–Gail Teixeira
PRESIDENTIAL Advisor on Governance, Ms Gail Teixeira, yesterday, said Government has received no indication from the Americans — officially or unofficially – to suggest that the Elections and Political Processes (EPP) Fund’s Leadership and Democracy (LEAD) Project has been put on hold, as has been requested by the Government.However, she informed that there has been an unofficial agreement to begin talks on the project sometime next week.

Filling in for Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon during the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Office of the President in Georgetown, Teixeira was questioned on the project. She responded: “We have received acknowledgements to our letters and correspondence on the issue, but we have no indication that the LEAD project is on hold. We have no indication that that is so.”

The private sector in general has supported implementation of the $300M USAID-funded LEAD Project. The Private Sector Commission (PSC) has been the latest stakeholder to publicly pronounce on the issue. But Teixeira, in acknowledging the private sector’s right to express its opinion, said: “We have no problem with the private sector expressing support for the project; but, as a Government, we are looking at the project from a different angle. They have a right to their opinion, as we do. They may not see the problem with the content; they are in their right to express that, but the fundamental issue is that we were not consulted.”

Teixeira has stressed that the problem is that the project’s implementation breaches the usual protocol that characterises relations between USAID and the current administration. She said: “The problem with the LEAD project is that it is a breach of the normal bilateral relations, as well as, that the content has concerns for the Government, concerns which we expressed.

“This is the first time in 20 years that a project has not gone through that process. It has never happened between 1992 and 2012, and we are not agreeing to it because of the rejection of the Government’s participation.”

Teixeira questioned why the Government was not involved in the consultations on the project.
According to her, the Guyana Government and the American Administration have worked together in past decades on US-funded projects.

The Governments of Guyana and the United States are expected to meet on the controversial project, according to Dr Luncheon. He, however, maintains that talks will commence once the project’s implementation is suspended so as to allow for genuine consultation.

Luncheon has stressed that there would be no consultation under duress.

The move by USAID to implement various aspects of the project has been described as an affront to Guyana’s sovereignty, expressly following comments by US Ambassador Brent Hardt, who indicated that the project would go ahead despite Government’s expressed rejection.
Written By Telesha Ramnarine