Work permit revocation…It means Mr. Bradbury is to leave with immediate effect – Rohee

May 07, 2014 News

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“The letter that he received, I think mentioned with immediate effect, so if Mr. Bradbury remains here and continues to work here, he is obviously violating the immigration laws of Guyana and he must be aware of that.”

“The letter that he received, I think mentioned with immediate effect, so if Mr. Bradbury remains here and continues to work here, he is obviously violating the immigration laws of Guyana and he must be aware of that.”
This was the assertion of General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee, as he spoke in favour of Government’s decision to revoke the work permit of Glenn Bradbury.

Bradbury is the Principal Official of the International Republican Institute (IRI) which is contracted by USAID (United Sates Agency of International Development) to implement the Leadership and Democracy (LEAD) project.
In a statement, the United States Ambassador to Guyana, D. Brent Hardt, had outlined that the LEAD project is designed to benefit the Government and people of Guyana, through the promotion of understanding and consensus-building within the National Assembly; greater citizen engagement with Parliament; civic education on local government; and greater civic engagement among women and youth.
The government, which had initially signed on to the LEAD project, later reneged, citing through its Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon that 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.
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”.
Government’s concern, Luncheon said, was brought 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 engagements between the two sides broke down, with Government calling for a halt of the programme until issues were resolved. That request was, however, not adhered to, with the US Ambassador pledging that the programme would move ahead. This stance led to the Guyana Government revoking the work permit of Bradbury, thus bringing the implementation of the programme to a halt.
The government has since come under a flurry of criticism by the opposition parties and other stakeholders for its posturing with respect to the LEAD project and subsequent revocation of Bradbury’s work permit.

The PPP/C yesterday, during Rohee’s press briefing, justified its decision to revoke Bradbury’s permit, citing that he was meddling in the internal political affairs of Guyana.
According to Rohee, Bradbury actions are “counterproductive and would not be entertained by any self-respecting nation. The party has found that Mr. Bradbury has been engaging institutions without the approval of the respective heads of those institutions. He has also been misrepresenting reality and abusing long established protocols.”
Rohee said further that the PPP is “disappointed that the US Embassy would associate itself with these activities of Mr. Bradbury who has exposed himself to disgust of many stakeholders.”
When questioned about the institutions that Bradbury was engaged in without consulting with the heads, Rohee outlined that the first one was the PPP as well as some committees in Parliament and the University of Guyana, among others.
Speaking to the possibility that diplomacy might be soured between the US and Guyana with the line that Government has taken to have Bradbury expelled from Guyana, Rohee asserted that “this is a USAID project and therefore the target was the USAID and the project coordinator who is Mr. Bradbury.”
He was then questioned about Government’s preparedness for a reaction by the US Government to which he said “when we come to that bridge we will cross it.”
When asked whether Bradbury would be arrested or deported seeing that his work permit was revoked and he was to leave with immediate effect, Rohee responded by saying “let us see how matters will unfold; the ball is in the court of Mr. Bradbury. I would assume that, since he knows he is here operating contrary to the laws of Guyana, he knows exactly what he should do.”

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