AS Government leads the national effort to help the victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday handed over a cheque for US$1M (G$205M) to Chairperson of the multi-stakeholder committee established, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Ms. Priya Manikchand.

Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh hands over the Government’s donation of US$IM to Minister Priya Manickchand.

Government has committed US$1M towards assistance for Haiti which has suffered from a massive earthquake and several aftershocks, and has established a multi-stakeholder committee chaired by the Minister of Human Services to oversee the effort.

As a result, the President last Wednesday organised a meeting of various stakeholders which included the opposition political parties, religious organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), at the Office of the President to coordinate a national effort by Guyana to render the assistance needed.

Present at yesterday’s exercise in the Boardroom of the Ministry of Finance, Main Street, Georgetown, were other members of the Guyana National Committee for the Haiti Relief, including Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Mr. Robeson Benn.

Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh recalled that he was he was in Berbice on Cabinet outreach when the news started to arrive on the disaster that was unfolding in Haiti.

“Initially, as I suppose might be understandable, we all hoped that it would have been an occurrence that would have been minimal in its impact; but this hope was very quickly to be replaced with the discovery that that was not to be the case,” he noted.

He added , “As the passage of time unfolded, over the last 48 hours or so, I think it would be fair to say that our worst fears have manifested themselves in the scope and scale of the devastation that has been discovered to have occurred in Haiti.”

“I believe all Guyanese, and indeed, people across the world, would have been transfixed by the images of devastation – crumbled infrastructure, people struggling for their lives, the rush in fact to save lives in very difficult circumstances, and the very clear reality that the impact of this natural disaster was of a magnitude that would for very long remain with the people of Haiti,” he stated.

He noted that Haiti is a sister member of CARICOM and a very important member of the Caribbean region, as well as a very highly valued bilateral partner to Guyana.

He recalled a visit to Haiti just weeks after his appointment as Minister of Finance, to work on advocacy for debt relief for the HIPIC’s (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) of Latin America and the Caribbean.

“And I recall travelling to Haiti to work on a joint position with my counterpart, the Minister of Finance of Haiti, and I remember the beauty of the country, the hospitality of the people, their courage and optimism even as they faced difficulties economic and otherwise even at that time – their great courage and optimism, and their huge talent in every respect,” he noted.

Minister Singh observed that throughout the region, the response to the Haitian tragedy has been ‘one of unanimous support’.

He pointed to the meeting that was convened by President Jagdeo with stakeholders bringing together Government representatives, the parliamentary parties, representatives of religious and faith-based organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the private sector, and labour.

“And the President announced his intention, after of course, having received feedback and support from those gathered, to lead through Government, a national effort so that we can be coordinated in our response, so that we can optimise and be as efficient as possible in our response, and most importantly, so that we can present a strong, positive, immediate, timely and effective Guyanese response to the tragedy,” he outlined.

He said the contribution of US$1M to the relief effort will represent the first deposit into the Guyana Relief Fund for Haiti.

He also disclosed that parallel with Minister Manikchand’s convening of the meeting of the committee, steps have already been taken to establish a bank account which will be publicised and into which contributions will be made.

“I will say that it was striking, the support for the President’s initiative yesterday. I was myself struck by the overwhelming support, the unanimity with which the support was forthcoming, including at the level of the Leader of the Opposition (Robert Corbin) who was present at the meeting, and who spoke in favour of a national approach in responding to the tragedy, and in providing support to Haiti,” he expressed.

He insisted that the unanimity with which the support was expressed can only augur well for the quality of response that “we offer as a country to our brothers and sisters in Haiti”.

“I would want to urge the widest possible support for this national effort. It has been a long time since our region has faced a tragedy such as this, and I think it is important that we demonstrate as a Guyanese people our resolve to respond in an appropriate manner, and that we demonstrate the generousity, for which we are known as a country and as a people,’ he urged.

The Finance Minister said, “I urge the widest and strongest and most generous possible support for this national effort by the Guyanese people in support of our brothers and sisters in Haiti.”

Minister Manikchand, in brief remarks, said at the meeting convened by President Jagdeo on Wednesday persons were unanimous in their support and expression of solidarity for persons in Haiti.

She said the committee met yesterday morning and took certain decisions, assuring, “We are committed at the level of the committee to ensuring that Guyana’s response is reflective of the way our people feel about this tragedy.”

She said the committee is bent on ensuring that “we pool together efforts so that Guyanese can contribute in a variety of ways to the rebuilding of Haiti and its people”. To this end, the committee will be embarking on a telethon on the National Communication Network (NCN) Channel 11 where representatives will make appeals to the people of Guyana.

“We are going to also make appeals through the newspapers, through a website that we shall be establishing shortly, and these appeals can all be sent to a bank account whose number we are going to announce in a short while,” she explained.

She said the body will also be working with the private sector, and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) has already come forward to assist in the national effort.

In a statement released Wednesday, President Bharrat Jagdeo said, “I was deeply shocked and saddened at the extent of the destruction caused by the catastrophic earthquake which devastated our sister nation of Haiti yesterday. The haunting images of bodies, injured persons and ruined buildings struck a chord of compassion throughout our nation for the people of Haiti.”

The earthquake, a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale, was centred approximately 15 kilometres from Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, and struck at around 17:00 h local time on Tuesday, January 12.

Most of Port-au-Prince’s major landmarks were significantly damaged or destroyed in the earthquake, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, the main jail and at least one hospital, and the Haitian President has said that possibly hundreds of thousands of people have died.