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Freedom of Information Act inevitable but in time
-- Prime Minister Hinds
By Tajeram Mohabir
PRIME Minister Samuel Hinds yesterday assured that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is inevitable in Guyana.
But it is a matter of time and preparations in getting there, he said, after a Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) press briefing in its Brickdam, Georgetown library.
Mr. Hinds contended that Guyanese are currently enjoying about 80 to 90 per cent of what an FOIA delivers.
“We are making things available, a lot of information is available, so one, maybe, is also enjoying, in Guyana, what the act entails,” he told reporters.
The issue of the legislation was raised last week at the Guyana Parliament and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) sponsored workshop for local parliamentarians and media practitioners at Grand Coastal Inn, Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara.
Hinds said, even though Government recognised the need for the law, at that forum there were presentations on the increased volume of work, recording, as well as storage and coverage of required information.
In addition, personal issues, which should not be included in the statute, were discussed and reference was made to England where, before the enactment, there were laws governing secrecy and confidentiality, he observed.
Asked if Alliance for Change (AFC) Co-Leader Raphael Trotman’s proposed bill, tabled in the National Assembly in 2006, would be passed should it resurface, Hinds reiterated that timing and sequencing is required, because issues of privacy and overriding will have to be taken into account.
He said that was done in England and Trinidad and Tobago to contain certain areas of personal interest and, in that case, where issues of significance, including sales of arms that had aspects of political relations and closeness, business, industry and jobs, had to be kept secret for certain investigations.
“I presume that, with any government in Guyana, there may be occasions when we may want to take similar deliberate actions, too,” Hinds remarked.
Infrastructural, technical capacities of present Parliament ‘are the best they have ever been’
- Minister Ramsammy
‘People who come from abroad to lecture us ought to be more careful in trying to understand from whence we came’
THE recently concluded workshop on Parliament and the Media attracted much interest and some persons have chosen to use the event to cast a bad light on the functioning of Guyana's Parliament and its role in the country’s democracy.
Minister of Health Dr. Leslie Ramsammy said he even noticed one of the resource persons from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) team stating that it is an embarrassment for any democratic government not to have a Freedom of Information Act.
But the Minister, in a response yesterday, chided that: ‘People who come from abroad to lecture us ought to be more careful in trying to understand from whence we came.’
&Guyana's Parliament today cannot be compared to the Parliament in any other era of our history… for both Parliament and the Media, we have attained the highest level of development ever in our history as a country’
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He pointed out that Guyana's Parliament today cannot be compared to the Parliament in any other era in the history of this country, and that for both Parliament and the Media, Guyana has attained the highest level of development ever in its history as a country.
Ramsammy also declared that the governing People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) is very proud of its stewardship of Guyana's National Assembly.
“It is a genuine institution of our fledgling democracy, making a sharp detour from the shameful place it occupied between 1964 and 1992,” the health minister said.
The following is the full text of the response issued yesterday by Minister Leslie Ramsammy:
‘The recently concluded workshop on Parliament and the Media attracted much interest and some persons have chosen to use the event to cast a bad light on the functioning of Guyana's Parliament and its role in our democracy.
I noticed one of the resource persons from the CPA team, a Canadian from Article 19, stated that it is an embarrassment for any democratic government not to have a Freedom of Information Act.
‘The PPP/C is very proud of its stewardship of Guyana's National Assembly. It is a genuine institution of our fledgling democracy, making a sharp detour from the shameful place it occupied between 1964 and 1992’
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There are many countries without a Freedom of Information Act. The Freedom of Information Act is helpful, but does not guarantee access to information.
Unless the infrastructure for information gathering and archiving exists, freedom to information is always restricted.
The advocacy for freedom of information in Guyana is a legacy of the PPP/C. The fact that the AFC has introduced a Bill in Parliament does not give them that title. The PNC has no moral voice in this. It controlled the Parliament with a mighty hand and prohibited information flow through various means.
The PPP/C Government's position on the FOI Act is that it is inevitable. The FOI is part of the PPP/C Government's parliamentary agenda. However, the FOI is not the only way of accessing information. It would enhance the flow of information in our country and it is in this context that we support the FOI.
