In the Diaspora
Stabroek News. December 1, 2008 @ 5:03 am In Daily, Features | 4 Comments
‘Ever so welcome, wait for a call’
(This is one of a series of fortnightly columns from Guyanese in the diaspora and others with an interest in issues related to Guyana and the Caribbean)
By Arif Bulkan
Arif Bulkan is an attorney-at-law and lecturer in the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies in Barbados
For those who might have missed it, that was the message Prime Minister of Barbados David Thompson had for aspiring Guyanese immigrants to his island. And even though it was brutally frank, to his credit the PM had the honesty (some might say the temerity even) to deliver it in Guyana itself. At the annual awards ceremony of the Guyana Manufacturers Association, where he was an invited guest, Thompson acknowledged his own Guyanese roots and paid the usual lip service to the myth of regional integration, but there was no sugar coating his ultimate message: “Would-be Guyanese immigrants, don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
That such candour could be brazenly displayed before a Guyanese audience was not an indication of how far Barbadians have come from their legendary politeness. It was, more than anything else, a reflection of the growing xenophobia inescapably present in public discourse on the subject of immigration here in Barbados. Just recently, Barbados’ Ambassador to Caricom Denis Kellman addressed UN officials in New York in the same vein, bemoaning increasing immigrant numbers as a “headache” for Barbadians.
When pressed, officials point to the pressures of an increasing population upon limited resources, which span the spectrum from jobs and scarce land to social services like health care and education. Spiralling unemployment (the latest figures from the Barbadian Central Bank put this at 8.6%), congested roads and declining standards in some sectors have all been blamed at one time or another on the influx of immigrants. A recent news report revealed contamination in the ground water supply, attributing this to the unhygienic habits of squatters in certain districts. The same report clarified painstakingly that those squatters were all illegal immigrants, and though the origin of the immigrants was not specified, it is no secret that the honour belongs to Guyanese.
But while some mask their objections with talk of contaminated water and diminishing jobs, at another level the debates take an uglier turn. It is not unusual to hear, even on radio talk shows, references to Guyanese being unwelcome because of our “alien culture” and practices of worshiping “idols” and “false Gods.” Jandhi flags, a commonplace sight across much of Guyana, are a particular sore point here – a flapping reminder of interlopers in their midst. All the talk of alien culture, of course, is code for the racial insecurity felt by a homogeneous population for increasing numbers of East Indian immigrants.
Probe beneath the surface, however, and the arguments (as distinct from the visceral prejudices) make no sense. Ambassador Kellman predicted that because the Barbadian population has exceeded its optimum level, continuing immigration will be harmful for immigrants themselves. If so, one would expect the market to regulate itself, but what evidence there is actually indicates the contrary. My few Barbadian acquaintances all speak highly of Guyanese labourers, and it is clear that Guyanese continue to be hired, particularly in key sectors such as the construction industry, agriculture, nursing, teaching and domestic labour, because of our skills and reputed work ethic. A national survey conducted this year by sociology students at the University of the West Indies concluded that Barbadians are “lazy and licorish” – and though one may recoil at such stereotypes, the point is that immigration is linked to the unabated demand for certain services. No doubt this is because locals are unable or unwilling to do certain types of jobs, in which case it is supremely hypocritical to criticize immigrants as taking jobs away from Barbadians.
This, of course, is the heart of the matter. If unwanted immigration was such a national problem, then there would presumably be lawful avenues for dealing with it. Employers could conceivably be monitored to ensure that their employees are documented and that labour laws are not flouted. But one cannot ignore the possibility that the exploitation of illegal immigrants by underpaying them is overlooked not only because they are foreigners, but also because the practice results in lower production costs to the benefit of some in the society. Ultimately, there exists a degree of irrationality in the debates on immigration, even the arguments propounded by those of the ilk of Ambassador Kellman. Squatters do not drive cars, so illegal immigrants cannot be the source of both urban congestion and rural environmental disaster. If jobs did not exist then immigrants would not be flocking to these shores – beautiful though they are. And if the PM and his government really viewed illegal immigration as an economic threat, they would implement corrective policies instead of merely complaining about it.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy in all this is that Guyanese have to suffer this hostility in silence. The few whom I’ve asked about their decision to come and remain here all cite the same reason – the economic benefits to be had and the unparalleled security of Barbadian society. Crime, though present, does not exist in all of the horrific manifestations to which we are subject on a daily basis in Guyana. One friend of mine reduced it starkly to the fact that as a senior loans officer in Guyana he was forever “scrunting,” whereas here, after only a few years in an equivalent position, he was able to buy a new car and build a house in a residential and peaceful neighbourhood.
Are such goals forever out of reach for the average Guyanese in Guyana? Since Guyana is blessed with abundant land that could well underpin a policy aimed at staunching the population hemorrhage. In this regard, Guyanese leaders would do well to emulate the progressive social welfare policies that exist in Barbados, where in spite of alleged rising unemployment and a tiny, almost non-existent agricultural sector, there is no starvation, and little poverty or landlessness. Part of the reason for that is the free availability of excellent social services combined with a truly democratic approach to land and home ownership. Near where I live a land redistribution project two decades ago was undertaken to benefit lower income Barbadians, even though the location was the site of the choicest real estate in the country – on a ridge with a stunning view of the west coast and only minutes away from the city centre. I am not advocating anything remotely similar for Guyana, where in any case comparable land (think Pradoville) would be priced out of the reach of the average Guyanese. However, a good start would be to regularize the myriad squatting areas that exist along the length and breadth of the country. If salaries of teachers and nurses cannot be increased, then at least measures can be formulated to cushion the impact of the high cost of living and VAT.
