GINA alive?

$80 million of tax payers money has gone towards keeping the Government Information Agency on a saline solution.

The outfit now run by an 'actor' Neaz Subhan and pedophile Kwame McKoy is suppose to be the mouth piece of the government.

But has it been the mouth piece of the government and the many offices it seeks to serve in the past few years?

Well that answer can be better be answered in this statement of FACT.

The Government Information Agency better known as GINA is really non existent as the PR front for several government ministries.

FACT is several ministers and ministries have preferred to employ their own Public Relations Officers to hand out the fame sheets on their dailies runnings around.

Public relations officer? Priya Manickchand has the entire firm of Tagman on contract when she wants to go Public.

Now we wonder how much is that contract.

Ask yourself, is GINA still serving its purpose?

Bitta Sweet

The Greatest Betrayal on the Labour Front in Guyana has to be the PPP's betrayal of the Sugar workers.

The Jagdeo led administration has smashed everything that Cheddi and Janet Jagan among others worked for in recognizing sugar workers and their contribution to this country.

Jagdeo wouldn't know anything about struggling or fighting for the rights of workers having been handed the Presidency of this country on a platter neither have he experienced the struggle associated with these people. He wouldn't know that struggle if it knocked on his $300m home tomorrow. But, the PPP stance on the workers fight for their wages and salaries is a mockery of what has been fought for over these decades.

Just as the workers are struggling to have their wages and salaries increased to a level they can live on the Jagdeo led administration as forced the company to do many things.

Contrary to belief, the Carbon Puppet Jagdeo is not playing the good guy as he makes himself out to believe in this Guysuco/GAWU quarrel.

If the press reports of recent are correct the Company is actually thinking of derecognising the UNION, at this point the President steps in like the "GOOD GUY" and says NO WAY WILL THIS HAPPENS"

Like the joke it is, little do Sugar Workers know when they took a week long strike action, It was the HEAD OF STATE himself who asked that COMPANY say it was out of MONEY to pay them, hence the company's announcement that they will be paid the following week.

As tough as managing this country may sound, Jagdeo knows a few things about 'jooking' the books, accountability is NOT one of the things Jagdeo will ever be created for in the history of this country.

Fine we all know that the company is catching its ass to put itself on the feet, but Jagdeo isnt thisa good time for a bail out?!

The PPP as a government is spending TOP money on several other schemes, lending monies to hoteliers, going into joint ventures, Hydro power, a internet cable, there will be Carbon Credit, not to mention the well hidden away LOTTO FUNDS.

WHY NOT A BAILOUT for the Sugar Company then??!

Whats so wrong for a few extra dollars to do this way into something this nation is so largely 'dependent' on.

Why isnt the PPP and Jagdeo throwing their monies this way and invest in sugar, invest in the workers?!!

There must be a missing piece of the puzzle that we are not getting!!!!

Ignaramos Irfaan

Reproduced below is a story carried by the Kaieteur News team weeks after it was carried by Stabroek News.

What does this story really show us? Well, other than the fact that Irfaan Ali is an idiot, ignorant piece of sh**, poor people across this country must understand what these politicians are setting themselves up with, with tax payers money. Not only are the Jagdeos and the Persauds building themselves fancy houses, they surround themselves with their wealthy friends, the Bobbies, Brians and Boyers.

Who isnt to say that maybe a Boyer is building one of these houses for his good friend.

We wonder where the Integrity Commission is right now? Oh yes, right under the nose of the Office of the President. Whatever happen to those declarations eh?

Well we hope that Kwame McKoy and Neaz Subhan can also explain how they are building millions of dollars homes with swimmings pools in Diamond too.


More silence on exclusive ‘Pradoville 2’
NOVEMBER 28, 2010 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

Amidst questions over ongoing construction at what seems to be an exclusive housing scheme at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara, a government official has said that issue has been addressed in the media already and that the transaction was done according to established procedures.

There have been questions whether a large piece of land located behind the Sparendaam Police Station, next to the East Coast Demerara seawall was distributed in a fair and transparent manner.

The land formerly housed a transmitter belonging to the National Communications Network which has since been relocated to Parfait Harmonie, West Bank Demerara.
The land was sold in pieces to several government officials, including President Bharrat Jagdeo, Minister of Agriculture, Robert Persaud, and the army chief, Commodore Gary Best.

Kaieteur News had emailed questions of the land transaction to Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali. Yesterday, when contacted, the Minister said that matter was ventilated in the press already and he had nothing more to say.
Over a week ago, the Minister had written to Stabroek News following a news report which accused him of berating a reporter in the Parliament after the reporter had asked questions of the Minister.

According to Ali, his Ministry follows a clearly defined and well-documented process in land allocation.

“The process was no different in the case of the East Coast Demerara housing development at Plaisance. The CH&PA (Central Housing and Planning Authority) has elaborated several mechanisms which include Public/Private partnerships, high income development, middle income development, medium income development and our internationally acclaimed low income settlement programme.

“The land itself was subject to approved valuation and sold at market value,” Ali said in his statement to the Stabroek News.

Yesterday, leader of the Alliance For Change, Raphael Trotman, while stressing that he has no problems with the rights of officials to pursue their private goals, said that with increasing attention being paid to the issue, there should at least be some answers.

Even more importantly is the fact that President Jagdeo, a top public official, is involved, and this should necessitate the urgency with which these answers are given.

“The public has a right to know.”
The AFC leader promised that his party would be forthcoming with another statement in the event that there are no answers to the issues being raised.
Already, construction is in full swing with water, electricity and drains in place.
Stabroek News in response to Minister Ali’s letter, had pointed out that the issue is not what the rules and procedures are, “but whether they were followed in this case. Was the land advertised publicly, for example, and how was it allocated and valued?”

The newspaper had also called in the Housing Ministry to issue a press release for the benefit of the public detailing the specifics of “what transpired in relation to the Sparendaam land in terms of tendering (or the absence thereof), advertising, valuation, sale, etc, rather than the meaningless generalities he offers above”.

"No longer can South America be associated with dictators"

"No longer can South America be associated with dictators"
Seriously?
Which one of these communists said that ?!

Tribute to Winston Murray

He was an institution of knowledge. Knowledge of our public accounts as well as Constitution. A man's whose facts were irrefutable.

We will miss Winston Murray.

His friend Christopher Ram could not put it better in his recent column.

Introduction
Business Page joins in paying tribute to Winston Murray, economist, attorney-at-law and politician who offered this country a unique blend of experience, expertise, capacity for research, hard work and patience, all reinforced by unusual humility, integrity and respect for others. He was proud of his roots in the Essequibo island of Leguan, the place and community where he was born, but which our political system did not allow him meaningfully to represent; committed too to the PNCR which he served with distinction for several decades, but which rejected him when it most needed him; a firm believer in the virtues of a healthy, informed and honest debate, outside and inside a parliament in which he excelled over and above all others of his time, a parliament that is poorer for his passing; a patriot in the most noble sense of the word, putting country above self and personal considerations.

No word is sufficiently adequate or praise generous enough to describe Mr Murray the man, the servant of the public and this son of Guyana. The word ‘void’ at the national level cannot convey the space created by him during forty years of dedication, or the experience and expertise gained in vocations and professions ranging from the primary school teacher, the diplomat, public and political servant, economist and attorney-at-law. Inadequate too is the word ‘loss’ at the level of the party to which he committed his entire career, serving it steadfastly even as its appeal became tarnished by mis-steps and non-steps and its leadership pool haemorrhaged from dissatisfaction within the ranks.

