THE year 2014 can be best described as a mixed one – of many challenges, and one, in which historical events occurred. The mettle of Government was tested, but the PPP/C Administration persevered to bring goods and services to Guyanese, amidst a tense political climate.

Despite the challenges experienced, Government’s determination resulted in the country experiencing yet another year of economic growth, as new opportunities were created, bringing further improvement to the lives of

Guyanese.

* PARLIAMENT & PROROGATION
One of the biggest and historical events for 2014 was the President’s Proclamation on November 10, to Prorogue the 10th Parliament. According to the President, his decision was in keeping with the constitution, and having been confronted with a No-Confidence Motion from the Joint Opposition.

Following the President’s decision, Opposition Leader David Granger later declined to engage in meaningful dialogue with the President, forcing him to announce that elections will be called early 2015, as he did not intend to dampen the Christmas spirit, with matters surrounding polling.

And, as has been the norm over the past three years, with the new political dispensation in the National Assembly, the Combined Opposition, using their one seat majority, cut a large portion of the 2014 Budget. Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh, on March 25, delivered to the National Assembly, a well themed budget: ‘A better Guyana for all Guyanese’. It was a record breaking National Budget of $220B. However, quite unjustifiably, it was subjected to the largest cut; it was reduced by $37.46B by the Joint Opposition. Government, acting within constitutional parameters restored some of the money, and thankfully, there has been some amount of progress in the country.
The cuts affected key transformational projects such as the Amaila Falls Hydro, the Specialty Hospital, the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) Expansion, airstrips maintenance across the country, and Amerindian development, as the entire capital programme was cut from the Amerindian Affairs Ministry.

* AML/CFT
One of the highpoints of 2014 was the political Opposition’s obduracy with regard to its lack of support on the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Bill.

This drew sharp criticism from a wide cross section of local and international stakeholders, and despite entreaties by officials of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), who travelled to Guyana for meetings with both sides of the National Assembly, the political Opposition refused to support the bill. This came despite Government’s numerous efforts to reach consensus, to enable the critically needed legislation’s passage to prevent Guyana from being blacklisted.
However, Government persisted and put in place all the non-legislative aspects, and following a high level commitment by President Donald Ramotar to implement the action plan developed between the Guyana Government and the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG), Guyana was granted a reprieve from blacklisting until September 2015.

EDUCATION SUCCESS
Amidst these tense situations, the Ministry of Education did remarkable work, in carrying out its mandate. The Hinterland Education Improvement Project (HEIP) was launched in several hinterland regions. Minister of Education Priya Manickchand, accompanied by officials of the ministry, met with residents and addressed how the results could be bettered. The HEIP targets improving the quality of teacher education; aligning teaching-learning resources to improve students’ outcome; enhancing physical facilities; fostering community alliances; and strengthening management supervision.

A major highlight of the sector in 2014 has been the distribution of the ‘Because We Care’ $10,000 cash grant. The consensus was that Government did an excellent job, having launched this initiative which saw parents with children in the public education system receiving $10,000 for each child. The initiative was introduced to assist parents to ensure their children attend and stay in school.

During 2014, several schools were built, in keeping with the PPP/C Administration’s belief that education is the only sure way out of poverty. Paramakatoi, Region 8, benefited from a Primary School, which was built at a cost of $80.5M, while works continued on the $780M, Kato Secondary School Complex. In Linden, Region Ten works were almost completed on the $170M One Mile Primary School, while extension works were carried out on St. Agnes Primary and L’Venture Secondary had a section that was gutted by fire rebuilt.

Even more evident also is that Government’s investments are paying off as Guyana again secured the regional award for top performance at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations, thanks to Elisa Hamilton. Hamilton, of Queen’s College (QC) won the award for Most Outstanding Candidate in the region after she copped 19 Grade Ones and 1 Grade Two.

Aliyyah Abdul Kadir and Ryhan Chand, also of QC, took top regional awards for Most Outstanding in Humanities and Most Outstanding in Business Studies respectively while Kishan Crichlow of the New Amsterdam Multilateral School was awarded the Most Outstanding Student in Technical Vocational studies.

AGRICULTURE SECTOR – A SHINING STAR

Meanwhile, in the agriculture sector the Subject Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, said his sector will have the highest average Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contribution, and its growth for 2014 will exceed 5%.
Every sector under this ministry accounted for more than half a billion dollars in export earnings, with rice earning more than US$250 million. However, most outstanding was the rice sector, which broke two records for 2014. Production reached an unprecedented, record breaking 633,000 tonnes. And by 29 December, 499,872 tonnes were exported with more shipments at the ports for export; heading to the 500,000 tonnes that the minister projected would be achieved.
Aiding this achievement was the new rice agreement signed with Panama, to supply 5,000 tonnes per month to that country.

