Black Immigrant Daily News

Proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) that are currently the subject of national stakeholder consultations, are in no way, shape or form intended to give any political party an advantage at the polls.

This is according to Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, when he led presentations during national consultations on electoral reforms that began at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) On Tuesday.

Nandlall stressed that these reforms are not intended to give any political party an electoral advantage. On the contrary, he pointed out that these reforms are much needed changes to the system and are good for democracy.

“The important thing that I want to emphasise here, is that there is not a single proposal on these pieces of paper that are intended to create an electoral advantage for any political party. And I want to stress and emphasise that 100 times,” Nandlall said.

“I’ve said also that if there is any person who can point to me or to us as a collective, a particular provision that creates an electoral advantage for any political party, we are prepared to engage and engage publicly too. The point I’m making is that these reforms are good for the system. They are good for the process. They are good for the country. They are good for democracy.”

The AG went on to give an example of one of the proposed amendments to the Representation of the People Act, which would not favour one party over another. For instance, Section 6 (11) of the RoPA (Amendment) Bill 2022 caps the number of electors that can be assigned to a particular polling station.

“So, there’s a limit. No more than 400 electors are to be assigned to a polling station. No more. You can have less. So right away, you put a cap. So, we don’t have electors lining up in the hot sun. I want you to interrogate this and tell me if it creates any political advantage for any political party.”

“The sun only shines in PPP areas? Or the rain doesn’t fall in certain areas? It’s right across the board. It’s to make electors comfortable, to make voting easy, to give greater accessibility to polling places and polling stations,” Nandlall also said.

Among the issues raised by the attendees was the subdivision of regions. According to Section 6 (A) of the Bill, the polling districts of Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) and Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne Region) will be divided.

Opposition nominated Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Commissioner Vincent Alexander argued that this should only be the case in the hinterland, where for the sake of efficiency the districts could be broken up.

“I will argue that if one is speaking about efficiency, then that subdivisions are more pertinent in the hinterland regions (because) these regions have subdistricts that cannot move results overnight,” he said.

However, Nandlall reminded him of the calamitous events that took place in the Region Four polling district during the 2020 General and Regional Election and reminded him that efficiency is not the only consideration. Nandlall noted that this proposed change is to prevent one electoral officer from having too much power over the most populous electoral districts.

The consultation being undertaken has been described as an integral element of the Government of Guyana’s commitment to implement a consultative, inclusive, and participatory process regarding electoral reform.

The Ministry had said in a previous statement that the stakeholder consultation formed part of a continuous consultative process, which began on November 6, 2021, when the Ministry published the draft RoPA (Amendment) Bill on its social media pages.

As such, the public was invited to peruse the draft documents and submit feedback to the Ministry within six weeks; however, after requests for extensions, the Ministry accommodated submissions of feedback well into 2022.

Recommendations were received from a variety of stakeholders including civil society actors, the Guyana Elections Commission, some political parties, and interested individuals and organisations. These recommendations were consolidated and provided to the Attorney General, who in May 2022, facilitated in-person meetings with the respondents.

Updated versions of the RoPA Bill and Regulations have been made available once again, and the new draft amendments to the National Registration Act have also been made accessible for public perusal via a link published on the Ministry’s Facebook pages. To this end, 157 organisations were invited to the consultation on October 25.

These organisations represent a broad cross-section of society including political parties; constitutional bodies; civil society organisations in the labour movement; private sector, faith-based, youth, women, LGBTQ, ethnic/cultural, health and rehabilitation organisations; and other civil society actors.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Stray catchers on the Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) continue to operate despite the unit being disbanded.

Farmers in the 52-74 Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) community continue to have their animals picked up by a group of young men and taken to various pounds which are under the control of that NDC.

Some farmers have been able to strike deals with the men and sometimes an NDC official before the animals are taken to the pound to have them released for a cost lesser than the stipulated fee of $7000 and $8000 for adult animals.

Receipts are not issued when those deals are made, this publication has been told by farmers. On Monday, the 52-74 NDC officials took a number of animals to the pound.

Only recently Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had to intervene after the 52-74 NDC illegally impounded cattle belonging to a Corentyne farmer after stray catchers had reportedly picked up the animals from a dam.

However, on Monday stray catchers were caught on camera picking up animals that were under a tree and taking them to a pound which is under the control of the NDC.According to Budmattie Boodram, she was alerted by her husband of the incident.

“Yesterday [Monday] when my husband went to the backdam like about 1:30 we lose our goat and he gone with some goat on the backdam because rice finish harvesting in the whole Number Naught Village so we graze our goat there. My husband called me about 2 o’clock and tell me something is not right,” the woman related.

She said she went just beyond the residential area where the animals are normally taken to graze and saw some of her goats sitting under a tree but as she continued to walk, she heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching.

“When me watch, me see they get like about four pound man and each one of them get cutlass and my husband was not there and I was very scared.” One of the four men waited with the animals which were under the tree. Video recordings seen by this publication support Boodram’s claim.

“Me see when he take out dem other goat from the Number Naught side where no rice was not there – everything cut out; me even video am how they take out the goat and walk and drive an carry them straight to the jamoon tree and collect the other set and gone with them,” the woman revealed.

22 heads of goat were taken to the Number 63 Village pound and the family was told they would have to pay $7000 each to have them released.

Meanwhile, according to one cattle farmer, if they pay $5000 each to these illegal stray catchers, the animals are released and if not, they are taken to the NDC’s pound.Sometimes the money is paid to an NDC official but no receipts are issued.