It was reported in the Barbadian press that at the same GMA awards ceremony where Thompson uninvited Guyanese, President Jagdeo replied that he “could appreciate the challenges Barbados faced with the number of Guyanese” travelling there to work. This was an astonishing response, because one would have hoped that our President could empathise – not with Barbados’ perceived problems – but more with the challenges his own people face that force them to live like refugees outside of Guyana.
Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com
URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/features/in-the-diaspora-45/
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Venezuela’s OECS initiative
Venezuela’s OECS initiative
Stabroek News. December 3, 2008 @ 5:01 am In Editorial
News that the Government of Venezuela has sought membership of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will have come as a surprise to most people. That Venezuela has had a long interest in the Eastern Caribbean islands is well known. Governments of whatever political stripe – Accion Democratica or the Christian Democratic Party, sent representatives to the islands soon after they attained Associated Statehood status from the United Kingdom, as a half-way house to the independence. With independence full embassies were established in most of the states.
In the 1970s and 1980s Venezuelan governments took an active interest in the countries, offering economic assistance of various kinds, seeking to have their private sector find a place in the countries’ import patterns, and to some extent seeking active investment opportunities. With the rise of the Windward Islands banana industries for example, a joint venture was established between the Venezuelan private sector and the Windward Islands governments to provide boxes and packaging materials for that business. The enterprise still survives. The Venezuelan national airline soon began moving through the islands, reflecting an early Venezuelan interest in gaining a part of the transport business in the anglophone Caribbean. And in 1975, it was the St Lucian Prime Minister John Compton, who, in the face of difficulty in finding regional solutions to the problems of LIAT not dissimilar to those that exist today, led a delegation to Venezuela, seeking and obtaining assistance that led to the consolidation of the airline as LIAT (1975) Limited.
The second half of the 1970s into the ’80s saw an active interest by Venezuela’s Accion Democratica’s President Carlos Andres Perez in the social democratic orientations which some of the English-speaking islands were taking, including the casting of a wary eye by Andres Perez on the People’s Revolutionary Government’s Marxist orientation in Grenada. It was no secret that, in those days, Venezuelan governments were as concerned about what was developing in Grenada in much the same manner as Dr Eric Williams was. They adopted, like the Trinidad Prime Minister a watching, though muted, eye on that country. Further, a certain dual interest of the two main political parties began to emerge in Venezuela as many Caribbean parties and governments divided themselves between the Socialist International and the Christian Democratic Party organization of Europe. And in 1990, when the attempted Muslimeen coup against Mr ANR Robinson’s government in Trinidad occurred, President Perez, into his second term of office, sought consultations with representatives of Caricom governments on the morrow of the Caricom Heads of Government held in Jamaica.
One sticky matter has, since the 1970s, stuck out in relations between governments of Venezuela and the smaller islands of the region, this being the Venezuelan assertion of ownership of Aves or Bird Island in the north-east Caribbean. This act has been seen as compromising the extent of the external economic zones of some of the islands. To the island governments, a rigidity in the Venezuelan position on this question which included the latter country’s refusal to adhere to the new United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), was a deliberate attempt at creating a situation of stalemate in relation to their own negotiating positions after independence. But of course, they were aware that the Venezuelan rigidity related not only to their concerns, but to those of her neighbour Colombia.
These small countries, however, were not unmindful of the fact that the United States also had not signed the UNCLOS, but that that country, along with France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands had gone ahead and signed delimitation agreements pertaining to the Caribbean Sea with Venezuela. The fact that the elephants have delimited the turf, unmindful of the concerns of the smaller animals, has not gone unremarked by the OECS countries which, despite periodic noises about Aves Island, appear to have largely accepted the status quo. They would of course have recognized the Cold War context of that delimitation, and the NATO countries’ concerns to put their own geopolitical concerns above those of the small island-states of the neighbourhood. In that context, it is not surprising that larger Caricom states, no doubt including Guyana, look somewhat askance at the OECS’s de facto stance on this matter; and that they have been further exercised by suggestions that Dominica, for example, is prepared to turn a blind eye to the Venezuelan position, in return for much needed aid. To use a favourite phrase of Dr Eric Williams, “If the [US-NATO] sheik could play, who is me!”
The recession that struck Venezuela in the ’90s, during the regime of Carlos Andres Perez muted Venezuelan diplomatic and economic-technical assistance in the OECS islands, and most representatives in the states almost, at one time, attained a kind of diplomatic invisibility. But it is, of course the rise of President Chávez which has raised the Venezuelan profile in the islands, as a result of what he might give Caribbean Basin states.
The President will have noted the long-standing Cuban presence in the form of diplomatic and technical personnel in the OECS states. But this presence was substantially ideologically neutralized after the overthrow of the PRG in Grenada, and the consequent lessened US concern about any ideological and political effects of Cuban influence after the dissolution of the world socialist system and the Soviet Union itself. The United States indeed raised its profile and grant of largesse in the OECS after the overthrow of the PRG, but there was a rapid diminution of this after the end of the Cold War.
From that period, it has undoubtedly been the case that the OECS states have felt neglected or ignored by the major powers, a situation exacerbated by Europe’s inability to maintain longstanding levels of banana exports from the Windward Islands, and aggravated by the Americans’ insistence on support for the Latin American case on ACP banana exports to Europe. The result has been a ‘catch-as-catch-can’ stance to foreign economic assistance – a stance which has once more come to include entreaties to an assertive Venezuela (recall that in the mid-1970s Dr Eric Williams pronounced strongly on the (to him) assertiveness of Venezuela in the Caribbean – though his barbs were thrown not at the smaller islands, but largely at Michael Manley’s Jamaica) – calling the Venezuelan policies a “threat to the Caribbean Community.”
