Even before the resignation of the chairman of the panel reviewing Linden’s electricity tariff, the government’s failure to live up to its commitments to submit crucial documentation delayed its work, according to economist Dr Clive Thomas.
The Technical Review Committee was one of the outcomes of the August 21, 2012 pact between the government and Region 10 to bring an end to over a month of sustained protests in the town, in part triggered by a move to phase out the subsidy for electricity supplied to citizens.
Following the resignation of committee Chairman Narvon Persaud last week, Thomas said he is unaware who the new chairman might be or where the process will go from this point onwards. The committee was supposed to have reported to the government and the region fortnightly and present a final report within 60 days of its establishment.
Speaking to Stabroek News last week, Dr Thomas, a member of the committee, severely criticised the PPP/C administration for what he described as a deficient Power Purchase Agreement between the government and Bosai Minerals and for failing to disclose who put it together.
“We have the agreement… it is such a poor document that we want to know who did it,” he said.
Thomas added that he requested of government information on the power consumption of Linden, with regard to the subsidies, to be able to trace who is using power and how it is being used by geographic location. “We wanted to see how the power is distributed in terms of businesses and residents to ascertain how the subsidy is distributed,” he explained.
He said government made a commitment to provide the documentation but it was not forthcoming.
“It was planned that at a meeting last Tuesday the documents would have been provided but that meeting did not come off,” he added.
“You always try to make sure that those at the bottom are not made worse off,” he said, about the power distribution and its method of subsidisation. “We tried to get an idea of how the power was being distributed. We had a meeting set for [Tuesday] to which nobody turned up, and then we heard that [Narvon] Persaud had resigned [the day before],” he added.
According to Thomas, he spent a lot of “intellectual capital” in the deliberations and the research, since the work of the committee had started, only to see it screech to a halt.
The committee also comprises Lloyd Rose, Haslyn Parris and, who were nominated by Region 10 and Norman McLean, Bharat Dindyal, and Winston Brassington nominated by the government.
The Terms of Reference of the technical team are to review the existing provision and consumption of electricity in the Linden community, including the history, the costs, the tariff structure, and the subsidies; to consider arrangements to provide electricity to the Linden community and the tariffs to sustain such arrangements within a sustainable time frame; to examine Region 10′s economic circumstances inclusive of the affordability of increased cost; to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the integration of the supply of electricity in the Linden area into the national grid; and, to examine and make recommendations on cost saving measures and options for alternative energy, including the facilitation of conservation education and conservation. Both parties to the pact agreed to cooperate to ensure that all documents, persons and resources required are provided to the technical team.
Three weeks ago, Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council for Region Ten Sharma Solomon Solomon described the pace of work of the technical committee as progressing significantly. He has, however, since said that the committee had been experiencing problems from its inception, even though work was ongoing.
The Economic Committee for Linden is yet to have a chairman, after the opposition and government have been unable to settle nominees and the resignation of Persaud will likely cause delays in resolving the economic situation at Linden.
Solomon, in a statement on Tuesday, pointed out that government team’s approach on the committee has been to seek to debate the issue rather than investigate the electricity situation, unearth the facts, make appropriate recommendations based on the facts.
He said that Region 10 reaffirmed its commitment to a thorough investigation of the electricity sector in Linden and to give positive consideration to the recommendations once they are in consonance with the Terms of Reference of the technical committee.
According to Solomon, the Constitution of Guyana gives the people of Region 10 the right to be involved in any decision that affects their lives. He noted that the Terms of Reference of the technical committee provide for the involvement of the people of Region 10 in the work of the committee.
Solomon noted that there is further concern that the government is failing to implement many aspects of the August 21, 2012 agreement, such as the handing over to the region the TV dish and transmitter, in keeping with the agreement, and the convening of a meeting so that the two sides could agree to a chairman for the Economic Committee and ensure that its work can commence.
“The government is advised to remember its position that nothing is agreed until all is agreed,” Solomon said.
“Region 10 wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the process of finding solutions to the problems of Region 10 in keeping with the August 21, 2012 agreement and urge the continuation of the implementation of the agreement in both its letter and spirit,” he added.