Today’s tribute to Murray is one mainly in his own words, drawn from Hansard, the official record of the debates in the National Assembly. I go back only to 2007, the year in which Dr Ashni Singh, a technocratic Finance Minister presented his first national budget. I chose that year because Murray saw in Dr Singh the prospects and possibilities of a new culture and a combination of competence and integrity in the financial management of the country’s affairs.
Even when he soon came to question his initial opinion of and optimism about Dr Singh, his disappointment was expressed in the best tradition of parliamentary courtesies. So on February 9, 2007, on Dr Singh’s first budget presentation, this is what Murray had to say of him:

“I wish to congratulate the Honourable Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, on the occasion of his inaugural presentation of the National Budget. This Minister has shown a refreshing approach to openness, and in fact, prior to my coming here today, drew my attention to certain small discrepancies, which are really printer’s errors, and I thought that, even though small, the fact that he should call to mention them was not an insignificant occurrence, and I hope that that same spirit will be a hallmark of his tenure as Minister of Finance.”
On his reservations about sugar’s contribution to the economy and GuySuCo’s turnaround plan

“Sugar was supposed to be the flagship within the traditional sectors, but the present position shows that for the last years, the industry has been making significant losses and is projected to continue to do so until at least 2012, when it is projected to return to marginal profitability. This is the position notwithstanding the fact that Government has taken over significant debts from GuySuCo and notwithstanding the bragging of about $2 billion worth of cost reduction in 2009. This industry is being significantly subsidised by the Guyanese taxpayer. A massive investment to over US$160 million is expected to ramp up sugar production ultimately to 450,000 tonnes per annum. The issue is that at what cost of production and, therefore, how competitively?

“The state of the Skeldon factory and the availability of the 1.2 million tonnes of cane necessary to feed it are also causes for concern. We are assured in the turnaround plan that the canes will be available. The question is: How soon? Until then, the Skeldon factory will continue to operate below capacity, thereby negatively affecting the cost of production and possibly the technical functioning and efficiency of the factory.”

On budget size and oppressive taxes
“I could not leave the 2010 framework without reference to and comments on the statement that Guyana’s largest budget ever, requires the introduction of no new taxes. Given what I have said earlier about tax yield and tax burden, the issue is not ‘no new taxes,’ but rather doing something to lift the oppressive burden of taxation on the citizenry. That is what we have to do. And with that connection we call for the return of the VAT windfall to the people through a reduction. And we call for a reintroduction of a graduated progressive rate of income tax.”

On accountability, Clico, the Lotto Funds and integrity

“With respect to the Economic Services Committee, I have to highlight the unresponsiveness of the Minster of Finance to invitations to him to come to that Committee to update us on matters relating to C.L.I.C.O. There was a resolution passed in this National Assembly for this Committee to follow up on such matters. We have written him at least twice and he has not had the courtesy to even grant us the favour of an acknowledgement.

“Equally grave, if not more so, is the failure of the Minister of Finance himself, a highly trained professional, to observe some principles of financial governance. He continues to allow the Lotto Funds to be placed into a separate bank account instead of being put into the Consolidated Fund. He continued to allow the sale of public assets to be put into a separate bank account instead of finding its way into the Consolidated Fund. And now under the LCDS he is talking about putting money through G.R.I.F. (Guyana REDD Investment Fund), but nowhere in the scheme of things is there contemplation for bringing this money into the Consolidated Fund which is where it belongs to be supervised by this Parliament on behalf of the people of Guyana.”

On strengthening Caricom

“I believe we need a more dynamic and functionally relevant framework for the furtherance of the goals of CARICOM. For example, I believe that the Secretariat should have a strong project development arm that seeks to use available data, and make and support project proposals to strengthen regional capacity. It could also be involved, if only as an observer, in relevant discussions between and among Member States in the formulation or execution of projects. The institution cries out for being streamlined and possibly being restructured. It is no accident, I wish to observe, Sir, that the Heads of important international agencies are generally not permitted to serve more than two terms, normally a period of ten years.”

On limitations of politicians and the usefulness and role of experts

“Politicians see the electoral cycle as the framework of their operations, and so their eyes are set [on the year when elections will come]; and the measures that they will take will not necessarily address the longer term economic problems that the country faces, but are likely to be guided by the imperatives of an election victory… I say therefore to the Hon Minister of Finance and to the Government more generally that they should heed their own advice and agree to the setting up of a group of experts, who can independently analyse where we are, where we are likely to go and propose measures for dealing with what is likely to be a most difficult situation.”

On the airstrips at Leguan and Wakenaam

“It did not escape my attention, for example that in 2008, the sum of’ $108 million was earmarked for airstrips at Leguan and Wakenaam along with rehabilitation of the airstrip at Baramita. Obviously, the projects for the airstrips at Leguan and Wakenaam did not materialise, as they are therefore repeated for 2009… I think it is a sick joke to propose such a project when the citizens of Leguan are more concerned about proper and adequate number of beds at the cottage hospital; when they are more concerned about the availability of drugs and other medicines at the facility; when they are more concerned about the reliability and timeliness of the ferry service and about better drainage and irrigation facilities.”

On further evidence for corruption

After recounting several cases of the illegal purchase of drugs, impropriety in the regions and drawing attention to Guyana’s low ranking on the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index, he offered to the Speaker of the Assembly, “Sir, but perchance they want more evidence, I advise them go to the project site where projects are being implemented; and go to the villages across Guyana and talk to the people, and you will get all the evidence you need, to know that corruption is endemic in this country.”

On VAT and revenue-neutrality

“Throughout the Debate on the VAT Bill in 2005, all the major Government Speakers and the Ministers in particular, emphasized the revenue neutrality of the tax. We were assured that the solemn intention of the Government was to collect the same amount of money as would be foregone by the taxes that would be scrapped. A regime of Excise Taxes was also going to be introduced on so-called sin and luxury goods with the intention of maintaining the pre-VAT prices on those goods. Thus, the tax of these goods VAT plus Excise Taxes would result in pre-VAT levels of revenue being collected and that overall the collection of VAT plus Excise Taxes would be revenue neutral.”

On contract employees

“The Government has included a category in the Estimates known as ‘contract employees’ and we have again on numerous occasions requested that the information on ‘contract employees’ should be fully set out at the back of the Estimates. Do you know for the traditional Public Servants there are appendices O through S, which state the category in which each Public Servant falls, and in another Table gives you the salary scale applicable for those positions? And that is all we are asking for in the interest of transparency that these Contract Officers who many people see as replacing; that is why you do not want to put the authorized staff in the Estimates.
They are replacing the traditional Public Servants more and more but there is no transparency of their method of appointment or of levels of salary they are paid. We call upon you to explain to this National Assembly during this Debate, why it is not possible for you to include this as an appendix to the Estimates the framework in which contract employees are employed in the various agencies and the levels of their remuneration.”

On making belief and missing the truth

“In January 2010, the Hon. Minister of Finance brought a request for supplementary provision for, among other agencies, the Ministry of Housing and Water in the sum of $5.6 billion of which $4 billion was for housing development. I cannot avoid commenting on this because, to me, it represents a brazen act of illegality which should not go without being mentioned and pursued.
“We were making believe here that we were appropriating $5.6 billion to the Ministry of Housing and Water. It is clear that the Hon. Minister of Housing and Water, with prodding from and acquiescence of the Minister of Finance, missed the mark of truth in this Hon. House when in response to my question as to how much of the $4 billion had already been released he said ….”

And later when the question surfaced in the Committee of Supply and with the Housing Minister still reluctant to come clean, Mr Murray lamented, “I note that the Hon. Minister is not budging and is not answering any of these questions, could I ask whether he has become deaf all of a sudden because I want to know. This National Assembly needs to know. Is there a deliberate act on the part of the Minister to withhold information from the general public about his compliance with the Constitution, compliance with the law and about his observation of a proper budgetary process? Is that his intention?”

Sense of humour

On Irfaan Ali, Minister of Housing and Water: “Please I want it to be noted that I am not saying that Minister Ali is rubbish, I am saying that what he said is rubbish.”

“And I want to suggest that in naming this Budget under the title Staying the Course I would not like to stay on this course. That is the first point. I did not recommend it.”

“This year will be another year of trying to find a reasonable job, or of trying to get a visa to leave for ‘Region 11’ or of joining the ranks of the unemployed. This must be a sad state of affairs after seventeen years of P.P.P. /C. rule, but then, I suppose, it could be blamed on the twenty-eight years of the P.N.C.”

And after a scathing critique of the 2009 Estimates and Budget Speech, challenging the other side with the irresistibility of truth, the force of logic, the mastery of detail and the display of oratorical skills, he ended with the following words: “I therefore apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused in the course of this presentation.”

A true gentleman is a rare being.

Ashni to bring an early budget

Ashni is preparing for an early 2011 National Budget and is doing so as fast as he can in Ashni fashion.

Why we say Ashni Fashion? The stump has learnt the Jagdeo style of politics where consultations are a thing of the past.

