, the appointment should be revoked.
Though it respects the right of the Opposition to move the court, Government has made it clear that the President’s decision was in keeping with Article 161 of the Constitution, and is of legal effect.

The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) has supported President David Granger’s appointment of retired Justice James Patterson to the post of GECOM chair, but warned that if elections are not free and fair, it will publicly withdraw from the coalition.
The party, however, made it clear that if it were to go down that road, it would not support the PPP in any guise whatsoever.
The WPA in a statement said its conviction is that on strict construction, the selection procedure used so far has followed the letter of the law and the Constitution, if not the spirit.

“To be very clear, neither side is committed to a solution that is satisfactory to both. The political environment does not favour this. Further, their constituents who make up the bulk of the masses of Guyanese people, do not expect such an outcome,” the WPA said.
It also noted that it is important for the country that democratic forces do not allow the appointment of Justice Patterson to be read as a de facto depiction of the coalition’s collective intent to rig elections.

“This, from the WPA’s standpoint, is certainly not the case. Those who wish the coalition ill, would hope this becomes the normative public position, especially for activist civil society. While not everyone, there are clearly several rogues and charlatans who are deceptively promoting this false equivalence,” the party said.

The WPA also called out the PPP for fallacious peddling that Justice Patterson received $800,000 per month as advisor to the Minister of Legal Affairs when he was only being paid $20,000 and that he misrepresented that he was once Chief Justice of Grenada.
“The tactic of the PPP is to mislead the public. It does so by framing a false narrative as the truth with the hope that the public would respond negatively to everything that the government is doing. The ad hominem attacks and character assassination of Justice Patterson know no bounds. His Christian belief and practice, age, paying last rites to a colleague and friend all are fair game, despite comparators on the lists submitted by the Leader of the Opposition. At least, no viral complaints have yet been made against him as a thief, abuser and scoundrel, for comparators to be drawn,” the WPA pointed out.
It contended that the matter of the appointment of the chairperson of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) is a very important one that should not be used for partisan political grandstanding and settling scores.

“It goes to the heart of our democratic process and should be treated as such by all responsible political and social forces. As a party, which participated in the process while in the opposition benches, WPA is fully aware of the patriotic responsibility that the success of the undertaking demands. Those who are charged with initiating the process have a duty to preserve its integrity,” the WPA said.
The party stressed that it believes that the PPP intentionally set out to compromise the spirit of the process with the hope of using the outcome to embarrass the government and further its own partisan agenda.

“WPA respects the right and civic responsibility of citizens and their organizations to interpret and challenge the president’s action from both a constitutional and a political standpoint—that is part of the democratic environment which our party has always struggled to uphold. But we warn against falling into the trap that is being set by the PPP and its allies,” the WPA warns.

AFC-Canada pulls out of party over GECOM Chairman’s appointment; Ramjattan vows not to back down

Posted by: Denis Chabrol in News, Politics October 31, 2017 1 Comment

The headquarters of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Railway Road, Kitty.

Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan- one of the parties in the governing coalition- on Tuesday rubbished a decision by his party’s Canada Chapter to pull out until the AFC denounces President David Granger’s recent unilateral appointment of Retired Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

“Unless and until all these resolutions are complied with in full, AFC-Canada hereby gives notice that it has withdrawn its membership from, association with and support of the Alliance For Change Party,” Secretary of AFC-Canada, Laurence Williams said in a letter to Ramjattan, AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) after a meeting held last Friday.

While AFC-Canada said it is no longer associated with The Alliance For Change Party or any other political party, for the time being, it said it would “continue to support the Guyanese people’s quest and struggle for national unity, democracy, transparency, accountability and peace and progress”.

Ramjattan, however, laid bare his party’s position on calls for the AFC to call for the the GECOM Chairman’s appointment to be quashed. “We are not going to retract on that decision at all,” he said, adding that the AFC is a liberal democratic party and members could do as they are best advised.

Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC) and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan

“I am in the process of indicating to them our very substantial, cogent reasons. That is as much as I can do at this time time because I think that they did not get that clearly and they are now getting our TV programmes, our articles and the whole set of circumstances that led up to it and I am hopeful they would appreciate those sound reasons. If not, well it will be unfortunate,” Ramjattan told Demerara Waves Online News.

Williams said in a letter to Ramjattan, AFC Leader, Raphael Trotman and the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) that the Canadian chapter recently met and expressed grave concerns about James’ appointment. Williams said his party’s group in Canada agreed that if the party does not publicly call for the GECOM Chairman’s appointment to be rescinded and for one of the 18 persons nominated by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to be appointed,.

However, Ramjattan vowed that the AFC’s leadership would not give into the Canadian chapter’s demand for the AFC to publicly denounce the GECOM Chairman’s appointment. “Absolutely not. We aren’t going to do that because we have made our decision and our decision is grounded on a whole lot of political history and facts in relationship to why we did what we did and you would appreciate that Jagdeo is not an easy political animal and we appreciate that it is a presidential choice,” he said.

Other resolutions, Williams referred to, are the need to rewrite the political agreement between the AFC and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to ensure legal enforceability with specific time limits for its implementation and the immediate commencement of constitutional reform and the enactment of a reformed constitution before the next general election. A Constitutional Reform Bill has been tabled in the House to pave the way for countrywide consultations.

The AFC Chairman, however, cast some doubt over who attended the AFC-Canada meeting and said recently he learnt that former members of the opposition People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) North American front-group, Association of Concerned Guyanese (ACG), had expressed an interest in joining AFC- Canada. Williams told Demerara Waves Online News that the meeting was held in North York, Toronto where the venue was filled to capacity.

“If that is their position, well then we’ll just do have our work again. Fall-outs like this is always part of the political landscape because these are fellows who had really worked hard for the party,” Ramjattan added. He said he was not worried that the AFC would now lose significant financial resources with the withdrawal of AFC-Canada because he was “absolutely certain” that major financiers would remain with the party.

Referring the AFC-Canada Secretary’s letter in which concerns were raised about the functioning of the Valentine’s Day 2015 Herdmanston Accord and that AFC members appeared more preoccupied by political aggrandizement and benefits of power. “That is a lot of thrash and a lot of crap and they could say what they want in relation to a number of these issues. We are working our backsides very, very hard here in Guyana to move this country forward and if some of them are going to fall prey to the predator, well fine and that is their opinion,” he said.

AFC-Canada recommended that the party assess its very survival and purpose of existence because it has no independent collective representation in Government and its support base is decimated.

“Continued association with the PNC will result in complete annihilation. The AFC members of Parliament must consider whether their personal aggrandizement is more important than the survival of the Party. Is it time to withdraw from the Coalition?,” the AFC-Canada Secretary said.

That North American arm of the AFC called on all party members members and supporters in Guyana and the diaspora to hold the leaders of the party accountable to the high ideals, morals and aspirations that the Party was founded upon.

PRIME Minister Moses Nagamootoo has invited Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to select a nominee to fill the post of Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly when Parliament resumes.

At the same time, the prime minister noted that if the Opposition declines to provide a nominee from amongst its Members of Parliament, the government may consider taking such steps “as it deems appropriate in the circumstances and in the interest of our country’s democracy”.

In a missive penned to Jagdeo this week, the prime minister noted that since the National Assembly first met after the May 11, 2015 elections, there has been no Deputy Speaker in accordance with Article 56 of the Constitution and the Standing Orders of the National Assembly

He said that the convention has been for the Opposition to nominate the Deputy Speaker.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo noted that the business of the National Assembly could be enhanced with the vacant position being filled.

SCORES of People’s Progressive Party (PPP) supporters turned out in front of Parliament building on Thursday to protest President David Granger’s appointment of retired Judge, Justice James Patterson as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).
The President, who was scheduled to address the Parliament, was greeted by protestors and PPP parliamentarians who chanted that the President’s “unilateral” appointment is an attempt to rig the upcoming elections.

President Granger made the appointment following a meeting with the Leader of the Opposition, Bharrat Jagdeo, on October 20, 2017 when he informed the latter of his disapproval of a third list of nominees which was submitted to him.

