AFC visits State Department again

Jun 09, 2011 News

AFC Presidential Candidate, Khemraj Ramjattan, has once again paid a visit to the US Department of State (DOS); this time on issues surrounding the impending 2011 National Elections.
In a statement delivered at the party headquarters yesterday, Dr. Shameer Ally, a member of the New York/New Jersey Chapter of the AFC, spoke of some of the issues that were addressed at that meeting.
Among them were the elections and predictions of possible violence that could result as well as the party’s desire that the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) be more proactive in providing opportunities for persons to uplift ID cards at polling stations.
The participation of elections observer groups and USAID support for NGOs involved in educating the electorate also came up in the discussions as well as the provision of US support for inter-ethnic dialogue in Guyana.
Last September, the AFC made another visit to the State Department to discuss its concerns surrounding the Amaila Falls Hydropower Project and the project developers. At the time the many unsettling inconsistencies and secretive nature of the government as it related to important information about the project were at the forefront of the public consciousness.
Sithe Global, the company slated to build the Hydro-electric plant at Amaila Falls, was also recalled as being behind the construction of one of the most controversial and expensive hydro-electric projects in the world namely the Bujagali plant in Uganda.
That project cost went up from the original budget of $500M to $860M, with indications that it may hit the $1B mark as a result of high interest rates and other factors.
According to the Bank Information Centre, “A Ugandan government document projects that the 250 MW Bujagali hydroelectric power station will in fact raise power costs despite claims by the project sponsor, Bujagali Energy Limited (BEL), that power tariffs would decrease once Bujagali becomes operational.”
The day after that report hit the papers saw President Bharat Jagdeo expressing his criticism over the move by the AFC.
The President said, “It is this unpatriotic sense by a party and this feeling that they still need approval from abroad to conduct their own affairs. I don’t feel that way. We have to chart our own affairs, and we can do it and create prosperity for our people.
We don’t need anyone’s approval for this; we don’t need anyone’s approval,” the president stated emphatically.”
The President went on to say that he didn’t care since the American’s don’t run Guyana and that the meeting involved just a “low level official in the State Department” while he (the President) had met Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama himself.

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