Gaulbert Sutherland

Once developing at a frenetic pace, the downswing in the gold industry has slowed business in Bartica and residents say that landlordism is one of the main contributors to the slump.

Repeatedly linking the PNCR to criminals, PPP/C officials including President Donald Ramotar told Barticians yesterday that the opposition has been the greatest hindrance to development in the country and warned of the creation of a “militarised” state should it get into power.

Facing dwindling water supplies as a severe drought continues to grip the Rupununi, indigenous communities in the area are growing increasingly concerned and government yesterday announced that tractors and trailers with water tanks will be dispatched to the remote villages to provide water.

The puns overflowed. The soup was in the cup. Germans taking over.

Pledging a “clean” government that would place the Corentyne at the forefront of the Guyanese economy, leaders of the APNU+AFC alliance promised greater accountability if elected to office even as they highlighted that the PPP is no longer the party of its founder, the late President Dr Cheddi Jagan.

Urging the electorate to judge them on their record and the PNC on its past, the PPP campaign swung into the city last evening with speakers exhorting their supporters not to repeat a “fatal mistake” and to vote at the “mother of all elections” on May 11.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said that the opposition APNU+AFC alliance does not represent change and has stymied development while also accusing it of practising racism.

Current government officials who have committed wrongdoings will be investigated and prosecuted should the APNU+AFC alliance win the May 11th general elections, according to AFC leader Khemraj Ramjattan, who says such a move will serve as a deterrent to those who may want to commit similar offences.

  Under the slogan “It is time,” the APNU+AFC alliance yesterday launched their campaign for the May 11 general elections and promised a new day for Guyana, unity, and a change in the local political culture while assuring that the alliance is not a short-term, office-sharing bargain.

  Not forming an alliance with APNU might have meant the death of the AFC, the party’s leader Khemraj Ramjattan has said even as he emphasised that it was time to move beyond the history of the PNC.

In the four months since he moved into his partially completed home at the new Culvert City Housing Scheme, Ovid Hernandez has had to cross the road to get water in a bucket from a deep hand-dug well in another lot in the sparsely settled development under the gaze of the lofty Kanuku Mountains.

Interviews by Rae Wiltshire  Photos by Rae Wiltshire and Gaulbert Sutherland During a recent visit to Lethem we asked the man and woman in the street how they felt about living there.

There is need for a comprehensive development plan for Lethem but the authorities have shown no intention of effecting one, President of the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) Daniel Gajie says.

Justifying the move to transfer US$80 million to the Inter-American Deve-lopment Bank (IDB) last year for the Amaila       Falls Hydropower Project (AFHP), a Norwegian official has said that given the vote in favour of bills in relation to the project, there appears to be sufficient support by the National Assembly for the AFHP.

With general elections set for May 11 and with one of the likely outcomes a hung Parliament, it is imperative that a minority government works with a majority opposition, outgoing British High Commission-er to Guyana Andrew Ayre has said.

‘… The best way to attract UK and other developed world investment is to have the best possible business environment and the least possible corrupt environment’ The government here is not doing enough to fight corruption and faces a stark threat from organized crime which needs a far greater allocation of resources, outgoing British High Commissioner to Guyana, Andrew Ayre has said.

  Guyana faces a stark threat from narcotics and the United States continues to have concerns about the difficulties in obtaining convictions in local courts and is looking at adding to its significant contribution to the anti-drug fight here.

With no indication as to when the suspension of the National Assembly will be lifted, the top American diplomat here yesterday said that the primary focus at this stage needs to be on moving towards general elections, ensuring a return to parliamentary democracy.

The United Kingdom yesterday warned that Guyana is on a “dangerous path” and the country could be referred to a Commonwealth body which deals with serious violators of democracy principles while London’s aid to Guyana could be affected if the suspension of Parliament by President Donald Ramotar is not lifted.

She arrived in the village last Tuesday, collected the money on Wednesday and returned to the city $180,000 richer, leaving the Deep South Rupununi community of Karaudarnau in an uproar.