By Ariana Gordon

ONE year into his presidency, Brigadier David Granger yesterday pointed to a “good year” but believes much more needs to be done.“The dust has settled, but the mud hasn’t been removed,” the President told a panel of journalists during the recording of his weekly television programme “The Public Interest.”
May 11 represented one year since the PPP lost control of the executive after being in power for 23 years.
“We have now a very muscular cabinet of 15 ministries, which is a reduction of what was there before. I am very convinced that the Cabinet members know their roles and are performing quite well,” said the President. President Granger said over the year, the APNU+AFC government has been able to reduce crime minus interpersonal violence.
“All in all, I think it has been a good year, we have made a lot of progress trying to reduce crime…piracy is almost unheard of now; [but] there is a lot of interpersonal violence — murderous husband and wife relations.”
Notwithstanding the increase in interpersonal violence, the President said much success has been achieved in the area of crime reduction. Making reference to the hinterland regions, President Granger noted that the relocation of the commander of the hinterland division to Bartica, re-establishment of the mounted police in the Rupununi and the meeting of the National Security Committee that addresses crime on a weekly basis have all aided in the country’s ability to reduce criminal activities.
The president cited progress too in addressing prison overcrowding. He described the March 3 riots which left 17 prisoners dead as a “bad situation,” but said the executive and the judicial branches of government have since engaged each other to remedy the issue of overcrowding. That move, the first of its kind, is aimed at reducing the number of persons incarcerated for minor offences and those placed on remand.
An optimistic President Granger described the mood of citizens here and abroad as “good.” He believes that Guyanese have regained lost confidence and based on the feedbacks he has received, citizens “are very happy with the changes countrywide.”
“We have brought Local Government Elections (LGE) after a long time. I just feel that enthusiasm when I talk to people from Bartica or Mabaruma and other municipalities…they feel that the bad days are behind them and only better can come,” said President Granger. Asked whether he would have done anything differently if he had a chance, the Head of State said, there is nothing he’d want to change. However, he made it clear that he would have liked to do much more in the areas of education and job creation for young people.
“We just have to get more young people in schools and keep them in schools. Only yesterday in Cabinet we received proposals for improving the hot meals so that children will go to school and get something to eat. Keeping children in school is something we’d like to work harder on,” he said. The President believes that with the assistance provided by the Government of Guyana to children across the country in the form of buses, bicycles and boats, there is no excuse for children to be absent from school.
Once children remain in school, President Granger said, it will become easier for them to become employed as they mature. “The economy has not been able to produce sufficient new jobs. On one hand, I believe the young people have to stay in schools so they are better qualified and on the other hand, I think investors must allow micro enterprises to flourish, particularly agro-processing.” He observed that indigenous communities have been producing much more and the marketing of their produce has expanded.
President Granger, who recently returned from the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, believes much more also needs to be done on the environment and noted that changes will be forthcoming in this regard.
He said he will be making suggestions to his Cabinet and in the near future changes are likely.
During its campaign, the APNU+AFC six-party coalition had promised Guyanese to have many of their problems addressed within the first 100 days. Indeed, many of those issues were fulfilled; however, the promise of immediately implementing a phased reduction of the Value Added Tax (VAT) is yet to be realised. The president noted that while government has not been able to fulfil its promise of immediately implementing a phased reduction of VAT, Guyanese can “expect something in relation to VAT.” He said “We are trying to investigate first before we pontificate and we will be advised by the Tax Reform Committee when it presents its report.” The President said, once the report is assessed, his government will “make modifications in the public interest.”