Elections - 2011?

It’s close to the 2011 and you are not sure there would be General Elections- We share your pain.

If the Jagdeo administration throws a Manning fit and calls General Elections tomorrow - you have no idea who you’d be voting for- We share your pain.

It is quite obvious that voters this time around would have a difficult time choosing a leader as they have had in 2006.

The PPP record of corruption, crime, cronism and unaccountability haven’t help, neither has the PNC’s lack of leadership, indecisiveness and baggage of dismal performance has helped their image.

The AFC has practiced much of what it has preached since 2006 and opted to be a party that use to the opportunity to rebut everything that spilled from the others’ mouth.

We predict fewer voter turn out if elections is called, we also predict mass rigging- as the government may seek to allow overseas voting.

In 2001, the three main parties and two others blamed the low voter turn out on migration. None of them noted their dismal performance since 2001 and the fact that the citizenry may have been silently protesting against them by not exercising their franchise.

With a population or more than 700000 in 2006, the Guyana Elections Commission recorded a more than 350000 voter population. There was a 69% voter turn out for that Election says the Commission. It was the lowest voter turn out since Guyana’s Independence.

We see it as the year, the PPP and PNC also lost considerable votes in traditional strong holds as we will later point out.

The PPP lost Indian votes, the PNC sank lower and the AFC entered the political realm.

For the PPP Region 4 was a walk over, as President Jagdeo said publicly that he expects his party to win more black votes than the PNC and AFC combined.
We may never know, but what we know that the PPP netted only 61000 votes in 2006 a far cry from the more than 74000 it has won in 2001.

As for the PNC, that party scrapped a miserable 67000 votes that can’t even compare to the more than 94000 in 2001.

More than 217000 Region 4 residents voted in 2001 but in 2006 148000 voted, 2000 were probably unsure when they spoiled their votes.

As for Region 6, a stronghold of the PPP just about 50000 people voted, more than 80000 voted in 2006.
41000 of that more than 50000 voted for the PPP.

As for Region 10 the PNC strong hold, it lost more than 30000 to AFC and the Elections Commission averaged that more than 10000 Lindeners did not vote.

In the end, this is what happened, PPP won 36 seats, two more than it had in 2001, the PNC lost 3 and was reduced to 22 seats and AFC got 6. Two other parties got one each and the PPP fought CN Sharma and his Justice for All Party in Court for a region Ten Seat that they had already taken away.

Our prediction?

PPP will win the 2011 elections
Jagdeo will be President
PPP will lose one seat
PNC will lose more than 5 seats
PNC will struggle to be the main opposition party as it preaches
Shared Governance
AFC will gain 4 more with an alliance with GAP/ROAR
We will be screwed once again as the PPP will come up with another corny line like LET THE PROGRESS continues and we will battle with them for another five years.

p.s. Dear Mista Rohee, a corrupt goat bite the presidential seat. Let me translate: no one else can get it.

An award for the forest while Guyana sinks lower

The United Nations has long and respectable history. Having replaced a failed League of Nations, the United Nations under various stewardship over the many decades have investigated some of the world’s most horrific crimes against humanity.

And, the United Kingdom has recently recommended that the Guyana government independently investigate the death of more than 400 Guyanese and asking the government to bring the perpetrators of the death squad killings to justice.

But there is an obvious double standard that the United Nations and its members have overlooked. It is with no doubt that the dictator they awarded the Champion of the Forest award, is the person who has stifled the essence of a democratic society.
We know the UN is fully aware of the existing situation in Guyana as contained in the Gay McDougal Report of 2009.

In that report, McDougal examined the racial complexity of the society and listed a number of what was believed to be racial discrimination as complaints of the violent deaths of hundreds of Guyanese were also brought to her attention.

The UN is aware that the PPP government shot down the McDougal Report and even attacking the professional who spent time in Guyana meeting officials including the government.

The existing hold of the government has on the state media is no secret either to the United Nations.

Guyana has a very poor record with the onlookers and it ranges from the withdrawal of the ads to the independent Stabroek News, closure of CNS Ch 6, the refusal to address Broadcast Legislation, the manipulation of the State Media and the constant threat to media houses by the Head of State himself. And more recently, the steady increase of state ads to the Guyana Times, well-known best friend of the president.

These are no secrets.

Several international bodies have ranked Guyana’s corruption - both government and other wise, the crime situation and the delicate investment situation but yet the double standards that exist awards a dictator with an award. On first look that award is unjustifiable - and a large part of the LCDS money is being spent to "honor" Jagdeo for his award. Yet, it has to be a cruel joke that he gets an award for the forest - trees and animals, while the people are starving and the nation sinks in a rot of corruption that the awardee is himself a part of.

It is a timely reminder that there is no helping hands - but our own to ourselves.

From professional to ugly politician - Ashni Singh

According to the Press, Finance Minister (technocrat-turned-politician) was the guest speaker to the Annual General Meeting of the private Sector Commission.