The distraction being sought by the Opposition and the ill-advised position taken by some of the resource persons fail to recognize that Guyana's Parliament has evolved into a strong participatory parliament that provides several mechanisms for information flow. These provide already a powerful environment for information access.
For example, the ability for parliamentarians to ask questions, both without notice and with notice and both for oral and written answers is one way for Parliamentarians who do their homework to extract information from Ministers. There are examples from the 9th Parliament to demonstrate this possibility.
The standing sector committees represent another opportunity for Parliamentarians to seek answers and to extract information. The existing Parliament has Standing Sector Committees, some of which are chaired by the Opposition.
These were established after the reformed constitution in 2000/2001. But the PPP/C Government had moved since June 16th 1994 to establish Standing Sector Committees.
The PPP/C initiated the amendment of the Standing Orders by the addition of Section 70A to provide for Standing Committees to enact the vision of President Cheddi Jagan of a truly deliberative body monitoring Government. Unfortunately, the first attempt by the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Honourable Clement Rohee, to establish a Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs met with less than enthusiastic response from the Opposition.
They were absent from most of the meetings. As a result we had to wait until the reforms to the Constitution in 2000/2001 to get this process going with the recommendation for the establishment of Sector Committees, which were enshrined in Section 119B of the Constitution.
The Constitution makes provision for the establishment of various human rights commissions (Article 212G) and commissions that add to financial and procurement accountability (212W) and the appointments of members for these commissions and their functioning are in various ways under the control of the National Assembly.
The Human Rights Commission that oversees Commissions for Indigenous Peoples, Children, Women and Gender Equality and Ethnic Relations not only create avenues for shared political responsibility in terms of appointments, but also expand the inclusiveness principle by extending governance to civic society.
The Ethnic Relations Commission has been functioning for more than four years now. It is unfortunate, that we have not been able to appoint the other Commissions as yet. Importantly, these commissions can order investigations into a number of issues, creating another avenue for information gathering.
These are not all ideal mechanisms. But they are also not trivial mechanisms. Guyana's democracy is still a fledgling one. We have just only celebrated our 42nd Independence Anniversary. For almost 26 years of this period, Guyana experienced a period in which all democratic institutions in our country – the Parliament, the Judiciary, Elections Commissions, the media and other institutions – saw an erosion of their independence.
Guyana has spent the last 16 years trying to restore the transparency and independence of these institutions so that they can play their part in the strengthening of our democracy.
Thus, our democratic capacity building has been a very short period. This is in stark contrast to the developed countries where they have had centuries of development of their democratic institutions and practices.
Even in CARICOM countries, they have had a longer period of development since Guyana lost almost 26 years due to the "paramountcy of the party" principle.
For both Parliament and the Media, we have attained the highest level of development ever in our history as a country – pre-and post--independence.
Guyana's Parliament today cannot be compared to the Parliament in any other era of our history.
The PPP/C Government from day one had set in motion a menu of actions intended to improve the functioning of the National Assembly and to enhance its role in strengthening and sustaining Guyana's democracy.
In this context, we must consider the financing of this important body. In 1992, the Parliament received a budget allocation of $12.5M.
This was an election year and it represented the highest allocation ever to Parliament by the PNC Government. This allocation did not cater for any capital expenditure by Parliament.
The PPP/C Government has consistently increased the budget to Parliament and this year the allocation in the 2008 Budget Estimates is almost $800M.
Every year since 1993, the PPP/C Government has allocated money for capital works. The fact is the infrastructural and technical capacities of the present Parliament are the best they have ever been.
The functioning of the Speaker of the National Assembly is critical for the National Assembly to play its role as an important institution of a democracy.
No one could say that the Speaker of the National Assembly is a "creature" of the Government.
For sure the Speaker was elected after being nominated by the PPP/C. The Speaker is actually a member of the PPP/C. It is true in all democracies that the governing party is able to have its nominee elected as Speaker of the National Assembly.
But the present Speaker is no "creature" of the governing party. He acts in accordance with the Standing Orders and with well-established parliamentary practices. He is not beholden to the governing party and he has acted with impartiality in the House.
