March 5 ,2022

Source

Accusing them of selective advocacy and trying to derail progress, President Irfaan Ali and members of his Cabinet have blasted civil society groups which have called for greater government accountability and transparency.

On Wednesday, the Community-Based Rehabilitation, East Coast Development Committees, Guyana Human Rights Association, Guyana Organization of Indigenous Peoples, Guyana Society for the Blind, Guyana Workers Union, Policy Forum Guyana Inc, Red Thread, Transparency Institute Guyana Inc, and Ursuline Sisters in Guyana endorsed a statement questioning the pace of the government and raising issues about accountability, particularly in the extractive sector.

Initially, the statement also listed the National Toshaos Council (NTC) as an endorsing body but later withdrew that.

During a telephone interview on Thursday with local journalist Gordon Moseley from Belize where he attended a CARICOM Heads meeting, Ali accused the groups of being selective in their advocacy as well as having political agendas.

Since taking office, Ali and his government have consistently accused critics of being politically-aligned, including certain sections of the media. During the interview with Moseley, the President said “…civil society has an important role to play in any democratic society but civil society, a role cannot be convenient or the truth, cannot be convenient and we cannot confuse civil society with individual organizations.”

Explaining his usage of the term “individual organizations”, Ali said that many of the bodies that endorsed the statement are one-man entities and accused them of conveniently addressing issues in the country.

“Many of the organizations had nothing to say after the no-confidence motion. They had nothing to say during the five months of impasse where our country’s integrity and credibility was damaged because of what took place,” he said referencing the period that the APNU+AFC government was in the seat of power followed by the actions post-December 2018 when it was defeated in Parliament by a confidence vote.

Addressing the concern of accelerated development without proper oversight, the president said that the PPP/C has been elected based on its manifesto and has a responsibility to deliver on the promises effectively and comprehensively. He added that that remains the intention of his government and the developmental projects would be pursued and delivered.

“Let me be clear, we are going to move at even an accelerated pace to ensure that commitments we made to the people of this country are realized and that we and that (the) social contract on which we were elected must be achieved. The issue of accountability and so on, every single project that we’re pursuing if they are not approved [in] the National Assembly, you will see expressions of interest. All these projects are discussed in the public domain,” Ali argued.

The Head of State charged that it is clear some of the civil society bodies are “convenient with their truths” and adopting political stances while parading as interdependent.

“I do not have an issue if these organizations inherently have a political bias or a political agenda, but they must not hide under the cloak of independence. They cannot hide under the cloak of independence and I want to make this very clear,” he said.

On the issue of oversight, he countered that the Auditor General is responsible for scrutiny in addition to the National Assembly and they have been allowed to do their jobs. He added that his government is able to withstand any amount of scrutiny while knocking the concern of the administration as working too fast as “nonsensical” and “laughable”.

“I just want to make it very clear that no one should believe that they will derail the development agenda of our country…I just want to make these points because we are not going to succumb to an agenda that is trying to slow the development process of our country and the development of our people,” the President warned.

With regards to consultation with the opposition, Ali said that the government would consult with the opposition as provided for in the constitution.

Stripping

The civil society release had put forward three examples of what it considered to be instances of government not being accountable: 1) The “stripping” of the Public Oversight & Accountability Committee from the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) Act; 2) reducing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to a rubber-stamp;” and 3) the pending appointment of a “high-profile party person” to head the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI).

And in the case of the parliamentary opposition, it opined that the government’s reason for not engaging in even the ‘pretense of consultation’ appears to be that the APNU+AFC forfeited any right to accountability as “punishment” for the five-month electoral impasse in 2020. “With respect to civil society, long-standing ideological suspicion by the ruling party of groups not under party political control has translated into ‘no one voted for them’ and therefore they have no right to accountability,” they added.

The civil society organizations said that the “bewildering pace and range of official decision-making is rendering the government accountable to no one,” before noting that there is no official institution or agency that can objectively assess the major issues affecting the future of Guyana and that the Parliamentary Sectoral Committees do not meet and regional governments and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils have never functioned independently.

Mention was made of the person recently identified as the next director of the GYEITI, describing him as someone who “is not known to have competencies in business, economics, finance or the extractive sector.” The government recently announced that former University of Guyana Pro-Chancellor Dr Prem Misir would replace Dr Rudy Jadoopat as the head of the GYEITI Secretariat.

The release posited that in small politically and ethnically divided states such as Guyana, governed by a “very slim one seat ‘majority’”, it is “imperative” to ensure that the head of the GYEITI Secretariat is both competent in the specifics of the job as well as capable of objectively managing diverse stakeholder’s interests.

The Natural Resource Fund also came under fire for having its credibility “fatally compromised by party-dominated decision-making.”  Also, the replacement of the Minister of Finance with the Presidency in the NRF Act 2021, an Office immune to prosecution, was described as “troubling,” noting that in such circumstances the transparent and trustworthy information all Guyanese have a right to expect about the Fund will be sacrificed.

‘Masquerading’

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall was one of several Cabinet members who on Thursday launched an attack on the civil society organisations for their statement. In a Facebook post, Nandlall tore into the organisations, accusing them of being a “mysterious group of critics of the PPP/C Government, constantly spewing their venomous attacks under the disguise of various fronts masquerading as civil society organizations- some known, some unknown and some simply fabricated.”

