Tameshwar Jagmohan (left) receiving the quarry licence from GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison

December 21 ,2020

Source

-hoping for production mid next year

In anticipation of an infrastructural development boom from the oil sector coupled with government’s own expansion plans, Essequibo businessman Tamesh Jagmohan hopes by mid-2021 to begin operations at the 7,000-plus acres Mazaruni, Region 7 quarry he was recently issued a licence for.

With employment opportunities to be created for some 200 persons initially, Jagmohan says the Black Jaguar Investment Group Quarry (BJIG-Q) will ensure that the importing of stone is significantly reduced and  the money from planned infrastructural projects goes back into the local economy.

“This project comes at the perfect timing given the anticipated infrastructural and construction takeoff we will see as a result of the oil and gas sector and government’s planned holistic development blueprint,” he told Stabroek News yesterday in an interview.

“We will be partnering with an international operator who can effectively bring or satisfy local demand in the shortest possible time so that we don’t have to import while simultaneously addressing local content and providing employment opportunities,” he added.

The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission yesterday announced that a licence was issued to Jagmohan’s company which has the potential to be the largest quarry both here and in the Caribbean.

The licence was issued on December 1st 2020.

“After almost a decade since the last quarry licence was issued, Black Jaguar Investment Group, owned by Essequibo businessman Tamesh Jagmohan has been granted a licence to operate a block in the Mazaruni River,” the GGMC said in a statement.

It added that the quarry will “effectively become the largest quarry operation in Guyana” and the Caribbean and informed that the company plans to produce some 20,000 metric tonnes every week, in “its quest to bring down the  cost of stone and boost the construction industry and ensure there are timely supplies to complete government projects”.

The businessman who also trades in gold and recently launched a multi-billion dollar  luxury housing project for the Essequibo last Wednesday echoed most of what the GGMC said while adding that the project will tackle unemployment, especially among young people.

“We are serious about creating jobs for locals, primarily. We are very conscious about a strong local content policy. Guyana needs a lot more employment opportunity and we are hoping to do our part. So about 95% of workers will be locals. In the short time term, about  200 persons will be hired and we will build from that. We will have multiple sites to bring out the finished project so we can only grow in those numbers,” he posited. The other five percent, he explained, will be from the foreign operator of the quarry.

Already, according to Jagmohan, he is in talks with experts from companies in the United States, Brazil, Colombia and Panama.

“We are hoping to engage the operators that are closest to Guyana, so as to minimize mobilization time and with that being said,  it goes hand in hand with the blaster [of dynamite]. It is a process that involves a number of operators so we are looking for a company with safety experience so work can be coordinated in a safe manner. We are already advanced in discussions so by mid-year 2021 we hope the project will take off,” he said.

He praised the 7,000-plus acres location which he said has the biggest potential he has seen for such a project. “It is a perfect project. The deposit on the property itself will last for generations. To give you an idea, we are talking about 300 to 350 million tonnes of rocks to be extracted and this is above the river bank. There is another 450m under the river bank. We know that once you go below, the cost increases”.

According to the company’s work plan, which Jagmohan shared, the project will be executed in phases.

DHB Manager approved purchase of $897,000 bracelet for himself as gift in 2019

By Editor On Dec 30, 2020 Last updated Dec 30, 2020, Source - https://newsroom.gy/2020/12/30...elf-as-gift-in-2019/

General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge, Rawlston Adams

An investigation originally launched into a racket at the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB) Asphalt Plant at Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara has made other alarming findings.

Among the findings are that the DHB General Manager Rawlston Adams authorized the purchase of an $897,000 gold bracelet for himself as a gift.

According to lead investigator Chateram Ramdihal, the gift was purchased in November 2019 for the International Men’s Day celebration where the Corporation bought gifts for staff without the approval of the Board of Directors.

Ramdihal said the purchase was authorized by Adams himself, although in the normal course of things approval should have come from the Board.

He said the Board had made a specific request for any gifts being bought to be approved at the Board level but in this instance, this was not done.

“The normal approval for this limit should have been done by the Board and if there is no Board then it should have been escalated to the subject minister,” he added.

