Dear Editor,
With reference to the Private Sector Commission’s (PSC) criticism of Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon, we should like to point out that while it is the right of the commission to express its views, it must be reminded that for conflict resolution to be successful in Guyana, civil society bodies must preserve their independence and impartiality in order to be treated with the respect they deserve.
The performance of the PSC under the immediate past president, Mr Ramesh Dookhoo and others like Mr Gerry Gouveia has rendered the PSC an extension of the regime, and thus it can be deemed a pro-PPP organisation. The PSC never came to the rescue of members like Yesu Persaud and Robert Badal, who chose to expose the PPP’s practices over the years.
So after conniving with the government, how can the PSC now expect the Lindeners to trust them today as mediators, when many in their leadership are compromised? If Mr Sharma Solomon is speaking to the PPP leader, President Ramotar, therefore, there is no room for more pro-PPP leaders to join the conversation under the disguise of the PSC. To bring balance to the discussions, Mr Solomon quite justly demanded that if the PSC is invited, then the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and other civic groups must also be present at the talks. And while we are at it, why not invite the Church leaders, especially those who have congregations in Linden. We would even go so far as to ask that Transparency International‘s Guyana Chapter be asked to act as observers at these deliberations, since even APNU and the PNC cannot be trusted.
One only has to look at the draft Terms of Reference (TOR) crafted by Joseph Harmon on behalf of APNU and the Roger Luncheon-Gail Teixeira group on behalf of the PPP. That TOR has done a grave injustice to the people of Linden in that it has not included many of their demands.
Did the APNU and the PNC authorise this incomplete TOR? If so, then we are justified in saying that they have sold out dreams and desires of Lindeners. We were hoping that the leaders of APNU/PNCR would have protected the interests of their constituency, since Lindeners voted en masse for them in the last election. At least the AFC was in order for exposing this document for what it is.
So coming back to the PSC, they are out of order to criticize Mr Solomon since they cannot be seen as independent peace-makers. Many in the opposition forces see the PSC as pretentious and hypocritical.
With respect to solutions to the current impasse we suggest the following:
1. With immediate effect President Ramotar should engage groups of Church leaders who have congregations in Linden to act as plenipotentiaries to work with the people, since it is clear the most Lindeners do not trust the PPP. As an incentive, maybe the government should declare Linden a disaster zone and send in some temporary food supplies and other basic amenities under the auspices of these Church leaders to help ease the pain and suffering of the people.
2. The Ramotar government should engage Bosai, Rusal, the bauxite unions, the University of Guyana (Institute of Development Studies) and the Region 10 leadership to devise a sustainable development plan for Region 10. We know that this is a very difficult task for the PPP leaders because they failed to ground with the people and thus they are intellectually bankrupt in terms of addressing the Region 10 issues. The evidence over the past decade reveals that the regime has not only neglected and marginalized Lindeners, but has also embarked on a strategy to force the people of Linden into supporting the PPP. The 2011 electoral results tell the story of what Lindeners think of the PPP.
3. As part of the sustained development plan, the regime should provide financial resources to the people of Linden to revitalize the infrastructure of the town on projects such as weeding/trimming the parapet, collecting all roadside garbage including the old logs, planting trees, developing play parks for the children, repainting and repairing all government buildings, and repairing the roads and bridges, etc. All these contracts should be given out to Lindeners to immediately create jobs for hundreds of young men and women in Linden and thus ease their financial burden.
4. The PPP should develop a house parts industry in Linden to provide low-cost building materials such as building blocks from lateritic bauxite waste material, wooden house parts such as sawn and plain lumber, windows, doors, roofing material, etc, and provide the market on the coast by way of the New GMC to sell these products to contractors. Again, jobs for Lindeners!
5. The government should engage the services of a team of professionals and specialists to visit some of the major economic and financial capitals of the world to try to get funding to build the Tiger Falls Hydro electric project and an alumina plant at Linden to process the bauxite produced by both Bosai and Rusal. In addition, the Brazilians must be aggressively pursued to cultivate the intermediate savannah area for the rearing of chickens, sheep, pigs, cows and other small ruminants on a large scale for the Brazilian market using modern technology and local labour. Again more jobs!
This is what the regime should be doing rather than using the security forces to terrorize the people of Linden while pretending to be in talks with the leadership of that town. How can those talks be successful if they are being conducted with a guns pointed at the heads of Lindeners?
We remain surprised that Mr Solomon is still in talks with the regime which has done absolutely nothing but cast blame on the opposition for the unrest, instead of helping a group of people who are in dire straits. We want to remind President Ramotar that the Linden unrest began following the decision reduce the subsidy, thereby imposing a steep increase in electricity rates on Lindeners who for the past decade have been barely surviving.
So in conclusion, rather than spending so much time serving the PPP’s interest, the PSC should restore the enviable reputation it once had under business leaders like Yesu Persaud and focus on how to structure business deals for its members to revitalize the economy in Region 10 and the rest of Guyana.
Linden and by extension the whole of Guyana is in an economic, political and social crisis, and the PSC should be leading with business deals to create new jobs and stop pandering to the whims and fancies of the PPP.
Yours faithfully,
Asquith Rose
Harish S Singh
