WHILE TRINIDAD and Tobago’s Energy Minister is seeking to sensitise the nation to the billions of dollars being spent to subsidise fuel consumption, across in Guyana the government is currently locked in a battle to resolve a crisis situation following a decision in June to reduce the billions of dollars in subsidised electricity consumption in the bauxite mining town of Linden. Last month, what was announced to be a peaceful five-day protest by Lindeners against the government’s implementation of a phased national equalization in electricity tariff, quickly degenerated into confrontation between protesters and police that left three dead and  many injured.
According to Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine, in T&T, CARICOM’s sole substantially energy-based economy, fuel subsidy is too costly to sustain. For the first nine months last year, it cost the national treasury TT$3.3Billion (TT$6=US$1). This level of subsidy, said the minister, is “simply spoiling” T&T consumers.
In Guyana, residents of Linden, located 65-miles south of the capital Georgetown, are in rebellion against having to pay a comparatively minimal phased increase, starting from 10 percent to 50 percent per kilowatt hour for residential electricity consumption.
This hike would, in the end, simply place Lindeners on par, for the first time, with the electricity tariff being paid by the rest of consumers across Guyana, including the indigenous peoples and others in the sprawling interior regions.
Linden, which bears the first name of the late President Forbes Burnham, is one of 10 geographical regions with a population of approximately 60,000 in a country of 83,000 square miles and 752,000 multi-ethnic people.
The Prime Minister of Guyana, Samuel Hinds, a licensed and qualified chemical engineer, himself a Lindener, had told the country’s parliament in June that it was simply too difficult to continue the level of subsidization for electricity consumption in the mining town.
The subsidy cost for Linden alone was $2.7B in 2011. The phased equalization process in electricity tariff for Linden was announced by him in parliament after consultation and agreement with Opposition Leader, David Granger.
But no sooner had the Prime Minister made public the agreement reached with the Opposition Leader on the phased introduction for eventual equalisation of electricity tariff, consistent with what obtains across Guyana,that the combined opposition (APNU and the minority Alliance For Change)  went on the political offensive against the new electricity tariff structure.
The shooting deaths of three protesters enraged the Linden community, a strategic transportation link between the capital Georgetown and mining and agricultural communities in the interior regions. And, not unexpectedly, the opposition has been making much politics of that human tragedy.
On Monday, following a rescheduled meeting between President Donald Ramotar and a delegation from Region 10, representing the Linden community, came the first hopeful signal for a breakthrough to end the prevailing costly political impasse which is affecting daily living conditions for the mining town.
Chairman of Region 10, Sharma Solomon, who was accompanied by parliamentary representatives of APNU and its minority partner,the Alliance For Change, told the media:
“We are at a very hopeful stage in discussion…some progress has been made in establishing a technical committee to examine the feasibility of Lindeners paying more for electricity…and we will continue to engage each other…”
For his part, President Ramotar was separately telling a delegation of Amerindian leaders that his government was not contemplating a reversal, at this time, of the gradual increase in the electricity tariff which has been placed on hold for original implementation on July 1.
The President said if other far-flung regions could honour their payment obligations, it was difficult to appreciate why Lindeners cannot cooperate with the proposed minimal hike over a staggered period.
More worrying news for Lindeners and the government came on Monday, even as the president was instructing the army to ensure complete clearance of all blocked routes for the normalisation of transportation and general access by the public of Linden and surrounding communities.
The bad news was the surprising decision by the foreign-owned company, Bosai Minerals Group Guyana Incorporated (BMGGI), for a temporary shutdown of operations in the mining town.
It said this development was due to its inability to make any bauxite shipment over the past two weeks as a direct consequence of the political crisis in Linden including blocked transportation routes.
(Published courtesy Barbados ‘Daily Nation’)