Dr Williams spoke, at the time, in the context of a certain disarray among Caricom governments – in particular Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana – over what he thought were agreed plans for the joint use of the bauxite, natural gas and hydroelectric resources of Caricom, and Venezuela and Mexico’s proposal for a similar arrangement with Jamaica in particular.
It would not be far-fetched to say that the present Venezuelan ‘join OECS’ initiative comes in the midst of a not similar, but certainly a kind of Caricom disarray once again. One need hardly refer to the significance of the PetroCaribe, and in some measure the Bolivarian Alternative (ALBA) initiatives for many Caricom states – large and small. Nor to what is apparently an increasing feeling among the OECS states that the arrangements made for a Caricom Single Market and Economy do not indicate much promise as far as their own economic development is concerned, and that consequently they feel somewhat on their own in the present big, bad world.
In more cohesive times, it could (or should) have been the case that the OECS, on receiving such a request from Venezuela, would after initial consideration, have announced that they would proceed to consult within the framework of Caricom on this matter. But this has not been said.
On the other hand, few would believe that the OECS states, even though flattered and buoyed by the Trinidad & Tobago approach for some form of economic union and political integration, would for one moment accept that they can play that game with Venezuela – under Chávez or anybody else.
This is the reality. And the sooner the Caricom states as a group seriously begin to ponder the significance of moves like that of Venezuela, or for that matter the aggressiveness with which the Dominican Republic approached the EPA matter, seeking allies to, in effect, outflank Caricom, the better it will be for the development of a meaningful approach to the wider Caribbean (including Venezuela) that takes account of the interests of all – large and small – collectively. We have waited long enough to establish a task force to examine Dominican Republic-Caricom relations. Venezuela is a hemispheric middle power which will, as the residue of colonialism wanes and an incoherent Caricom (in terms of both agreed objectives and cohesive governance) marks time, seek to assert itself. Chavez’s present initiative is, perhaps, a more energetic example of this.
So it is insufficient to, as Dr Williams did thirty years ago, froth at the mouth and imagine the evils that can come from Venezuela’s assertiveness. This will periodically wax and wane. Instead, energetic Caricom discussion, based on sound professional analysis, needs to be put in gear, whether or not the present initiative sees the light of day, or fades away.
Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com
URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/editorial/venezuela%e2%80%99s-oecs-initiative/
Stabroek News. December 3, 2008 @ 5:01 am In Editorial
News that the Government of Venezuela has sought membership of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) will have come as a surprise to most people. That Venezuela has had a long interest in the Eastern Caribbean islands is well known. Governments of whatever political stripe – Accion Democratica or the Christian Democratic Party, sent representatives to the islands soon after they attained Associated Statehood status from the United Kingdom, as a half-way house to the independence. With independence full embassies were established in most of the states.
In the 1970s and 1980s Venezuelan governments took an active interest in the countries, offering economic assistance of various kinds, seeking to have their private sector find a place in the countries’ import patterns, and to some extent seeking active investment opportunities. With the rise of the Windward Islands banana industries for example, a joint venture was established between the Venezuelan private sector and the Windward Islands governments to provide boxes and packaging materials for that business. The enterprise still survives. The Venezuelan national airline soon began moving through the islands, reflecting an early Venezuelan interest in gaining a part of the transport business in the anglophone Caribbean. And in 1975, it was the St Lucian Prime Minister John Compton, who, in the face of difficulty in finding regional solutions to the problems of LIAT not dissimilar to those that exist today, led a delegation to Venezuela, seeking and obtaining assistance that led to the consolidation of the airline as LIAT (1975) Limited.
The second half of the 1970s into the ’80s saw an active interest by Venezuela’s Accion Democratica’s President Carlos Andres Perez in the social democratic orientations which some of the English-speaking islands were taking, including the casting of a wary eye by Andres Perez on the People’s Revolutionary Government’s Marxist orientation in Grenada. It was no secret that, in those days, Venezuelan governments were as concerned about what was developing in Grenada in much the same manner as Dr Eric Williams was. They adopted, like the Trinidad Prime Minister a watching, though muted, eye on that country. Further, a certain dual interest of the two main political parties began to emerge in Venezuela as many Caribbean parties and governments divided themselves between the Socialist International and the Christian Democratic Party organization of Europe. And in 1990, when the attempted Muslimeen coup against Mr ANR Robinson’s government in Trinidad occurred, President Perez, into his second term of office, sought consultations with representatives of Caricom governments on the morrow of the Caricom Heads of Government held in Jamaica.
One sticky matter has, since the 1970s, stuck out in relations between governments of Venezuela and the smaller islands of the region, this being the Venezuelan assertion of ownership of Aves or Bird Island in the north-east Caribbean. This act has been seen as compromising the extent of the external economic zones of some of the islands. To the island governments, a rigidity in the Venezuelan position on this question which included the latter country’s refusal to adhere to the new United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), was a deliberate attempt at creating a situation of stalemate in relation to their own negotiating positions after independence. But of course, they were aware that the Venezuelan rigidity related not only to their concerns, but to those of her neighbour Colombia.
These small countries, however, were not unmindful of the fact that the United States also had not signed the UNCLOS, but that that country, along with France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands had gone ahead and signed delimitation agreements pertaining to the Caribbean Sea with Venezuela. The fact that the elephants have delimited the turf, unmindful of the concerns of the smaller animals, has not gone unremarked by the OECS countries which, despite periodic noises about Aves Island, appear to have largely accepted the status quo. They would of course have recognized the Cold War context of that delimitation, and the NATO countries’ concerns to put their own geopolitical concerns above those of the small island-states of the neighbourhood. In that context, it is not surprising that larger Caricom states, no doubt including Guyana, look somewhat askance at the OECS’s de facto stance on this matter; and that they have been further exercised by suggestions that Dominica, for example, is prepared to turn a blind eye to the Venezuelan position, in return for much needed aid. To use a favourite phrase of Dr Eric Williams, “If the [US-NATO] sheik could play, who is me!”