The report which includes this among other findings was handed over to the Minister of Public Works Juan Edghill on Wednesday.

Edghill said he intends to convene a special meeting of the Board where these issues will be discussed after which action will be taken where necessary.

The report will be made public later today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=emb_logo

Guyana to audit in excess of US$6 billion more of Exxon’s costs – VP Bharrat Jagdeo

Dec 31, 2020 News

By Kemol King

Kaieteur News – Guyana has in excess of US$6 billion of oil-related expenses to audit from ExxonMobil and Stabroek block partners, affiliates and sub-contractors, according to Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
This was revealed during a recent interview on the Kaieteur Radio show, Guyana’s Oil and You, hosted by Kaieteur News’ Senior Journalist, Kiana Wilburg.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) had warned Guyana four years ago that one of the most critical challenges it faces is conducting effective cost audits. The Stabroek Block Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with ExxonMobil only gives the nation a two-year window to contest unreasonable and/or inflated costs.
If it doesn’t audit within the period specified, Guyana will have to accept all the costs and repay every cent to ExxonMobil from the sale of its crude, even if the costs are inflated. This is a matter of national concern, as every cent Guyana is robbed decreases its profits from the sale of the Stabroek block crude.
Guyana has not audited any of the expenditures Exxon claims it has made on the three oil developments, Liza Phases One and Two, and Payara. Those add up to US$18.5 billion.
The Vice President said that US$8-9 billion in expenditures are claimed to have been made in total, so far, and have to be audited. He explained that this includes expenditure on the three wells ExxonMobil already received development approval for – Liza Phases One and Two, and Payara.
“You’ve had 8-9 billion of expenditure made so far, of the 20 billion programme for the three wells. Only US$1.6 billion has been audited…”
The US$1.6 billion covers pre-contract costs.
“We still have another six point something billion dollars to be audited, that we have to get to, of expenditure that’s already made,” Dr. Jagdeo told the Kaieteur Radio panel.
He agreed that Guyana dropped the ball on audits of Exxon’s costs, and placed the blame squarely at the feet of the former David Granger administration. He said that the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) had urged the government repeatedly to begin audits on the costs ExxonMobil is claiming.
“What we have to do is to build a capability to do audits within the period specified by the contract,” The Vice President said.
Government, he said, is currently doing that, so that time doesn’t run out on Guyana.
“Not to wait like six years or seven years,” he said, “and we are busy doing that.”
The previous administration allowed years to pass before it contracted a firm to audit the supermajor’s pre-contract costs alone. So far, the firm contracted by the previous administration in November, 2019 – IHS Markit – has completed the audit of US$1.6 billion. The initial report was only submitted early this year.
The Government is set to review a draft report from Markit – the second report in the process, which it accepted from the firm – after which it will submit the document to Exxon and its partners for comments.
The government has made some adverse findings, according to Jagdeo, including issues with expenses it doesn’t consider recoverable, but which Exxon intends to recover.
After Exxon’s comments are made, the government is supposed to instruct Markit to submit a final report.

Source:

APNU+AFC approved millions for Linden call centre repairs before contract signed; $16.2M in materials missing

By Editor On Dec 23, 2020, Source - https://newsroom.gy/2020/12/23...n-materials-missing/

The Auditor General has found discrepancies in payments approved on a contract for renovations and functional enhancements to a call centre building at Linden, Region 10.

“The Ministry of Public Telecommunications made full payment on a contract to an Engineering Firm for design and supervision services for the renovations and functional enhancements to a Call Centre Building at Linden, Region №. 10.

“However, our physical verification on 4 September 2020 revealed that there was no representative from the Consultant on site to supervise the works. Further, the roof sheeting installed did not meet the specifications in the contract, while materials valuing $16.249M already paid for, were not on the site,” states the Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of Guyana and on the Accounts of Ministries, Departments and Regions for the fiscal year 2019.

The report was formally released on Wednesday in the National Assembly.

Further, the report said the Ministry of Public Telecommunications, which was headed by Alliance for Change member Catherine Hughes, approved an advance payment of $17.1M and an interim payment of $31.8M, on the same date.

Investigations revealed that the actual contract between the Ministry and the contractor was signed one day after the advance and interim payments were already approved.

