I WISH to briefly refer to the USAID- funded Leadership and Democracy (Lead) Project. What is the hullabaloo about over this project which the parliamentary opposition is seeking to capitalise on?

I think they are just making a mountain out of a mole hill to show their supporters that they are still relevant in our Guyanese society. In other words, they are simply engaged in senseless “Political Posturing” as Henry Jeffery had pointed out in his column in the Stabroek News a few weeks ago.
But if the Government of Guyana (GoG) says that it was not consulted, hence the rejection of the project, then the GoG is totally in order. However, the project is still being implemented which is certainly a blatant violation of Guyana’s sovereignty. And the GoG is also correct to say that it will not engage in talks on this project under duress while the “project” is being implemented.
My impression of the USAID-funded project is that it is a “top-down approach” and the GoG did not have any inputs into its design as being the major stakeholder at the governmental level. This is why any project will fail because of the lack of stakeholder analysis.
By the way, who recommended this project and what is the problem that the project will effectively address? What research was done and who were consulted? It is apparent that they were “Consultations” since the project was already developed in the form of a project document which was then submitted to the GoG for its approval by the US Ambassador which is totally wrong where project development is concerned. The GoG was therefore correct to reject the USAID-funded Leadership and Democracy (Lead) Project.
By the way can the US Ambassador send me a copy of the Logical Framework Analysis (LFA) of the proposed project?

PETER PERSAUD