The recession that struck Venezuela in the ’90s, during the regime of Carlos Andres Perez muted Venezuelan diplomatic and economic-technical assistance in the OECS islands, and most representatives in the states almost, at one time, attained a kind of diplomatic invisibility. But it is, of course the rise of President Chávez which has raised the Venezuelan profile in the islands, as a result of what he might give Caribbean Basin states.
The President will have noted the long-standing Cuban presence in the form of diplomatic and technical personnel in the OECS states. But this presence was substantially ideologically neutralized after the overthrow of the PRG in Grenada, and the consequent lessened US concern about any ideological and political effects of Cuban influence after the dissolution of the world socialist system and the Soviet Union itself. The United States indeed raised its profile and grant of largesse in the OECS after the overthrow of the PRG, but there was a rapid diminution of this after the end of the Cold War.
From that period, it has undoubtedly been the case that the OECS states have felt neglected or ignored by the major powers, a situation exacerbated by Europe’s inability to maintain longstanding levels of banana exports from the Windward Islands, and aggravated by the Americans’ insistence on support for the Latin American case on ACP banana exports to Europe. The result has been a ‘catch-as-catch-can’ stance to foreign economic assistance – a stance which has once more come to include entreaties to an assertive Venezuela (recall that in the mid-1970s Dr Eric Williams pronounced strongly on the (to him) assertiveness of Venezuela in the Caribbean – though his barbs were thrown not at the smaller islands, but largely at Michael Manley’s Jamaica) – calling the Venezuelan policies a “threat to the Caribbean Community.”
Dr Williams spoke, at the time, in the context of a certain disarray among Caricom governments – in particular Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana – over what he thought were agreed plans for the joint use of the bauxite, natural gas and hydroelectric resources of Caricom, and Venezuela and Mexico’s proposal for a similar arrangement with Jamaica in particular.
It would not be far-fetched to say that the present Venezuelan ‘join OECS’ initiative comes in the midst of a not similar, but certainly a kind of Caricom disarray once again. One need hardly refer to the significance of the PetroCaribe, and in some measure the Bolivarian Alternative (ALBA) initiatives for many Caricom states – large and small. Nor to what is apparently an increasing feeling among the OECS states that the arrangements made for a Caricom Single Market and Economy do not indicate much promise as far as their own economic development is concerned, and that consequently they feel somewhat on their own in the present big, bad world.
In more cohesive times, it could (or should) have been the case that the OECS, on receiving such a request from Venezuela, would after initial consideration, have announced that they would proceed to consult within the framework of Caricom on this matter. But this has not been said.
On the other hand, few would believe that the OECS states, even though flattered and buoyed by the Trinidad & Tobago approach for some form of economic union and political integration, would for one moment accept that they can play that game with Venezuela – under Chávez or anybody else.
This is the reality. And the sooner the Caricom states as a group seriously begin to ponder the significance of moves like that of Venezuela, or for that matter the aggressiveness with which the Dominican Republic approached the EPA matter, seeking allies to, in effect, outflank Caricom, the better it will be for the development of a meaningful approach to the wider Caribbean (including Venezuela) that takes account of the interests of all – large and small – collectively. We have waited long enough to establish a task force to examine Dominican Republic-Caricom relations. Venezuela is a hemispheric middle power which will, as the residue of colonialism wanes and an incoherent Caricom (in terms of both agreed objectives and cohesive governance) marks time, seek to assert itself. Chavez’s present initiative is, perhaps, a more energetic example of this.
So it is insufficient to, as Dr Williams did thirty years ago, froth at the mouth and imagine the evils that can come from Venezuela’s assertiveness. This will periodically wax and wane. Instead, energetic Caricom discussion, based on sound professional analysis, needs to be put in gear, whether or not the present initiative sees the light of day, or fades away.
Article printed from Stabroek News: http://www.stabroeknews.com
URL to article: http://www.stabroeknews.com/editorial/venezuela%e2%80%99s-oecs-initiative/
Construction permit for Marriott Hotel hinges on EIA review
Construction permit for Marriott Hotel hinges on EIA review…board review 12 days and counting, no pronouncement as yet
December 1, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16574
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study, which must be conducted before Adam Development/Urbahn Associates (ADUA) could commence the construction of the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown, has been completed.
The permit required for construction had to await a further 60-day public scrutiny period, which ended on November 19, at which time the Environment Assessment Board commenced addressing the EIA to determine whether it (the permit) will be issued to ADUA.
An artist’s impression of what the new Marriot Hotel is expected to look like
An artist’s impression of what the new Marriot Hotel is expected to look like
The board has been reviewing this data for the last 12 days, and to date there has been no definitive pronouncement on whether the permit has been issued or denied.
The document was available at the institution’s website: www.epaguyana.org
Upon receipt of the permit, a sod-turning ceremony is expected, and the investors are expected to be announced.
Last April, ADUA presented its design plans and drawings of the hotel to all key stakeholders, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Mayor and City Council (MCC), Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), the Sea Defense Board, and the Government.
On May 16 last, the EPA held a scope meeting to determine the terms of reference for the EIA being completed by Environmental Management Consultants.
In June, the terms of reference were approved by the EPA and posted on the EPA’s website.