However one would have thought that he was speaking to a group of PPP supporters. His entire speech was based on his belief:
- that the press is biased against the Government
- that "mistakes" during the elections must be excused as mistakes
- that the one or two lapses of GoG must not be interpreted as 'corruption'
- that the transparency international and economic freedom evaluations are all liars
- that the auditor general reports on 'lapses' by the GoG should not be viewed as report of corruption or fraud

What a shame!

He spent one hour quoting from the Dick on criticisms of the USA government, not realizing that he was showing his Government's weakness! He tried to prove to all that Dick Morris could have said what he wanted about the US government....
NEWS FLASH to MR. ASHNI SINGH: no one can criticize the GoG!!! Jagdeo, yourself and everyone else reacts violently when criticized!

He spent another hour talking about elections in the UK - and asking all the business men to pardon any mistakes the GoG will make during the next general elections.

He spent another half hour lambasting the press about quoting from the auditor general's report - while he spent the hour quoting from various sources.

He spent an hour talking about the politics of the PPP and, reading between the lines, he begged the audience to keep supporting the PPP.

Two-and-a-half-hours of venal garbage. Rather than talk about investment, liquidity, bank regulations and topics of interest to the businessmen, he preached politics!!!

What a waste of time! The brilliance that we once knew as Ashni Singh has disappeared. In his place is a Jagdeo lackey, a PPP apologist and a corrupt politician who makes excuses for the lapses of the Government. I guess it all started with construction of the Caricom's annexe.

Meanwhile, we note that Ashni Singh holds the post of Finance Minister while his wife holds the post of Auditor General (ag).

The stink of corruption!

Finally someone woke up and smelled the stink of corruption. Hats off to Desmond Trotman and his lawyers. I vote the "citizen of Guyana" award to Desmond!

Well known WPA Activist Desmond Trotman has sued the government for not paying the Lotto Funds into the Consolidated Fund- we all know and as stated in the media these monies were being spent without the necessary Parliamentary Approval. Well parliament be damned, spent without even any care for accountability!

When King Jagdeo on his Cabinet Outreaches would give away a $50 million here and a $20 million there. These exclude the millions prepaid for pipes, pharmaceuticals, rooms at hotels, Limo at Miami, etc.

Even the PNC (which has denounced this act many many times) could not muster up the courage and will to take this matter to court-we wonder about the many lawyers in that party - maybe they are all beneficiaries of the lotto-unaccounted-free-flowing-money.

The Audit Office of Guyana has reported this illegal act many times in multiple reports. In its just recent report of the 2008 accounts, the Auditor General (which is co-headed by the wife of the Finance Minister) said:

“The Contingencies Fund continued to be abused with amounts totaling $670.343 million drawn from the Fund being utilized to meet expenditure that DID NOT meet the ELIGIBILITY criteria as defined in the ACT”

Page 12 of the AG’s 2008 report also states that Expenditure in respect to services which by law are directly chargeable to the Consolidated Fund DO NOT form part of the voted provisions approved by the National Assembly.

These expenditures include:
1. Repayment and servicing of Public Debt
2. Emoluments of holders of Constitutional Offices
3. Pensions and gratuities of Public Officers

The Financial Management Act spells out how and why exactly monies should be extracted from the Consolidated Fund.

Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh in this case must show that “urgent, unavoidable and unforeseen NEED for the expenditure has arisen”, for which NO money can be reallocated as provided for under the FMA- or for which no money has been allocated for, or for which the sum allocated is not sufficient.

When the Minister does the above, this is to be tabled in the National Assembly. According to the 2008 AG Report more than 80 advances totaling more than $4 billion were drawn from the fund.

Of course, by the end of 2008, the Ministry of Finance could not account for more than 17 of those advances totaling more than $1 billion.

The Auditor General Deodat Sharma in his report said that his previous reports “highlighted the continual abuse of this fund”. The report listed several instances where monies were taken from the Fund showing wanton abuse. These included:

1.More than $200 million to the Public Works Ministry for support to the Transport and Harbour Department

2. More than $180,000 million to the Guyana Defense Force

3. More than $77 million to the Finance Ministry for Consultancy

4. More than $72 million to the Home Affairs Ministry for Carifesta expenses

These are only a few sums that were captured by the AG Office for 2008. One can only wonder what took place in 2009!

We congratulate Desmond Trotman for the long awaited move as we await the outcome of this court matter.

We take this opportunity to caution Desmond, Ram and Fitzpatrick - look our for nasty 'letter' on your wife (or wives), girlfriends, cars, any duty free if you ever had, any tax free if you ever had, any fetish if you ever had....and of course even if you didn't have, they will now get dirty.

The Green Green Grass of Home - Part III

From the miners' articles on the subject matter, we find that the monies paid for licensing etc is almost equivalent to the amount that Guyana is getting from Norway.

In the meantime, we also find that the president has granted mining concessions to his officers of the Government. The shady Lumumber deal smacks of the usual arrogance the so-called head of state has for laws of the country as he shares out concessions to his favorite boys.

