President’s accusation of rigged 2011 elections can be justified
-Dr. Luncheon
There is justification for the comments uttered by President Donald Ramotar on the recent elections results, notwithstanding, the reports and conclusions which arose from the scrutiny of the elections by Observers, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon told media representatives on Wednesday.
On February 12, President Ramotar in an interview with the Guyana Chronicle spoke of incidents which occurred at several polling stations, where PPP/C polling agents were barred from entering.
The article also stated that actions by the Opposition threatened the peace in the country, and as a result forced many to depart from executing their constitutional rights and Opposition Leader David Granger has since come out calling for the statement to be retracted.
According to Dr. Luncheon, the comments by the Opposition leader did not in any case question the constitutionality of the decision made by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), but however, were centered on the Government’s comments, on the issue of mischief when counting the votes and manipulation which severely robbed the PPP of votes.
“I don’t believe that the statement in any way could be construed to be a reflection or to have an impact on the legitimacy of the Government, saving except that you might be speaking about the Government and the plurality, this was exactly what the president was alluding to,” the Cabinet Secretary said.
“However, while the Government was successful in the general elections, the combined opposition enjoyed the plurality, and has obtained more seats in the Parliament notwithstanding the fact that the PPP had more seats than any other party in the (National) Assembly,” he said.
“You might know that the PPP was the only contending party at the General Elections, which lodged an objection within the stipulated timeframe. You might know also that after discussions the PPP withdrew those objections primarily in Regions Three and Four,” he said.
The basis for the withdrawal of the objections by the ruling party, Dr. Luncheon said still exists and continues to exist.
“In the very first instance, President Ramotar repeatedly offered for us to do a forensic audit and go to the courts as we did before. The fact that that has not happened may very well be the basis which encouraged the other participants to explain, but certainly I felt that there wasn’t a consensus among the three parties to so do,” he said.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
UG community changed design on how aspects of World Bank loan should be used- HPS
The decision on how the component of the World Bank loan that addresses the University of Guyana UG) and its facilities, is not one that is made by neither the institution nor any of its officials Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon said at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President.
He was at the time responding to a question as to when the mechanisms will be put in place to facilitate UG accessing the World Bank loan.
Last month, UG’s Vice Chancellor Professor Lawrence Carrington in his address to staff members said that the loan to the Guyana Government has not yet been activated because the Finance Minister is still to sign a crucial loan document.
The HPS said that he had personally invited Professor Carrington to be involved in a body which included Dr. Paulette Bynoe from the School of Environmental and Earth Sciences and others, to devise a structure on how best the funds could be used.
He explained that what actually happened since, is that the University community revised and changed that design to utilise the $8.4M to support various aspects of the institution’s recapitalisation.
“I am not aware that those specific elements await the Minister of Finance or any subordinate approval,” he said.
The World Bank loan is aimed at certain broad areas, such as the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the Science and Technology Laboratory facilities in four of the university’s faculties at Turkeyen; the review and reform of UG’s Science curriculum; and support for research towards low-carbon themes.
The decision on how the component of the World Bank loan that addresses the University of Guyana UG) and its facilities, is not one that is made by neither the institution nor any of its officials Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon said at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Office of the President.
He was at the time responding to a question as to when the mechanisms will be put in place to facilitate UG accessing the World Bank loan.
Last month, UG’s Vice Chancellor Professor Lawrence Carrington in his address to staff members said that the loan to the Guyana Government has not yet been activated because the Finance Minister is still to sign a crucial loan document.
The HPS said that he had personally invited Professor Carrington to be involved in a body which included Dr. Paulette Bynoe from the School of Environmental and Earth Sciences and others, to devise a structure on how best the funds could be used.
He explained that what actually happened since, is that the University community revised and changed that design to utilise the $8.4M to support various aspects of the institution’s recapitalisation.
“I am not aware that those specific elements await the Minister of Finance or any subordinate approval,” he said.
The World Bank loan is aimed at certain broad areas, such as the rehabilitation and refurbishment of the Science and Technology Laboratory facilities in four of the university’s faculties at Turkeyen; the review and reform of UG’s Science curriculum; and support for research towards low-carbon themes.
Monday, October 10, 2011
As Guyana prepares to host national elections 2011…..
