Regional Chairman of Region Ten Sharma Solomon has accused the organisers of the inauguration ceremony of the Laparoscopic Centre of the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) of engaging in “narrow, dingy politics” because they did not invite him and members of the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council (RDC) to the function.
The matter was raised by APNU Councillor Maurice Butters on Thursday at the October statutory meeting of the Region Ten RDC when he informed his fellow councilors that the region missed a glorious opportunity of meeting with the Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China to Guyana Zhang Limin and Li Bin, the Chinese Minister of Health because the Region Ten Chairman had not been informed of nor was invited to attend the inauguration ceremony, which was held at the Mackenzie Hospital Complex last Sunday.
“We have issues with Baishanlin. We have issues with Bosai and we have so many Chinese companies operating in the region and we could have, if not entertain a discussion with the ambassador, we could have set the stage and made arrangements to meet with the ambassador sometime after to voice our concerns,” Butters said. “But, here it is, the ambassador came here to Linden with a high official from the Chinese government and the council was not informed,” he noted.
Reminding his colleagues that he is Chairman of the Region’s Health and the Environment Committee, Butters said that he was invited to the function not as a councillor or a member of the health committee but as a member of the LHC Management Board. “So, that is where the contempt is, also, because I’m on that Board as the Chairman of the health committee. But all of that was thrown aside and I was invited as an individual,” he said.
Solomon said there is “a level of dingy politics that plays out at these institutions.” According to him, the people of Region Ten should hold the organisers of the function accountable for losing an opportunity to tell the Chinese officials “that first, this region is not against investment, is not against investors and to air whatever concerns and fears we do have any – and we could also worked to strengthen our relationship.”
He added, “That is, indeed, a missed opportunity, again because of narrow, dingy politics and whoever is responsible for that should be made to explain to the people of this region why the council and the people’s representatives were omitted from that very important exercise.”
Last week, Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghill had said that the engagement between central government and the region is almost non-existent.