HEEDING the call of government for donations from the private sector to assist with hurricane relief, $7M in food and cleaning supplies was donated by the Beharry Group of Companies and Sterling Products Ltd. (SPL), to the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) for distribution.
This was disclosed on Friday at the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Waterloo Street, Georgetown. Desmond Sears, Vice-Chair of the PSC said that on September 11, the Government convened a meeting with the PSC, the CDC and other donor agencies for a collaborative effort in response to the hurricane that ravaged the islands in the Caribbean.
As such, one of the members of the Beharry Group of Companies decided to donate $5M in food supplies. Beharry Group Chair, Edward Anand Beharry, said as a corporate member of the PSC, a decision was taken to donate to those in need. “We have been a Guyanese company from the inception, we are almost 82-years-old and we feel very strongly in giving back, not just to our Guyana brothers and sisters but to those in CARICOM, since they are very clearly in need,” he added.

The donation, he explained, consists of 33,000 pounds of food valued at $5M while Sterling Products Limited donated 382 metric tonnes of cleaning supplies valued at $2M.
Civil Defence Commission (CDC) Director-General, Colonel (retired) Chabilall Ramsarup, in thanking the PSC and its donors, disclosed that there is an issue in relation to the movement of the supplies, as a second C-130 aircraft promised by Britain to transport the donated supplies is no longer available. However, he assured that other modalities are currently being worked out on moving the supplies to the islands. “If we take another two weeks to get the supplies to these islands it won’t mean anything to them, so the fastest we get humanitarian assistance out we can save lives and prevent illnesses,” Ramsarup said. The CDC director is aiming to move all the supplies out by next week, since one of the private sector businesses promised to provide a ship as an alternative.
“I would like to thank the PSC and we would like to see more donations coming forward,” the director said. Sears also called for businesses that can assist with transportation of the supplies to come on board.

Guyana already has 10 containers of relief supplies to ship to hurricane-affected islands of Antigua, Saint Maarten, and the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The containers are filled with food stuff, medical supplies and building materials.
Tin addition, the Government has doubled its financial contribution from US$50,000 to US$100,000. A Ministerial Task Force headed by Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, with responsibility for coordinating the national effort in offering humanitarian aid and solidarity to the affected Caribbean islands, was established.
Hurricanes Irma, Jose and Maria have virtually flattened St Maarten, Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla and Dominica. Some 7,000 Guyanese reside in St Marten, 1,500 in the BVI and 8,500 in Antigua and Bermuda.