In December 2019, the Ministry and M&P Investments Incorporated signed a $116Million contract for the renovation of the old call centre in Linden.

At the signing, it was announced that the works would be completed by April 2020. At least 150 seats should have been available initially with a long-term goal of providing 300 jobs for Lindeners.

Almost a year later, that has not materialized.

A Lindener engages herself in the use of a computer as she learns more about ICT [DPI photo]

https://www.facebook.com/afcgu...sts/3871953819492006

Lawlessness started !!!!

APNU/AFC condemned for taking billions from Contingency Fund for shoddy works

…sparks fly as supplemental papers passed in National Assembly

Leader of Opposition, Joseph Harmon

Source

December 28, 2020

By Lisa Hamilton

The APNU+AFC Opposition is going  head-to-head with the Government today [Monday] in the National Assembly contesting the request of $17.4B by the current Administration as supplementary budgetary allocation some three days before the end of the financial year. The Opposition contests that it is impossible for the Government to expend the sum in just three days; that the sum still does not cater to bonuses for public servants; and that is a means to make up for previous reckless spending.

In a media conference before theSitting, which is underway Opposition Leader, Joseph Harmon pointed out that the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA), Section 41 states that such requests must satisfy the criteria as being an “urgent unavoidable and unforeseen need for expenditure” which “cannot be deferred without injury to the public interest.” However, from the APNU+AFC’s standpoint, the majority of the reasons given in request of the supplementary funding are unjustifiable. Harmon said that the Opposition is prepared to thoroughly interrogate the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government in the National Assembly on this “blatant attempt at squandermania”.

“There is no issue, as far as we can see for which supplementary funding is being sought that meets these criteria. One would expect that if there was need for additional funds then a sum which would cater for a bonus to be paid to the public servants in December would have been added there but there’s nothing like that. No consideration whatsoever,” the Opposition Leader said.

Among the three Financial Papers submitted was Financial Paper No.2 of 2020 which requested $17.4B in supplementary sums. It includes sums for electricity charges; the Amerindian Development Fund; subsidies and contributions to local organisations and GUYSUCO; roads and drainage; old-age pension and social assistance; infrastructural development and buildings; and air, land and water transport for the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).

The two other Financial Papers submitted were Financial Paper No.2 of 2019 requesting $4.1B and Paper No.1 of 2020 requesting $792M, sums which have already been spent for which approval is being sought. Speaking to the latter, Harmon said that the PPP/C regime praised itself for completing Budget 2020 speedily and thoroughly but less than a month after the Government has “ran out of money”.

Harmon was questioned by the media about the Opposition’s justification that “squandermania” is at play, considering the importance of flood relief through proper drainage as outlined in Financial Paper No.1 of 2020 or national defence through the provision of resources to the GDF, outlined in Financial Paper No.2 of 2020. In turn, he rebutted that significant sums were injected into repairing agricultural dams at Dantzig under the APNU+AFC and, if additional funds were needed under the new Administration, this ought to have been included in Budget 2020. Furthermore, he said that while some of the requests can likely be justified, the majority cannot.

“You could have seen during the course of December how they were spending money like drunken sailors all across this country. So, what they’re trying to do now is to come to get Parliamentary approval for this wanton waste and disregard for the FMAA and the provisions of that Act,” Harmon said.

“Each of these line items will have to satisfy that criteria. I would say that there may be one or two but the Minister has to be satisfied that all of them reach that requirement. During the course of today, we will interrogate each item to determine for the Guyanese people whether these items that are seeking funding for now that they could not wait on a budget which is just a few weeks away.”

December 28 ,2020

Source

….Agriculture minister says $$$ will set Guysuco on road to profitability

By Svetlana Marshall

Just three months after the House approved $3B for the ailing Sugar Industry, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government is back in the House seeking approval from the National Assembly for another $4B for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), and according the Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, the funds will help the industry return to profitability.

The $4B forms part of a Supplementary Provision of Current and Capital Estimates totaling $17.4B the PPP/C Administration is seeking to approve using its one-seat majority in the House.

On Monday, when the Financial Paper was tabled, the main Opposition – the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) – grilled the Agriculture Minister on the last minute request.