Jagdeo and the PPP have been making a lot of public noise recently over the seeming litany of blunders the Coalition has been making in the press. It is as if they smell blood and are ready to pounce and take control of government once again. Notwithstanding all of the coalition’s fumblings, Guyanese know well why the PPP was thrown out of office. While the PPP did secure a significant share of votes, much of these votes were derived from racial incitement by Jagdeo and company, and the fear of falling back into the hands of the PNC under the PNCR-led coalition. The traditional supporters should also know that while they have real concerns, they must understand that PPP and Mr. Jagdeo have nothing good in store for them either. The following are some of the reasons why they have to dump the PPP and start their own party.



1. The PPP administration and Jagdeo systematically ran GUYSUCO into the ground during their last 15 years in office, jeopardizing the welfare of sugar workers and their families. When the PPP left office in 2015, the corporation was virtually bankrupt and continually required government financing to continue its unprofitable operations. Jadgeo’s personal involvement in the decision to sink US$200 million into the Skeldon operations very probably stands as his greatest folly, and was very probably the final nail in GUYSUCO’s coffin as allegations surfaced that he disregarded advice which would have seen him choosing a more reputable and experienced Indian firm at a much lower cost of US$165 million or thereabouts. Although the European Union’s declared intention to permanently reduce prices for sugar placed a dent in the prospects for Guyana’s sugar industry and its thousands of workers who also happened to make up a significant support base of the PPP, the operations of GUYSUCO were allowed to run down amid charges of mismanagement across all levels of its operations. Plans to address the corporation’s diversification were dragged out and fruitless up until the PPP’s exit in 2015 when the corporation consistently demanded billions of dollars annually for financial support. Today the corporation’s closure seems imminent as many workers’ issues remain unresolved.



2. The PPP’s embrace of corruption and pilfering of state funds reached such proportions that it creeped into the major organizations overseeing the operations of the rice sector. Sweet heart deals went through which saw payments to select supporters while many other rice farmers were forced into virtual penury as they were underpaid for their produce. In some instances payments were delayed to such an extent that rice farmers were placed under severe financial stress and their operations placed in jeopardy.



3. The PPP administration over its twenty three years in office consistently demonstrated disdain and disregard for both public and private sector workers, neglecting to consider that many of Guyana’s workers suffered tremendously as a result of the policy reforms which were a result of the economic transformation that was effected to address the failed policies of the PNC during its 28 year run. Even after the first fifteen years in office, the PPP administration consistently handed out annual increases of the order of 5 per cent to public servants. Government’s wages policies heavily influenced that of the private sector so that today, much of Guyana’s work force get by on depressed wages and in many instances, live below the poverty line.



4. A declared socialist based party, the PPP from its early years in office frustrated investment prospects which could have done much to reduce unemployment levels, raise incomes and potentially raise Guyana’s status internationally. The fruits of its efforts in this direction were brought to bear as Guyana’s economic growth averaged 0.6 per cent from 1999 when jagdeo took office to 2004, the year prior to the flood. A memorable instance was that of Case Timbers, where the company’s machinery was left so long uncleared by the GRA that decay set in and the company threatened to withdraw from the country.



5. Recognizing that his policies would generate very little export growth and revenues from the private sector, Jagdeo crafted the LCDS as a means for raising foreign currency internationally. With foreign currency and international support flowing in through this initiative, Jagdeo could thumb his nose at Guyana’s local private sector which never really lent him support in the first instance.



6. Many of the so-called foreign direct investment schemes during the PPP’s terms were in fact dressing to quell claims by the opposition that the PPP government was not doing enough to attract investment, stimulate economic growth and address our crucial unemployment issues. The investment in Linden yielded little or nothing for the town and Guyana. The highly touted Bai Shan ling venture was always riddled with claims of corruption which included undervaluing of exports and massive duty waivers, which in total amounted to a complete rape of Guyana’s resources by this company.



