November 25, 2022
Georgetown, Guyana
For immediate release to all media houses.
AFC PRESS STATEMENTS FROM PRESS CONFERENCE OF NOVEMBER 25, 2022
AFC Press Conference Recording*
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pEu0RDoDYVaroR75ztVCfTquqqp9npYe/view?usp=share_link *
The Alliance For Change continues to urge that there be a release to the public of all largescale mining contracts, and that the PPP’s government non-transparency in this regards be condemned. Guyana as a country nor her countrymen will not benefit from such concealment but only the corrupt few who are friends, family and favourites of the PPP.
Not only must transparency be a practice in this sector, but the scrutiny from especially important Parliamentary Natural Resources Sectorial Committee. The AFC repeats that to date this committee has not met since the installation of the Government.
In view of what is happening at GY-EITI since the removal of Dr. Rudy Jadopat, the PPP Government has hardened its position to disassociate from the global body not wanting to live by the high standards it sets.
The 4th report of the GYEITI is due on December 31, 2022 and from all appearances that report is nowhere near completion by the new boss Dr. Prem Misir and his team.
To date a proper independent administrator is still to be hired.
Rather, the Minister of National Resources bypassed the multi stakeholder group (MSG) which ought to have prepared and approved the terms of reference for the procurement of independent administrative service and appointed the services of 2021 administrator BDOLLP without any international tender process. This handpicking is a violation of EITI standards.
The Alliance For Change fears that because of the complete inexperience and incapacity of Dr. Prem Misir in this specialised area, Guyana is likely to be expelled for several violations by the international body EITI.
Dr. Misir should tender his resignation or be fired and every effort be made to reinstate the services of Dr. Jadopat who successfully set up and made operational GYEITI (local chapter) for the previous three years.
AFC Calls for Free Education Now! Not 2025
There was a letter to the Editor of November 23, 2022, written by the Honorable Minister Kwame McCoy entitled “Ali’s vision versus Norton’s farces, Guyanese are the best to Judge”, which caught the AFC’s attention. It was not the Minister’s hot air about
Opposition Leader Norton that caught our attention, for we are not here to hold any briefs for the Opposition Leader, since he is more than capable of holding his own against the Government and Mr. McCoy. What really caught our attention was what could only be described as either the Minister’s neglect for the truth, or his complete lack of knowledge about the history of which party did what to education fees in Guyana.
According to the Honorable Minister, “The hopes of its citizens to benefit from free university education by 2025 would be dashed against the exorbitant fees the APNU+AFC introduced and planned to keep increasing”.
What the Minister is saying here is that the Opposition was responsible for introducing school fees into the Guyana education system and plans to keep increasing those fees, and that his government would be undoing in 2025, their own 30-year old callous imposition of student fees.
How could a Minister not know that: free education from nursery to University was introduced in 1976 by the PNC, and not the PPP; how could he not know that it was the PPPC that abolished that free education as its highest priority as soon as it took office1992; and how could the Minister not know about the highly publicized commitment by both APNU and AFC, separately and collectively, to make it their highest priority to reverse the PPPC unconscionable act and reintroduce free education in 2020, and not 2025 as now promised by the PPPC.
Since Minister McCoy appears to either have a fondness for flouting the truth or to be lacking the intellectual curiosity to ascertain knowledge of a subject matter before indulging in mindless utterances, the AFC would like to enlighten the Honorable Minister on the matter of the history of who did what to education fees in Guyana, by inviting him to read the Guyana Chronicle article of August 2, 2019, for we are absolutely certain that the Minister has full faith and confidence in the credibility of the Guyana Chronicle.
In his diatribe laced at Opposition Leader Norton, the Minister exalts the PPPC’s plan to have free education in 2025, somehow believing this would gain advantage points over the Opposition; but sadly for the Minister, the August 2, 2019 Guyana Chronicle shattered his illusion by reporting that both APNU and AFC had made public statements of commitments to use the oil money to make free education from nursery to University its highest priority from the inception of its expected return to office in 2020, and not wait until 2025 as being thrown around here by the Minister.