Here the Finance Minister will pass an early budget since the Jagdeo led PPP government wants an early elections.

How better to start the ball rolling when issues of the previous Auditor General report is still unresolved and Jagdeo can do some 'illegal' spending dishing out cash from the Contingency Fund to some poor, unsuspecting Guyanese who he will use as elections pawn.

Ashni is is gonna come with a 'bigger, better' budget this year. We sincerely doubt there will be any reduction in taxes and if they are, it means the PPP will use this as an elections tool. What about VAT returns? More than likely this will be used to off set expenses of the Jagdeo's cable.

We predict a January budget, Ashni Style.

PPP an accountable government ? but who is checking ?!!

Some one should tell Deodat Sharma, the Acting Auditor General that is an idiot. An idiot for staying so long without being appointed AG, an idiot for doing that same report each year on the same bullshit unaccountability and making bull shit recommendations without getting any results and an idiot thinking that he could make a difference when Anand Goolsarran couldn't.

In 2009 the Bharrat Jagdeo PPP government blatantly misused $200 million from the Contingency Fund.

$19 billion of government spending went UNACCOUNTED for.

$100 million in loans were not recovered.

$1.4 billion of tax payers money was spend on Jagdeo's Friend's Bobby Ramroop's company for drugs bypassing all tender procedures.

The Office of the President lied to the AG office about $230 Million it said it used for Presidential guards, Castellani House and The Joint Intelligence Agency.

The Office of the President took $353 million of tax payers money and placed it into a commercial bank. Four cheques amounting to the more than $300 million figure were said to be financing for Jagdeo's fibre optic cable.

24% of the Lotto Funds are paid into the Consolidated Fund and is being used for public spending without parliamentary approval.

The Guyana Lottery Company has given this country $3.5 billion since 1996.

Accountability you say Dr. Champ?

Dear Green Santa where are the LAPTOPS ?!

I have been a very good boy this year. It has not been a kind year to me and my family but i have behaved myself.
Daddy has not been a very good boy though. He is in and out of jail. Mommy said that he works there but I know that she is
lying to me. I hear on the news that he been theifing on the road. Mommy is doing all the cooking for me and my brother.
She is a good girl. She is mostly out in the night because is said she get a security guard work.
Santa I only have one request since mommy said she ain't able send we to school anymore.
I would really like for you to please tell President Jagdeo I would very much like the laptop that he promised.
Santa for an entire week I heard it on the television, he said that he will gives each family a laptop
and now would be a good time. We are still stealing current and my brother said that we could thief the neighbor wireless.
Please Santa please.
Ramesh.

Why Yvonne is NOT our special person

Yvonne Pearson is well on her way to being another Amerindian Leader who will enter into the highest realm of the PPP Civic government. Indeed a very commendable move by any woman of any ethnicity in any country.

Sadly all of the women in the PPPC, Jagdeo led administration have done little for the people they claim to represent or their women folks.

From Gail Texieira and Priya Manickchand's dismissal of domestic violence claims by Varshani Jagdeo to their towing of parjavascript:void(0)ty lines instead their own views, little respect is had for these women. None, not even Jennifer Westford, one of Jagdeo's confidant has made any impact on the Guyanese society as a woman.

But enough about them and back to Pearson. How did she cross the lines to the PPP and when?

The Mainstay Toshao who was an active member of the Amerindian People's Association found herself in conflict with the PPP government several times. She was one who pressed for land titles and a new Amerindian Act. She had been lobbied for Toshaos to become Justices of Peace.
The greed of money and riches won the heart of Pearson once seen as a noble leader.

She was snatched away by Jagdeo as he dangled his low carbon money in her face two years ago when he launched his strategy.

She was one of two Amerindian Leaders taken to Copenhagen remember?

Now she is claiming to 'represent' the Amerindian people even if a canal is being dug in Hubu Backdam.

Jagdeo continues to collect this pawns under his belt by just flashing cash.
How gullible people have become.

The saying must be true 'everyone has their price'

Food-for-the-Poor becoming PPP's football

PPP has instructed Food for the Poor Guyana Inc. to concentrate on areas that it feels has its support for the 2011 elections.

We have been reliably informed that through the Ministries of Housing and Agriculture that government has directed the NGO to ensure that
tangible donations are made to villages and communities that supports the PPP.
well placed sources said that the agency has been directed to ensure that houses are built in certain communities and donations of tools, medical supplies and household items are made to a 'list' that should be with the organisation soon.
Of course these donations are to made in the presence of government ministers the agency has been told.

The sources said that Food for the Poor Guyana Inc was reminded that most of the items received by the NGO enter the country duty free and that the decision to institute these concession lie solely with the government.

Now isn't that a threat ?

Our perspective is that the government has run out of money to adequately address poverty in a what it would have like to for the upcoming general elections.
It will now pull out all threats while no one will tell us what happen to the more than $600 million spent on poverty reduction in the past two years.

Steve's gotta go!

Jagdeo plans to remove Steve Surujbally from his post as Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission. We had first warned right here on this blog that after months of struggling to realize funds to ensure that the Continuous Registration process is complete, the vet and Chairman of GECOM was desperately trying to meet Finance Minster Dr. Ashni Singh.

While such a task is not his job, but that of the Chief Elections Officer Gocool Bodhoo, the Chairman was at his wits end after GECOM could not find funds to rent additional properties for the registration.

Surujbally had warned before that moves were intensifying by political quacks to have the elections postponed, that was what happened with the Local Government Elections, He suspected the same will happen as GECOM prepares for general elections next year.

Now its a gamble about placing the ads with the Govt directing GECOM an autonomous body where to place their ads. Jagdeo fails to realize that he has handed out the computers yet !

Jagdeo little plan is hatching we just hope it doesn't turn out to be a ganga egg.

IMF on the Caribbean

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says the Caribbean is gradually recovering from last year's severe recession. In a new report the IMF said tourism appears to have turned the corner.

However, it noted that tough employment markets in the US and Europe constrain the industry's growth prospects.

Real output in the Caribbean is likely to grow a marginal 1% this year after declining more than 3% last year.

The IMF said prospects are somewhat more favourable in countries with lower debt burdens and lower dependence on tourism.

It said the key challenge for the Caribbean lies in cutting budget deficits and national debt while strengthening competitiveness".

A release from the IMF this week, while they dont specifically state Guyana, we wonder about that firewall we had up !

Presidential palaces.

While Jagdeo sold his house in Guyana for US$600,000, his people has to live in miserable shacks - of course excepting his friends, the Bees who all live in mansions.

Note that his house was sold to Ernie Ross, the man who is in charge of the PPP election campaign machinery.

Call him Champion.... is this case he is sleazeball champion of dirt! The Champion of the Dirt continues on his money making trail with little or no conscience. While he has sold his gift for $600000 he and his friends and colleagues are now putting up their mansions.

This mansion is a gated community close to the Atlantic Ocean behind Spareendaam, East Coast Demerara.

While poor people are struggling to make their bank loans, standing in long lines for house lots, Champion of the Dirt and others continue to strip and rob the country for their own benefits. Champion of the Dirt also continues to dish out money making ventures with little or no cabinet approval, pave the way for money making schemes and make sweet little deals for his friends to benefit. These deals are often concreted when the Champ, Winston and Bobby travel and if they feel the need they tag along miner/land owner Odinga.

While many stand in long lines for house lots, Champ et al are building as we speak. The silence is deafening, we wonder where are the watchers.

Mary had a little lamb...

Donald RAMotar is here, there and everywhere confirming that the Ruling People's Progressive Party have made their choice for a Presidential Quack if they need one.
Here is our ode to him.

It wasn't me! I doan kno! It gotta be d PNC!

Mary had a little RAM
Little Ram, Little Ram
Mary had a little RAM
His belly was big as the lotto Fund

And everywhere that Mary went
Mary Went
Everywhere that Mary went the RAM was sure to go

He followed her to China one day
China one day
He followed her to China
one day as part of a publicity stunt !

RAMotar is now showing up at every event under the sun where the Press could get a quick glimpse of him in order to promote him in his bid to lead the PPP into the Next Elections (if there is one).

As usual he can be seen with his mouth open saying "what? I doan kno about dat?