The Public Accounts Committee is one that has always existed. But for more than a decade, it had no work to do since the Auditor General's Report was unavailable for it to scrutinize. Since 1993, the PAC has met and considered every Auditor General's Report and is the most up-to-date PAC in the Caribbean. In addition, the Auditor General no longer reports to the Minister of Finance, but to Parliament directly, through the PAC.
There are still on-going reforms within our Parliament. Workshops, like the just concluded ones, are meant to further the process of reforms and to strengthen Guyana's Parliament. It is continuing Parliamentary reform process. Further changes are now inevitable. But the changes will be additional changes, adding to many other changes that have occurred over the last 16 years. Thus, the Parliamentary reform movement in Guyana is not a phenomenon waiting to occur.
The PPP/C is very proud of its stewardship of Guyana's National Assembly. It is a genuine institution of our fledgling democracy, making a sharp detour from the shameful place it occupied between 1964 and 1992.
People who come from abroad to lecture us ought to be more careful in trying to understand from whence we came.
Three hurt, cars wrecked at numerous accidents scene
By Shirley Thomas
A COLLISION, between an ‘Oasis Ride’ taxi and a private car, at the junction of North Road and New Garden Street, Georgetown, yesterday left three persons injured and the two motor vehicles wrecked.
Those who suffered injuries are Manav Boodhoo, 32, of Bouganvilla Apartments, Farm, East Bank Demerara, who was driving HB 5606; Kevin Vyfhuis, 32, of Lot 144 D’Urban Street, who was at the wheel of PGG 4349 and a woman, only name given as Hazel, also employed by Guyana Power & Light (GPL), who was with Vyfhuis.
The accident occurred around 11:30h when Vyfhuis was proceeding West along North Road and the hire car South on New Garden Street.
The impact caused the taxi to end up in the nearby North Road trench and Vyphuis’s car against a lamp post.
Boodhoo was taken out of his vehicle by passersby who expressed surprise that Vyfhuis emerged alive from his badly damaged car, in which he was strapped to the seat belt and had difficulty freeing himself.
Vyfhuis was hurt in the chest and shoulders and endured abrasions while Boodhoo complained of pain in his limbs, cuts and bruises.
The woman casualty had cuts to the face among other injuries.
Meanwhile, at the scene where there have been numerous accidents over the years, some experienced motorists lamented that the concrete rail on the bridge across New Garden Street poses a serious problem because of its height.
They said drivers travelling South along New Garden Street usually have difficulty seeing other vehicles moving West on North Road, until they are almost in their path.
ACP countries bullied into submission by EU
-- President tells GBTI’s second biennial business forum
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has again expressed his dissatisfaction that African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries were bullied into submission in agreeing to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU).
The agreement has already been initialled by the ACP countries and the Guyanese Head of State was adamant that the EU put a time frame on the agreement and did not allow enough time to the ACP for certain considerations to be made and for certain preparations by the countries.
The President was at the time addressing a large group of persons in the business sector and representatives of international organisations such as the European Commission and regional bodies at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI’s) 2nd Biennial Business Forum yesterday at the Le Meridien Pegasus hotel in Georgetown.
&Let us admit that we were a junior partner in these negotiations, that Europe had all the trump cards. When they didn’t have the trump cards, they negotiated in bad faith. Let us accept that rather than try to defend every element of it,” the President told the gathering after listening to the feature address by Deputy Senior Director of the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) body and one of Guyana’s former Ministers of Finance, Mr. Carl Greenidge.
Greenidge had not agreed to specific aspects of the President’s analysis of the situation surrounding the agreement during his address as he contended that the ACP countries were fully aware that non-reciprocity was removed years before and it was sacrificed since the previous COTONOU agreement which they had signed on to.
The President had noted that non reciprocity was important as most of the issues in the earlier rounds of negotiation had already benefited the developed world.
“This round is supposed to be the development round. This is the round that the developing countries are supposed to see some benefit from so…I feel that the issue of non-reciprocity as a development tool which we fought for is very important.”
