Dear Editor,
THE week began with President, Dr Irfaan Ali, addressing global leaders at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly and meeting US President Joe Biden, and First Lady, Dr Jill Biden. He attended to his busy schedule in the USA and still found time to courteously socialise with the throngs of Guyanese eagerly awaiting his much sought-after company.
A mega concert heralded Guyana coming alive, as cricket comes home to the Providence Cricket Ground. The conversation surrounding Silica City continues as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) joins the dialogue. Guyana commemorated Child Protection Week with the theme, “Nurture with Nature.” Queen Elizabeth 11 was laid to rest in Windsor Castle on Monday.
Education Minister Priya Manickchand was conferred with the Honorary Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) in Calgary, Canada. China’s Sinopharm Int’l has been contracted to build six new regional hospitals in Guyana.
Cricket is in the air as the “One Guyana Festival” opened at the Guyana National Stadium. Guyana, in collaboration with UNICEF, launched a “Street Light Project,” a campaign meant to end children begging on the streets. DDL Group recorded a $1.8 billion profit after tax, while Sterling Products Ltd showed $63 million for the first half of the financial year, 2022. Region Five has proposed a $6.6 billion budget for 2023. Guyana observed International Day of Peace.
The Caribbean’s first major hurricane, “Fiona,” made its landfall as a category Three. European Football’s governing body, UEFA, banned Russia from the qualifying draw for the 2022/23 European Championship, owing to the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
E-ticketing is welcomed in Guyana as 1,500 traffic violations are already recorded. As we await the crowning of Miss Cricket Carnival, the crescendo builds for a Warriors’ playoff in the final. Do enjoy glorious cricket and marvel at the quotes and comments of the week.
1) President Ali remarked, “This is what we’re building: a knowledge-based economy that is driven by technology and innovation. Just before we came here, we had world leaders from MIT across the world.” The President updated the diaspora in Orlando, Florida, about the innovation city, as developers of a Singapore Model, Dar Group, expressed their interest.
2) Vice-President Dr Jagdeo surmised: “As we did with Trinidad and Tobago, we have to start demanding reciprocal behaviour. The way you treat our people, you’re going to be treated here. Your companies, when you come into this country. We have to start doing that.” The harassment of Guyanese fishermen by Suriname authorities will be brought to CARICOM’s attention.
3) DDL Chairman, Komal Samaroo, observed: “The anticipated benefits derived from this project came to fruition in a very timely manner, as the delay in shipments of bulk products required additional storage to keep the distillery operational.” Despite the repercussions from COVID-19 and the Ukraine war, Demerara Distillers Ltd. (DDL) Group, recorded a $1.8 billion profit after tax for the first half of 2022.
4) Prime Minister Brigadier (ret’d), Mark Philips, commented: “Even in her absence, the countless lessons she has left behind and the indelible example she has set for diplomacy, discipline and wise leadership in the 70 years of her reign must be remembered and exemplified…” Guyana paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth 11 at St George’s Cathedral.
5) The Commonwealth of Learning praised Minister Manickchand, saying: “In all her roles, the Honourable Minister has given practical expression to her love of country, her spirit of service, and her alma mater of Queen’s College motto Fideles Ubique Utiles (or Faithful and Useful Everywhere).” Since coming into office two years ago, the Education Minister certainly has sprouted many feathers in her cap.
6) The Attorney General said: “You will appreciate that these are grave allegations, and as baseless and unfounded as they were proven to be, it is important that the relevant state agency enquires into the source of this information upon whose directions they were sourced, and perhaps more importantly, to officially reconfirm their inaccuracy, for the public record.” Mr. Nandlall has requested the “Top Cop” to launch a special probe into the PNC’s claims of dead and overseas voters, a move that has backfired for the PNC!
7) President Ali told reporters that: “There’s some in society who can never ever take the burden of selfishness off their backs. So, because they have a very narrow and selfish political agenda, in most cases, a political agenda, they will allow that to prevent them from being part of the One Guyana. Terrible.” Criticisms are fuelled by politicians but the “One Guyana,” is meant to cradle all Guyanese and politics should be kept in abeyance.
8) Uncle Freddy wrote: “With each passing day, the eyes of this nation are being opened to people from the opposition PNC and AFC parties and their surrogates, who in contempt of the Guyanese people mouth off incredible fictions and display egregious barefacedness.” Putting it mildly but bluntly, their fidelity is questionable daily and openly.
9) VP Jagdeo said: “Well, it will be $10 billion that will be spent on community roads in this region.” Over 300 roads will be resurfaced along with bridges in Region Six with the signing of some 268 contracts.
