-Findings lack facts, says Agri Ministry
The government’s response to prolonged flooding in various areas of the country exposes weak political accountability, according to the Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA), which is urging state funds for Mashramani celebrations be redirected to address the financial hardships experienced by flood victims.
In a statement released last Friday, the GHRA said weak national coordination, the by-passing of local and regional mechanisms, inadequate compensation for losses and inadequate meteorological information are all factors that point to a lack of proper accountability. A careful analysis of these factors, it added, “illustrates how weak political accountability mechanisms are aggravating the human, economic, ecological and financial cost of the current floods.”
But in a strongly worded response issued the same day, the Ministry of Agriculture’s Task Force on Farmers Assistance said the GHRA’s analysis lacks “basic data and serious analytical reality.” The ministry reiterated that the intense rainfall levels which resulted in flooding along the coast is of national concern, and stated that the GHRA’s statement “attempts at scoring cheap political points” out of the present suffering and should be seen as an “affront to the people.” The Ministry also informed that it has been pursuing numerous interventions “to alleviate the challenges of those affected by the high rainfall level.” It said too that the GHRA failed to acknowledge that climate change is a global problem with consequences slowly affecting the country.
But according to the human rights body, the real problem was and is “the prolonged delay of getting the water off the land” and not the heavy rainfall. Investigating this problem, the GHRA stated, reveals serious deficiencies in rehabilitation and maintenance work on primary and secondary D&I systems. The failure to efficiently complete these works, it explained, “reflected a combination of cronyism in contract awards and overly centralized decision making.”
Impromptu meetings between citizens and political figures have provided, to date, the only opportunity for affected communities to learn about certain major decisions, the GHRA further stated. Such meetings, it added, are no substitute for statutory mechanisms to engage citizens’ views in systematic consultation at local and regional levels. This dismissive culture should be replaced by systematic community consultation on all D&I issues.
Communities, it said, are robbed of any influence they have over decisions that affect them because of the absence of effective accountability to them about disaster responses. The “current thinking on disaster relief which reduces community involvement…are defective and disempowering” and the GHRA recommends that it be corrected.
The organisation stated that contracts for local drainage improvements have been awarded to Community Development Committees, Water Users Associations and farmers’ groups, which possess limited qualifications for the work and poorly execute it. Such groups, the GHRA stated, have become mediums for channelling funds to politically favoured elements in coastal communities, resulting in substandard, incomplete and defective primary and secondary D&I work.
Meanwhile, the GHRA listed the unpreparedness of the CDC, both in terms of personnel and material support, as one of the factors which demonstrate weak national coordination. The CDC, it said, should be able to answer why boats, water tanks and other equipment donated to them in previous floods were not deployed. Prior to the establishment of the Nation Emergency Organizing Council (NEOC), the GHRA said too, invitations to CDC meetings “reflected ad-hoc personalised criteria, falling far short of the inclusiveness required by a genuinely national response”.
The GHRA noted that the NEOC Coordinator, Major General Michael Atherley, was appointed over one month after the December 10, 2008 flooding and despite the organisation’s existence all important decisions concerning flood decisions continue to be made by political figures.
Flood information gathering and its dissemination was cited by the GHRA as being anecdotal, since it relies on networks created by a small number of non-governmental organisations in earlier floods. The networks, according to GHRA, do not exist in outlying areas, which have been flooded extensively for the first time, and very limited information is available. Further, it noted that private media coverage has centred on Regions Four and Five because of accessibility and cost. The state-owned media has not off-set this imbalance, GHRA said.
Compensating
victims
State funds for Mashramani should be redirected to aid flood victims, the group urged, noting that crops and animals, homes and farm structures, water systems and household goods that have been lost in communities stretching from Skeldon to Santa Rosa, can be estimated in billions of dollars.
Further, it noted that the government response to date has seen the allocation of $100M, none of which was available in cash payments, while attention has not been given to farmers’ liability to banks.
But the Ministry of Agriculture criticised the GHRA as attempting to discredit “initial efforts,” noting that it had issued advisories to farmers and residents in vulnerable areas prior to the rainy season, including precautionary measures in all forms of media in addition, a monitored 24-hour hotline.
The ministry said it also embarked on a farmers’ assistance programme through a detailed process of advisories to farmers, technical support through extension services, farmer-led assessments and independent verification and user fees and rebates totalling more than $53 million. Seed and planting material, chemicals and vet supplies have also been provided to farmers. The $100 million initial assistance, the ministry explained, aims to bring relief to and “kick-start” the economic well being of affected farmers.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture further dismissed the GHRA’s statement of inadequate meteorological information as “completely false.” The GHRA had said the provision of digital meteorological information in a modern, user friendly fashion should become a high priority of the Hydromet Division of the Ministry of Agriculture. The Hydromet Service, according to the ministry, however provides daily updates and forecasts for all ten administrative regions. Further, in most of the low lying areas the service has been able to increase its data collection capacity with the introduction of additional gauges and forecasting devices. Additionally, it said the Doppler weather radar which will be completed soon will significantly increase the service’s ability to provide real time data.
