What's the nature of the project?

Why was the project rejected?

The Ambassador must apologise or leave the Country.

let the mighty ppp tell him that you f--ucking ass

The PPP is lying when they say that they were not consulted.

Western Union too?

the ppp want to keep the people in a state of ignorance maybe they brainwash some of the people example we have some on this site 

Hey you Neeemakaran, Crabdaag thiefing ******, yuh DUNCE GOAT did you read the article. The PPP already told him but yuh head up yuh ass, yuh dunce Laka Goat and is nothing but a piece of RAW SEWAGE!!!

Cheddi  sought intervention of the U.S. to bring about Free and Fair Elections.

Today the U.S. wants to launch a "democracy project" to strengthen democracy. This project is not intended to give an edge to either side - ruling party or opposition. So why is the PPP/C so paranoid?

The Ambassador is WRONG. He should know better. He deserve to go and a new Ambassador appointed.

Nehru in 1989, Uncle Cheddie Jagan appealed to then US President George Bush to withhold economic aid to Guyana until elections were held. Jagan literally pleaded for the US to send a strong signal that it wanted free and fair election in Guyana. So what Lunchman is crowing about "Sovereignity"?

Look at how we are enjoying democracy in Canada and the USA.

Guyana is one of the MOST DEMOCRATIC Country on the Planet. Daily you can see Groups and even single person Demonstrating

guyana is a dictatorship with the ruling party main agender is to enrich themself and family

The Ambassador thinks he owns Guyana and that is why he said he don't need Govt approval to do as he likes.

on strengthening democracy...they have no desire for that to occur since to them we are a perfect democracy.

Guyana is an autocracy with the PPP oligarchs at the head of it.

What is "agender"?

hey pandit bandit i will have to send the cops over there to take away your rum i know its a holiday but go easy you low life ppp thief now go join your ppp croines and picket the American embassy if the rest of them have the balls to do so 

The USAID project

December 23, 2013 · By Staff Writer

What could have led to the government’s decision to terminate its participation in the USAID-funded Leadership and Democracy (LEAD) project? It couldn’t have been the extravagant claim by the Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Luncheon that there had been `grievous abandonment’ of the government by the US in discussion of the contours of the project. That would seem quite preposterous in the face of the documentation released by the US embassy on Thursday outlining the history of correspondence between the two sides – including to President Ramotar – going all the way back to October, 2012.

Surely if this had been a government-to-government arrangement and Washington was seeking to interfere in matters of national security or making untoward demands the government would be well in order to show it the front door. This is a problem of a different order for the PPP/C; a project that can open up new vistas and thinking for citizens and their prospective leaders as they face local government elections and beyond.

Among the varied components of the project are strengthening the capacity of Members of Parliament and the staff of the National Assembly to investigate and research issues and draft legislation. Citizen education about local government reforms and the role of local government are also integral aspects of this project. These would be valuable inputs in the stagnated local government network.

Over the last decade in particular, the PPP/C has traded unrelentingly and unjustifiably on its democracy credentials. There is no doubting that it championed the fight for the restoration of democracy in 1992 along with many unsung others, both here and abroad. However, this spearheading of the campaign certainly has not resulted in the democracy dividend that had been hoped for at the local and community level considering that the PPP/C has been in office for 21 years on the trot. There has been no efflorescence of community control of decision making, a direct result of the government’s failure to hold local government elections since 1994 and the stymieing of reform legislation.  Instead, as we have pointed out before in these columns, the government has been content with hijacking local government organs, relying on extant backwards laws and installing its hand-picked supporters to take charge. In these conditions there can be no meaningful transformation of local government.

From the outset, the government presented itself as lukewarm on this USAID project. Its representatives at the inauguration in July this year were Culture Minister Dr Anthony and MP Indra Chandarpal. Smarting from the  loss of its parliamentary majority in 2011 the government has apparently now arrived at the conclusion that this project presents too great a risk to its preference for the local government organs to remain in a state of suspended animation and for the people of the country to remain uninvolved and disconnected from local government. This is a great travesty as it could deny supporters of the ruling party and others the chance to be a part of a transformative project which would help them to understand the challenges of democracy.

This project also has at its core the involvement of women and young people in politics and civic education on what is expected of them. These might seem innocuous and unthreatening to the average person. To the PPP however they represent the prospect that its narrative of political life would be contextualized. So whereas today the PPP never tires of expounding on Cold War machinations against it, the ghost of Burnham, 24 years of rigged elections and pressures from the PNC post 1992, a project of this nature is likely to have matters presented through a more contemporary prism; one that could lead to the ordinary person arriving at the view that there has been insidious atrophying of the local government system and that it needs urgent rescuing. The decay is evident not only in the buildings of these local government organs but in their administrative operations and their engagement with their constituents.

