Dear Editor,

SINCE becoming President in August 2020, His Excellency, Dr. Irfaan Ali has received very strong, solid and enthusiastic support from Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, Vice-President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and the Cabinet, especially from the Minister of Housing and Water Mr. Collin Croal.

Minister Croal has posited that President Ali’s administration would reach its target of providing affordable house lots to most, if not all, Guyanese. The housing minister has reaffirmed the government’s commitment of transforming land allocations into tangible homeownerships for the residents during President Dr. Ali’s second term.

According to Mr. Croal, during the next five years, the government will embark on a wider distribution programme from simply allocating house lots to ensuring that affordable houses are available to every Guyanese family. Over the last five years, Minister Croal has done an excellent job in distributing more than 50,000 house lots, and hundreds of reasonable-priced houses to Guyanese, and will continue to do so in the future.

Regarding governance, President Dr. Ali, PM Phillips, and VP Jagdeo continue to progressively provide substantial incentives to stimulate the economy, create jobs, lower the cost of living, expand the agriculture and mining sectors, and improve education, healthcare and the living standards of every Guyanese. Their goal is to make sure that no one is left behind, and that everyone, regardless of race, ethnicity, creed or party affiliation, is included in the development process of the country.

His Excellency’s “One Guyana” initiative epitomises unity, as is his bold and forward-looking and prudent vision for innovation and collaboration to advance Guyana’s development for the next five years and beyond. Together, they are the embodiment of Guyana’s rapid and incessant development, treasured culture, and prized heritage.

The President’s gallant leadership, and excellent communication skills were evident at the 30th annual meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 30) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), held in Belém, Brazil, where he once again placed Guyana at the forefront of the global system and world issues. This is a major international conference where the leaders of countries negotiate and agree on actions to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions with the aim of combatting global warming. COP30 originated from the Agreement in Paris, which is a legally binding Treaty on Climate Change that was adopted by 195 countries at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, France on December 12, 2015. Its overarching goal is to limit or reduce the temperature to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

During a roundtable discussion, the Guyanese Head of State urged the leaders at the COP30 Summit to chart a new course to confront the global climate crisis, and accelerate sustainable development. He called on them to move from promises to actual progress, and speed up the global energy transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, while ensuring energy security for the more than eight billion people in the world. However, he cautioned the leaders at the Climate Change summit that while the transition from carbon fuels to other forms of energy require massive financing, the plan to hastily end the use of fossil fuels is unfair to the Global South countries. Without it, many developing countries, including Guyana, which is now a major producer of fossil fuels, will simply have no choice but to depend on it to advance their development and improve the living standards of the people.

However, His Excellency urged the leaders at the Summit to adopt a fair and balanced rules-based and equitable approach to the transition from fossil fuels to other systems of energy. President Ali emphasised that while there is a global consensus on the need to transition from fossil fuels to other forms of energy is clear, the path forward must recognise the economic impact on the developing nations, most of which are burdened by high debt, acute poverty, limited access to affordable finance, and a deficiency in modern-day technology.

Several leaders at the Summit heaped praise on President Dr. Ali for Guyana’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), which integrates solar, hydropower, and gas to energy projects aimed at lowering carbon emissions, reducing energy cost, protecting the planet, and reaching the United Nations 2030 deadline for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDS). This agenda is a universal blueprint for a better future for this and future generations and the planet, with the objective of ending poverty everywhere.

In the end, President Dr. Ali made it clear that the Global South (under-developed and developing) countries which produce less than one-third of the carbon emissions are facing the most severe impacts of climate change.

He emphasised that massive financial investments are needed to protect lives, lower poverty, improve food security, strengthen economies, and maintain global peace and stability.

Given the rapid increase in populations worldwide, President Ali was blunt when he questioned whether the world is absolutely prepared to meet the growing energy demands of the 21st Century without the use of fossil fuels. Efforts and solutions to combat the Climate Change crisis is a very complex and problematic issue, therefore, every Guyanese should admire, applaud and praise President Dr. Ali for his candid, forthright and pragmatic discussion at the COP30 Summit held in Belem, Brazil. Not only did he raise the stakes on the issue of Climate Change, but he also stressed the need for urgent action to solve this devastating crisis before it is too late.

Sincerely,
Dr. Asquith Rose