10) India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I know that today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.” Putin replied: “We will do everything to stop this as soon as possible.” Putin is slowly but surely being isolated by the world for his warfare activities!
11) President Ali told an Interfaith Forum in NY: “So, unfortunately, we are being hit by a perfect storm. We are getting hit by a supply-chain crisis and a rapid increase in demand for the passport.” Some 80,000 passports are required. Investors and people throughout the world are flocking the country as President Ali and the PPP/C government continue to develop the nation to become one of the fastest-growing countries in the hemisphere.
12) Lindener, Oslyn Rodriguez, the founder and president of Backpack Int. Inc. (BPI), an Alabama-based organisation, said: “Guyana is near and dear to my heart. I am Guyanese and charity begins at home, so we always come back home.” Another loyal Guyanese answering President Ali’s call to come back home and serve their country of birth. He is currently in the USA making the same pitch.
13) President Ali declared: “I don’t know the image of the country took a beating. I don’t know who determined that narrative that the image of the country took a beating. Let me say very clearly again, and I spoke on this issue myself. You can see this with great clarity that this was something with a motive, and the motive did not succeed.” Now the naysayers can take that to the bank and bank it!
14) Uncle Freddy reminded us about the CARICOM recounting team documenting a statement: “The team viewed much of the exercise of the phenomenon of ghost voting as well as voter impersonation as a fishing expedition….” The scared coalition is currently ranting, bobbing, weaving and hiding behind a “few mistakes,” in order to fool their constituents again, again and again!
15) Senior Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, stressed: “Hinds [Nigel] is currently the beneficiary of a direct and exceptional appeal by the PPP/C government in order to ensure that he continues to enjoy the right to practise his profession, which he has been granted extra time to bring himself in order with the ICAG.” Many “invoke the racism bogeyman without any basis whatsoever for the sole purpose of political opportunism, and knowing full well that they themselves failed blatantly to serve in any meaningful way, the very people whose cause they now claim to champion.”
16) Foreign Affairs Minister Hugh Todd explained to the diaspora in Florida that: “When we look at the development of Guyana, it means that we have to have leadership at every level. So, at the political level, we have policies that are inclusive, that are based on equity and fairness.” The PPP/C government is bent on improving the lives of all Guyanese through equitable distribution of the country’s wealth, so that all can become prosperous and improve the infrastructure. The government is paying much interest to upgrade the health care system, the education system and security.
17) President Ali was open and frank with Guyanese from the Floridian diaspora, saying: “And we are very humble about this. We understand our responsibility in the world. We don’t need anyone to lecture us about our responsibility in this world.” He related that Guyana has positioned itself to lead the world via his government managing by way of ensuring that there is sustainability, resilience and prosperity in the areas of climate change, energy and food security.
18) Minister Vindhya Persaud emphasised: “It is also important to look deeper into the matter to see what triggers those children into being on the street and why their parents are not integrally involved in supervising them.” A “Street Light” initiative was launched by the Human Services and Social Protection Ministry to observe, “Keeping children safe through Community Collaboration.”
19) Public Works Minister Juan Edghill lamented: “There was no Parliament, there was no oversight and you had a government that was holding on for their life by a thread that was doing everything possible to get re-elected.” The government side of the PAC will not support the examination of the 2019 and 2020 Auditor general reports together. These reports must be examined minutely to expose all the skulduggery of the PNC government when they were in a “caretaker mood.”
20) President Ali informed the UN forum: “Guyana commits to an inclusive education system, one that leaves no one behind. This entails narrowing access and attaining gaps by ensuring that every school-aged child in regions is entitled to a sound primary and secondary education.” On its way to provide free tertiary education by 2025, the PPP/C government will increase education expenditure to 20 per cent of its national budget and six per cent of the country’s GDP.
21) Canadian High Commissioner Mark Berman said: “In Canada, I’m sure you all know, is deeply committed to advancing the rights, perspective, and prosperity of Indigenous peoples.” A multimillion-dollar project was launched to improve justice for women, girls, children and 10 to 12,000 Indigenous Peoples in Guyana.
22) President Ali told the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF): “So, in all investments we’re making in livestock, 35 per cent of those farms must be owned by women and 30 percent of those farms must be owned by youth.” The PPP/C government is ensuring more efforts are made for agriculture to remain sustainable to avoid the “Dutch Disease.”
23) Norton dreamed about his nominees for the NRF committees: “We know the people we want to put there.” Norton, the LoO, continues to fantasize that he is the President of Guyana!
24) UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres said: “Social media platforms based on a business model that monetises outrage, anger and negativity, are causing untold damage to communities and societies.” In Guyana and overseas, many are profiteering from the misuse of social media by spreading propaganda and attacking people and party.