Given the decrepit state  of local government, why would any help of this nature  be frowned on or much more rejected? After all, it is the same PPP which when in opposition was open to any and every intervention by the US and the Western support group to ensure that the 1992 general elections were free and fair. From electoral reforms, elections materiel, training, advisors to international observers, the PPP was supportive of  all of the measures taken by the US, UK and Canada. This also included the unrelenting lobbying of their legislatures and sympathetic politicians and also via enclaves of Guyanese in the metropolises. So these present objections to this project come across as the starkest irony and testimony that while it prates about democracy the PPP is unwilling to support the development of a project that could potentially empower people across the country.

The rejection of this project is also reflective of the manner in which the government frustrated the UK on sweeping police reforms until London had no other option but to withdraw it. Such behaviour by the PPP/C was again predicated on an intention not to upset the present dysfunctional order by having senior policemen from abroad seconded to important posts in the force among other significant changes. For the PPP/C, this would have represented an unacceptable loss of control over the force.  The dispute over the UK project and this one will no doubt further unbalance relations with traditional allies and raise piercing questions about foreign policy.

No longer can President Ramotar be shielded by newness or the histrionics of Dr Luncheon and other government officials. He has to be held accountable for the bewildering turns as it relates to good governance and the prospering of democracy at the local government level. He must set out his position on the jettisoning of the government’s role in this democracy project.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/20...12/23/usaid-project/

So what is the PPP going to do? Send Kwame to violate the US ambassador?

Any military analyst can see that the communist PPP regime has been strengthening its ties with China. The proposed layout of the expanded airport has a canny resemblance to an airport designed for military transporters. So what is the plan? To turn Guyana into a military base for China? Of course the US wants to know what's going on, and they need their people on the ground. 

But if a country like Pakistan with nuclear weapons cannot stop drone attacks within its borders, I would advise Ramotar to keep quiet and tow the US line. All that stolen and drugs money in Guyanese hands is at risk.

ask your mother

This project also has at its core the involvement of women and young people in politics and civic education on what is expected of them. These might seem innocuous and unthreatening to the average person. To the PPP however they represent the prospect that its narrative of political life would be contextualized. So whereas today the PPP never tires of expounding on Cold War machinations against it, the ghost of Burnham, 24 years of rigged elections and pressures from the PNC post 1992, a project of this nature is likely to have matters presented through a more contemporary prism; one that could lead to the ordinary person arriving at the view that there has been insidious atrophying of the local government system and that it needs urgent rescuing. The decay is evident not only in the buildings of these local government organs but in their administrative operations and their engagement with their constituents.

Sorry warria. My 86 year old mother died on October 6, 2013.

That would seem quite preposterous in the face of the documentation released by the US embassy on Thursday outlining the history of correspondence between the two sides – including to President Ramotar – going all the way back to October, 2012.

Surely if this had been a government-to-government arrangement and Washington was seeking to interfere in matters of national security or making untoward demands the government would be well in order to show it the front door. This is a problem of a different order for the PPP/C; a project that can open up new vistas and thinking for citizens and their prospective leaders as they face local government elections and beyond.

Come on Guys. Peace and Good tidings.

Interesting angle there Mr. T.

From the outset, the government presented itself as lukewarm on this USAID project. Its representatives at the inauguration in July this year were Culture Minister Dr Anthony and MP Indra Chandarpal. Smarting from the  loss of its parliamentary majority in 2011 the government has apparently now arrived at the conclusion that this project presents too great a risk to its preference for the local government organs to remain in a state of suspended animation and for the people of the country to remain uninvolved and disconnected from local government. This is a great travesty as it could deny supporters of the ruling party and others the chance to be a part of a transformative project which would help them to understand the challenges of democracy.

sorry to hear hope she had a good life

 Dude; go sit on a pole. Pedantry is not smarts. I am 100 percent certain you know what I meant ( even if distorted by the auto-correct gremlin). This is not a formal platform for testing prescriptive use of language but a forum for communicating ideas. I hope you get that.

If you don't, read the first sentence of Chaucer's prologue ( 18 lines long) where we see the development and transitioning of English from the era of Cædmon's Celtic based Anglo Saxon English , venerable Bede's Northumbrian dialect and Chaucer's own formal grasp of official usages of Latin.  I bet if there were *******s like you with pedantic snobbery for t he  formalism of one way or the other in the tri lingual world of Latin, French and Anglo Saxon, modern English would be still born! Language you jackass is a growing thing. How the hell do you think the rules for case endings came into being for example?

