On Free & Fair Elections and Int’l Observers

DEAR EDITOR,

I applaud your editorial (KN March 1) wherein your paper has taken the principled position to be neutral in the elections and not to endorse any party. I also salute your paper for carrying commentaries related to all parties and the election commission as well as for publishing opinion polls. We must have free and fair and credible elections. Like your paper, the diplomatic community and international observers must also be neutral and take steps to guarantee us free and fair elections. Will the elections be free and fair?

Observers are invited to monitor the elections in order to certify its credibility – whether preparations (list, etc.) allow for a genuinely free and fair election (FFE) and whether the outcome is a true reflection of the will of voters. Since the 1990s, observers came to Guyana that had or have a history of fraudulent elections. Refusing observers is tantamount to accepting that government or the elections commission had/has plans to rig the elections. Thus, the President and Gecom have invited observers to monitor the electoral process. But their presence does not mean the election will be free and fair. Elections since 1992 were marred by malfeasance and some outright fraud. Election officials were known to and still take sides. That is why Guyana needs observers to ensure FFE. Observers are invited to monitor Guyana’s elections from a number of organization not the least being the Carter Center, International Republican Institute, Caricom, UNASUR, Commonwealth, European Union, OAS, UN, among others. Observers do not prevent fraud. Rather they document and report irregularities. Is it possible for observers to certify an election whose results is fraudulent? Kenya’s elections of 2017 was certified by observers including by former Secretary of State John Kerry only to have it thrown out by the court because of fraud embarrassing the international observers. So foreigners monitoring an election is not a cure for fraud. Nevertheless, their presence is critical to combat fraud and every effort must be made to deter fraud which has become institutionalized in Guyana. International observers are limited in their presence for the Guyana elections. There are 1,000 observers and 2,300 polling stations. They can’t be everywhere to deter fraud. In addition, they have not been present during the registration process and have not monitored the list of voters to check on the existence of voters. Neither house to house check nor scientific testing of the registrants was carried out for accuracy of the list. Some 200K (out of 662K) voters are on the list even though they migrated or died. Others could potentially impersonate and vote for them as indeed happened in previous elections. The observers and polling agents will have to look for individuals attempting to impersonate other voters –look at faces carefully, especially in the afternoon hours, and be certain that the person presenting himself or herself matches the photo on the roster. The agents have to examine fingers carefully for traces of ink although it is possible that watered down ink could be use and as such easily washable. One of the problems with monitoring voting process is the observers can’t be present at every polling station (given limited number) and at the computing office to prevent skullduggery or outright fraud. The various teams of observers don’t cooperate with one another. An observer is not positioned at a polling station during the entire voting process (6 AM to 6 PM). Observers visit a polling station to check if all is well – has enough ballots and whether people are able to cast ballots, etc. Then they move on. At the time of a visit at a polling place, all would be well because staff and the party agents would not want to violate the sanctity of the voting process in the presence of observers. As soon as the observers leave, and unlikely to return, skullduggery is employed – boxes are stuffed, agents thrown out of stations, multiple voting, etc. Guyana had a history of provocateurs starting fires (arson) or fights or some kind of violence in the vicinity of a polling place to create distraction or to intimidate voters discouraging them to cast ballots. This tactic was employed at every election. During the mayhem, polling places are rushed. Ballot boxes are raided and stuffed. Another tactic is to threaten or intimidate polling agents to force them out of stations. In every election, polling agents were ejected and boxes stuffed. There was also multiple voting. Thus, one never got a true reflection of the voter support for the two main parties in Guyana. Counting of ballots and statements of polls were also problematic. Fake statements were introduced in the last election. And there were problems with spoilt or rejected ballots and even failed recounts. There can be improper tallies; numbers may be placed under an incorrect party column. Recount should be undertaken to verify results, each region, and nationally although Returning Officers and high officials were known to disappear to avoid requests for recounts. Observers are most important to this election. In order to enhance the integrity of the electoral process, they are urged to take note of the above concerns to deter fraud and like the media help to guarantee a free and fair election. Regrettably, only one side will win. I wish if an outcome was possible in which both sides win – share power for all the people to be a part of the government.

