APA writing to internationals…
–    “…the media is what entertain them in their foolishness”   – Roger Luncheon
HEAD of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS), Dr. Roger Luncheon, noting that the Amerindian People’s Association (APA) has written to international agencies regarding the Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), said most of them are represented in Guyana and had an opportunity to come to their own conclusions.
He said, at his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing Wednesday, in Office of the President, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Georgetown: “I don’t know. They, probably, got a lot of money because my understanding is that most of these agencies are represented here.
“And, apart from their being represented here in Guyana, I think they, themselves, quite competently, would over time, the same time, hopefully, that the APA put into coming to whatever conclusions they have had about the LCDS. The representatives of these international agencies are here and they, probably, had as equal an opportunity to come to their own conclusions and, probably, are in as good as, or even in a better position to advise their home headquarters.”
“So I would await their reactions, seeing that now, at least, there are other sources of information closer to home than the APA,” Luncheon added.
He declared that “the media is what entertain them in their foolishness” and that the Press had given extensive coverage to the LCDS and its consultations.
“Here is one special interest group that comes and says all of this stuff. Y’all been writing about for how much, ever years, for how much ever consultations took place. You been writing about lies and misinformation.”
Luncheon went on: “And this same media, I am utterly amazed, turn around and putting this trash on the front page. So I am in an invidious position,” the Cabinet Secretary claimed.
Answering questions about the Guyana/Norway Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), he said the Government of Norway has not offered to be the financial mechanism but have identified an entity.
Luncheon said they have now moved to an engagement with the entity and those talks are ongoing.
“I am advised that we can practically say, with reference to the first year inflows, we can practically say our expectations is that they would materialise,” he said.
Asked about how reliant is Guyana on this money to help fund the Amalia Falls hydropower project, Luncheon said part of this engagement with the financing mechanism has to do with that.
“If the expectation is certain amount of money to flow, which would be redirected to the Amalia Falls hydroelectric project and the financial mechanism says there should be no flow or there should be this level of flow, that would influence all of the developmental activities on which these flows have been related to, as well as others.
“So, what comes in, a lot of that depends on how well Guyana complies with the terms and the provisions of the Guyana/Norway MOU and, depending on what flows in, funds would then be available for the transformative development projects, some which have been identified as the activities for which these funds would be directed,” he informed.