25) Addressing the sixth plenary meeting of the UN General Assembly, President Ali championed a case for increased prices for carbon credits on the global market and for continued access to affordable financing for new entrants to oil production, i.e. from US$10 to closer to US$70 per ton. He said: “COP27 must make progress in refining the rules for the implementation of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, and make decisions that would increase the price of carbon traded in voluntary carbon markets.”
26) The Attorney General announced, “…It is going to be an expensive undertaking, and I want to assure that every single cent of the monies that are going to be expended will be made public, because it is public funds.” He was responding to a coalition MP’s request for full disclosure of the remuneration packages of the commissioners appointed to probe the March 2020 polls. What they need to worry about is not the expenses, but the exposure from the findings and the consequential action.
27) President Ali informed the UN: “The world’s nations can be assured that Guyana shall remain true to those peaceful processes and deny every effort to depart from them. Guyana will abide with the ICJ’s final settlement on the border controversy with Venezuela.”
28) NY Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, said: “The pattern of fraud and deception that was used by Mr Trump and the Trump organisation for their own financial benefit is astounding.” The “art of deal” became the “art of steal,” as former US President Donald Trump and his adult children were sued by NY State for misstating the values of real estate properties by billions of dollars to obtain favourable loans and tax benefits.
29) Adrian Saunders, CCJ President, said: “It is not by chance that the CCJ urged the convening of this gathering. It was a logical step for us.” The first hemispheric meeting of regional courts and tribunals in the Americas was held at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain. Watch out PNC, as history is created!
30) Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton declared: “No lands were taken away from anyone, from any [Afro-Guyanese] people. And I want to make this point so that people understand.” Norton’s bat is shattered once again!
31) Guy Ryder, ILO Director General, urged world leaders, saying: “I encourage governments, workers’ and employers’ organisations to remain firmly committed to a sustainable energy transition, which is indispensable for the future of work.” Unlike the PNC party which had shunned the Amaila Falls project, the PPP/C government is in support of renewing this project development in keeping with renewable energy alternatives. Some 700,000 new jobs were added from last year as 12.7million are employed globally in renewable energy projects.
32) Yolande Warde from GECOM informed us that only 17 objections were recorded so far. “A lot” squealed the PNC. “Lota sing,” screamed the PPP.
33) Debra Welch wrote” “There is no place for this at Queen’s College.” QC, the leading secondary school, representing the face of what? Did Minister Manickchand give her blessings or was she bypassed by the “association?”
34) Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony hinted: “Mental health has definitely [been] shown to be one area where we’ll have to train more staff, get more doctors to be working in this area. It’s something that we’ll have to offer more scholarship for people to specialise in, mental health.” The PNC party is certainly driving people “nuts and bolts” with its perpetual shenanigans!
Some 1,600 fisherfolk in Region Six are smiling as they began receiving the $150,000 one-off cash grant last week, as promised by the PPP/C government. A smiling champion jockey Colin Ross, rode Alado to cross the finishing line to win the President’s Cup, having won the Guyana Cup at an earlier meeting. Some 200 Lethem residents are smiling as they received their house lots. Guyanese are smiling in NY as the 173rd Street in Jamaica was renamed after late Guyanese Pandit Lalharry Seerattan. Also, 150th Street at the corner of 94th Avenue was renamed Maharshi Dayananda Gurukula Way, after the Arya Samaj Mandir was founded by Guyanese Pandit, Dr Satish Prakash.
After rechecking the score from an incorrect tabulation, a smiling 17-year-old Kristie Emma Rambharat was crowned Miss Amerindian Heritage 2022. Some 300 students from Annai are smiling with their school packages, courtesy of Backpack Int’l Inc. (BPI). Students from eight learning institutions are smiling with their agricultural tools donated by Food For The Poor (FFTP). Under the Basil Butcher Trust Fund, dozens of youths in Berbice are smiling after receiving cycles, school bags and electronic tablets worth some $700,000, donated by the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club.
Buxton contractors are smiling with their advances to begin rehabilitation work on 25 bridges. Residents of Number Seven Village in West Berbice are smiling with the commissioning of a new $10.5 million Health Centre. All Guyanese are smiling with the Warriors for their first two wins at home at the time of writing. At Lethem’s Magistrate’s Court, all are smiling with the children’s painting, a mural. The Police Force is smiling with their four brand new XR Honda motorcycles. The Ministry of Health is smiling with the donation of 50 wheelchairs from the Rotary Club of Georgetown in collaboration with the Mohan Thani Foundation. As you traverse another week, do apply William Shakespeare’s remedy, “A smile cures the wounding of a frown.”

Yours respectfully,
Jai Lall.