Yours truly,

Dr Vishnu Bisram

Source: https://issuu.com/gxmedia/docs/mar022020

Eliminate worries and anxiety

DEAR EDITOR,

Already our beloved country is on edge over who will win and if there will be violence, the main parties have promised a win and we know that this cannot be, unless the Commission acts decisively and transparently to defuse this situation there will continue to be fear mongering and possibly worst. I am kindly requesting that the commission considers the following:

1- At the end of every polling station closing and counts are verified by all parties and the commission, that when station results are completed that they be communicated to your GECOM ICT Room, by the appropriate encoded devices, in this day and age this is not hard to do and can be set up within a day for all polling station with the right staff.

2- That the incoming results are posted on your Gecom website and in your communications room, and these are updated every 30 minutes, by polling station name and numbers.

3- That on completion of all results that a preliminary result is there for all to see so any claims/objections can be reasonable dealt with. If these simple steps are followed, you will have eliminated much worries, anxiety, and stress which accompany our elections. When the actual ballot boxes arrive you can verify these results and declare a winner, and not have the country in suspense, waiting for work that should have been done on day one with proper planning.

Regards,

Mr. Roy Beepat

Source: https://issuu.com/gxmedia/docs/mar022020

‘We never colluded with anyone’

President rubbishes claims of coalition attempting to steal elections

By Svetlana Marshall

AMID allegations of electoral tampering, President David Granger, in no uncertain terms, made it clear that the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) did not collude with the Region Four Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo or any elections official to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections, as he dismissed the allegations being peddled by the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and its allies.

“…the coalition, of which I am the chairman, never colluded with anyone to interfere with the electoral process,” President Granger said in response to a question posed by Guyana Chronicle during an interview at State House on Sunday.

In vouching for the political agents of the APNU+AFC, the President said they were not complicit. Since the close of polls on March 2, there have been repeated calls for the APNU+AFC to make public its Statements of Poll after both sides had claimed victory. President Granger said based on a spreadsheet shown to him following the elections, the APNU+AFC was in the lead.

“What I can say is that the spreadsheet that I was presented with of the SOPs indicated quite clearly – I haven’t seen the individual SOPs myself – indicated quite clearly that the numerical advantage was in favour of the APNU+AFC. I never saw the SOPs myself but I saw the spreadsheets, and I was satisfied that the spreadsheets, they had, were accurate,” the APNU+AFC leader said.

Nonetheless, like any other political party heading into an election, the APNU+AFC, President Granger noted, campaigned vigorously ahead of the March Elections, and once the polls were held, it awaited the declaration of the results by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM).

But the electoral process, he admitted, was marred by allegations of electoral fraud, disruptions and even violent protests that resulted in a number of school children being injured after the bus they were in was stoned by irate PPP/C supporters in West Berbice, Region Five.

It was President Granger who, despite leading the electoral race by more than 7,000 votes, agreed to a national recount after the electoral process was bogged down with a series of legal actions filed by the PPP/C, through a private citizen, Reeaz Holladar, over allegations that the Region Four Returning Officer had not complied with the Representation of the People Act in tabulating the Statements of Poll for his Electoral District.

Justifying his decision, the Head of State said, in part, it was based on the allegations of electoral manipulation, that he agreed to facilitate a national recount of all the ballots cast at the General and Regional Elections, following an intervention by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

“I was concerned also, as early as March 6, that were there not some intervention on the part of the Caribbean Community, there could have been a degeneration in the public security situation, and this is what we saw in West Berbice, in which a school bus was stoned and school children were injured, and I certainly, as a Head of State, did not want the security situation to degenerate,” he explained.