Last August, the ADUA, through its Environmental Consultants, presented the draft EIA to the EPA for review, approval and issuance of a permit.
The financial closing will be consummated in Guyana via its Guyanese subsidiary, which will be executing the project on behalf of ADUA. At the sod-turning ceremony, the financiers will be announced.
In May, ADUA, under contract from the Government of Guyana and GWI, constructed new sewerage pipes to allow the site to be cleared for construction. The Kingston well was also relocated.
Additionally, in May, ADUA, at its own cost, completed initial clearing and demolition of buildings, including the former Luckhoo Pool.
December 1, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16574
The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study, which must be conducted before Adam Development/Urbahn Associates (ADUA) could commence the construction of the Marriott Hotel in Kingston, Georgetown, has been completed.
The permit required for construction had to await a further 60-day public scrutiny period, which ended on November 19, at which time the Environment Assessment Board commenced addressing the EIA to determine whether it (the permit) will be issued to ADUA.
An artist’s impression of what the new Marriot Hotel is expected to look like
An artist’s impression of what the new Marriot Hotel is expected to look like
The board has been reviewing this data for the last 12 days, and to date there has been no definitive pronouncement on whether the permit has been issued or denied.
The document was available at the institution’s website: www.epaguyana.org
Upon receipt of the permit, a sod-turning ceremony is expected, and the investors are expected to be announced.
Last April, ADUA presented its design plans and drawings of the hotel to all key stakeholders, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Mayor and City Council (MCC), Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA), the Sea Defense Board, and the Government.
On May 16 last, the EPA held a scope meeting to determine the terms of reference for the EIA being completed by Environmental Management Consultants.
In June, the terms of reference were approved by the EPA and posted on the EPA’s website.
Last August, the ADUA, through its Environmental Consultants, presented the draft EIA to the EPA for review, approval and issuance of a permit.
The financial closing will be consummated in Guyana via its Guyanese subsidiary, which will be executing the project on behalf of ADUA. At the sod-turning ceremony, the financiers will be announced.
In May, ADUA, under contract from the Government of Guyana and GWI, constructed new sewerage pipes to allow the site to be cleared for construction. The Kingston well was also relocated.
Additionally, in May, ADUA, at its own cost, completed initial clearing and demolition of buildings, including the former Luckhoo Pool.
Meeting with PUC meaningless, entity degutted of powers
Meeting with PUC meaningless, entity degutted of powers
November 30, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
- AFC
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16446
The Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) proposed meeting with the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) will be meaningless given that the former has been completely degutted of any authority of the GPL’s tariffs.
This is according to Chairman of the Alliance for Change, Khemraj Ramjattan, who noted that when the PUC was established one of its inherent powers was the regulation of the electricity rates.
The PUC status at that time was when the power company was initially privatized.
AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan
AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan
He noted that now that the company is back under Government control, “the situation is now so vastly different…Government can behave like private companies and not want to reduce rates; as such it should be regulated by the power company.”
The AFC chair explained that for the GPL to not want to be regulated by the PUC is tantamount to breaching the spirit of the law.
“I believe that the PUC is right for calling for a hearing and I believe that whatever its recommendations, they ought to be adhered to…You can’t just create the PUC, give it powers to regulate, and when it is now regulating you say no, it does not apply to us.”
In recent times, when the issue of PUC being excluded from the tariff decision-making process was highlighted, GPL officials had often referred to the Electricity Sector Reform Act 1999 (ESRA), which according to them already allows for regulation, hence the need for PUC to intervene was unnecessary.
However, a senior official at GPL has indicated that it is too early to adjust any tariff rates for electricity provided by the GPL, adding that there was also still the issue of its 2008 income to be reviewed.
Then there is the review of the 2009 budget for the power company.
The comments come in light of the fact that the AFC has adopted the position that, since the price of oil on the world market is in the vicinity of US$50 per barrel, the December electricity rates should reflect that reduction.
PNCR Executive Member Aubrey Norton
PNCR Executive Member Aubrey Norton
This position was prompted by a recent announcement by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds that, if the price was to fall below US$50 per barrel and remain below that mark, a decrease in electricity rates would be possible.
The comment was made in response to a question about when a possible reduction could be seen in fuel prices locally.
At the time, there was already a significant decrease in oil prices on the world market, then down from a high of US$147 per barrel to below US$65 per barrel. Present day prices for oil hover at the US$50 mark.
GPL is currently operating at just about break-even, when one considers its revenue against the total cost of operations, with fuel supply being one of the largest expenses, according to the official.
Earlier in the year, the total cost of operations far outweighed the revenue generated, which prompted the government to inject more than $3B into the company.
Another factor compounding the situation is the fact that the GPL is faced with 33 per cent technical and commercial losses.
This is a minimal reduction, as reported earlier, and the fact that the company has been more or less strapped for cash is the reason behind the very minimal decrease of about three per cent, given that the company had to almost cease investment in reducing the losses.
Ramjattan posited that he was almost certain that the administration would respond to the AFC call in the same way most minibus drivers responded to the reduction in fuel prices, blaming increased expenditure on spare parts. As such, the company will claim that it cannot reduce its charges.
People’s National Congress Reform Executive Member Aubrey Norton, in an invited comment, said that there should be an immediate reduction in the electricity rates.
He drew reference to the fact that the government was demanding a reduction in minibus fares as a result of the said reduction in fuel prices.
Norton added that a reduction of electricity prices will have a positive ripple effect on the country, in that there would be increased economic activity, resulting in growth of the economy, with increased revenue for the state.
He noted that it would also give a little more to the average Guyanese, in that it would be additional money in hand to spend on other needs, such as food.