Anyway, if you care to learn, read those lines and grasp the intermingling of languages to create what is acclaimed as an example of one of the worlds great poems. If you need help with looking at Chaucer poetry, its implications  for us as a forensic view  of our modern language use  and what it means for us in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax and grammar (not to mention  attitudes towards language and language change);  I am available and willing to help. It would improve your understanding of English specifically and language in general.

You need to get off that high horse of pretentiousness because it is a waste of time if you care to grasp what it means to communicate. That is what we are here for. By the way, I speak 3 languages fluently ( and write in them equally well) and can get by well in three more. Now go and screw your petty pedantic self if you care not to learn but to be a nitwit.

The PPP can do what it wants and the USA, if it wishes, can shut down the US Embassy in Guyana, and have all services provided via Trinidad.

Don't know where you think that Guyana is any importance to the USA.  The countries which are important to them, for various reasons are Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina.  Guyana ranks way down on the list aside Suriname and Paraguay.

..

 Of course the PPP when it was in opposition, also benefitted from help from similar groups interested in increasing the capacity of various groups to improve governance in Guyana,

If a constituency exists and it is funded by grants and not loans, I do not see why this is any of the PPPs business.  Luncheon needs to process the fact that 51% of those who bothered to vote didn't want the PPP to control the executive as recently as 2011.  Those numbers are probably even higher today.

So cabinet does NOT unilaterally speak for the people of Guyana, and I am not even sure if they can speak for PPP supporters, given the undemocratic way that they select their leadership.

No amount of money can help improve the image of the opposition parties. Whether the US aid is violating campaign finance rules or not the outcomes of our elections will not go in favor of those power-hungry politicians who are trying to take control of the gov't. The PPP maybe over-reacting.

Many of these dummies commenting on this thread don't understand what the program is all about. Indeed it is US interference in local politics. They are basically providing aid to opposition groups to even the playing field in order to punish the PPP for allowing the Chinese more and more influence in Guyana.  The US normally do not fund opposition activities unless they have fundamental issues with the ruling party. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. The last time the US interfered in Guyanese politics, we were given Burnham and the PNC for 27 years of punishment. Maybe this is what is in the works today. It is interesting to note that during the 27years of PNC dictatorship, the US never spoke out against the dictatorship nor funded the opposition. 

Surely if this had been a government-to-government arrangement and Washington was seeking to interfere in matters of national security or making untoward demands the government would be well in order to show it the front door. This is a problem of a different order for the PPP/C; a project that can open up new vistas and thinking for citizens and their prospective leaders as they face local government elections and beyond.

 

Among the varied components of the project are strengthening the capacity of Members of Parliament and the staff of the National Assembly to investigate and research issues and draft legislation. Citizen education about local government reforms and the role of local government are also integral aspects of this project. These would be valuable inputs in the stagnated local government network.

When the US pressured Hoyte for verifiable elections, was that "interfering" with the internal politics of the state? Indeed is the US were truly funding anyone to be rid of the corrupt PPP it would be a good thing. Instead they are funding information forums on democracy with the PPP included.

The fact remains the PPP are operating in god mode. They do not think they can be informed on anything. That is their hubris and in time it will be their demise. Supreme arrogance is always rewarded by complete humiliation.  The US acts to its interest. It is a useless construct to perceive of them as a morality engine for humanity. That their interests coincide with what is ours at the moment is all that matters in the present equation.

The pressure on the Hoyte govt was politically motivated by Jagan lobbying  senate democrats led by Edward Kennedy against a republican govt led by Bush senior.  And it was 27 years late in the making to tie US aid to democratic elections.

The US has no interest in progress in Guyana or they would be playing the role of the Chinese. 

SOme of the people who worked their asses off write on the board. It was not a jagan project but a country wide rejection of the PPP. For most of that era the PPP were in hibernation.

The US interest coincides with a stable society. Presently the PPP and their claims to autocratic control is the destabilizing entity.

Danyaella Balls:

Y don't u go fook yourself for a change? You must have forgotten to take your prozac med. Keep off the piwari this holiday season. Your verbose nonsense here is just your confused mind being tormented by your inner demons.

Those who claim to have worked their asses off are liars. They were cowards during the PNC era, hiding under their beds.  The PPP of that day were cowards indeed. It was only after Jagdeo took over the helm that we saw them grow balls and rough up the pnc/afc bandits. 

I can see the rise of the crud in your mind with this response. Short may be your post and  it is indeed quite successful in its effort. It  captures succinctly vast expanse of the cloud of ignorance that hangs around your head. Anyone with a mind can see where the demons reside and with whose voice they speak.

Churchill was a grunt in the PPP trenches for decades. I believe mits was a foot soldier as well.

Jagdeo may be your hero no doubt  but a gravitation kindred is normal. He is however a crook and introduced the worse of human ignominies into our political culture,