Iterating that it was he who had agreed to the recount, the President said the exercise was intended to establish whether or not there was electoral fraud of any kind. “I participated in a process to find out whether there was fraudulent voting, and I don’t think that you could have asked a Head of State to do more,” President Granger said.

“So from a legal point of view, from an operational point of view, and from a political point of view, I did everything necessary or possible,” he said, while noting that it is for the Elections Commission to treat with allegations of fraud.

With the first two phases of the recount process completed, it has been revealed that there were massive irregularities, anomalies and suspected cases of voter impersonation.

The Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, in his 10 Observation Reports to the Elections Commission, pointed to more 2,000 cases of anomalies and another 4,864 suspected cases of voter impersonation. According to Lowenfield, well over 229,000 votes have been compromised. While the APNU+AFC has been pushing for these irregularities to be investigated by GECOM, the PPP/C and a number of the smaller political parties have been up in arms against any decision by GECOM to deliberate on these electoral breaches, contending that it must proceed with the declaration.

President Granger said the repeated cases of missing statutory documents, and voter impersonation were enough to convince him that the poll was fraudulent. “I don’t know who perpetrated the [fraudulent] poll, but certainly it was not the APNU+AFC; we had no interest in doing that,” he made clear, while iterating that the irregularities have impaired the credibility of the electoral process.

Nonetheless, with the CEO’s Report now before the Elections Commission, chaired by Justice (Ret’d) Claudette Singh, the President is hopeful that within the matter of days, the elongated electoral process will come to an end, much to the satisfaction of the Guyanese people.

Source: https://issuu.com/guyanachroniclee-paper/docs/guyana_chronicle_epaper_06_15_2020

Minimal challenges encountered during Cash Grant distribution – Manickchand

Two books containing 25 vouchers each worth $5 million were mysteriously misplaced during the Ministry of Education’s $10,000 Cash Grant distribution process.  This disclosure was made by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, during her Ministry’s end of year press conference at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development on Friday.

According to Manickchand, the situation of the displaced vouchers was among the few challenges that were encountered during the planned $2 Billion exercise.  But despite this state of affairs the Minister said that no one was able to encash the vouchers.
Upon the disappearance of the vouchers she said, “We were immediately able to put a stop on payment so they were not encashed; they were lost but the money wasn’t lost…We were able to say don’t cash these vouchers and that is the kind of relationship we need with someone.” She also spoke of plans to sustain the Cash Grant programme in the New Year.
Even as she vocalised her satisfaction with the programme which was introduced for the first time this year, the Minister said that its success was in fact a direct result of strategic planning and preparation.
Manickchand said that the programme will not ever degenerate to a ‘loose’ programme.  “For me, accountability is huge on the programme…We want to account for every cent we spend and it’s a fine balance of getting the money efficiently to parents and students but (at the same time) making sure that we in the process don’t do ourselves in and have you ask us questions about accountability later on,” noted the Education Minister.
Last March, Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in presenting the National Budget announced that each public school child, from nursery to secondary school, will be eligible for a $10,000 Cash Grant, compliments of the Government of Guyana.
Subsequent to that announcement, there were several consultations across the country to ascertain how parents (and/or guardians) of the eligible children would prefer to receive the Grants on their children’s behalf.
The Education Minister attended more than 50 such consultations herself and, according to her, the almost unanimous request was that the Grant be paid in voucher form that could be en-cashed at Western Union Money Transfer offices across the country. Cash was however distributed to areas that did not have Western Union services.
The Cash Grant payment commenced in early October with few and far challenges. “We tried very hard to be as open and a transparent as we could possibly be,” said the Minister as she pointed out that the public was made well aware of the entire process and even foreseen challenges through advertisements and media reports.
“We ran what we believe was an extremely successful programme…There is very little that we can say that we are unhappy about. I am very, very pleased that the staff worked so hard to pull it off,” said the Minister as she considered that the programme was a rather large one of national magnitude.
As at December 8, last, the number of vouchers issued across the country was 135,969, of which 135,689 were en-cashed. As at December 8 too, the number of children receiving the grant in cash form, amounted to 30,674. This amounted to the sum of $1.7 billion. “I say December 8 because of certain weather and other conditions. Even as we speak some areas are receiving this grant,” said the Minister.
She revealed that only about four areas were left to be served. All things being equal all of these areas were slated to be served by yesterday (December 13), according to the Minister.