Shadow Agriculture Minister Khemraj Ramjattan grilled Minister Mustapha not only on the intended purpose of funds, but why the Government waited until the eleventh hour to request additional funds. Couldn’t the monies have been included in the National Budget passed in September? Opposition Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Khemraj Ramjattan questioned.

In response Mustapha said the supplementary funds will be used to execute “critical” capital projects across the industry. He said the three estates in operation – Blairmont, Albion and Uitvlugt – are operating at a 60 per cent capacity, and as such, there is need for re-capitalisation to achieve 100% capacity.

Of the $4B being sought, $2.1B has been budgeted for the Albion Estate while approximately $518M has been set aside for the Blairmont Estate. The remainder will be spread across the other estates, and GuySuCo’s Headquarters.

The minister noted that works are currently ongoing at the three of the estates – Rose Hall, Skeldon and Enmore – that were closed by the APNU+AFC Administration, with the intention of having them reopened. He boasted that already 1000 of the once sacked sugar workers, have returned to the factory and fields and another 3,000 will be hired in 2021.

With the Industry currently operating at a loss, APNU+AFC Member of Parliament Jermaine Figueira sought to ascertain whether the infusion of the $4B will help the corporation return to profitability, and if so, what is the estimated profit margin.

But the Agriculture Minister would only say that the supplementary provision would put the Industry “back on the road to profitability.”

In an effort to keep the industry afloat, governments, over the years, have pumped billions of dollars into the corporation. The Agriculture Minister had previously indicated to the House that between 2010 and 2014, GuySuCo received a total of $20B in government subventions. Between 2015 and 2019, billions more were pumped into the ailing industry.

However, notwithstanding significant capital investments, the sugar corporation continues to operate a significant loss. Over the last 10 years, GuySuCo produced one ton of sugar at an average cost of US$747.38 at a time when the world market price for sugar stood at US$388.57.

Additionally, its total indebtedness as of August stands at $72.5B.

Vishnu Panday, General Manager Skeldon Estate ( Guyana Chronicle photo)

Source

December 29 ,2020

…official says govt begged him to stay on

Government has asked General Manager of Skeldon Sugar Estate, Vishnu Panday to stay on after he handed in his resignation over alleged nepotism and inteference.

Village Voice News was told that despite the estate not operating at full capacity government officials have been insisting that all of the severed workers be rehired. ” It is very frustrating and the interference is too much that is why he resigned. But they have asked him to stay on…I don’t know how long more he will stay ,”  well placed sources told the Village Voice News on Tuesday.

Since returning to office the PPP/C government has been on an aggressive campaign to reopen some of the shuttered estates. This despite warnings of the unprofitability of the industry. “Everybody showing up for a job…everybody is being sent by someone, some minister is sheer interference,” the source familiar with the fallout between Panday and the government told this publication.

Village Voice News understands that a few external investors including persons from Dubai had visited the estate, which is up for sale but there have been no positive response.
“Things are limping along and it seems as though the government may have to go it alone…that is why we seeing them going to parliament for money. The money is to pay staff, not really for any upgrade of the estates,” the source who asked not to be named related.
The source was adamant that the intention of government is to just find money to pay their supporters- many of whom are the severed sugar workers.

The Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), over the last 10 years, produced one ton of sugar at an average cost of US$747.38 at a time when the world market price for sugar stood at US$388.57. This was disclosed by the Government in response to a series of questions posed by the Opposition in the National Assembly. Based on the information provided, the sugar corporation has been operating at a loss when its total indebtedness as of August stood at $72.5B.

In his response to a series of questions posed by A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Member of Parliament, Jermaine Figueira, Minister of Agriculture, Zulfikar Mustapha said that while the average world market price for sugar for the last 10 years was US$388.57, Guyana’s sugar was sold at various prices based on the market.

He explained that GuySuCo sold one ton of sugar to the European Union (EU) at a cost of US$445.23; the USA, US$593.05; the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), US$581.30; Regional Non-CARICOM States, US$741.04; Australia, US$623.90; Italy, US$488.27; the Middle East, US$708.24 and the United Kingdom (UK), US$540.05.