He also accused them of invoking the names of some organizations without the knowledge or authority of the persons in charge of those organizations. The AG expressed surprise at some of the organisations that endorsed the statement, namely the Guyana Society for the Blind and the Ursuline Sisters.

“I have already ventilated my views on the one-man organization, GHRA. Having heard nothing from Red Thread for the entirety of the APNU+AFC’s tenure in Government and the five months of attempts to slaughter democracy, I honestly thought that outfit was defunct. I am wrong. The PPP is in Government and the Red Thread is back. The duplicity knows no limit,” Nandlall said in his post.

The government’s chief legal advisor accused the civil society bodies of being a “phantom gang” with an agenda to subvert the developmental trajectory of the Government of Guyana to deny Guyanese “their rightful patrimony.”

“In this conspiratorial strategy, another faction is directing their angst against operators in the oil and gas sector, using environmental apprehensions as their main artillery. This grouping wants to persuade that oil production in Guyana will annihilate this hemisphere. They are also using expensive litigation to prosecute their agenda. Even foreign lawyers are hired. They are silent on the fact that Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela have been pumping oil for over 100 years and both are located less than one stone throw away, in this very hemisphere!

“This is not intended to be a long commentary but simply to put enough out there so that I can invite you to ask yourself: whose interest does this grouping represent? And, from whom or whence are they receiving funding? Speaking for myself, I do not know. What I do know is that they are not acting in the interest of Guyana and its people,” the Attorney General said while referencing recent legal action against the EPA to have ExxonMobil stop offshore activities until it can properly adhere to environmental regulations.

Minister of Public Service Sonia Parag also took a swipe at the organisations, accusing them of descending to a “pitiable level”

“Organisations such as Red Thread, which once had genuine impact on people’s lives, have now lumped themselves with shell groups that are run by comrades and activists of the very people who held an entire nation hostage with its barefaced attempt to steal an entire elections in broad daylight. The Guyana Human Rights Association (GHRA) in particular, has lost all credibility, and this was even before their ‘one-man-show’ stood by silently while people’s rights to free and fair elections were being trampled on,” Parag said on her Facebook page.

Additionally, Education Minister Priya Manickchand took time out to make two Facebook posts relating to the organisations. She zeroed in, particularly, on Red Thread saying “while the APNU/AFC was in office I mourned the death of Red Thread who used to be very active under the PPP governments. Imagine my surprise when I saw they have activated and resurrected themselves. The power of the PPP/C is truly magnificent! Still though they have shown their bias and can’t be trusted for an objective view.”

She followed that up with another post tearing into the GHRA, accusing it of issuing the civil society statement “fraudulently and crookishly”.

Corrected

Mike McCormack of GHRA and Policy Forum told Stabroek News that the statement incorrectly named the National Toshaos’ Council (NTC) as a signatory because of a communication mix-up. He explained that they had gotten into contact with an executive on the council who resides in the South Rupununi and discussed the details of the statement after which approval was granted to use the executive’s name.

“…after it been brought to his attention what was in the press, he anxiously called us to say this is an error that he was under the impression that he was talking as an individual and not as the NTC. We kind of understood this and said well we’re sorry about the misunderstanding and we’ll correct it,” he related.

Policy Forum issued a statement on Thursday explaining the error and removed the NTC as a signatory.

Another body that issued a statement was the Ursuline Sisters in Guyana. They said, “We, the Ursuline Sisters in Guyana, wish to state publicly that the statement issued by Civil Society is not the position of the Ursuline Sisters.”

When asked about this McCormack related that all the protocols were followed and the Policy Forum received no official complaint from the Ursuline Sisters in relation to the statement. He added that they saw the draft statement, signed on to it and gave approval for publication.

Stabroek News contacted the Ursuline Sisters of Guyana and spoke with two nuns who declined to identify themselves or what position they hold within the organisation. One said she had no idea of the body signing on to a statement while the other, seemingly in charge, said she saw the draft and signed on to it.

“We saw the statement and signed on to it but what was published in KN (Kaieteur News) is what we are distancing ourselves from. This thing has taken up my entire day I have other things to do. This is too complicated but we are part of Policy Forum and we do not agree with what was published in KN,” she said.

When asked about whether the organisation stands by the statement, the nun on the other end disconnected the phone after saying “the Ursuline Sisters said that is not our position and we have issued the statement.”

Deliberately peddling misinformation

Meanwhile, corruption watchdog Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) said that it stands by the statement and accused the government of deliberately peddling misinformation.

“It was brought to our attention that the government is saying that we used the words ‘out of control’ in the statement and nowhere did we use those words. They had a junior staff contact us to ask if we issued the statement and we sent the statement to them. It is the second time that there are highly placed officials of our government creating a problem and laying it at TIGI’s feet…they are deliberately peddling this misinformation,” TIGI’s head Frederick Collins said.

Collins explained that the first such instance was with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo’s displeasure with the reporting around the Corruption Perceptions Index that saw Guyana falling below its previous ranking. He said that Jagdeo used that as a basis to attack TIGI and its work when TIGI made no public pronouncements on the report.

He said that TIGI remains impartial.