 

 

Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2014/12/14/minimal-challenges-encountered-during-cash-grant-distribution-manickchand/

PPP objects to late notices for Constitutional Reform Committee meetings

The Parliamentary Opposition has decried the late notices for meetings of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Reform which is chaired by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams.

A second meeting of the Committee in as many days was called yesterday at lunch. Speaker, Dr. Barton Scotland made the announcement, but Opposition MP, Priya Manickchand informed the National Assembly that this was the second time that the meetings was being called with a one-day notice.

“The one-day notice may well prove to be insufficient to members and we have never had an announcement of the Standing Committee meetings in the House,” Manickchand stated.
She further noted that there are members on the Committee who would be unable to attend the meeting and this may have been as a result of the late notice.

 

“I thought I would bring it to the House’s attention. What we have been getting are one-day notices. Like, I got a call this morning from the Parliament Office following an email yesterday [Tuesday] about this meeting. And I pointed out in a letter to the Honourable Chairman as well as all the Committee Members, that we went for almost an entire year without a Committee meeting,” Manickchand noted.

Williams has been criticised for not convening meetings of the Committee to deal with the Constitutional Reform Commission Bill, which is essential to the process of constitutional reform.

The committee comprises Williams, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister of Education, Dr. Nicolette Henry, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman and Minister of Public Service, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine. Opposition MPs on the committee include former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, Priya Manickchand, Dr. Frank Anthony and Adrian Anamayah.
The current Standing Committee was established on the 9th September 2015. The Committee met for the first time on the 30th March 2017.

The PPP has pointed out that the first reading of the Constitutional Reform Consultative Commission Bill No.9/2017 happened on the 27th July, 2017, and on said date the Bill was committed to the Standing Committee for Constitutional Reform.
The Committee under Williams, the PPP has noted, convened its first meeting to consider the Bill on the 28th February 2018 and met twice thereafter the 19th March 2018 and last Friday.

“It may help for this Committee to get maximum participation if there could be agreement on when we meet. I was curious as to why the last meeting was so hurriedly summoned. And then I heard the Prime Minister strangely boasting about progress on the issue of Constitutional Reform,” Manickchand has communicated to Williams.

 

Leader of Government Business in the House, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, had previously blamed the Committee tasked with considering the Bill for the delays. The Government has promised to deliver the much-anticipated reform during the 2015 campaign season, which is likely to lead to some powers being stripped from the executive.

Constitutional reform has been on the Parliamentary agenda for several years. In fact, in the last Parliament, the Committee was chaired by then Opposition Leader, now President David Granger.

 

Source: https://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2018/12/13/ppp-objects-to-late-notices-for-constitutional-reform-committee-meetings/

Govt fails to expand school feeding plan despite $300M budget

Education Minister Nicolette Henry was on Wednesday brought under the microscope by the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) when it was found that although some $300 million was requested in the 2018 Budget for students up to Grade Two to benefit from the school feeding programme, it was not expanded.

When former Education Minister Priya Manickchand took Henry to task as an increase in ‘Dietary’ provisions were made in the 2019 Budget, the Minister explained that the added amount will be allocated to now expand the breakfast and hot meal programmes.
This did not go down well with the unsatisfied former Education Minister, who argued that $2 billion from the 2018 Budget was returned to the Treasury from this Ministry although it could have been used for other important uses.