November 30, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
- AFC
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16446
The Public Utilities Commission’s (PUC) proposed meeting with the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) will be meaningless given that the former has been completely degutted of any authority of the GPL’s tariffs.
This is according to Chairman of the Alliance for Change, Khemraj Ramjattan, who noted that when the PUC was established one of its inherent powers was the regulation of the electricity rates.
The PUC status at that time was when the power company was initially privatized.
AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan
AFC Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan
He noted that now that the company is back under Government control, “the situation is now so vastly different…Government can behave like private companies and not want to reduce rates; as such it should be regulated by the power company.”
The AFC chair explained that for the GPL to not want to be regulated by the PUC is tantamount to breaching the spirit of the law.
“I believe that the PUC is right for calling for a hearing and I believe that whatever its recommendations, they ought to be adhered to…You can’t just create the PUC, give it powers to regulate, and when it is now regulating you say no, it does not apply to us.”
In recent times, when the issue of PUC being excluded from the tariff decision-making process was highlighted, GPL officials had often referred to the Electricity Sector Reform Act 1999 (ESRA), which according to them already allows for regulation, hence the need for PUC to intervene was unnecessary.
However, a senior official at GPL has indicated that it is too early to adjust any tariff rates for electricity provided by the GPL, adding that there was also still the issue of its 2008 income to be reviewed.
Then there is the review of the 2009 budget for the power company.
The comments come in light of the fact that the AFC has adopted the position that, since the price of oil on the world market is in the vicinity of US$50 per barrel, the December electricity rates should reflect that reduction.
PNCR Executive Member Aubrey Norton
PNCR Executive Member Aubrey Norton
This position was prompted by a recent announcement by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds that, if the price was to fall below US$50 per barrel and remain below that mark, a decrease in electricity rates would be possible.
The comment was made in response to a question about when a possible reduction could be seen in fuel prices locally.
At the time, there was already a significant decrease in oil prices on the world market, then down from a high of US$147 per barrel to below US$65 per barrel. Present day prices for oil hover at the US$50 mark.
GPL is currently operating at just about break-even, when one considers its revenue against the total cost of operations, with fuel supply being one of the largest expenses, according to the official.
Earlier in the year, the total cost of operations far outweighed the revenue generated, which prompted the government to inject more than $3B into the company.
Another factor compounding the situation is the fact that the GPL is faced with 33 per cent technical and commercial losses.
This is a minimal reduction, as reported earlier, and the fact that the company has been more or less strapped for cash is the reason behind the very minimal decrease of about three per cent, given that the company had to almost cease investment in reducing the losses.
Ramjattan posited that he was almost certain that the administration would respond to the AFC call in the same way most minibus drivers responded to the reduction in fuel prices, blaming increased expenditure on spare parts. As such, the company will claim that it cannot reduce its charges.
People’s National Congress Reform Executive Member Aubrey Norton, in an invited comment, said that there should be an immediate reduction in the electricity rates.
He drew reference to the fact that the government was demanding a reduction in minibus fares as a result of the said reduction in fuel prices.
Norton added that a reduction of electricity prices will have a positive ripple effect on the country, in that there would be increased economic activity, resulting in growth of the economy, with increased revenue for the state.
He noted that it would also give a little more to the average Guyanese, in that it would be additional money in hand to spend on other needs, such as food.
Archaic Land Law facilitates fraud
Archaic Land Law facilitates fraud
November 30, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
By Gary Eleazar
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16439
Two attorneys have signaled their intention to wage a campaign aimed at updating the Local Land laws with a view to making it mandatory for an agreement of sale to be recognised as having a vested interest.
Attorneys-at-Law Anil Nandlall and Manoj Narayan said that in Guyana the system of Land Law that was inherited was Roman Dutch and does not cater for equitable interest of land.
Attorney-at-Law Manoj Narayan
Attorney-at-Law Manoj Narayan
Under this system, land is owned by a titled document known as a ‘transport.’
This transport confers upon its holder absolute ownership.
Under English Law a title holder, once he enters into an agreement of sale the purchaser in that agreement acquires an interest which is called an equitable interest in the land which the purchaser can sell, dispose of, mortgage or alienate.
Under English Law, the titled owner of the property, after entering into an Agreement of Sale with any other person, “cannot deal with that property as he sees fit…every subsequent dealing with the property is subject the purchaser’s equitable interest.”
The attorneys did point out, however, that under the Roman Dutch System there are mechanisms in place to protect the interest of the person entering into an agreement of sale with the transported owner of the land.
These mechanisms, however, are viewed as inadequate, “based on experience” to protect the potential purchaser of the land.
Morally, the persons selling the property, once having entered into an initial agreement of sale, ought not to enter in another. “But this is happening.”
Technically, under the present system, every conveyance from one owner to another must be advertised in the Official Gazette so that a person who has an interest in the land has the opportunity to oppose the passing of the conveyance on the grounds that the person already has an interest in that land, which is the agreement of sale already entered to.
“Once that opposition is filed within the prescribed time then the conveyance would not pass.” However, the problem that this poses is that very rarely would a person who enters into an agreement of sale check with the Official Gazette.
Attorney-at-Law and Member of Parliament Anil Nandlall
Attorney-at-Law and Member of Parliament Anil Nandlall
It was noted, also, that the availability of Official Gazette has also been a problem.
“As a result many people lose their deposits, are ousted out of the transaction and a great miscarriage of justice occurs because the land is then sold a second time to a third party and transport is passed to that person without the knowledge of the original purchaser.”
According to the attorneys, there were many instances that are currently pending in the local courts and as such the injustice continues unabated on several Guyanese who on a daily basis lose their hard earned money because of an archaic law.