Renowned Guyanese Economist, Dr. Clive Thomas, in an interview with Village Voice News recently, said at the heart of the plethora of challenges facing the Sugar Industry is the high cost of producing sugar. While the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration is adamant that with the right investment, GuySuCo could return to profitability, Dr Thomas, who served as Chairman of GuySuCo’s Board of Directors (2015-2018), is not so optimistic. He told Village Voice News  that GuySuCo will never be viable unless a number of structural limitations are addressed.

“The gap between [the production] cost and [selling] price is so wide it can’t be just a simple issue of investing in this estate and that estate. It has to do with the scale of the industry, the structure of the industry,” he submitted.

$4B allocation

Meanwhile, just three months after the House approved $3B for the ailing industry, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government was  back in Parliament Monday seeking approval from the National Assembly for another $4B for  GuySuCo and according to Minister, Mustapha, the funds will help the industry return to profitability.

Khemraj Ramjattan, the opposition shadow Agriculture Minister grilled Mustapha not only on the intended purpose of funds, but why the Government waited until the eleventh hour to request additional funds. Couldn’t the monies have been included in the National Budget passed in September?

In response Mustapha said the supplementary funds will be used to execute “critical” capital projects across the industry. He said the three estates in operation – Blairmont, Albion and Uitvlugt – are operating at a 60 per cent capacity, and as such, there is need for re-capitalisation to achieve 100% capacity.

Of the $4B being sought, $2.1B has been budgeted for the Albion Estate while approximately $518M has been set aside for the Blairmont Estate. The remainder will be spread across the other estates, and GuySuCo’s Headquarters.

The minister noted that works are currently ongoing at the three of the estates – Rose Hall, Skeldon and Enmore – that were closed by the APNU+AFC Administration, with the intention of having them reopened. He boasted that already 1000 of the once sacked sugar workers, have returned to the factory and fields and another 3,000 will be hired in 2021.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir

December 29 ,2020

Source

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir has tested positive once again for the coronavirus and will be in isolation for the next 14 days.

Speaking to the Village Voice News on Tuesday, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Parliament Office, Yannick December confirmed that the Speaker had posted this to his Whatsapp status.

“COVID has swept through the family, the household. I will be isolating for 14 days…seems re-infection can happen after two months,” Nadir posted. December added that, at a recent Sitting of the National Assembly, the Speaker did note that he was experiencing flu-like symptoms.

Nadir last tested positive for COVID-19 in early September noting then that he was asymptomatic. He later presided over the 2020 Budget via Zoom. Not long after, it was noted that some 17 Parliament staff also tested positive for the virus.

As of December 29, 2020, Guyana has recorded a total of 6,301 COVID-19 cases and 164 deaths. Anyone displaying any symptoms associated with COVID-19 is kindly asked to contact the COVID-19 Hotline 231-1166, 226-7480 or 624-6674 immediately.

Nurse of Guyanese parentage administers vaccine to US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris

Posted by: Denis Chabrol in News Tuesday, 29 December 2020, 14:02, Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 December 2020, 14:02 by Denis Chabrol, Source - https://demerarawaves.com/2020...elect-kamala-harris/

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris being vaccinated by Nurse Patricia Cummings whose parents are Guyanese immigrants

A nurse of Guyanese parentage on Tuesday administered a COVID-19 vaccine to United States (US) Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Multiple US news media identifies her as Patricia Cummings whose parents are Guyanese immigrants.  Nurse Cummings administered the vaccine to Ms. Harris at the United Medical Center in southeast Washington, D.C.

Ms. Harris’ parents were also born overseas; her father from Jamaica and her mother from India.

“That was easy! I barely felt it,” Harris exclaimed after being injected. The vice president-elect thanked the staff of United Medical Center for serving “a community that is often overlooked.” Harris later said she chose to be vaccinated in Southeast D.C., a majority-Black area of the city, to encourage “trust in the vaccine, in the people who work in your community every day,” USA Today quoted her as saying.

“I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine,” Harris said. “It is relatively painless and effective.”

Harris received the vaccine as the Trump administration’s rollout of vaccines across the country has lagged projection. Biden has pledged to make 100 million vaccines available in his first 100 days in office.