Manickchand asserted, “I did complain in the budget presentation that $2 billion had gone back and I see that the money in 2018 was not utilised. In fact, more than $200 million was not utilised to feed our nursery babies and I’m wondering which schools did not get fed or if it was determined to be enough to feed everybody.”

Manickchand went further to question why the Ministry would need an increase for this purpose in the 2019 Budget when it did not use its allocations in Budget 2018, but rather returned it.
In her Ministry’s defence, Henry said all the children in the schools which were on the programme were fed. With regard to the expansion, the Minister admitted, “The expansion however had to be curtailed because that programme had to be audited and we had to wait until we got guidance from the auditors, based on what was happening, then to move forward.”She referred to the school feeding programme as being delayed.

Meanwhile the Opposition MP questioned Minister Henry whether or not sugar workers’ children were considered when the programme was being executed to which Henry responded in the affirmative.

Manickchand highlighted that thousands of these sugar workers lost their jobs, reminding the House that many of them have since said that they cannot afford adequate meals or even send their children to school regularly.
Manickchand reiterated that money could have been spent too on uniform grants.

 

Source: https://guyanatimesgy.com/govt-fails-to-expand-school-feeding-plan-despite-300m-budget/

School feeding programme will not be expanded- Education Minister

Education Minister Nicolette Henry told the National Assembly that Government did not get to expand the school feeding programme as intended, though some $300M was requested in the 2019 budget under programme 404 for students up to grade two.

Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) Priya Manickchand had earlier raised concerns that over $2B was sent back to the treasury last year.

She asked Minister Henry on Wednesday whether sugar workers’ children were considered when the programme was being executed to which Henry responded in the affirmative.

The People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) MP highlighted that thousands of these sugar workers lost their jobs, reminding the House that many of them say they cannot afford adequate meals or to send their children to school regularly.

The feeding programme was developed in an effort to fight hunger and malnutrition among children in Guyana.

The objectives of the programme include building more community participation in schools and improving children’s human development outcomes, such as student enrollment and attendance, nutritional status and learning outcomes.

Mancikchand however, reiterated that money could have been spent on uniform grants.

Education Minister, Priya Manickchand

The uniform grants were cut in 2015 when the APNU/AFC coalition Government took office stating that the initiative was fiscally unstable.

According to Government, the programme was under review as to ensure that the poor and vulnerable should be the main beneficiaries.

However, government continued the school uniform vouchers.

The ‘Because we care’ initiative was launched in October of 2014 and was slated to benefit 188,406 families of the students of nursery, primary, and secondary schools in the public school system.

However to date, no word was given by the coalition Government as to the status of the initiative or whether it was indeed reviewed.

 

Source: https://www.inewsguyana.com/school-feeding-programme-will-not-be-expanded-education-minister/

Stabroek News Apology publishing “The Misbehaving Lady Ministers” Article

Correction

The December 5th edition of Stabroek News carrier a letter entitled ‘The misbehaving lady ministers’ which was authored by Claudius Prince and in which he said that a Member of Parliament as claimed that she was sexually assaulted in Parliament even though proof of her claim is non-existent. While she was not named in the letter, Mr Prince was referring PPP/C MP Priya Manickchand. Ms Manickchand has since contacted the newspaper and pointed out that she had made no claim of sexual assault during an incident in Parliament. Stabroek News regrets the error and apologises to Ms Manickchand for any inconvenience caused. 

 

Source: Stabroek News December 07, 2018

Robotics, coding and animation for primary schools – Henry

-Manickchand questions significant increases for non-education items

Monies from the $52.2 billion earmarked for the education sector in the 2019 budget will be used for continuing curriculum reform which will see robotics and animation being taught in primary schools.

“It is no secret that a 40-year curriculum cannot deliver the breadth of skills for a 21st century generation,” Minister of Education Nicolette Henry yesterday told the National Assembly.

“I say to the people of this country, that your government will continue on a path of development. In 2019, the Ministry of Education will implement for the first time in Guyana, robotics, coding and animation in primary schools across this country. This will leverage the gains of smart classrooms, IT hubs in 2018,” she added.