In the meantime, we also wonder about the three concessions that the bent minister's wife is supposedly to have and to have signed documents for. This latest development is a clear case of more corruption on the part of the 'concessionaire'

The Green Green Grass of Home - Part II

Continuing from the previous Article, we use the “Seeing REDD” by Tom Griffiths of the Forest Peoples Programme:

1)March 2008: investment firm Canopy Capital and Global Canopy Programme (GCP) signed a preliminary agreement with the Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development. Under this deal, Canopy Capital will help finance the rainforest protected area for 5 years in return for ‘ownership’ of forest ecosystem services and a claim in any future profits.

2)The new saleable asset would involve carbon values and possibly rainfall, water storage, soil conservation, biodiversity, climate buffer and watershed values.

3) Canopy Capital aims to try and establish a best-practice model, protocol and standards for global profit-driven market-based payments for forest Ecosystem Services (ESS) and to create a stepping stone to a national scheme in Guyana and ultimately a global market in environmental services.

4)At this stage, Canopy Capital is exploring options for marketing ecosystem services through an ‘Ecosystem Service Certificate’ attached to a 10-year tradable bond.

5)The company advises that interest from such bonds could help pay for the maintenance of the Iwokrama forest.

6)Canopy Capital has a commitment to measure and value forest ecosystem services and to develop a financial and legal instrument to market ecosystem services. If this is achieved and sales of services are possible, then the investment company will have a major stake in any financial returns. How benefits would be shared between Canopy Capital, Iwokrama and local communities is not clear as the CC-IIC agreement remains confidential.

WEAK CONSULTATION
1) Canopy Capital and its legal advisers admit that the deal was not adequately discussed with the implicated communities but just discussed and agreed with the Board of Iwokrama, which has one community representative.

2)The community of Fairview that has titled lands within the Reserve was not consulted directly and communities that use the reserve and have never surrendered their ancestral ownership over the area were not directly involved.

3)Asked about why the deal had been shrouded in secrecy, Canopy Capital and Iwokrama advise that for reasons of ‘commercial confidentiality’ it was not possible to broadcast the issue before the deal was done and for this reason also the agreement remains confidential.

The Green Green Grass of Home - Part I

The Green Green Grass of Home: our Guyana's forests have been sold, politicized and raped. This Green Baby is being ripped apart by the careless and selfish actions of the Government of Guyana.

In this series we present the summaries of various articles presented by different writers on the subject.

This is an extract from REDD-Monitor, 3rd December 2008
1) Iwokrama scheme was originally set up in 1996, at a time when Guyana’s President Cheddi Jagan was keen to prop up his country’s flagging international credibility.

2) It was intended as a visionary and self-sustaining new scheme to balance conservation with sustainable rainforest use and provide world-class facilities for scientific research.

3) The economics of the scheme were never sound. Having built a large centre and employed numerous staff, it has always relied heavily on support from donors and, increasingly, the revenue from logging operations, which have now been allocated across half the area’s 370,000 hectares. By 2007, the scheme was effectively out of cash, and in search of new forms of income.

4) In 2008, Canopy Capital, in the form of Hylton Murray-Philipson, a former banker, and Andrew Mitchell, a rainforest canopy scientist and founder of the Global Canopy Programme. Canopy Capital contracted with the government of Guyana to ‘buy’ the ‘ecosystem services’ of the area, for an as-yet undisclosed sum.

5) Murray-Philipson and Mitchell have also been close advisors to the Rainforest Project of Prince Charles, who has been Royal Patron of the Iwokrama project since 2001.

7) Murray-Philipson said in an interview with Mongabay.com,“If you can’t make something work in Guyana, I’m not sure you are going to ever make it work anywhere.”

8)There may be more truth to this than he realises. On the basis of what has happened at Iwokrama so far, the precedent for these kinds of projects in terms of transparency, respect for indigenous rights, and consultation, is not very promising.

Guyana Government cannot account for BILLION$ - Part II

Following our earlier blog in which we were contending that Government misappropriated over 100 million US Dollars in 2007 (cannot give account for it); other reports have been seen about the Health Ministry and Education Ministry financial irregularities.

The overall fraud and irregularities that have been exposed leaves us breathless. Shame on our Government! Shame on our Parliament! Shame on the opposition!

Is it time that we petition international agencies to investigate what is happening in Guyana. Cheddi Jagan cried to the world during the days of dictatorship. Who will cry out now?

Recap of the details on the Min of Education financial irregularities. For the previous blog on the >US$100million see link.
Min of Education: “failure to recover several millions of dollars in overpaid salaries, bank accounts with overdrafts of millions not being reconciled and overpayments to contractors among others.”
The failure to recover the overpaid salaries might be forgiven (though it is not right) since those who left the service also left the country. However:
- $78 million - bank account was overdrawn
- $4.3 million – outstanding ‘transactions’
- $2 million paid for questionable contract for TV ads (who is Ross
Enterprise?) – “All attempts to trace
this firm have been futile.”
- 1,146 teachers allegedly not registered for social security (NIS)
- $32 million overpaid to contractor (who?) for President’s College.
- $2 million paid for text books (to whom?), no books received.
- $23 million spent supposedly for Berbice Campus – no supporting documentation.

Guyana continues to despair as the powers that be continue to sweep every scandal under the carpet – and every of it financial irregularity takes place brazenly. Who will hold them accountable?

The question we have is with all this blatant corruption, why is this nation so silent?