PPP says US LEAD project still unresolved

Feb 22, 2014 News

The People’s Progressive Party /Civic (PPP/C) through its General Secretary, Clement Rohee, has said that as far as he is concerned, United States LEAD (Leadership And Democracy) project which the US Ambassador said he will go ahead implementing without the blessings of government is still unresolved.

General Secretary for the PPP Clement Rohee

According to the General Secretary, he read what US Ambassador Brent Hardt said; that the United States is going ahead with implementing the US LEAD project .”But I think they might be going ahead with implementing something that the state is not in agreement with at this point in time.
“The matter remains, as far as I am concerned, still unresolved, and I find it highly inappropriate for him to continue publicly with that line of argument, in the face of a situation where the government has a position it should be put on hold until matters are mutually agreed to.”
Rohee said that there is no consensus within the population to have the project implemented. He said the fact the PPP is in government means that it has a substantive influence in the population so there is no consensus in the population with respect to whether this matter will go forward or not.
“There are different views obtaining in our country but I think it is foolhardy to ignore the thousands upon thousands of people who voted for this administration to hold the reins of office and to say that their views don’t matter, the government and the party speak on behalf of those people.
“Am I to understand from what people are saying that their views don’t matter? That we are going ahead simply because a few people mainly in the opposition side are favorably disposed to it? That’s not the way to go,” said Rohee.
The US LEAD project outline encapsulates that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is developing a programme to strengthen democratic institutions in Guyana. Through this programme, USAID seeks to strengthen the democratic functioning and characteristics of political parties and the Guyanese National Assembly through the provision of technical assistance.
The objectives are to enhance the technical capacity and functionality of the legislature through the regular use of consultative practices and mechanisms for legislative drafting, analysis, review, and passage.
The programme should further reinforce democratic governance in Guyana by broadening political participation through more representative and competitive multi-party engagements. This programme will include a particular focus on women and youth.
Dr. Luncheon had described some of the objections made by Cabinet as it relates to the project.
He said that the four components of the project were analyzed by Cabinet and one contained major activities that captured a relationship between USAID and individual political parties in Guyana.

US Ambassador to Guyana Brent Hardt

This, he said, was a source of concern, given that Guyana does not have a public policy by government for the support for political parties.
He said that there is nothing like that in the law nor in practice and the Americans through the project “invited a profoundly sensitive issue.”
Dr. Luncheon had said that this is something that has not been dealt with by any post-independent Guyana Government and further “for us represented a usurpation of our authority.”
He said that this was drawn to the attention of USAID which was asked to make the overtures and activities to be a relationship between institutions such as Parliament or the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) and not parties.
The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) had recently come out in support of the USAID Leadership and Democracy Program (LEAD) but says it supports Government in its call for the project to be halted by the Americans until talks can be concluded.