&Frankly speaking, I’m not happy here now in spite of all the people who call us old fashioned and we’re out of sync with the times. I’m not happy that we gave it up because the circumstances in our countries have not been transformed,” President Jagdeo emphasised.
Held under the theme ‘The Cariforum/EU, EPA – The Challenge to Transform’ at the Le Meridien Pegasus, the forum also featured addresses by Dr Henry Jeffrey, Minister of Foreign Trade and International Cooperation; and CRNM officials - Messrs Nigel Durrant, Technical Analyst; Mr. Lincoln Price, Private Sector Liaison and Ms Natallie Rochester, Services Analyst.
The well-attended seminar at which Prime Minister Sam Hinds, Chief Executive Officer of GBTI, Mr. Radhakrishna Sharma, members of the Diplomatic Corps, and other senior and junior GBTI staffers were present, targeted members of the business community, producers and exporters, regulatory agencies, non-governmental organizations, cultural artistes and members of the academic community.
The EPA replaces the trading arrangements in the Cotonou Agreement arrived at between a grouping of African Caribbean Pacific (AFC) countries and the EU in 2000 and which expired at the end of December last year. Cariforum comprises CARICOM countries and the Dominican Republic.
PRAGMATIC, SELFISH and NARROW
Noting that he views the position as purely “pragmatic, selfish and narrow”, as he did not want to subject exports from Guyana to the tariffs, President Jagdeo said ACP countries were bullied into submission into agreeing to the EPA with the EU.
He is of the view that some leaders, rather than basically trying to defend something that many of them had publicly expressed concerns about, need to make the people more aware of the agreement.
As for Guyana, President Jagdeo said there is need for this country to address the strategy of competitiveness, noting that to be internationally competitive, issues such as time and cost in doing business, harnessing of the tax system, the availability of financing to businesses, as well as facilitating trade and infrastructure among others, must be looked at.
These, President Jagdeo stressed, will have to be addressed whether or not Guyana is a signatory to the EPA and if it wants to position the country in a way that it can grow welfare and make greater profit for the private sector.
And on the issue of liberalization, President Jagdeo said reciprocity is a very important development tool, as non-reciprocity recognizes there were differences in the capacity of the country to trade, in their levels of development, institutions and size of enterprise to trade.
Reiterating that while the circumstances in countries have not being transformed, he stressed that it is not trade policies that matters but what happens to build capacity.
Mr. Greenidge, a former Minister of Finance under the PNC Government, who had different views on some of the sentiments offered by the President, said there is need for the region to be careful to distinguish reciprocity was part of the agreement.
For him, among issues which are a cause for concern include the length of time the region has taken to establish the CSME, the concentration of the Caribbean on tourism and the nature of trading agreements to the preferential markets.
Greenidge argued that the EPA is imbedded and is an extension of the Cotonou Agreement, and said among its advantages are -- it contains chapters in agriculture and fisheries that speak to objectives of sustainable development competitiveness, poverty eradication, food security, diversification, additional market access, duty-free and quota-free access for all products.
Under the new agreement, which he said also helps the region to address issues by providing safeguards; Cariforum states will have duty-free and quota-free access to all goods exported to EU markets, with the exception of sugar, rice and bananas, where a short transitional arrangement is in place.
The EU will also open 94 per cent of its services sector to the region, but in return, More Developed Countries will grant 75 per cent access to the EU while the Less Developed Countries (LDC) will have 65 per cent access of the services sector.
In addition, Cariforum has also undertaken to eliminate the duties on 82 per cent of its imports from Europe in the first 10 to 15 years of the EPA.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Sharma -- GBTI’s Chief Executive Officer -- gave a vision of the forum, and said the bank recognized the importance of local businesses becoming more aware of the challenges and opportunities within the various sectors that arise from the ever-changing internal and external environment.
As such, yesterday’s activity, the second to be hosted by the Bank (the first two years ago), was viewed as a tool for aiding the growth and development of the local business sector.