Home Affairs Minister Robeson Benn had revoked all of the stray catchers’ licences as government had put a hold on the impounding of animals by NDCs and municipalities.Some of those persons have been hired by the NDC under Government’s part-time employment.

Boodram said they did not have the money to pay for the release of the animals and contacted a political activist in the region to get assistance.

The political activist told this newspaper that he contacted a senior Government official, who intervened and the animals were released.

According to the activist, the 52-74 NDC should pay more attention on addressing the concerns of residents, which includes the deplorable streets and garbage collection.

“Not to be engaged in the pounding of animals. It is a simple process, if your animal destroys someone’s crop you get the Police and a Rural Constable (RC) and you press for damages; that’s the way to go,” the activist explained.

It was only recently that another farmer had an issue where his cattle were illegally impounded. Following the intervention of Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo those animals were released.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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“International discourse has underscored the significance of global trade (in particular trade liberalisation) for growth and economic development …at this juncture, it cannot be business as usual… we need a new deal in international trade if Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and other developing countries are to achieve prosperity and sustainability,” says President of the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr Hyginus “Gene” Leon.

He was speaking at UNCTAD’s Expert Meeting on Revisiting Development Strategies for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Post-Pandemic Competitive Landscape, on October 24, which seeks to respond to the agency’s renewed mandate to assist SIDS by addressing their specific vulnerabilities, building resilience and promoting structural economic transformation and productive capacities.

Dr Leon alongside global leaders in trade and development identified many disadvantageous attributes now compounded by climate change which were conspiring to relegate the Bank’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries to an existence which could only be characterised as unattained potential.

Adding that “A new deal in international trade can propel the growth and development of SIDS. CDB is ready and willing to partner with other Multilateral Development Banks, international organisations, governments, and the private sector, on the necessary reforms to reconfigure existing trade frameworks. What SIDS justly require is the levelling of the playing field to allow all participants a fair chance at victory.”

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The President indicated that global leaders are now faced with a unique opportunity to re-imagine development for this grouping by creating a resilient ecosystem spanning social, financial, environmental, institutional, and productive capacity dimensions.

This, he added, can be achieved only by integrating frameworks of debt sustainability, quality investment-growth nexus, and resilience building in a manner that ensures internal system coherence at any time but temporal consistency over time.

Developing states are ready to help themselves he indicated, however, the international community can assist by counteracting existing limitations to trade and the countries’ ability to exploit its benefits.

This can be accomplished through reinforced partnerships with development banks to increase financing, deliberate attempts to industrialise knowledge and reshape private sector partnerships and increasing overall connectivity.

These can establish alternatives that relocate SIDS from the peripheral positioning that has constrained their economic advancement for centuries.

SOURCE: Caribbean Development Bank

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Black Immigrant Daily News

98 secondes ! C’est avec cet écart que le Canadien Mike Birch, décédé mercredi à l’âge de 90 ans, est entré dans la légende de la voile en gagnant la première Route du Rhum…

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Black Immigrant Daily News

A war of words has erupted between the country’s two main political parties over where and how the most vulnerable Jamaicans live, and who is responsible for their predicament.

The latest salvo was fired on Tuesday by Member of Parliament (MP) for St Thomas Eastern, Dr Michelle Charles.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) member and first-term MP, who was making her contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives, suggested that the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) had settled people on gully banks, in river beds, and on landfills.

She said in this regard, the governing JLP was different from the PNP.

“Running a country is extremely challenging but we don’t run it the same,” said Charles, a dentist.

“We (the JLP) are not the same [as the PNP]. We are not the same. This government is building a new St Thomas; this government is building a new Jamaica,” Charles added.

She said: “This government is building houses for our citizens and not on a gully bank, not in riverbeds and not in landfills.”

“This Andrew Holness-led government cares for our people. This government is celebrating economic growth and stability; this government is filled with new ideas and new technology,” she boasted.

Her comments followed what has been described as inflammatory statements made on Sunday by her colleague MP, Juliet Holness, who represents St Andrew East Rural and is also the wife of Prime Minister Holness.

Holness, who was addressing the JLP’s Norbrook divisional meeting at Constant Spring Primary School in St Andrew, said, “Everywhere in my constituency that is unsafe to live, Comrades (PNP supporters) live there. Yuh hear what mi seh? Everywhere in my constituency that it is not safe to live, Comrades live there.”

She acknowledged that she was addressing a topic that was uncomfortable but stressed that “anywhere where river going to wash away [people], Comrades live there; anywhere that is a garbage dump, Comrades live there and is not Labour party put them there”.

The deputy speaker of the House told Labourites that “…the places they (PNP) put people to live they would never live for a minute. They would never want to visit and walk through”.

She has since been widely criticised on social media and elsewhere for the controversial statements. The PNP has also responded to the comments, describing them as reckless, partisan and demeaning to the people who are unfortunate enough to live in such circumstances.

PNP General Secretary Dr Dayton Campbell has described the comments as offensive and repugnant while arguing that many Jamaicans have settled in flood-prone areas out of desperation.

“The persons, who, through no fault of their own some of the time, reside in these locations are not solely supporters of either political party. There are persons who reside in vulnerable areas that are supporters of the PNP, some are supporters of the JLP, and some are supporters of no party. And for one to ascribe political affiliation to that just speaks to how that individual views the persons,” he said.

Campbell said the remarks by Holness were “unbecoming of somebody who occupies such high office in the country” and who is in close proximity to the prime minister. He said her comments were a reflection of how she views the people who are led by her husband.

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