The PNC/R's dilemma

The People’s National Congress has shot itself in the arm. A fatal one!

Already paralyzed by internal politicking, racism and bankruptcy, the second largest political party had begun to lose hundreds of members since the last two national elections. The return of Robert Corbin to the helm of the Party following two biennial congresses have not helped the party’s image. But the PNC may never realized this, in fact they are still to recognize that they need much more than insulin to survive.

Already the politics of inter-party ramblings are taking place in three of the most prominent political parties. The AFC is still to determine its leadership as talks about General Elections closes in, the PPP on the other hand has a more complex issue to deal with, the egos of many of those who wants to rule and of course the PNC is more head less that the previous two.

Recent talks about David Grainger and Basil Williams having a tug for the leadership of the party has not made any swooping waves with the populace.

Many simply do not know Grainger while Williams has a dishonest look, simply a dishonest one of a person desperate for some recognition or any at all.

How exactly does the PNC plan to sway voters in its direction with anyone of these two.

While this is no endorsement of Winston Murray, his candidacy for the next elections would have been the next best foot forward for the PNC.

That Party like many others have also failed to promote women candidates for leadership in its hierarchy, a move that will reduce it to lose its vital signs.

We have already predicted a low voter turnout if there are to be general elections next year, even lower than 2006, how the political parties will take advantage of this or not if yet to be visualized.

Spot the diffference

Can anyone spot the differences and similarities in this photo? There are 13 subtle differences between the principal characters. There are also 13 similarities (eg, shape of mouth)

The winner will get a special prize.

"Return my gifts" says the criminal to the police.

The Police is once again blowing hot air as a puppet for the PPP and Jagdeo-led-administration as it continues to pretend that they are busting drug rings and solving crime.

We had earlier linked the police to one recent execution and the police is now planning to use a gang war theory to arrest a few. Those few that are in policy custody since the police released its album have since been released on on station bail, a move that has struck as bail as comical.

What is even more dangerously comical is that upon their release, at least one of them have been in contact with the senior police office and have asked that that senior officer return gifts sent to him over a period over time.

We understand that these gifts include cell phone, computer, jewelery and watches.

This action by one of the men wanted over the weekend does not only stem from his imprisonment for the weekend but also the revocation of his gun license by the Ministry of Home Affairs Ministry.

Norway Funds arrives

Hail King Kong, the Norway Funds are here.

Will they be placed in the consolidated fund ?

Who decided how the money will be spent and on what projects ?

What % of this fund goes directly to the Indigenous People?

Now with those answer with the Chief Indigenous Champion Promoter Yvonne Pearson kindly ask President Jagdeo when will Amerindian Act 2006 be made to work for them??

She may also want to find out about the 20% royalties these communities are to benefit from.

According to the Amerindian Act, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission is to transfer these royalties from mining activities.

Boy, RK, time to dig in! You have been in the line-up for a while.

Bidding Moses Farewell

I refused to be a neemak haram!

Those once famous words were spoken by Moses Nagamootoo, PPP Stalwart and Jagan’s boy who claimed he should have been the next Presidential Candidate for the Ruling party.

Those words came as he retuned to the party on the heels of the 2006 elections and his friend, law partner and PPP colleague’s unceremonious exist from the PPP.

But what will Moses say this time around as his hopes for being the PPP’s Presidential Candidate diminishes?

He is struggling against a beast, he uses the media to sound his frustration and we all know that he will fail in any bid to get any recognition.

What will his legacy be as a PPP member though?

He has stood within party lines and refused to condemn them when they erred, so might as well bid him farewell from public life from now on.

Executions

Deadly executions have returned to this land.

Whether its drug dealings gone wrong or gang warfare the police are to to say. What is most striking is that the police are yet to act! This reminds us of the Crime Chief Seelall Persaud pinning execution-typed killings on Roger Khan after Khan would have done his deeds and was serving time out of this jurisdiction for drugs.

We wonder who will the police blame for this one? We have seen at least 8 people killed over a period of time in brutal gun attacks, the way it was done shows that the gunmen had to ensure these people don't live.

We have earlier posted information that suggests that the police were involved in the shooting deaths of 5 people including a baby, to date all the police can do is link this to drugs.

The Police Commissioner seem to have an awful lot of information about how many kilos was collected and what was dropped and taken and who these men were but cannot say why this was not use to charge the men or why none of the men he claims to to be 'known characters' were ever charged.

We once posted that the 'run a gun' policy was back on the streets, and AK 47s are no ordinary guns to rent.

Is the society prepared for another chapter of this violence?

Elections 20??

There has been the exchange of much verbiage in the media between presidential hopefuls.

Ramoutar, Nagamootoo and Ramkarran (RnR) have “discussed” ad infinitum. Ramoutar is the chosen one – no force on earth (except the almighty) can stop that. Any proposed change to the process of choosing presidential candidates will not be entertained at this stage – after all, what can such a change do? It will only cause more persons (like Nagas and Kehmraj) to get fired from the PPP.

Winston Murray and David Granger: Granger is rising like a phoenix. We predict that he will be the presidential candidate since he is black, Winston is not.

Khemraj Ramjattan: He will sadly suffer the fate of the PPP’s cunningness. The AFC is already infiltrated. If they can get their act together and forget Trotman’s ego, they will progress.

So, when WILL elections be held?
We believe that elections will NOT be held in 2011. Jagdeo already tried to test the third term possibility and got his toes scalded. He won’t try it again. BUT, he CAN delay elections for any period of time. We predict that GECOM will very soon find itself in a scandal that will rock that institution to its core.

Surujbally will resign in disgrace. With the Elections Commission in disarray and confusion, our Noble Leader will be forced to find a new Head of GECOM – this will be aided and abetted by Corbin (who will gain the same length of time as Opposition leader) since they have to find and agree on the next person to head GECOM.

Elections will be pushed back by minimum one year.

By this time,
- Jadgeo will have spent the US$40million that Guyana would get from Norway,
- The Hydro project will be started,
- The laptops’ contract will be in the bag,
- The Queens Telecoms Company will be started,
- The Pradoville II will be completed,
- The million dollar pipeline contract will be completed
- The fiber optic cable will be in progress, but the contracts will be bagged
- Kaieteur News will be attacked and burnt
- Stabroek will become dumb and spineless
- Hits & Jams will become new media moghuls
- Ernie Ross will be in Guyana

Elections? We say 2012.

MoF witholding funds from GECOM

Finance Minister Ashni Singh has been avoiding Dr. Steve Surujbally, chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission for the past week.

Sources say that the GECOM Chief has been trying to meet with the keeper of the purse to ascertain why the funds for the expansion of Continuous Registration have not been flowing.

This isn't the job of the GECOM Chairman but is that of the the Chief Elections Office but is also the Chief Accountant of the Guyana Elections Commission.

We are told that Surujbally is so frustrated with the government's move to shame him that he decided he will engage the Finance Minister himself.

We were told that monies that were suppose to see the rental of several offices have not been forthcoming from the Finance Ministry.

If there are more centres of the CR Process this will be major humbug.

Surujbally knows very well that this isn't the first time that such has been as we believe that he very well knew what will happen this time around. the GECOM team was frustrated when they were preparing for local government elections till they had to call it off.

What the government aims to do by frustrating GECOM must be a state secret.

Meet Mr. New Politician

Ranji Bobby Ramroop

A Class Act

Soon to be PPP party big wig

Highest Bidder for the Political Ministerial Seat

Self-proclaimed Media Mogul

Among the Chief Beneficiaries of a tax payers monies through health contracts

1st best friend

1st traveler

Dissecting CLICO

Alas CLICO has hidden assets and now that is out in the public domain. Who were gonna tell us this ?!

If we have not learned a few things about CLICO Guyana's collapse we are bound to repeat a few of them in history. It is no secret that CLICO unlawfully invested money outside of Guyana but, how it is the the government is making payouts without investigating the company's collapse? This is beyond us!

When Justice Chang ruled that the Company be liquidated it was more than a year after the company had collapsed, more than a year that Maria Van Beek, Commissioner of Insurance was shot and more than enough time for a full investigation to be done and made public.

There are several issues we are quite sure are under the carpets at State House, these would never be addressed.

Among them are:
- How did Clico Guyana invest US$34 million in another company with notifying the Commissioner of Insurance?