Sugar also surpassed its target of 216,000 tonnes. This was the first time since 2005, the set target was achieved.
Drainage and irrigation capacity was further boosted as the East Demerara Water Conservancy’s Hope Canal Project was close to completion as the year’s end approached. New pump stations were operationalised at Three Friends in Region Two, Windsor Forest, Patentia, and Canal Polder One in Region Three, Paradise in Region Four, Pine Ground in Region Five, and Number 19 Village, Rose Hall, Number 56 Village and Canje in Region Six.

HEALTH CARE DELIVERY UPPED
Notwithstanding the challenges thrown in its path, the major one being no funding for the Specialty Hospital, the health sector continued to improve on its delivery of health care.
The maternity facility at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) was expanded to ensure increased bed capacity while maternity waiting homes in Lethem and Bartica were set up, to cater for ante-natal high-risk mothers as Government continues to work towards achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in 2015. Several modern neo-natal units were established as well at the Linden, Suddie, New Amsterdam hospitals and at the GPHC.
While Guyana was affected with the Chikungunya disease, it was not of the magnitude as that experienced by other Caribbean states due to the fact that the ministry was putting necessary measures in place to safeguard its citizens. The ministry managed to provide training for medical personnel, while they were able to acquire the Elisa Testing kits to accurately detect the virus.

Also, Guyana was more prepared for the eventuality of the deadly Ebola virus; an isolation unit was set up at the CJIA, with local persons receiving training to deal with the likelihood of any possible cases.

YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
Meanwhile, 248 students graduated from the Kuru Kuru Training Centre (KKTC) in 10 different skill areas, while the non-residential programmes at Sophia Training Centre, and Vryman’s Erven, and New Opportunity Corps (NOC) also continued to provide opportunities for the nation’s youth.
The President’s Youth Award: Republic of Guyana (PYARG) saw 1500 youth qualifying for expeditions and 682 completing the award while capacity building workshops were held for 25 youth organisations across the country and volunteering programmes launched in 10 city schools. For the first time, the ministry hosted a Youth Award in which 36 young people received various awards of excellence.
The Synthetic athletic track’s surface was laid and international athlete Kristi Castlin paid a visit to the track at Leonora. The warm-up pool at the aquatic centre was close to completion in December.

$1B NATIONAL CLEAN-UP

The $1B which was allocated in the 2014 National Budget for the ‘Clean-up My Country’ initiative, $500M of which was for the City, was welcomed and appreciated by all.
This project was almost completed in the city as the year came to a close, with focus on Le Repentir Cemetery, the main drainage canals and communities. Guyana needed this as years of mis-management, by the incumbent Mayor and City Council led to a decadent and filthy city.
Clean-up activities were also done in other administrative regions.

AGGRESSIVE TOURISM STRATEGY

In 2014, the Tourism sector saw great strides in promoting Guyana, as a prime tourist destination, through a series of activities including the inaugural Guyana Festival. This event offered a mixture of the country’s traditional music, dance, food, art and craft and served to bring awareness of Guyana’s diverse cultural heritage, and generally the nature of its tourism product locally, regionally and internationally.
Guyana’s image as a yachting destination was bolstered when the second Nereid rally arrived in the Essequibo River bringing a diverse group of yachters.
The annual Pakaraima Safari and the second South Rupununi safari, created great opportunities for the local promotion of the country’s tourism product and opened up new avenues for additional markets.
Then there were the launch of ‘Homecoming Guyana’ targeting the return of Guyanese from the Diaspora, and the rebranding of Destination Guyana – ‘Guyana South America Undiscovered’.

INFRASTRUCTURE
2014 also saw some massive infrastructural works being carried out throughout the country, including roads and bridges. Between Diamond and Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara, 11 new interconnecting roads were built to the tune of more than $3B.

There was significant progress on the East Bank four-lane highway, as well as on the East Coast highway, as a total of $13.7B was allocated for same.
The way was paved for the US$46M West Coast road modernisation that will make that corridor safer, while the Linden to Lethem road was repaired, making travelling easier.
Guyana’s first five-star hotel, the Marriott was close to completion at the end of 2014, raising the country’s accommodation status.

HOUSING
La Parfaite Harmonie, one of the largest housing schemes in Guyana, got a $604M access road, which now provides easy access for thousands of residents.
In addition to this, several other roads in Region Three as well as in other regions were redone under the Community Road Improvement Project (CRIP).

