IT is unclear whether the actions of the Private Sector Commission, Bar Associations and Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) Chairman, Dr. Yesu Persaud were heeding the advice of the Office of the President to “dissociate themselves from this farcical event,” but clearly there was some consensus that the event was not worth the while. Representatives from Civil Society organisations were yesterday gathered at the Guyana International Conference Centre under the flag of the Guyana National Civil Society Council (GNCSC), but things appeared ‘iffy’ when keynote speaker, Dr. Yesu Persaud was called to give an address even though he was not in attendance.

Similar calls were made for representation from the legal fraternity, for which there was no response from the gathering. It was unclear whether the Guyana Bar Association was informed by invitation of the forum; but this could not be confirmed since efforts to contact the President of that body, Ronald Burch-Smith, were unsuccessful.
Similar efforts to contact DDL’s, Dr. Yesu Persaud and the PSC’s Chairman, Ramesh Persaud were unsuccessful.
During his weekly press briefing, Cabinet Secretary, Roger Luncheon had expressed the position of the Government which has dissociated itself from the forum and from association with organiser, Phillip Mozart Thomas.
“The administration, cognisant of the sensitivities involved and noting the reactions of many would-be fellow supporters, has made [the decision to dissociate] itself from this effort to organise civil society entities in Guyana.”
In an invited comment from this publication, Thomas expressed concern on the position taken by the Government.
In a statement seen by this publication, the Office of the President recently declared: “It has been brought to the attention of the Office of the President that the qualifications Mr. Thomas purports to possess are highly suspicious.”
At Wednesday’s summit, representatives from the Private Sector Commission were nowhere in sight; but this comes as no surprise, since the PSC too has distanced itself from the happenings.
Senior officials within that civil society body told this publication that while they are aware of the event being planned, as a major constituent representative of civil society, it has no knowledge of the organisation, nor do they know anything about its mandate.”
Following full page ads which appeared in major newspapers for more than two days, the question of where the funding for such an affair is coming was being asked. Thomas told the Chronicle that funding for the Summit comes from a number of organisations as well as businesses which are to be named at an upcoming event.
The Summit’s organising committee has come under fire for the nomination of prominent persons to its Advisory Council Board, as well as to the full Council. Explaining this process, Thomas said “Individuals out of the 400 groups … put up their own persons for nominations.” It is however unclear whether persons are aware of whom they were nominated by.
The Summit held at the Conference Centre continues until December 19 and members of the 10th Parliament have been requested to attend by invitation.

(By Derwayne Wills)