- Who authorized Geeta Singh-Kinght to make that investment?

- Where is the US$34 million today? The last we heard it was entered into the Clico Bahamas accounts but is still not accounted for in cash or kind.

- Where was there no monitoring of this and many other companies by the Office of Commissioner of Insurance?

- What about insider trading ?

- What happens to CLICO's assests invested elsewhere?

- Who will buy CLICO's properties?

- What is the Government's cut back?

- And why were there no criminal charges against ANYONE? and when we say ANYONE, you know who we speak out.

- Jagdeo has spoken at length about this 'firewall' that surrounded Guyana's finances following the financial meltdown yet monies from GBTI dissolved and CLICO collapsed yet no one was found culpable.

- Now that Jagdeo is seeking to sell some of CLICO's polices we heard that MP Insurance will be given a large block.

- MP Insurance Company is owned by a government minister.

GOD be with us

No tax returns

The Guyana Revenue Authority has been asked to step aside and stay out of the President's business!

Why President Bharrat Jagdeo did not file tax returns in the past eight years?

Well, we are told by reliable sources that a letter was sent to the Office of the President recently inquiring why these returns were not made recently and seeking an explanation why none was made for the past 7 years including this one.

While we are not sure what the constitution says about the Head of State and the payment of taxes it is noted that the President and the most senior public servant, Dr. Lunchoen must pay taxes says a source close to the GRA.

We are not sure what source of action the Revenue Authority can take, but it is noted that the President recently collected US$600,000 via the sale of his house, all tax free.

We await the spin on this one.

That Cummings Lodge shooting

The Police are still not up turning any major rocks during their investigations into the Cummings Lodge Shooting that left five people including a child dead. In any decent society the death of a child in such horrific circumstances would have caused a public outcry but no, not in Guyana where the police have already decided that this is a drug hit and closed the files.

We had promised to update you on information coming to us about this shooting. In an earlier post we indicated that sources close to the Police say that their own officers are involved in the shooting. The victims knew the officers and had stopped to speak with the officers on the scene.

New details coming to us suggest that the occupants of the car were shot on killed by POLICE OFFICERS WHO WERE ON A RIDE IN THE AREA.

The officers shot the occupants, then rode to as dark colored car in the vicinity where they handed back the guns and both sped off.

This information is with various police and intelligence sources, but its whether or not they will act is left to be seen.

The Senior police officer is working with a name of one of their own, we are waiting to see if that name will be call. We await the spine-less press to investigate this one.

ARVs in short supply

The Failure to timely order ARVS for people infected by HIV around the country led to a shortage of the drug. None only did this almost criminal act occur but Leslie Ramsammy decided that he was going to face gun for head of NAPS Shanti Singh on this one. Well placed sources say that Singh who is the wife Minister Frank Anthony did not make the timely request of the private supplier IPA to replace the depleting drugs. The request we were told when to the IPA a mere before IPA could order the drugs from India.

Ramsammy who required to explain why the drugs were not in Guyana to the Cabinet chose to tell them that it was stuck at some airport in Europe. But Guess what, no one will punish for this, in some societies, if there was HIV legislation, the Public Officer would have to face a penalty.

Police and bandits -OR- police are bandits?

A drug related hit went down not so long before that saw the death of 5 people including a child. Little do people know that the police are involved in this killing. Sources close to us say that eye witnesses are afraid to come forward and even though this information is with the top brass of the Guyana Police Force.

NONE OF THE SPINELESS MEDIA have picked up on this tip or investigate it.

The police records of a particular station places a police patrol at least five times in the Cummings Lodge, University of Guyana area on the day the people were killed.

By Now every one has heard the Police Commissioner linked the occupants in the car to drugs. What Greene is yet to say why the police were in the area and what about the shells from the scene of the shooting.

If Greene knows anything his ranks have been up to he would know that they wouldn't use their guns but the GUNS FOR HIRE are handled by a small group who circulate them and any ballistics test would show these weapons were used in a previous killing that also linked the police.

There are a couple things about the deaths of the five people our source tells us, the driver of the vehicle never wore his seat belt, neither does he drive with air conditioning.

At the scene his window was down suggesting that he knew his killer and stopped to speak with him/them.

We certainly cant put everything into this one post but we will keep you posted on this one.

Shaheed Roger Khan and his book

Government officials are in a quandary as word out of the United States is the Shaheed Roger Khan wants to write a 'tell all' book detailing his story, links to the Guyana government and how a killing squad he headed help dissolve crime groups locally.

 Sources said that the Jagdeo led PPP administration is mulling several options including sending someone to negotiate a price with the jail bird, pinning the death squad allegations on a sitting minister who is on his way out in the next elections and the last but not least ensuring that Khan returns to more wealth and property when he is out. 

 

The latest rumor about the book was mentioned to Khan's Guyanese friends, through his family. Some are said to be very skeptical about this idea since many of them is said to have put the past episode behind them. 

Khan's claims of helping the government fight crime is not new, he made this known during his US trial and it was well ventilated during the trial of his lawyer.

 

We heard that Khan wants names to be published, how killings occurred, who was contracted to kill and by whom. He is also willing to talk prices and deals he made with officials in and out of Guyana.

Police commissioner

Police Service Commission is refusing to address the promotion if Senior Police officers within the Guyana Police Force. This latest development is clearly a political directive as the government tries to ride the horse that is called the Police.

Jagdeo and his co-horts in the mean time continues to whip that fat horse Henry Greene. Greene who was set to retired this August has no where to go. Jagdeo has extended his term in office until another officer who fits the strings to be a puppet comes along.

Who keeps a a disgraced over weight police commissioner who is linked to drugs, guns and brides? Only an administration that is linked to the same. Our sources say that the PPP is willing to have Greene in the top seat until after elections. Greene who works already works under a political directive is not known to prosecute government officials or anyone who is linked to the PPP or drugs. He will be used to ensure that the government keeps its enemies grounded around and during elections.

Put your ears to the ground and listen from now on cause money talks and bull shit will walk.

New radio license.

Stabroek News is about to receive its radio license this year when the government is preparing to take Broadcast Legislation to Parliament. This is no surprise says our sources, since the Jagdeo Led administration is eager to have friends in the media.

Stabroek News had applied for a radio license in 1999 when the late David DeCaires was in the fore front of fighting for Press Freedom in Guyana. The De Caires Legacy is well known in the media circles in the Caribbean but the current management of Stabroek News would be stabbing the fight for press freedom in its back by taking his license from the PPP and Jagdeo hands without ensuring their is suitable Broadcast Legislation.

To date, our media friends tell us that that government is yet to address the concerns in the decade old Broadcast Bill, they are not even sure that they will have a chance to let their views known.

But hear ye, hear ye King Jagdeo promises that Bill in October this year.

The PPP candidates' list

The process has started. The weeding out of some "old" ones and the bringing in of the Jagdeo-ites has started in order to ensure certain things are kept in place for the next "PPP"/Jagdeo Government.

Carvil Duncan and Bishop Juan Edghill, two well-known soup-drinkers are said to be on the PPP list of candidates for the 2011 elections. Sources said that the list is being crafted and many who have received the government's support in their pockets by being appointed to boards etc are being called on to show their allegiance to the PPP government. This will be most likely with Bharrat Jagdeo at the helm either as President or Prime Minister.

our sources tell us that names already on the list are an editor, two reporters, several businessmen, an executive close to DDL, a Trade unionist, former banker, media mogul, two prominent members of the the Private Sector and the parents of a minister of government.

Back to school

It's school time again and parents pockets are shredded in order to spend to outfit and provide the necessaries for the little (and big) ones for the new school term.

Thanks to the Gov't, there is a $1,500 school uniform voucher to help buy the children's uniform.

However, our parents continue to face many challenges to outfit each child to school without even factoring the school book list and contingency fees. Here is a minimum requirement list:
- School Uniform voucher - minus $1500
- Cost for ready made uniform for Primary child - $3000
- Black Shoes - $2500
- School Bag - $2500- $4000
- Socks - $1500 for 6 pairs
- Under garments - $4000
- Stationery
- Exercise books, pencils, crayons, rules, erasers, shapies etc - $8000-$10000
(We have not factored in the cost of texts.)