Focus during the year was also on advancing the turn key homes, and opening up of new opportunities, as well as improving occupancy and building the assets of Guyanese. The first ever ‘young professional’ project was a major success and remains in high demand. The ministry completed more than 100 of the Perseverance Housing Scheme 1000 Butter Cup cottages.
The ministry has also closed in on its targets of offering 5,900 houselot allocations and 5000 new titles.

CATERING FOR THE VULNERABLE
The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security, with its mandate of providing services to those sections of society that are affected by poor socio-economic circumstances, relocated 30 persons from the Night Shelter in Georgetown, to the Hugo Chavez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration at Onverwagt, Region Five.
Over 42,500 pensioners benefited from an increase, which upped their monthly grant to $13,125.
Senior citizens also benefited from Government’s electricity subsidy of $30,000 per year.
Ninety-seven women were granted loans under the Women of Worth (WoW) micro-credit initiative, to support income generating activities, while the ministry collaborated with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in a series of awareness campaigns in hinterland communities, especially in the mining areas on trafficking in Persons ( TIP). Awareness programmes were also done in 30 schools. There were more than a dozen cases of TIP reported for 2014.

INVESTMENT
The year 2014 started off well and at mid-year, Guyana recorded 3.2 percent growth. There continued to be investments and business expansion in Guyana resulting from the confidence that both local and international investors placed in the economy.

ExxonMobil, an American multinational oil and gas corporation, announced its intention to invest US$200M for exploratory drilling offshore in Guyana; Rubis commissioned five fuel storage tanks at Providence, doubling the company’s storage capacity.

In the mining sector, Guyana Goldfields Inc., a Canadian company began developing the Aurora Mines, located in the Cuyuni River, Region Seven. It intends to invest US$1B. Others include: Troy Resources, an Australian company investing US$86M in the Karouni Gold Project; China’s Bosai Mineral; Rusal-Russia aluminum giant; Arrowhead Gold Group and Alicanto Minerals.

In the agriculture sector, there are Barbados-owned Santa Fe Inc., which expanded and Alexis Rice and Soya, Henry’s Farm of Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean Rice Mill of Trinidad and Tobago, and Baron Foods, but more than any other sector, banking continues to express confidence in the Guyana economy and has been establishing new branches at strategic points across the country. The most recent was the Republic Bank branch, which was opened at D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice, the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry which was commissioned in Bartica, and Citizens Bank in New Amsterdam, Berbice.
UNICOMER, the parent company of Courts, expanded its operation in Guyana at Eccles Industrial Site, East Bank Demerara while the Caribbean’s largest conglomerate, formerly Neal and Massy, now Massy, invested US$10M at its new location at Montrose, East Coast Demerara.

SECURITY AND JUSTICE
In 2014, $1.8B was allocated to the Justice Sector and much was achieved with that, including the commissioning of a new Linden Magistrate’s Court, and the commissioning of the Mediation Centre in Berbice.

Several laws were instituted and revised during the year. The Customs Act was amended in order to remove from it a discriminatory element which would have made citizens compliant with Guyana’s treaty obligations under the Treaty of Chaguaramas.
This would see the removal of barriers that are discriminatory from goods manufactured within the region that traded inter-regionally. This was however rejected by the joint Opposition resulting in Guyana having to pay a Surinamese company US$6M, a cost awarded by the Caribbean Court of Justice.
The Education Bill has already been tabled while the comprehensive Hire-purchase Bill is intended to correct a lot of laws where there are none.

Other Bills in the pipeline include the Whistle Blowing Legislation, the Act of Terrorism Bill and the E-governance Bill among others waiting to be tabled.

Training and Capacity building were also high on the judicial agenda for 2014, as sitting magistrates and judges were given the opportunity to participate in training programmes to sharpen their skills.
Meanwhile, for the security sector, the Force moved closer towards its goal of developing a professional unit, capable of adapting to modern trends of crime. To this end, 26 carefully handpicked officers completed two rounds of training, and thereby becoming the country’s first formalised Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit.
Several other persons from the Force were beneficiaries of overseas training in different areas of law enforcement during the year.
The Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory is the latest of a series of national developmental projects brought into fruition, after significant investments and a strong political resolve by the PPP/C Administration, to enhance the country’s capacity, to better address issues of security and crime fighting. This $1.049B edifice came on stream in July of 2014.The lab is intended to enhance the investigative capacity of the local law enforcement in crime and the prosecution of offenders, by providing quality, scientific evidence and expert testimony.

(A GINA Feature)