President David Granger yesterday swore in two more Commissioners to serve on the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and charged them to operate within their mandate, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said
Rajendra Bissessar and Dela Atta Kuma Britton, an Attorney-at-Law by profession, were inducted as PUC Commissioners in the presence of the Chairman, Justice Prem Persaud; Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, and other stakeholders at the Ministry of the Presidency. Britton is the first woman to be installed on the PUC Board.
“We want to emphasise the importance that our administration places on public utilities, particularly telecommunications, which is a major preoccupation of the Commission… The world is moving ahead at a fast rate…the speed at which communications and other public utilities have to perform nowadays requires that we keep abreast and the strengthening of the Commission now, this year, next year and [in] the years to come will be very important to the overall development of our country. We are not moving as fast as we ought to, but we need to keep abreast with the rest of the world…” President Granger said in his address.
The new commissioners said they were honoured to be chosen.
“I am truly honoured to be the first woman to serve in such an office and as the President has said, it is an important industry because technology is on the rise and with the advent of the new Telecommunications Act, we will have a load of work to do as a Commission, because [with] the Act and the supposed dismantling of the monopoly that exists, we would have to deal with a lot of personalities and companies. It will be an exciting period for the PUC,” Britton said, according to the press release.
Bissessar said he will be advocating for better service from the Guyana Power and Light (GPL). “There [are] a lot of deficiencies existing there [at GPL] and I feel that there should be more prompt responses there. There needs to be a deeper understanding of the fundamental issues…so I hope we can do something with GPL,” he stated.
He also noted that the Commissioners will be available to interact with members of the public and any individual who may have a complaint is always welcomed at the office of the PUC. The other Commissioners serving on the PUC are Badrie Persaud and Maurice Solomon.