Schools are still asking for contingency fees despite a circular by the Education Ministry. You judge how much the laptop will help these parents and children!

US$4 million plant dwindles.

Three years and counting: Robeson Benn is yet to provide the Cabinet or tax payers with his ‘technical’ reasons the US$4 million bitumen plant he purchased is still not working.

Parked at Garden on Eden on the East Bank of Demerara, the plant was expected to replace an old non-functioning plant and the Public Works Ministry was expected to stop purchasing asphalt.

The plant was said to be a "wrong" purchase by Minister Benn who was personally involved with securing it from India.

The Auditor General, we were told recently, wrote to the Public Works Ministry seeking answers about the non-functioning plant.

A franchise on education

Its been almost 8 years since this government has been dependent on Cuba to train young people on scholarships with very little expense on our coffers. Once trained, these doctors, agriculturists, agro-chemists and other return to serve Guyana for up to 5 years before they can decide their future.

All this is good a well, Cuba is known for doing its bit to help developing countries in educational and other pursuits.

But what is the focus on the PPP on education?

Undoubtedly, the PPP is on the record placing education as a priority in the social sector. Year after year education receives the largest budgetary allocation, almost $ 4 billion to build new structures and close to $1 billion for feeding, school uniform and other social services programmes.

Some how with all the education strategic plans with all the Ministers occupying the seat that over looks education they continue to fail to connect with what the real issues are affecting schools.

Few educators are in the school system, trained CPCE teachers who once filled the public schools, are trained for export. Dr. Henry Jeffrey once suggested that the government might explore training the teachers and exporting them for a fee to governments and recruiting agencies.

This way he suggested, earns the coffers a significant sum on each teachers that the government had spent close to US$2000 a term to train.

The retired teachers are opting for the outside markets also and while little or no attention is paid to addressing the age of retirement, who opt to returned make less money that an untrained teacher.

Remedial education is still a luxury to a few schools, and yet when the ‘educators’ are opening centres to start remedial classes, they are no sure what the child needs help with.

The 70:1 teacher ratio in a class room does not help the situation. Teachers are more inclined to work with a few ‘bright’ ones while leaving the others to fend for themselves.

Since not every child is academically inclined, there is no system to identify a child’s skills early on. If the Education ministry is to take a poll on basic writing skills and ages in the Public Sector is might surprise itself the number of students who studied under this administration.

School clubs, grounds and the promotion of sports in schools are almost non-existent. There isn’t 20 schools in the city with active clubs or useable grounds for sports.

As the new school term opens and new students apply to the University of Guyana, the government should note how many of the top students it has praised in the press for passing CSEC and CAPE.

Guyanese students continue to perform excellent topping the region almost every year for the past five years. They are awarded by the CXC body for their performances, while the Education Ministry’s award is a mere trophy.

Can they say whatever happen to the esteemed Guyana Scholarship?

Why cant a child who has performed exceedingly well, beating the odds be given as chance to excel further on its country’s soil?

As we move on to elections year, we wait and look.

Another wedding

Hermanston Lodge and House are to become alive this weekend with the wedding of another PPPite.

PPP recently adopted child and sister of Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand, Jaya weds Omkar in a ceremony and reception to be held at their friend's home in Lamaha Street, Queenstown. \Hermanston House has been the home of Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud and wife Kamini who are close friends with the Manickchands and travels often with them.
 
This must be the year of PPP weddings, since every young PPPite is tying the knot before the 2011 elections using state properties as their personal celebration huts without paying a cent.

Who's next ?!!

YAWN!

Emile Mervin's recent letter in Kaieteur News could hit the nail harder on the head when he explored government's plans to sell its shares in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company under the caption 'Will those awarded government GTT shares become private partners in the ICT project?'

By now we all know about the government's or rather Jagdeo's plans to sell the 20% shares its has in one of the most financially sound company in this country. If you don't know, his crony and friend Winston Brassington has advertised for proposals or requests.  

But why would this government want to rid itself of these shares ? Should anyone take their answer of investing in the ICT sector at face value? 

Everyone should realize by now the government is moving into competitive sectors not for the need of it but for the want. Like Mervin pointed out, they have moved into the Hotel business by funding Marriot and we know about Cacique now why would be government want to be a competitor in the telecommunications or ICT sector ? Why not use the same valuable 20% shares in GT&T ?

 

Some sinister plot has being drafted but we may not learn of the beneficiaries in years to come.

  Its a sad day though, even the workers of the company would not be given a chance to bid for the shares which will be sold in blocs and coupled with that the Union that represents the workers can't even afford a pin - much less to bid for these shares.

Where is the Gold from the Gold Board

For the past five year the Guyana Gold Board has not paid Corporation taxes as required by the Act that governs it.

In three letters written to the Board by the Auditor General's office, it was revealed that the board continues avoiding to make provision in its Accounts for the payment of these taxes.

While both main political parties are well represented on the Guyana Gold Board, neither made any objections to this ongoing issue.

No one could say how much money in Corporation Taxes is owed to the government and if the Gold Board will ever pay it. 

Where is all the Gold that the Gold Board is managing? 

Jamzone and GRA, is there a link?

Jamzone 2010 is a welcome changed to what it was a couple years ago. The youngsters of the promotion group Hits and Jam have outdone themselves this year by not only attracting an international artiste to Guyana but providing a packed entertainment schedule for Guyanese of all walks.

The shows seem to attract the largest Guyanese crowd in the past ten years. 

What Guyanese don't know however, is that while the promoters use their sponsorship and other funds to off set several expenses, Guyanese tax payers are being duped into double paying for several things. 

Tax payers would now have to pay for any repairs even done to the Guyana National Stadium in the in event that the ground will have to undergo changes following the recent shows. Many dont know that.

The Hits and Jams group have been beneficiaries over the past 4 years to duty free concessions to hold these shows, in fact just around Carifesta they were given government funds to pay for the stage that is being used at the stadium, even though the stage is said to be the 'property' of the Culture Ministry.

The Guyana Revenue Authority is notably absent from any of the shows held. 

No entertain tax is being paid and our information suggests that the government is not collecting taxes as required by the VAT act on any of the tickets sold.

How much will our coffers lose out ?

Well the local promotion company paid more than US$100,000 to bring signing sensation Ne-yo to Guyana, which is a small percentage of what they will make minus the taxes.

We are told that more than G$30 million could off set their other expenses (their sponsors take care of that).

The group is expected to make more than $30 million from other ticket sales and shows - all of which is tax free. 

The Guyana Revenue Authority seem to be acting under political directive on this one and no one is asking questions.

Buxton, Bharrat's Bias

"They will not hold me to ransom" says President Bharrat Jagdeo more than 5 years ago when the black dominated village of Buxton sounded a call for his help. Now 2010 close to the 2011 elections, the fearful People's Progressive Party is reaching out to everyone possible with hopes that their hands bearing gifts will blind those disenchanted people.    

Buxton, a village that once earned a livelihood for itself was starved out of resources by this Jagdeo led administration along with the gun men who sought refuge in there. 

Jagdeo only recently preached at the Chinese Arrival Day celebrations on the importance of recognizing our history, went to tell the Buxtonians they must not look back at the past !

A total slap in the face move in addressing the issues facing the people of that village!

The Buxtonians are not alseep but to widen their eyes there are certain demands they must make. Their plight will not be addressed by a single visit by Jagdeo and a few publicity seeking ministers and government advisors.

Buxton needs help to restore its image, educate its young people and be self-sufficient.Farm lands are the answer when you are giving away computers in other parts of the country, a working health clinic with doctors are nurses are needed and don't let Priya Manickchand just focus on single parent vouchers, Priya the army and police killed guilty and innocent men in that village leaving their wives and children to fend on their own, just ask your husband. 

The Children of that village now need counselling more than ever, the same kind you promised Donna Herrod family when she was killed by the army.

We are gonna sit back and see who the Power Drunk Jagdeo will meet with now, our guess is Gordon Moseley.

The Skeldon Estate strike

The 'Working Class' Minister of Agriculture who is part of a government that care for the Sugar Workers have dogged out the Striking sugar workers at the Skeldon Sugar Factory and estates.

Our sources tells us that the workers have on strike for the past week after two senior employees were sent off the job following a fire. The workers felt that the fire was not their fault and their fellow employees should not have been so harshly dealt with.