Additionally, we bring the Minister’s attention to the following excerpts from the AFC press statement of January 26, 2019, at the conclusion of our National Executive Council Meeting: “The party also unanimously approved a motion to unequivocally support free education from nursery to university and facilitate housing for all Guyanese with revenues to be derived from oil. The Constitution of Guyana provides that every citizen has the right to free education from nursery to university as well as non-informal places where opportunities are provided for education and training.”
Further, as reported by the Guyana Chronicle article of August 2, 2019, then President David Granger clearly demonstrated the Coalition’s commitment to free education from nursery through University when he publicly announced at an event in Plaisance, that he “intends to reintroduce free education from nursery to university from next year…. It is my mission to restore that right to free education in accordance with the injunction of our Constitution… oil will produce profits and those profits will go first and foremost into education, free education”
The Chronicle continued that “the PPP administration introduced fees for the University of Guyana on entering office in 1992. With the expected windfall from oil revenues, Guyana can more than afford to provide this good to all citizens.”
So, the shameless attempt by the Minister to fool the Guyanese people has been thrown flat on its face by these historical facts which irrefutably show that it was the PNC that introduced free education in 1976, and it was the PPPC that dismantled it in 1992 as soon as the PPPC came into office. Also, it is crystal clear that it is the APNU and AFC which have always been committed to free education starting in 2020, way ahead of the PPPC promise of 2025.
To use the Minister’s own words that “Guyanese are the best to Judge”; well, our Guyanese people now have the facts, and as called for by the Minister himself, let them judge the Minister and his Government by their record of taking away our free education and now attempting to hide from it.
That aside, the AFC calls upon the PPPC Government in the strongest way possible, to follow the APNU+AFC long-standing commitment to our people, by undoing the PPPC’s unmerciful 30-year old imposed hardship of student fees, and implement free education from nursery to University, RIGHT NOW! and not 2025, as bandied by the Government. We have the money which belongs to the people and must be spent for their benefits and not for the few friends and families of the Government.
It is indisputable that education is the foundation of the successful development of any country, and the number one investment attractiveness of foreign direct investments (FDI). Guyana’s oil may only last for about 20 to 25 years more, so investment in education must be the highest priority RIGHT NOW! (NOT 2025) to attract those FDIs for a sustainable economy after oil is gone.
We call upon the PPPC Government to make education free from nursery through university, RIGHT NOW! Not 2025.
AFC Says All Guyana Grateful for Guyana’s Showing at ICJ Hearing
The Alliance For Change wishes to place on record, it’s commendation and appreciation, for the work of the ‘Guyana Team’ at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as arguments were recently presented at the landmark hearing of Guyana’s case for a full and final determination of the controversy that has doggedly persisted for decades.
This matter, as we all accept, has no political partisan colour or persuasion, and it was gratifying to see former Foreign Minister Carl Greenidge presenting an erudite statement as Guyana’s Agent, and to see him standing alongside the Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Minister of Governance, and Parliamentary Affairs, Gail Teixeira. This was, and is, the powerful message of ‘unity of purpose’ that the Guyanese people have been longing for – not just on this matter, but on major domestic issues as well.
The nation will recall that in December of 2018, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Carl Greenidge, explained to the National Assembly, the intricate link between Guyana’s tedious and studied preparation for its approach to the ICJ to settle the controversy, and the ‘special’ intent and use of the ‘signature bonus’ paid by Exxon Mobil to cover these costs.
Last week, we witnessed the budding fruits of that preparation in the brilliance of the legal experts, and the level of committedness and presentation of the entire Guyana team.
Today, even though not the end of the endeavour, we can take a moment to recognise the efforts of Guyana’s past and present Foreign Ministers and Advisors, and the more recent work of former President David Granger, Mr. Carl Greenidge and Sir Shridath Ramphal, in initiating the process of getting us to this critical point.
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