Georgetown – Representatives from the Guyana Government, the parliamentary Opposition, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), the Guyana Agricultural and Workers’ Union (GAWU) and the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) met Saturday in an effort to determine a way forward for the problem-plagued sugar industry.
A release from the Ministry of the Presidency noted that all parties expressed satisfaction at the move by Government to hold consultations and at the proceedings of the initial meeting.
Vice-President and Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, who led the government team disclosed at the end of the meeting that Cabinet took the decision at its last sitting to have the consultations begin at the soonest possible time to ensure that the best interest of all stakeholders will be considered.
“I am happy to state that indeed it was very civilised. We made a major decision at last Cabinet that we do have to have consultations and it will be extended now. The documentation that we gave them as to the options proposed to us by GuySuCo has been shared and they said that they needed time to study it and we agreed with that, because they only got them this morning [Saturday].
General-Secretary of the PPP, Clement Rohee, for the Opposition team, said the livelihood of thousands of Guyanese will be affected by any outcome.
Head of GAWU, Komal Chand, stated that the union and its members are satisfied that the Government has reached out to host consultations before coming to a final decision on the industry.
“We were assured by the Government delegation that what they have are mere proposals and the proposals are for discussions and it is not a case where decisions are made and we are going through an exercise and that is satisfactory to us. We recognise that consultations have taken place and we take [the] fact that the proposals are not final. That is acceptable to us,” he said.
According to the release, notwithstanding the proposals put forward by GuySuCo, the Government has encouraged the Opposition and unions to make their own recommendations based on all the information available on the state of the industry. A date and time for the next meeting will be determined after the Opposition and unions have had time to peruse the documents.
Ralph Ramkarran
“The attempted unlawful seizure of Red House, unlawful restriction of the movement of the occupants and the unlawful sequestration of its property, bring back sad memories of times past when the rule of law in Guyana was being severely undermined as a result of political oppression and authoritarian rule,” Senior Counsel, Ralph Ramkarran said in his latest Conversation Tree column. Meanwhile, police on Sunday – New Year's Day – continued their round-the-clock presence outside Red House, High Street, Kingston, Georgetown. “The police have not been hostile at all; they are protecting the peace,” said CJRC Board Member, Indra Chandrapal.
If the worst comes to the worst and the High Court rules that the CJRC must vacate Red House, Chandrapal said most of the works of late PPP Founder-Leader and President, Dr. Cheddi Jagan have been removed. Jagan lived at Red House from 1961 to 1964 while he was Premier of then British Guiana.
Challenging the cancellation of the lease of Red House to CJRC, Ramkarran said not even the President has a legal right to evict the occupants and seize possession of Red House. “The attempt to eject the occupants of Red House is a straight case of the height of executive lawlessness. No Government official has the power to dictate the expulsion of occupants of State or any other property. If the Government requires possession, it must obtain an order of the Court. That is the rule of law. It applies to the President, the Government and the citizen,” said the former House Speaker and long-serving member of the People’s Progressive Party.
Ramkarran left the PPP about 10 years ago after apparent dissatisfaction about the way that political party had been handling concerns about alleged corruptions.
He said it is the height of lawlessness for government to send its staffers to eject the occupants and seize possession, a situation that has caused him to hope “that this event is not a foreboding of what will happen in 2017.”
The People’s National Congress (PNC), while in government, had been repeatedly accused of ruling Guyana with an iron fist and putting down dissent.
The CJRC has since taken the matter to court and has secured an agreement that none of the CJRC’s properties at Red House can be removed until the matter returns to court in February.
While the matter was still pending before Chief Justice, Yonette Cummings-Edwards on December 30, 2016, Ministry of the Presidency workers descended on Red House where they removed the padlock and tore down the Cheddi Jagan Research Institute sign.
“The CJRC had occupied the premises for about fifteen years and had accumulated a vast amount of material. Even trespassers are given longer periods to vacate premises by courts. In law, the period given must be reasonable. 48 hours could not be reasonable under any circumstances,” said Ramkarran.
The Senior Counsel appeared to support Nandlall’s reported challenge to the Attorney General’s contention that government had already revoked the lease and had taken possession of the property. “I know of my own knowledge that the claim that Government was in possession of Red House was palpably false. I spoke to staff of the CJRC by telephone from the CJRC at about 4 pm and they were in the Red House carrying out their normal activities,” said Ramkarran.
Subsequently, there was vigil on December 30, 2016 by PPP supporters that sparked off a counter-vigil by PNC members including Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence.
President Granger has long called for the establishment of a research centre on all of Guyana’s Presidents instead of only one. However, the PPP has argued that Dr. Jagan, who died in office in 1997, deserves special recognition because he was the architect of Guyana’s struggle for political independence from Britain.