The incoming executives also received the vaccine amid a debate over whether public officials who were vaccinated were modeling good behavior or “cutting the line” ahead of groups who more needed the vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci had urged Biden and Harris to receive the vaccine for “security reasons.”

“This is about saving lives. I trust the science, and it is the scientists who created and approved this vaccine,” Harris emphasized. “This is about saving your life, the life of your family members and of your community.”

Former President David Granger (second from left) with the residents of Mocha Arcadia (PNCR photo)

December 28 ,2020

Source

Leader of the People’s National Congress David Granger handed over the Government of Guyana’s $25,000 ‘Covid-19 relief and support household grant’ to five villagers from the Mocha-Arcadia Neighbourhood, East Bank Demerara.

He had received the cash grant for his household the previous day, a release from the PNCR said today.

Granger lamented the distress caused by the rising number of deaths from the Covid-19 Pandemic and the “high rate of dismissals of public servants” since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic entered office on 2nd August.

He lamented the size of the grant which he said could not compensate for the loss of four months’ earnings by the head of a household who had been dismissed, especially given the high unemployment rate and the difficulty in finding new jobs in the   shrinking economy.

Granger asserted that the best relief would be for persons who had been unfairly dismissed to have their complaints probed and for them to be re-employed.

The villagers were deeply appreciative of the PNC Leader’s gesture, the release said.

I shall cease posting on GNI until 2021:

This will give me time to enjoy the Christmas and New Year's holidays and to allow my fellow posters to enjoy the same with their families. Regardless of our political differences, we are Guyanese with the same color blood runs in our veins. Our ideology is a gift from God to think and like differently in everything. The good book says if we all think alike this world would be a lonely place. Very True!

I want to wish the Admin of GNI (Django) the very best to him and his family for the holidays. Thank you for the privilege you lend to me, Sir.

And to a few other, namely, Mitwah, Tola, and Totaram. They say to keep your friend close but your enemies closer. NO, your contribution is what makes GNI a special place for Guyanese. We are NOT enemies.

And, to my special friend, Nehru.  That says it all.

Former Admins: Amral, Sunil, Ray, and others, happy and healthy holidays. Peace out 

$203M in furniture, equipment missing from Public Security Ministry – AG report

Dec 28, 2020 News, Source - https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...-ministry-ag-report/

The rusty chairs and cabinets received by the GFS in 2019.

Kaieteur News – Details from the recently laid Auditor General (AG) Report show that some $203M in equipment and furniture are missing from several government agencies under the Ministry of Public Security.
According to the report, the sum of $657.700M was budgeted for the procurement of office furniture, equipment, agricultural tools, communication and other equipment for the Ministry’s Policy Development and Administration (PDA), Guyana Police Force (GPF), Prison Services, Guyana Fire Services (GFS), Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) and the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).

It stated that figures from the appropriation accounts, amounts totalling $649.566M were expended during the year with purchase of tools and other equipment under the Prison Services at $302M; the purchase of communication, musical and other equipment for the GPF at $249M; the purchase of tools, office furniture and communication for the GFS at $42M; the purchase of equipment and furniture for the PDA at $37M; the retention for building, furniture and equipment for CANU at $14M; and the purchase of computers and printers for the PCA at $3M.

The report went on to indicate that audit examinations of 123 payment vouchers totalling $315.864M in respect of equipment and furniture purchased revealed that 56 of the payment vouchers totalling $202.616M had no stores documentation. It is against this circumstance that the AG report could not determine whether the items purchased were delivered.

“At the time of reporting, items valued $202.392M paid for were yet to be delivered to the Ministry of Public Security. The items included furniture, office and medical equipment,” it said.

As part of their recommendations, the Audit Office had recommended that the Public Security Ministry comply fully with the Stores Regulations “at all times”, to which the ministry’s Head of Budget acknowledged and agreed.

Meanwhile, the report indicated that a physical inspection was carried out at nine fire stations (out-stations), and it was revealed that no records were maintained for the receipt of assets. “In one instance” the report states, “the station officer at an out-station denied receiving items” but then later went on to point out rusty chairs and a broken cabinet as being received in 2019.