“Under local Deeds Registry Act, a transport confers upon the holder absolute ownership subject only to certain interest therein lifted,” exclusive of an agreement.
The attorneys are seeking to have an agreement of sale included under those provisions as a registered interest, making it mandatory to have the agreement registered at the deeds registry and endorsed on the transport hence barring any subsequent agreement of sale without involving the purchaser in the original agreement of sale giving that person a real opportunity to oppose the sale because he would have a registered interest in the land in question.
November 30, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
By Gary Eleazar
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16439
Two attorneys have signaled their intention to wage a campaign aimed at updating the Local Land laws with a view to making it mandatory for an agreement of sale to be recognised as having a vested interest.
Attorneys-at-Law Anil Nandlall and Manoj Narayan said that in Guyana the system of Land Law that was inherited was Roman Dutch and does not cater for equitable interest of land.
Attorney-at-Law Manoj Narayan
Attorney-at-Law Manoj Narayan
Under this system, land is owned by a titled document known as a ‘transport.’
This transport confers upon its holder absolute ownership.
Under English Law a title holder, once he enters into an agreement of sale the purchaser in that agreement acquires an interest which is called an equitable interest in the land which the purchaser can sell, dispose of, mortgage or alienate.
Under English Law, the titled owner of the property, after entering into an Agreement of Sale with any other person, “cannot deal with that property as he sees fit…every subsequent dealing with the property is subject the purchaser’s equitable interest.”
The attorneys did point out, however, that under the Roman Dutch System there are mechanisms in place to protect the interest of the person entering into an agreement of sale with the transported owner of the land.
These mechanisms, however, are viewed as inadequate, “based on experience” to protect the potential purchaser of the land.
Morally, the persons selling the property, once having entered into an initial agreement of sale, ought not to enter in another. “But this is happening.”
Technically, under the present system, every conveyance from one owner to another must be advertised in the Official Gazette so that a person who has an interest in the land has the opportunity to oppose the passing of the conveyance on the grounds that the person already has an interest in that land, which is the agreement of sale already entered to.
“Once that opposition is filed within the prescribed time then the conveyance would not pass.” However, the problem that this poses is that very rarely would a person who enters into an agreement of sale check with the Official Gazette.
Attorney-at-Law and Member of Parliament Anil Nandlall
Attorney-at-Law and Member of Parliament Anil Nandlall
It was noted, also, that the availability of Official Gazette has also been a problem.
“As a result many people lose their deposits, are ousted out of the transaction and a great miscarriage of justice occurs because the land is then sold a second time to a third party and transport is passed to that person without the knowledge of the original purchaser.”
According to the attorneys, there were many instances that are currently pending in the local courts and as such the injustice continues unabated on several Guyanese who on a daily basis lose their hard earned money because of an archaic law.
“Under local Deeds Registry Act, a transport confers upon the holder absolute ownership subject only to certain interest therein lifted,” exclusive of an agreement.
The attorneys are seeking to have an agreement of sale included under those provisions as a registered interest, making it mandatory to have the agreement registered at the deeds registry and endorsed on the transport hence barring any subsequent agreement of sale without involving the purchaser in the original agreement of sale giving that person a real opportunity to oppose the sale because he would have a registered interest in the land in question.
Task Force presents first Trafficking in Persons report
Task Force presents first Trafficking in Persons report
December 3, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16784
The National Inter-Agency Task Force for Combating Trafficking in Persons presented its first National Report on Monday in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The National Inter-Agency Task Force for Combating Trafficking in Persons was established by President Bharrat Jagdeo at a Cabinet meeting on February 6, 2007.
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee was appointed Chairman of the Task Force which comprised the Ministry of Legal Affairs; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs; the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security; Food for the Poor; and Help and Shelter.
Since its inception, the Task Force has held 17 meetings.
The main objectives of the Task Force are to carry out effective public education and other measures to prevent trafficking in persons and to ensure focused attention in dealing with offences of Trafficking in Persons.
Minister Rohee said, “The report highlights Government’s achievements in responding to Trafficking in Persons.”
He asserted that the compilation of this report “is a revelation of the strengthening capacity within Government ministries and agencies to document their own achievements and not leave it for others to do.”
Minister Rohee explained that the report on Trafficking in Persons was born out of a desire to present to citizens a factual and authentic picture of the nature and magnitude of the issue in Guyana and a truthful documentation of Government’s response to this phenomenon.”
The Minister contended that too often there are external agencies of the donor community compiling reports on various phenomena in the country as if Guyanese do not have the capacity and objectivity to compile such reports on their own.
He said that the decision to develop its own report was based on recognition that there were gaps and inadequacies in external reports on this phenomenon in Guyana. Thus the Task Force set out to develop its own factual and well researched report.
In his address, the Minister unequivocally affirmed that the Report indicates in no uncertain terms that Trafficking in Persons is not a major problem in Guyana.
Minister Rohee further contends that the assessment and Tier Placement by the US does not duly recognize the efforts of Government and civil society in responding to the phenomenon of Trafficking in Persons locally.
The report is not a one off venture but one that will be an annual occurrence, he said.
December 3, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16784
The National Inter-Agency Task Force for Combating Trafficking in Persons presented its first National Report on Monday in the Conference Room of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The National Inter-Agency Task Force for Combating Trafficking in Persons was established by President Bharrat Jagdeo at a Cabinet meeting on February 6, 2007.
Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee was appointed Chairman of the Task Force which comprised the Ministry of Legal Affairs; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs; the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security; Food for the Poor; and Help and Shelter.
Since its inception, the Task Force has held 17 meetings.
The main objectives of the Task Force are to carry out effective public education and other measures to prevent trafficking in persons and to ensure focused attention in dealing with offences of Trafficking in Persons.