Minister Robert Persaud had scheduled two visits to the factory this week and has postponed both since our sources said that he does not to have to personally deal with them.

Some union officials believe that a few more of the workers attached to Skeldon estate will be fired since there could be a plot my mischievous persons spreading rumors that some of the workers were planning to burn cane.

The caring PPP government has once again refuse to face the workers and address their plight even worse they have refuse to even meet with their very supporters in the working sugar industry.

Double Standards

Kellawan Lall shot and wounded a young man three years ago,
       about that same time Bheri Ramsarran was accused of sexually assaulting a teenager, 
              Police Commissioner Henry Greene has been linked to more than three Driving under the Influence

But this system of governance is so biased and full of double standards that when a Judge isn't sympathetic to a government he gets targeted.

Whatever happen when the son of a Minister killed a young man driving under the influence, was a warrant issued for him before he offered the $1 million to the boy's family?

 

But, Justice Jainarayan Singh is not known to be a friend of the present administration and its not surprise when his name comes up on the police radar for a traffic office (which we believe is a political gimmick). His daughter was forced out of the Guyana Energy Agency and his son blocked from a job with a foreign agency, so his traffic violation charges come as no surprise. 

Double standards? You judge!

Guyana’s Post-Colonial Plight

The following article is taken from the "In these times" magazine.

Most Americans are unfamiliar with Guyana and its politics, despite the fact that the United States has been influencing events in the small South American nation for decades. Over the past half-century, both the United States and Britain repeatedly intervened in order to frustrate independence and anti-imperialist political movements, including undermining Cheddi Jagan and his Marxist-oriented People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

In recent years, Guyanese politics have become increasingly polarized and intertwined with ethnic divisions, with the country’s African-origin and East Indian-origin peoples at odds. Today, those differences are manifested in the two major political parties, with the PPP largely Indo-Guyanese-based and the People’s National Congress (PNC) largely Afro-Guyanese-based. But the ethnic differences also permeate other aspects of Guyana.

After Guyanese bauxite workers went on strike in November 2009 following failed negotiations over wage increases, I decided to give Professor Perry Mars a call to understand the conflict’s origins. (The conflict, between the Russian-owned Bauxite Company of Guyana Incorporated and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union, remains unresolved.) In the course of our discussion, it became clear that the politics of the strike were directly related to Guyana’s struggle for independence from Britain and the post-colonial political environment. It also became clear that the masses never come out on top when political differences are expressed through ethnic strife.

Originally from Guyana, Mars is currently a professor in Wayne State University’s Department of Africana Studies, where he teaches his specialty, Caribbean politics and culture. He is the author of Ideology and Change: The Transformation of the Caribbean Left and co-author of Caribbean Labor and Politics: Legacies of Cheddi Jagan and Michael Manley.

Have Guyanese politics always been polarized on an ethnic basis?

The origins of ethnic divisiveness in Guyana could be traced to early colonialism with the importation of forced slave labor from Africa and, subsequently, cheap indentured labor from Portuguese Madeira, China, and finally India to work on white-owned sugar plantations. This divisiveness later became fundamental in several ways, including ethnic competition for work on plantations that drove down the price of labor to the great dissatisfaction of Afro-Guyanese workers following emancipation in 1838. Ethnic divisiveness became the fault lines for future political mobilization, competition and conflicts giving rise to serious ethnic-political polarization throughout the country.

How did this ethnic contradiction emerge in the political realm?

The source of ethnic-political polarization could be traced to the 1950s with the dawning of electoral democracy in the country. The debacle started when the British took umbrage at the Marxist PPP’s electoral victory notwithstanding the best efforts of the colonial authorities to upstage the party at the polls through massive financing and support of right wing, pro-British parties. Barely four months after the PPP victory in 1953, the British moved swiftly to suspend the democratic constitution, dismiss the party from office, incarcerate the key party leadership personnel, impose a hand-picked interim government on the people, and engineer a split in the party between what they discerned as “extremists” and “moderates,” which materialized in 1955.

Although the split was initially along ideological/factional lines (Marxists against so-called “moderates”), the ethnic fault lines soon kicked in such that subsequent democratic elections were polarized along strict ethnic lines, principally between East Indians in support of the Jaganite PPP and Afro-Guyanese in support of a break-away faction (which eventually became the PNC) led by Forbes Burnham. The most polarized of the subsequent elections were in 1961 and 1964 — a period which witnessed serious and deadly ethnic-political violence that further intensified with material support to opposition political forces coming from the British and the US via C.I.A. manipulations of labor and political forces in the country.

Subsequently, ethnic polarization spread from the polling booth to embrace the entire country when a variety of ethnically integrated villages in the countryside became emptied of one set of ethnic groups or the other, creating thereby mostly homogenous ethnic villages and communities throughout Guyana.

The 1964 national elections were eventually won by the opposition Burnhamist [PNC] forces, which received British and American material and political support. … Jagan and the PPP were returned to power in the 1992 elections after some 28 years in the political wilderness. But again, in 1992 and in all subsequent elections up to 2006 Guyana saw steep ethnic-polarized voting patterns.

What about Jagan’s role in the ethnicization of Guyanese politics?

Neither Burnham nor Jagan could escape culpability in this ethnic degeneration of Guyana’s politics; Burnham’s collaboration with the British against Jagan at that critical historical point in time was very destructive to the national efforts. But at the same time Jagan’s equal obsession with his supposed right to power - a supposition born of what he regarded as his being “cheated” of electoral victory every time he lost an election - a supposition no doubt also based on his belief in having a legitimate right to the East Indian majority vote in the country—also explains his drift toward ethnic-based and polarized politics in the country. …

Jagan died in 1997, and the PPP and the government has since been dominated by an essentially ethnic dominated leadership that seemed to have totally distanced itself from Jagan’s pro-working class agenda. The productive bases in both the sugar and mining (particularly bauxite) industries, the main pillars of the Guyana economy, are being dismantled in favor of privatized or corporate interests. In the case of bauxite, foreign private corporations with the government’s backing have not only significantly downsized the work force, but have breached standard labor agreements, illegally fired striking workers and de-recognized workers’ unions.

How has this ethnic division played itself out within the working-class movement, specifically, within the union movement?

Much of Caribbean labor became highly politicized in the Cold War context of having to fight continually on two fronts: first to cut across ethnic and religious boundaries; and second, to risk the incarceration of leaders for the violation of laws against trespass and picketing, which prevented union leaders from going into workplaces to discuss workers grievances.

In colonial times, labor unions became closely allied with political parties, beginning around the 1940s when political parties first developed in the British Caribbean. It is within this background context that we begin to understand the potential for political and ethnic divisiveness within the trade union movement in Guyana today. 

These ethnic contradictions escalated into violence, correct?

Yes, the political violence of the 1960s brought a dramatically new dimension to the degree of political-ethnic divisiveness in light of CIA Cold War interventions in Guyanese labor. The violence of the period took on a distinctively ethnic/racial character when groups of killers from both sides of the ethnic divide unleashed a near-civil war situation on the country. The CIA, with the help of the AFL-CIO in the U.S., financed Guyana labor leaders deliberately to foster and encourage this warfare with the objective of ousting the PPP from power. The Guyana trade union movement henceforth became split right down the middle along ethnic cum political lines.

In sum, the history of the Guyana labor movement reflects a parallel experience in relation to partisan political developments in the country. The identical experience with British colonial and U.S. interventionist pressures leading to both ideological and ethnic splits in the political and labor movements have seriously devastated the labor and political landscapes in Guyana today. In labor circles, some of the main charges against the government include the unfair treatment of bauxite workers; … the government’s approach to interventions in labor issues — particularly strikes and workers benefits — the government’s neglect of Afro-Guyanese communities, which remain among the poorest sections of the Guyanese society, and selective ethnic bias and profiling by the state and security forces in the fight against crime and civil/political protest.

What progressive efforts have been undertaken to bridge the ethnic divide between the Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese populations?