With regards to the GPF, the report states that amounts totalling $255M were budgeted for the purchases of arms and ammunition, fingerprint, ballistic, photographic, handwriting, communication, narcotics, intelligence traffic, crime screen, musical equipment and furniture and equipment.

According to the appropriation accounts, amounts totalling $249.426M were expended as at 31st December 2019. However, a physical verification of capital purchases valuing $132.447M, revealed that the items purchases for 2019 could not be verified since they were not marked as property of the force, the AG highlights. “As a result, the Ministry is in breach of Section 28 of the Stores Regulations.”

With regards to the GPS, it was indicated that amounts totalling $140.076M were expended on the purchase of cables, phones, shredders, fax machines, cartridges, batons, riot shields and others for the agency. But at the time of reporting, the assets were still not received.

How do family, relatives and friends react to naked, ugly minds?

Dec 27, 2020 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – One of the things that have always bothered me about life is what do the family members, relatives and friends say to humans who do ugly, vile things, things that are so unbearable, that it calls into question their value as humans and whether they are worthy of being humans.
This thing has rested on my mind since I became a husband, then father. I married a very decent woman that was interested in doing good for others. Then I fathered a kid whose concern for justice and equality among people is solid. Throughout the years of marriage and parenthood, I have had interventions from both wife and daughter about things I indicated I wanted to do and say.
I have always been fascinated with how family members, relatives and friends deal with wrong things that their loved ones do. I remember a few years ago, the daughter of a well-known lawyer, Vic Puran, wrote a nasty letter on me in this newspaper. Puran died in mysterious circumstances with one of his daughters publicly proclaiming that he was murdered. When I wrote about the sordid side of Puran’s transactions that may have caused his death, the daughter was angry and penned her letter.
I would never know if she was aware of certain aspects of her father’s life. The daughter of the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, cried profusely when he was executed but she didn’t cry for those her father murdered. Maybe he would have become an international hero if she had persuaded him to be a democrat and not a dictator. See my article of 10 years ago on the subject with more examples; Wednesday, February 10, 2010, “Parents and victims: The injustices of life.”
One night, years ago, when Dr. David Hinds and I were friends before he showed his true colours (in both senses of the word) we were having plantain chips and fried fish at Nicky’s Fish Shop on Drury Lane, Campbellville. He mentioned something about knowing the youngest daughter of President Burnham. I immediately jumped on him about her silence on what her father did to Guyana. I recall vividly, David’s expression, he intoned; “Freddie how can she do that?” Of course, she can still acknowledge the horrible things her father did to this country for which he should have been toppled and put in prison. But she wouldn’t.
So I guess this particular mystery about life will never end. We will never know why family members, relatives and friends do not confront their loved ones when they do wrong things. I was moved to write this piece here after I witnessed another manifestation of some ugly minds in the Stabroek News of December 24 captioned, “We call on the President and Police to enable EAAF team to carry out forensic probe into murders of Henry cousins, Haresh Singh.”
This is one of several letters written, since the rigging of the March 2020 election was stopped by the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal. One of the missives was condemnatory of the visit to Guyana by Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Another was about the detained Haitians. Now this one on the three murdered youths.
This country passed through one of its most terrible moments since the three counties were united to become British Guiana. That moment took the shape of five months of a series of sickening attempts to rig the March 2020 election that if succeeded would have created mayhem and destruction so intense and extensive that Guyana could not have survived and the placid zone of peace that the Caribbean is would have exploded.
Yet other less exigent situations seem to preoccupy the minds of some of those who wrote those three letters than the five months of rigging. I could understand some of those who sign those three letters (alluded to above) are not parents or have spouses so there is no one in their lives to talk to them about their double standards, morbid hypocrisy and psychic contortion. But others do have children and spouses.
Why can’t these family members ask their loved ones how they feel about what took place from March 3 until August 1? Can’t these family members tell their loved ones that in writing those three letters and not one comment on the election rigging it shows what horrible minds they put on display in shamelessly avoiding the denouncing of rigged election in Guyana? Sadly, there is no quarter in Guyana that wants to expose these hypocrites. When I read about these things, believe me, on each occasion I love my pets far, far more than humans.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)