POLICY Forum (PF) replied to me to say it is not in receipt of funds from the EU Embassy in Guyana. This is in response to an observation of mine that it does receive funds. I have sent the Chronicle original documents of the embassy’s disbursement of funds to certain civil society groups.
PF does not directly receive funds from the embassy but it benefits through an umbrella under the category of Civil Society Forum. It is through this canopy that PF receives the generosity of others.
These documents show that EU funds went to two organisations under the broad category of Civil Society Forum. In May 2024, the EU disbursed 467,777 Euros (114,605,555 million Guyana dollars) to this umbrella. The recipient of this money was a certain famous NGO and the Roman Catholic Church.
I don’t expect Bishop Alleyne to deny this information. I don’t think anyone in the world would expect the Bishop to make such a denial. In one of the original documents sent to the publication, the Bishop’s signature is on it.
Do EU funds to the Catholic Church go to other civil society entities? May I remind readers that PF consists of the TUC, Guyana Human Rights Association and the Roman Catholic Church. Republic Bank is the serving financial institution.
PF is one of the most relentless elements in Guyana calling for governmental transparency and accountability. Since PF issued a press release on my work in the Guyana Chronicle, I would expect a second release based on my question.
Can PF tell us its source of funds? If political parties should be compelled to disclose their election funding why shouldn’t NGO too? There was supposed to be legislation earlier this year to compel NGOs to be transparent in their financial arrangements.
When that legislation comes into existence and NGOs have to be audited, there will be shocking information on how the EU embassy here gives away money and to whom. This information never reaches the EU Commission or the individual 27 governments that make up the EU.
Do readers know that a certain LGBTQ organisation over the past 10 years received millions of Guyana dollars from the EU? Remember a million Euros is roughly 242 million Guyana dollars.
Anti-government critics demand transparency from the elected government. The ruling party that leads the government is elected. But who elected these people whose organisational behaviour is shrouded in secrecy?
I will bet anyone that PF will not reply and answer my question. PF can publicly accuse me of making misleading information on it but will ignore my question. But there is a way out. I apologise in saying that PF gets money directly from the EU Embassy. Can PF now answer my question?
In this country, transparency is a one-way street. The Guyana Government must be transparent but that does not apply to other powerful bodies. Everyone on Planet Earth holds to the opinion that the media community is very powerful in all democratic countries. But in Guyana, powerful media outfits refuse to be transparent.
No one knows who has the majority shares in Stabroek News (SN). I asked Kit Nascimento and he seems to think it is the family of the deceased owner, David DeCaires. But I have been told that the Editor-in-Chief, Anand Persaud, may have more shares than the DeCaires family. Mr. Persaud belongs to one of Guyana’s wealthiest industrial families.
So, who owns majority shares in SN? Are Guyanese entitled to that information, if no why not? In democratic countries, the ownership of the media and business companies is open information.
What reason the SN has for not disclosing its ownership? I asked SN’s editor-in-chief, Mr. Persaud to name SN’s board members and he refused.
But those who want the government to be open, transparent and accountable and are gargantuan fans of SN, never ask the question as part of the comments they put daily to the letter section of the online edition of SN.
People who support the Government of Guyana are called soup-drinkers, and other deriding names. But what do you call the sycophants of political parties, anti-government NGOs and the privately owned media houses who refuse to ask them for transparency too and accountability.
Mr. Gerald Perreia, is the leader of a political party named organisation for the Victory of the People. Mr. Perreira is one of the Caribbean’s most enduring, Pan-Africanists. He told me SN does not carry his letters.
There is a senior person at the Department of Public Information who is also a weekly Guyana Chronicle columnist.
This gentleman, Nazim Baksh, had an illustrious career as a journalistic investigator with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Mr. Baksh, said not one of his letters to SN was published. That is transparency for you!

DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.