Accountability Watch

Guyana’s laws on petroleum exploration and production date back to the 1980s.

In our last two articles, we discussed the operations of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd.

In last week’s article, we began a discussion on the operations of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) in the light of the controversy over its involvement in the leasing and disposal of State lands under questionable circumstances.

It is time for better angels to prevail. Tonight, the whole world is watching America.

In last week’s article, we referred to the sad state of public accountability at the beginning of 1991.

In last week’s article, we referred to the appointment of the nine-member Public Accounts Committee (PAC) following the convening of the 12th Parliament under the new Administration.

The essential fact is this Committee is a Committee of the House responsible to the House as a whole, and is not a battleground for party faction…I believe it is true to say that the authority of the Committee is greatly enhanced by its unanimous character and I hope the complete objectivity of its report.

Last week, the Government announced the appointment of eight new Permanent Secretaries.

In last week’s article, we sought to explain the Government’s budgetary process for the benefit of those who are not familiar with it.

More than 100 wildfires continue to rage in the states of California, Oregon and Portland, causing deaths to at least 35 people, massive destruction to property and displacement of thousands of residents.

On 30 September 2019, the Auditor General presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly his report on the audit of the public accounts for the fiscal year ended 31 December 2018.

After 15 months, the National Assembly met last Tuesday for the first time under the new Administration.

Some 28 trillion tonnes of ice have disappeared from Earth’s surface since 1994, according to researchers from Edinburgh University, University of Leeds and University College London.

In last week’s article, we referred to the urgent need to convene Parliament in order to set the legislative agenda for the rest of the year, including the presentation and approval of the budget for 2020.

I have been around in this business for 25 years and I have never seen a post-elections process like I have seen here in those 25 years, anywhere…[W]e saw things, with our own eyes, which were clearly not credible and clearly not right.

A huge section of the Milne Ice Shelf, the last of Canada’s intact ice shelves located on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut, has collapsed into the Arctic Ocean, creating an “ice island” about 30 square miles in size, larger than that of the area of Manhattan.

The Granger administration and its allies continue to defy the will of the Guyanese people by refusing to accept the vote count.

In democracy, leaders step aside when they are voted out of office.

The Chair of the Elections Commission had written to the Chief Election Officer (CEO) requesting him to submit a report ‘using the valid votes counted in the National Recount as per Certificates of Recount generated therefrom’.

Now Guyana must return to its state of respect for the established will of the people; and the new Government must be declared and installed.