Being a journalist does not mean I do not have my own opinions. The trade demands that a practitioner be as unbalanced/balance as possible (depending on which entity you work for), and to write the facts. However, my blog is my avenue to deal with issues that seem to be revolving, but not being solved.
Let’s start with National Elections which has last evening been announced for November 28, 2011, forcing political contenders to ‘up-the-ante’ with respect to their winning strategy and how convincing their story of development for Guyana would be, once elected.
This is where one would will see scores of candidates/party workers from respective political parties reaching out to residents in various villages, especially remote communities to talk about development, what would be given to them if their party is to be elected and that history, (be it under the PPP or PNC/R regime), would not be repeated under their tenure.
But if I am to have my way, many of these exact persons never ever visited these communities, and would never have if it wasn’t for garnering votes. To give credit to my article, take remote, isolated Amerindian communities especially in the Deep South; indigenous people who occupy their rough terrains never knew some of these politicians existed, not until now.
Once there, they make promises beyond the skies just for a vote come elections day. But my point remains the same, do these politicians really have the interest of Guyanese at heart and my conclusion is NO! For me, it is another scheme to fill their pockets, and then the remainder would be given for substandard work, be it in the education, social, agriculture, infrastructure or political sectors.
To give a little more weight to my point, check development under the once PNC/R Government as well as the PPP/C Government. While there was a lot of progress made during the tenure of each party in Government, there were however, equal disappointments with regards to development and laying a future for youths of Guyana to ‘grab on to’.
As I peruse the various speeches made by politicians via newspapers, television, internet or radio I can’t help but notice that my conclusions are clearer then crystal. While many are trying to give the best winning speech, none of the three main parties are really explaining what they will implement to better the lives of Guyanese, once elected.
Rather they are wasting time assailing each other’s governance, than taking time to present a future that will see more youths not only being gainfully employed, but with decent paying salaries. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), which comes directly from investment in trading, should also be boosted, giving the Guyanese dollar value. These are some of the problems that politicians should be looking into, rather than attacking each other.
As elections draws near, come-on Mr. and Mrs. Politicians do something for the Guyanese people, we have been suffering for years; it is time for a better Guyana, or migration rate will continue to increase.
Being a journalist does not mean I do not have my own opinions. The trade demands that a practitioner be as unbalanced/balance as possible (depending on which entity you work for), and to write the facts. However, my blog is my avenue to deal with issues that seem to be revolving, but not being solved.
Let’s start with National Elections which has last evening been announced for November 28, 2011, forcing political contenders to ‘up-the-ante’ with respect to their winning strategy and how convincing their story of development for Guyana would be, once elected.
This is where one would will see scores of candidates/party workers from respective political parties reaching out to residents in various villages, especially remote communities to talk about development, what would be given to them if their party is to be elected and that history, (be it under the PPP or PNC/R regime), would not be repeated under their tenure.
But if I am to have my way, many of these exact persons never ever visited these communities, and would never have if it wasn’t for garnering votes. To give credit to my article, take remote, isolated Amerindian communities especially in the Deep South; indigenous people who occupy their rough terrains never knew some of these politicians existed, not until now.
Once there, they make promises beyond the skies just for a vote come elections day. But my point remains the same, do these politicians really have the interest of Guyanese at heart and my conclusion is NO! For me, it is another scheme to fill their pockets, and then the remainder would be given for substandard work, be it in the education, social, agriculture, infrastructure or political sectors.
To give a little more weight to my point, check development under the once PNC/R Government as well as the PPP/C Government. While there was a lot of progress made during the tenure of each party in Government, there were however, equal disappointments with regards to development and laying a future for youths of Guyana to ‘grab on to’.
As I peruse the various speeches made by politicians via newspapers, television, internet or radio I can’t help but notice that my conclusions are clearer then crystal. While many are trying to give the best winning speech, none of the three main parties are really explaining what they will implement to better the lives of Guyanese, once elected.
Rather they are wasting time assailing each other’s governance, than taking time to present a future that will see more youths not only being gainfully employed, but with decent paying salaries. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), which comes directly from investment in trading, should also be boosted, giving the Guyanese dollar value. These are some of the problems that politicians should be looking into, rather than attacking each other.
As elections draws near, come-on Mr. and Mrs. Politicians do something for the Guyanese people, we have been suffering for years; it is time for a better Guyana, or migration rate will continue to increase.
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