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Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Monday made it clear that he would not be apologising to International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) Chairman Vincent Alexander, going on to challenge him to properly account for the almost $500 million that was allocated to the organisation by the State.

Alexander took part in a press conference on Monday alongside other IDPADA-G directors, where he had defended the organisation and Jagdeo’s earlier assertions that the organisation has not been utilising State funds adequately to benefit African-Guyanese.

In his subsequent statement, Jagdeo said that Alexander’s press conference left more questions than answers. Jagdeo posed the questions in his statement, such as questions on how much of the $100 million IDPADA-G received since 2019 was spent on salaries and details on those that were paid.

“First off let me state that I have absolutely no intention of apologising to Vincent Alexander and he is free to take whatever course of action he wishes. Afro-Guyanese still remain in the dark as it relates to the benefits of the close to half a billion dollars utilised. He should therefore provide details on the following.”

“How much of the $100M allocated annually since 2019 and $68M in 2018 was spent on paying salaries, who are individuals that were paid, what amounts were they being paid and how were they selected? How much of that sum was spent on rental, who owns the buildings rented, and what process was used for the selection of the buildings?” Jagdeo questioned.

Jagdeo also questioned how many persons benefitted from capacity training, the types of training offered, who conducted the training, and what process was used to select both the trainers and beneficiaries of the training.“Why was IDPADA-G registered as a private limited liability company where a number of persons (inclusive of yourself) are listed as the beneficial owners instead of a not-for-profit organisation? These are just a few questions for the moment. I will address this matter in greater detail shortly,” Jagdeo further said in his statement.

During the press conference, Alexander refuted much of what Jagdeo said at a press conference last week. Among Alexander’s assertions was that he is not paid for his work with IDPADA-G, that Jagdeo is trying to vilify the organisation and that the organisation has been spending money in the African-Guyanese community.

“We are proud of the fact that we are able to fund the night schools which have brought back children into the loop of the education system. This we do in Georgetown and in the Corentyne. So that’s another instance of the outreach.”

“And many people would know of the work that was done in the Mocha Arcadia market day, which we also funded. Many people would know of the exhibitions we have had, at Square of the Revolution and the avenue,” Alexander said, describing this as physical manifestations of their work.

The organisation also sent out a statement in which it further defended itself and detailed more of its work. While they did not deny that staff were paid $42 million in 2020 as Jagdeo had laid out, IDPADA-G explained that staff provide a myriad of services to the African-Guyanese community.

“Members of the public can walk in and be given services such as the preparation of business plans, project and grant request proposals for Government and donor funding. The sum that Mr Jagdeo did not mention goes towards projects in the sphere of education and training, disaster response, public education, entrepreneurial facilitation, and youth development, to mention a few.”

“Examples including the G$5M exercise to register persons for flood relief, will be provided on the work of IDPADA-G, by the next presenter. A more comprehensive fact sheet will be made available to you,” the organisation promised.

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Ceron Richards –

Union leaders are now concerned by the growing restlessness among its members who are convinced their Push Back movement to demand a higher wage offer in ongoing negotiations with the Chief Personnel Officer will be ineffective. They say public servants have had enough and are planning to bypass their unions to take matters into their own hands to get a fair wage increase.

In a joint press conference at the Public Services Association (PSA) headquarters in Port of Spain on Monday, Prison Officers’ Association president Ceron Richards and Fire Service Association president Leo Ramkissoon warned that, based on workers’ level of frustration, there is a rude awakening coming to government.

PSA leader Leroy Baptiste said the unions would have no control over what happens next.

“We have assessed the situation and now we have to look at the next move because our members are becoming extremely agitated and they all want us to do something about it. This will end when workers are able to maintain their standard of living. Any attempt to call use slaves or use the law as a whip, we shall respond.”

Richards said his members were deeply aggrieved and warned the government of a possible revolution.

“There is no strategy here, all we have is members of the PSA, Prison officers and other unions that are despondent and are willing. This is not a plan generated by the various organisations. This is members who have reached the breaking point.

“They have reached the end. They are seeing the disparity in how they are treated and how parliamentarians treat themselves. They would have maintained significant increases over the years putting their pension on par with higher salaries and consolidated allowances to bump up their salaries.

“This is the breaking point, our members are saying they will take this no more. TT will seriously be disrupted.

“I say to the Finance Minister that, no matter what you do, members of the protective services are not going to accept that. They are not doing to succumb to an 18 per cent reduction in wages.

Asked what his union would describe as a fair and satisfactory offer, Richard said it must be one that will allow public servants to live comfortably.

He said the government’s inability to offer a fair wage increase is a recipe for disaster in TT.

“I’m speaking this strongly because our members are saying, hearing and telling us TT will change very soon.”

He further accused the government of pushing around, undermining and ignoring essential workers because they were bound by law that prevents them from taking industrial action.

Fire Service Association Leo Ramkissoon said his members were also angry and disappointed by the government’s treatment of workers.

Contacted for comment, Acting Commissioner of Prisons Deopersad Ramoutar said he was not worried by the union leader’s “sabre rattling.”

“It’s nothing for me to be alarmed about. That’s just industrial language, and it is common language or vocabulary from that kind of forum.

“Things are always in place for the proper operational personnel. We have officers on standby, our dedicated officers will not walk off the job.

“The union leader has a role to play and, yes, the prison service has a lot of room for improvement. There are due processes to get things done.

“When there is a lack of resources, we have to understand that not all have to be the ones we need can be given at this point. My officers are very dedicated, and hardworking, and we go beyond the call of duty.

While Ramoutar supported the desire for better working conditions and a fair salary, he was against any move that would interfere with operations at the prison and compromise the safety of the country.

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El informe preliminar de COVID-19 del Departamento de Salud (DS) reportó el martes 8 muertos y 321 personas hospitalizadas.

El total de muertes atribuidas es de 4,909.

Hay 263 adultos hospitalizados y 58 menores. El monitoreo cubre el periodo del 8 al 21 de agosto de 2022.

La tasa de positividad está a 27.47 por ciento.

Se reportan 8 defunciones adicionales a causa del COVID-19. Unas 321 personas están hospitalizadas; 263 adultos y 58 pediátricos. Al medio día se ofrece una actualización de los datos que incluye el status de vacunación; https://t.co/8KaFLZcGta

— Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico (@desaludpr) August 23, 2022

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Varios artistas han compartido a través de las redes sociales una publicación en la que se hace un llamado a protestar contra LUMA, companía a cargo de la transmisión y distribución de energía eléctrica en el país.

Entre las celebridades que han compartido la imagen se encuentran el exponente urbano Residente y la cantautora pop Kany García.

El lunes, legisladores de cuatro de las cinco delegaciones representadas en la Cámara de Representantes, así como el independiente Luis Raúl Torres, le hicieron un llamado hoy, lunes, a la ciudadanía a lanzarse a la calle para reclamar la cancelación del contrato otorgado a LUMA Energy.

PUERTO RICO pic.twitter.com/rxZWGfpHrE

— Kany Garcia (@kanygarcia) August 23, 2022

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