Sharma noted that the EPA highlights a number of issues which Guyana needs to be vigilant about, among them issues of sustainable development, good governance and intellectual property rights, which if properly addressed, could open new business opportunities for all. (Wendella Davidson)
Delta a dream come true
- Minister Prashad
By Priya Nauth
MINISTER of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, Mr. Manniram Prashad has posited that the introduction of airline giant Delta Airlines is as a result of the increase of visitors’ arrival here and the country’s progress.
He made this pitch at the launching of Delta Airlines in Guyana last Saturday evening at the Le Meridien Pegasus, Kingston, Georgetown.
Welcoming the international carrier on stream, he noted that this is a dream come through for Guyana with non-stop service from New York to Guyana.
“Because for a very long time we have been trying to get an international airline back into Guyana and the only reason they are here is because they are seeing tremendous progress in the country…they have seen the increase in visitors’ arrival over the last few years,” he noted.
“This is despite the little irritants that we may have now and then and some of the serious problems like so many other countries that Delta operates in,” Prashad said.
“Delta is very special to us because Delta is a very progressive airline internationally and in the last two years they have included 25 new destinations especially in the Caribbean and Latin American part of the world,” he posited.
The minister noted that Guyana is a new kid on the block in tourism mainly nature tourism, adventure tourism and eco tourism.
He said now if visitors from North America and Europe wish to visit an eco tourism destination, persons are now thinking about whether they should go to Costa Rica, Belize or Guyana.
“So it seems that we have arrived in a sense, but success is a journey not a destination and we have to work very hard and I think in partnership with Delta we will go a far way,” he said.
Another stride, Prashad noted, is that a lot of infrastructure work has been done to improve the Cheddi Jagan International Airport to ensure service.
“About 18 months ago we had a stock of hotel rooms just about 300 now after Cricket World Cup (CWC), we have got over 3000 rooms and there were some skeptics during CWC season about what will happen after CWC, that we would not have enough people to fill these hotels,” he explained.
However, he pointed out that the Le Meridien Pegasus Hotel was filled to capacity last summer because of the influx of Guyanese returning in large numbers.
“Right now as we are preparing for the Tenth Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta X), the Carifesta fever is on and people are booking, over 1,500 hotel rooms are booked already for Carifesta…27 countries have already signed on for Carifesta and they are booking directly to these hotels,” he attested.
“… the future looks great for Guyana, very soon in two weeks time there will be a ground breaking ceremony for an international hotel, a name brand hotel and a Memorandum of Understanding will be signed shortly for another big hotel,” he revealed.
The minister also informed that the Ministry is currently engaged in discussions with another very reputable international carrier about possible operations in Guyana.
“So why this sudden interest in Guyana -- because Guyana is on the move, we are doing well and people with vision are looking ahead and planning and they are taking advantage of the situation now to come into Guyana,” he alluded.
He also added that the tourism industry is growing at a rapid rate noting that three years ago nobody thought of birding as a big aspect of tourism.
Prashad noted that a birding programme was launched and Guyana has over 800 species of birds 200 of which are found in Georgetown.
He said it is a record for any capital in the world to have 200 species of bird.
“We are rated as one of the best birding destinations in the world in a very short time,” the minister exhorted.
Delta Airlines Sales Manager, Mr. Junior Horatio said that Delta will be the first global United States (U.S.) carrier to have come into Guyana since Pan American and British Airways.
“I believe everyone in Guyana is looking forward to quite a rewarding experience travelling on Delta with its connectivity into the United States (U.S.) and its ability to take one to many worldwide destinations,” he alluded.
“And I am quite sure that the Guyanese public will feel extremely relieved to have an operation that is reliable, that is safe and that is noteworthy.” Horatio stated.
He said that air transportation is very critical to the development of any country and particularly for Guyana, a developing country.
Regional Sales Officer and Government Affairs- Bermuda, Caribbean, Central America and Guyana, Mr. Miguel Lopez said that the increase in flights over the last two years has made Delta company the largest expansion ever in the international sector with worldwide destinations.
Delta Airlines over the last two years have added more international capacity than any other major U.S. airline and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 38 trans-Atlantic markets.
Delta offers more than 478 weekly flights to 58 destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America and through its marketing alliances; customers can earn and redeem Sky Miles on nearly 16,409 flights offered by Sky Team and other partners.
