THE reportedly worsening situation in Linden Region 10 (Upper, Demerara/Berbice), despite commitments by government to resolve the issue of the electricity tariffs,  is a matter of deepening concern for government  and law enforcement and security agencies. Head of the Presidential Secretariat (HPS) Dr. Roger Luncheon during his weekly post Cabinet briefing said yesterday that government was developing an increasingly worrisome perception that the delegation from Linden with which it was holding talks may have lost control over the protestors.
“We on the government side are beginning to feel that  we are speaking to a Region 10 delegation  that might not be in command and control of that situation. “
“Indeed has the situation deteriorated to the extent that it is no longer an event that is commanded and controlled by the delegation led by the Regional Chairman,” Dr Luncheon queried.
He added: “The implications of course are awesome to all of us, if indeed those apprehensions that we offer as to the bon fides of this delegation, and its command and control of the situation indeed turns out to be true.”
“I think that this is what disturbs all of us and should be  a concern .”
“It is a worrisome thought that increasingly penetrating the minds the assessments of Government officials ,” he said.
He said he was making these observations because  the main  reason for the protests , the increased electricity tariffs,  had been addressed with a mechanism for its resolution.
“There was an assumption that a commitment to deal with these matters would suffice for the blockades to be withdrawn”.
The agreement was apparently not sufficient to get the Region 10 delegation to support a call to protesters to return the situation to normalcy.
He said that, alarmingly the Linden delegation has not been convincing about its intentions to call for the abandonment of the blockades,  even after agreements are reached on terms under consideration by the two teams .
This position he said is causing government to ask:”Who is really in command and control of the protestors?”
“In the meantime the Linden situation worsens and its impact just like the budget cuts disrupts the lives of so many in Linden itself, other parts of Region 10 and Regions 7 , 8, and 9,” he said.
He surmised that a question reverberating throughout the nation at this time was  exactly when will the talks lead to a cessation and abandonment of the blockades .
He stressed that an end must be  brought to this situation ; that the Region 10 delegation must call off this blockade since the  damage is inestimable and  might even take quite some time in overcoming.
He said: “There  is no longer a justification for prolonging this agony.”
He  disclosed  that the team tasked with drawing up the Terms of Reference for the Commission of Enquiry into the shooting deaths of three protestors had completed its work on deadline.
A further development was that the government and  A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had decided to give the Alliance for Change (AFC) an opportunity to  be involved in the process of drafting out the final TOR for the Inquiry.
AFC had declined to be a part of the process citing their disapproval over the absence of an international component for the Inquiry.
The Government and the APNU had decided to give the AFC the opportunity to revisit that decision and signal their intentions to be involved in this process, he said.
He added that persons at both the local and the international level had been identified to serve on the Commission and they were asking about what their participation would involve.
He however would not disclose names until such time as these  persons  were fully briefed and had formalized their  willingness to serve.
The government and the Region 10 administration on Wednesday last  agreed on the terms of reference for the technical team to be established to examine all aspects of electricity generation, distribution and tariffs in Linden.

The terms of reference were:
1. To review the existing provision and consumption of electricity in the Linden community, including the history, the costs, the tariff structure, and the subsidies;
2. To consider arrangements to provide electricity to the Linden community and the tariffs to sustain such arrangements within a sustainable time frame;
3. To examine Region 10’s economic circumstances inclusive of the affordability of increased cost;
4. To consider the advantages and disadvantages of the integration of the supply of electricity in the Linden area into the national grid; and,
5. To examine and make recommendations on cost saving measures and options for alternative energy, including the facilitation of conservation education and conservation.

The technical team will report to the two sides fortnightly and will present their final report within 60 days.
The Government and Region 10 delegation meet today to resolve other issues such as the composition of the Land Selection Committee of Region 10, licensing of other Television stations and the economic measures to deal with uplifting the socio-economic status of Linden and Region 10.