Minister Rohee said, “The report highlights Government’s achievements in responding to Trafficking in Persons.”
He asserted that the compilation of this report “is a revelation of the strengthening capacity within Government ministries and agencies to document their own achievements and not leave it for others to do.”
Minister Rohee explained that the report on Trafficking in Persons was born out of a desire to present to citizens a factual and authentic picture of the nature and magnitude of the issue in Guyana and a truthful documentation of Government’s response to this phenomenon.”
The Minister contended that too often there are external agencies of the donor community compiling reports on various phenomena in the country as if Guyanese do not have the capacity and objectivity to compile such reports on their own.
He said that the decision to develop its own report was based on recognition that there were gaps and inadequacies in external reports on this phenomenon in Guyana. Thus the Task Force set out to develop its own factual and well researched report.
In his address, the Minister unequivocally affirmed that the Report indicates in no uncertain terms that Trafficking in Persons is not a major problem in Guyana.
Minister Rohee further contends that the assessment and Tier Placement by the US does not duly recognize the efforts of Government and civil society in responding to the phenomenon of Trafficking in Persons locally.
The report is not a one off venture but one that will be an annual occurrence, he said.
More setbacks at Skeldon Sugar Factory
More setbacks at Skeldon Sugar Factory
December 3, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
- Official
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16808
More problems have surfaced at the Skeldon Sugar Factory, as the facility is yet to achieve maximum performance, once again pushing back the commissioning date.
Yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said that tests are currently ongoing, even as the end of the sugar crop approaches. He told the media that the weather is changing and as such, the tests will have to continue in the new crop.
An aerial view of the Skeldon Sugar Factory
An aerial view of the Skeldon Sugar Factory
The tests, he pointed out, are also highlighting some of the ‘teething problems’, which will also have to be rectified between the end of this crop and the beginning of the new crop.
“There are some issues with the Chinese contractors and these issues are engaging the attention of the project management team and the contracting company.”
The Minister added that the issues are of such a nature that the attention of the Chinese Ambassador to Guyana was sought.
According to the Minister, because the issues are of a ‘very sensitive nature’ within the context of legal and contractual arrangements that are currently under perusal, he cannot comment on them.
“We hope that these issues will not affect the factory going forward,” Persaud added.
He, nonetheless, noted that some of the delays that are currently being experienced are due mainly to the performance of the contractors.
On September 15, last, Site Representative Andrew Jin told the media that the trial run showed that there were problems between the punt dumper and the conveyor belt, while, at the same time, difficulties had been encountered with the shredder bearings.
‘Choking’, he had said, was occurring when fresh water was pumped into the diffuser. A similar problem occurred at the second and third evaporators.
Following the discovery of the problems, an assessment was done.
Two days after it was announced that the factory was indeed having technical difficulties, with Minister Persaud indicating that Guyana was examining legal and other options which could be enforced against CNTIC.
The Minister informed that fines could be imposed under the contract signed between Guyana and the Chinese company.
Those fines could exceed US$5M.
President Bharrat Jagdeo also announced that CNTIC would have to take responsibility for all losses and delays suffered at the factory.
Following the official handover of the factory, there are three further 72-hour tests which can be carried out by the owner during the next year.
During that period, the contractor is still responsible for defects arising from those tests, despite the fact that the factory would be in commercial use.
The new factory is expected to produce 110,000 tonnes of sugar annually.
(Tusika Martin)
December 3, 2008 | By knews | Filed Under News
- Official
http://www.kaieteurnews.com/?p=16808
More problems have surfaced at the Skeldon Sugar Factory, as the facility is yet to achieve maximum performance, once again pushing back the commissioning date.
Yesterday, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud said that tests are currently ongoing, even as the end of the sugar crop approaches. He told the media that the weather is changing and as such, the tests will have to continue in the new crop.
An aerial view of the Skeldon Sugar Factory
An aerial view of the Skeldon Sugar Factory
The tests, he pointed out, are also highlighting some of the ‘teething problems’, which will also have to be rectified between the end of this crop and the beginning of the new crop.
“There are some issues with the Chinese contractors and these issues are engaging the attention of the project management team and the contracting company.”
The Minister added that the issues are of such a nature that the attention of the Chinese Ambassador to Guyana was sought.
According to the Minister, because the issues are of a ‘very sensitive nature’ within the context of legal and contractual arrangements that are currently under perusal, he cannot comment on them.
“We hope that these issues will not affect the factory going forward,” Persaud added.
He, nonetheless, noted that some of the delays that are currently being experienced are due mainly to the performance of the contractors.
On September 15, last, Site Representative Andrew Jin told the media that the trial run showed that there were problems between the punt dumper and the conveyor belt, while, at the same time, difficulties had been encountered with the shredder bearings.
‘Choking’, he had said, was occurring when fresh water was pumped into the diffuser. A similar problem occurred at the second and third evaporators.
Following the discovery of the problems, an assessment was done.
Two days after it was announced that the factory was indeed having technical difficulties, with Minister Persaud indicating that Guyana was examining legal and other options which could be enforced against CNTIC.
The Minister informed that fines could be imposed under the contract signed between Guyana and the Chinese company.
Those fines could exceed US$5M.
President Bharrat Jagdeo also announced that CNTIC would have to take responsibility for all losses and delays suffered at the factory.
Following the official handover of the factory, there are three further 72-hour tests which can be carried out by the owner during the next year.
During that period, the contractor is still responsible for defects arising from those tests, despite the fact that the factory would be in commercial use.
The new factory is expected to produce 110,000 tonnes of sugar annually.
(Tusika Martin)
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