Delta, a founding member of Sky Team, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services and along with other partners offers flights to 474 worldwide destinations in 104 countries.
Delta began operations on Sunday with three flights per week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and there will be an increase from July 1.
Delta has appointed Della Air Services as the General Sales Agents headed by Mr. Horatio and his team who will be responsible for the daily operations of the Reservations and Ticketing Office located at 126 Carmichael Street, Georgetown.
PM Hinds reiterates punitive measures for mining irregularities
By Tajeram Mohabir
PRIME Minister Samuel Hinds yesterday warned that, while the mining sector has been making significant gains over the years, irregularities among small and medium gold and diamond miners will not be tolerated.
He told reporters, at a press briefing convened in the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Library, on Brickdam, Georgetown, that the time has passed for miners to be educated on the conscientious use of mercury and punitive sanctions will be imposed for its wanton exploit.
Mr. Hinds said, in the case of muddied water, all operations will be discontinued and punishment will be inflicted on those who are guilty of more than one infraction.
The interaction, with other senior officials including GGMC Commissioner William Woolford present, was also to solicit media support for advancing the agency’s agenda and addressing key areas of concern.
The Prime Minister emphasised that GGMC welcomes constructive criticisms on related activities but said some reports in the press were exaggerated and are unhelpful to the situation.
He said small and medium scale gold and diamond mining have been progressing steadily but, of late, running ahead into a situation which demands the sub-sector rises to a new level.
Hinds pointed out that some 700 separate operations are ongoing in various parts of the country and provides direct employment to about 10,000 people.
He said those employed for the past 15 years have been responsible for increasing the less than 100,000 ounces of gold and 50,000 carats of diamonds per year declared to about 250,000 ounces of gold and the same amount of diamond carats today.
“Over this time, production, too, has moved largely from missile dredges in rivers to operations on land,” Hinds observed.
At the end of last month, the declaration of 98,000 ounces of gold earned the country US$85M but 84,225 diamond carats reported were lower than expected because the product was rigorously scrutinised to ensure it was mined here, he disclosed.
Hinds said he believes a large percentage of gold and diamonds mined here pass through the GGMC and allegations of them being smuggled out of Guyana undeclared are more a matter of policing but he maintained concern over the declaring of diamonds.
According to him, there is a situation in which many new operators are doing things for the first time with unintended or unexpected results which cannot be tolerated.
He said a unit was established in GGMC, some 15 years ago, to address environmental issues and has enforced several tough sanctions which were not publicised.
But Hinds said that a number of mining operations were closed in 2001 because of the intolerable conditions in the Mazuruni River.
On that occasion, he recalled that, three weeks after, eight of the 10 operations there were able to convert some of their pits to ponds and reduce the turbidity (muddiness in the water) that was escaping into the river.
Hinds said miners have called for a separate minister to exclusively champion their cause but explained that the sector has had programmes with the Canadian Agency for International Development (CIDA) and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to improve the operations.
“The sector is important to us, but there are very great difficulties involved; difficulty of at least 700 separate operations in many places across the country, so the challenge to manage and stay abreast with what all those 10,000 people (the employees in the sub-sector) are doing is a real one,” he admitted.
However, Hinds assured that GGMC is constantly working to keep miners within the rules and, in the case of the environment, new rules were introduced as the situation requires.
“We have introduced rules on the turbidity of the discharge of any water leaving the operations. It must be no more than 30 NTU (turbidity units). We have had, for some time, programmes to educate small miners on the responsible use of mercury,” he reiterated.
He said much interest is being paid to the restoration of lands disturbed by mining and the time has to be shorter, from the start of clearing and mining, to lessen erosions and promote re-vegetation at a faster rate.
Hinds commended the restoration process undertaken by Omai Gold Mines Limited (OGML), which is presently continuing but acknowledged that, while, previously, “we largely depended on natural restoration, it now has to be done consciously and deliberately.”
He also confirmed that, of the total number of persons in the sector, 1,000 are Brazilians who do not own lands and are tenants of Guyanese.
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