7. Petty corruption on a massive scale became part and parcel of government operations as businesses and private individuals were routinely placed over a barrel to have their imports processed and many other government services provided. Bribery and corruption became a norm during the course of transactions with government ministries and agencies. Indeed, corruption had reached such a massive scale that the change in government saw cases where at least one former PPP minister was held accountable for in excess of G$500 million and another highly placed officer within the Ministry of the Presidency had funds totaling in excess of G$10 billion dollars passing through his personal accounts. In the latter instance, it was claimed that these monies were from his private business. It was claimed that he was selling Gt&t phone cards. Money laundering also requires some form of business activity.



8. The press has documented instances of allegations of the PPP’s involvement with, and solicitation of the services of individuals linked to narcotics and crime. This practice along with the administration’s record on corruption effectively put a damper on investment in Guyana by reputable firms abroad and helped stymie local investment prospects also. International organizations had also made claims of the government facilitating money laundering and narcotics activity, which exacerbated negative perceptions about Guyana internationally.



9. A few of the PPP’s ministers had gone beyond the law, but had never been brought to justice. This disregard and abuse of our laws by the PPP is one of the bigger issues which stands against the PPP ever returning to office.



10. The PPP sought to dominate the media by its selective issuances of licenses to its supporters. The local media particularly Channel 6, endured much harassment from the PPP as the station continually embarrassed the government on numerous issues.



11. Finally, the PPP’s penchant for misappropriating taxpayers’ money is very probably unsurpassed and unmatched in the Caribbean region, from the misuse of NIS funds to build the Berbice bridge, which now costs so much as to make travel for some prohibitive, to the Marriott fiasco which needs no further disclosure here.



These are the main issues the supporters of the PPP need to consider before throwing their weight behind the PPP again. Because if the PPP were ever allowed back into office again, it is an almost certainty that they will pick up exactly where they left off and continue to mistreat and abuse Guyanese workers with absolute disregard while pilfering taxpayers’ money through corruption and overpriced contracts. For the 2020 elections I propose we bundle the PPP and Coalition together into one party to form the PPP/Con, which will represent our past. The party to be formed will represent our future.

New 911 Emergency System commissioned
November 3, 2017
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The Public Security Ministry in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) on Friday morning commissioned the new state of the art 911 Emergency System at the Brickdam Police Station in Georgetown.

The new system will be taken to 52 other locations within the country to promote better police responses while enhancing crime-fighting efforts.
Officers at Brickdam demonstrating how the new service will be monitored

Additionlly, some 46 officers of the Guyana Police Force have been trained to operate the new system which has been commissioned to respond to calls from citizens across Guyana, with the objective being prompt police response.

Furthermore, citizens can now send text messages to 911 instead of calling and the operators can render assistance using that platform.

The system is being reintroduced, with the assistance of local telephone companies GTT and Digicel, after several years of non-operation.

Acting Police Commissioner, David Ramnarine, during the commissioning ceremony, dubbed the instillation of the new service as monumental, while highlighting that the ranks who have been trained to handle the system should put that training to use and uplift the dwindling image of the Force.
Acting Police Commissioner, David Ramnarine

“ Our physical infrastructure is improving at a very rapid pace [but] sadly, our attitudinal behavior towards our work, towards colleagues, towards members of the public, there’s a huge gap and so I can only urge those of who will be engaged in ensuring that the 911 emergency system…that it will be something meaningful, something useful, not something mirroring the challenges of the past,” he said.

Meanwhile, Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan asserted that it was a huge development and should not be downplayed in any aspect while expressing his gratitude to GTT and Digicel for their technical support and collaboration on the project.

The Minister also announced that in order to ensure that the Police have the necessary response tools, Government will soon handover a series of pickups, buses and all-terrain vehicles to the GPF, which was donated by the Government of China.

“Don’t feel…that because we gon get a 911 we are going to be then, stifled because we don’t have the resources to back it up. Yes, we are going to get the resources now because we will be deploying those [vehicles]…Majority will be in Division A because as you know, Division A is where more than 50 per cent of the serious crimes are committed daily,” he posited.

Ramjattan further assured that a holistic approach was taken towards ensuring that the new 911 emergency system is not a repeat of the poor service that was provided in the past.