Multi-ethnic collaboration or alliances in political or labor movements in Guyana have been most difficult to realize. Yet it is one of those problems that ought to be resolved if Guyana is to get mileage out of political and economic development. The central difficulty resides in the fact that major political and social interests (particularly the two main political parties) derive material and tangible, though usually corrupt, benefits from ethnic divisiveness and conflicts in the society. At the same time, none of the culpable parties accept that they are part of this problem. They often deny that ethnic discrimination and friction applies to their party. Each of the major parties claims to have resolved ethnic conflicts and divisiveness in its midst, and in the society only whenever it is in power. Hence the problem is not seriously recognized by any government in Guyana; always only by the opposition outside government.

However, during their various stints in power both Jagan and Burnham worked seriously to demonstrate their interest in ethnic togetherness in the country. But these earlier approaches failed to successfully bridge the ethnic-political gap in Guyana because the Guyanese masses did not buy into them, and therefore remained divided. This political vacuum brought into play several third parties whose raison d’être became the realization of a more politically unified multi-racial Guyana.

The first of these parties was the United Force (UF), which emerged in the 1960s as a right-wing pro-British party led by a combination of Portuguese, Chinese, and mixed-race elite leadership. And in the 1970s there entered Walter Rodney and his party, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), with a more determined objective to bridge the ethnic and racial gaps in the society, and in pursuit of a more humanistic socialist vision for Guyana. However, the WPA in practice, although represented by a multi-ethnic leadership cadre, was unable to penetrate the steep ethnic polarization that engulfed the country at the time. In 2006 a new party, the Alliance for Change has surfaced, but has so far failed to gain multi-racial support. Today, the idea of a multi-ethnic politics for Guyana is lying on the ropes and desperately needs revival. 

So what is the current situation?

The current atmosphere is a highly tense conflict situation determined by frequent imbalances between levels of state control or repression on the one hand, and levels of opposition, political dissent and resistance on the other. The penchant for state repressive responses to mass protest and dissent is historically rooted in the very authoritarian forms of colonial control, as evidenced by the arbitrary and brutal interventions of colonial governors in the suppression of political conflicts.

Burnham, for his part, took this repressive state approach to further extremes by creating a new military apparatus and army which was nonexistent in colonial times and cultivating a thuggish paramilitary death squad manned by the so-called “religious” grouping, the “House of Israel.” …

In the new millennium, however, things changed. A prison breakout involving violent criminals in 2002 led to the entrenchment of armed criminal gangs who declared themselves “freedom fighters” for the black cause in an Afro-Guyanese village called Buxton. A variety of maneuvers by the new leaders of the post-Jagan PPP government saw some of the most repressive forms of state interventions in Guyana’s history, including the use of torture and the use of the military alongside police forces.

These measures facilitated the emergence of a death squad led by a drug lord to eliminate rival criminal gangs in Buxton, contributing to a broader cycle of violence. Within this repressive context, or perhaps in response to it, a high volume of execution-styled murders and massacres took place, some involving the highest extremes of brutality.

So the situation as of 2010 could be described as a tense stalemate with significant contentious rumblings residing below the surface. The labor movement is again experiencing much turmoil with several major strikes and protests in both the mining (both gold and bauxite) and sugar industries, as the economic hardships of globalization take a toll on the workers.

The leadership structures within both major parties are experiencing much division, discontent and disarray over issues of policy direction. Among the native Amerindians there are divisions over the potential impact of government policies on their communities, particularly involving the issues of climate change and land distribution. Among government leadership circles there are serious pressures to respond to public and international charges of corruption and collusion with the drug barons.

Media stories I have seen seem to imply that the Guyanese state is unraveling.

The country has not reached the stage of being either a fascist or a failed state. Rather, Guyana could best be defined as a fragile state that is very nervous about its own survival and sovereignty in a hostile and hazardous domestic and international terrain. At the same time, it is a situation whereby the political legitimacy of the state and regime is seriously challenged or called into question.

What do you see as possibilities for the future?

The continuous and often violent political and ethnic conflict over the years since the 1960s, particularly since the post-Burnham/Jagan era, has already spawned a crisis of democratic politics and so-called “good governance” in the country. Yet more troubling for the country in the post-Buxton era is the continuing anarchistic-criminalized armed violence among youths in a multiplicity of poor communities, in confrontation with the military impunity (and shoot-to-kill-suspects mentality) cultivated by the armed forces and the state.

Equally disturbing is the emergence of what could be described as a conflict economy in which both criminal and legitimate commercial and business interests emerge and coalesce, and which benefit from the deadly conflicts that feed into the drug trade, money laundering, gun-running, and smuggling including trafficking in people.

Is there any light at the end of this bleak tunnel? A few possible optimistic scenarios seem to be unfolding. The first glimpse of hope resides within the very bosom of both major parties. The existing leadership challenges and dissent within both PPP and PNC camps threw up some very capable individuals who would seem to be outside the corruption net, tend to be relatively independent and universal in outlook, and seem to be seriously interested in bridging the ethnic divide, favoring collaboration across ethnic lines for the good of the country as a whole.

But perhaps the most encouraging development, in terms of lifting Guyana out of its leadership doldrums, is what has been happening within the Guyana labor movement. Here we see stirrings of visionary and bold leadership. The PPP-affiliated sugar workers union (GAWU), which is fighting for better wages and working conditions against the PPP-controlled sugar company, came out in April 2010 in open support for the Afro-Guyanese bauxite workers in their strike and struggle against a foreign union-busting corporation which is apparently protected by the PPP government.

Here we see a ray of hope for the future, particularly if inter-ethnic collaboration and cooperation is realized at the working-class organizational levels as a precursor to stimulating similar developments at the political party and government levels, and eventually reaching all sections of the Guyanese society. In this respect, GAWU would seem to be upholding Jagan’s strong pro-working class objectives as against both state and global interventionist policies, which work against workers’ interests, rights and solidarity.

But whatever future group or party emerges as the popularly and democratically accepted group to govern Guyana, a totally new political and social agenda focusing on shared development needs to be pursued. Official statistics indicate that the poverty rate varies along ethnic lines, with 87 percent and 43 percent of Amerindians and Afro-Guyanese, respectively, as compared with 33 percent of East Indians, living below the poverty line. Shared development — by which I mean the crafting of deliberate policy to [help] poorer communities and disadvantaged groups — will mean the definitive corrective to this imbalance.

_______________
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is a columnist and editorial board member for BlackCommentator.com. He is also a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate past president of TransAfrica Forum, and the co-founder of the Center for Labor Renewal. He is the author of The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Relations, 1934-1941 and co-author of Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice.

Early thieving

Ashni and the PPP are planning an early budget.

Our sources said that the National Budget could be unveiled as early as January as the PPP plans to craw itself back into power using taxpayers money rather than party financing.

The cunning Finance Minister has been planning this move for months and he had begun 'consulting' with a few like minded and political friends to have his way with the budget. There are already projects that are set to some under false pretenses - roads, electricity, sport and even the now famous cable would all be 'catered' for under this budget.

The wary politicians are calling for campaign policing but this 2011 budget will be so difficult to scrutinize that money will be siphoned off right under their noses without them getting a whiff of the dollars. 

Bravo Ashni !  Lets see what this early budget will have in store for us, taxpayers. 

Ramesh Dookhoo - is he awake?

Ramesh Dookhoo has awaken from his slumber. It maybe a bit too late for many voiceless Guyanese, but we welcome the Guyana Private Sector Commission to public debate on transparency, finally. We wonder why it took Dookhoo and the PSC to speak publicly on any other issue as it jumped to speak about the Mariott branding, a pet of the Dr. Champion.

Dookhoo's public stunt leaves lot more to be desired as he calls for more accountability and more information. 

Where was Dookhoo and the PSC when VAT was unleashed (did he and the PSC stand by Correira who endured a tongue lashing by Dr. Jagdeo), What about those budget consultations with the Finance Minister (is the PSC making any presentation for the rest of the business community and its workers, what about Tax Reform, is this on the PSC agenda to pursue, Why cant Dookhoo and the PSC ask more questions about Jagdeo's cable from Brazil, Amaila's Falls, the City's Inability to garner more funds to sustain the city and crime. 

Why is Dookhoo suddenly picking on the Marriot branding when there is a public spat between Dr. Champion and Robert Badal. 

Dr. Champion is swaying everyone's head about the need for a Marriot Hotel when he cannot even convince himself there is a need for such a hotel or there will be tourists to full and sustain it. 

Dookhoo save your breathe for much more pertinent issues please.