President Donald Ramotar this morning met with the Diplomatic Community in Guyana, including developmental agencies and their Heads in order to brief them on developments in relation to Linden, the Government Information Agency said.
Advisor to the President on Governance Gail Teixeira in an update to GINA stated that President Ramotar informed the Diplomatic Community about the meetings with the Opposition parties and the business investors in Linden. GINA said that he also reiterated his commitment to have an independent Commission of Inquiry, which the Government had committed to since the night of July 18, 2012.
Teixeira also reported that President Ramotar also, “informed them that today, two representatives from the parties, the APNU and the Government, will be meeting to go through the Terms of Reference for the independent commission.” She added that the Head of State wants the Commission to be up and running as quickly as possible.
The Presidential Advisor told GINA that the diplomats questioned the President on a number of issues to which he responded and reiterated his anxiety for the Linden community to return to normalcy so that discussions on the tariffs and other issues could proceed.
GINA said that the President explained to the diplomats that at the July 19 meeting with the business community from Linden, APNU/AFC, the RDC Chairman and the geographic MP for Linden, he had raised the tariff issues.
Teixeira said, “They both clearly stated that they had not come to discuss the tariff increases with the President, they were coming to discuss the security issues and that was the only thing they wished to discuss.”
Teixeira told GINA that the President reiterated to the diplomats and the Heads of Development Agencies and made it clear “that we are prepared to talk about the tariff increases, and that we want the situation settled but, we also need to find a situation where Linden has to come on board in terms of the electricity rates. It is not a case where there is no increase at all,” she added.