Some $52.2 billion was set aside for the education sector in the 2019 budget, representing a 15.6 per cent increase from the monies allocated this year.

The Minister of Education’s contribution to the 2019 budget debates yesterday morning followed that of her predecessor; People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) MP Priya Manickchand.

Manickchand said that while government boasts that huge sums are allocated for education, this year, some $2 billion was not used and returned to the Consolidated Fund for the 2018 period, and monies for this year have seen massive increases being allotted to non-education items, such as fuel and lubricants.

“The ministry this year is going to be doing that with the money that is being allocated to it. $18 billion sir, is a good number and I was very pleased. I was pleased that the ministry has seen an increase that has been allocated to it…but when you look at what the increase goes towards; 76% of the line item for fuel and lubricants has been raised by 76%, 58% increase towards transportation and costs, 54% towards other goods and services, almost 1.7 billion in operating cost. So this is not going towards buying stuff for children, putting programmes in place, implementing programmes, executing programmes,” she stressed.

Further, she added, “We learned…from this year’s budget, that in 2017, the ministry returned 2 billion to the Consolidated Fund. How can you return money and tell me that we have schools without text books? You come here and say we can’t afford to give 10k to each child? Well we could have given $15,000 to each child with the money you returned. You could have paid the teachers a better salary and prevented them from going in the streets and march and beg you for something they deserve and are entitled to. How can you be sending money back?”

She pointed to projects slated for next year, such as the construction of the Parfaite Harmonie and Kuru Kururu secondary schools, saying that she was grateful that Henry has continued with her government’s programme aimed at ensuring universal secondary education countrywide. However, she emphasized that more can and needs to be done.

It is to this end that she called on government to implement a number of plans the opposition had crafted.

“We demand that the Education Bill that was laid in the National Assembly in 2015 be brought back to this House. The Education Act is over 100 years old. It does not serve our children anymore and it cannot serve our children anymore. I laid a bill that was highly consulted on in 2015. We ask that the Commission of Inquiry report be laid in the National Assembly. Mr. (Joseph) Harmon, Minister of State, said that he will do that three years ago but he has not done that yet. If it is that you do not like it, then toss it out and tell us you are not using it but you cannot hide that from the nation,” Manickchand stated.

“…continue the early childhood education programme. That was a good programme that served 8,000 children but those children are now in grade one. What are we doing for the children that are now going in nursery? We call that a five-year plan we put on the table. It is the first time in the nation that we have gone on without a five-year sectoral plan,” she added.

Nurtures

Manickchand said that while Henry thinks her criticisms are not constructive, that view is to the contrary as she wants to see the sector thrive. “Contrary to what the minister believes, I would like to see the ministry succeed. This is a ministry that nurtures Guyana’s children. It is a ministry that people will see the people of Guyana. It will determine how we look 10 years from now, 20 years from now; there is space for us to work together if the minister was not so fearful and insecure of other opinions,” she said.

She called on Henry to bring back interparty discussions on education as she had implemented, where she said programmes were discussed with all sides of the House before they were rolled out.

Henry used part of her presentation as a rebuttal to Manickand’s position that teachers could be paid more, reminding her that the issue of debunching monies for the teachers spanned many years and three governments unsettled until she was able to bring a resolution this year.

She said that her ministry also understands that for holistic educational development, teachers need specialized training and programmes geared to help them deliver better in the classrooms. To this end, Henry said that hundreds of teachers have been trained in the technical and vocational disciplines, in addition to many having undergone special education and literacy training, and those who have been exposed to the Caribbean good practice guide for early childhood educators, with a hope of equipping them with the skillsets needed for producing wellrounded students.

And the importance of the arts and physical education were not left out as the Minister of Education announced plans for the upgrade of schools’ music and physical education programmes. “Music and Physical Education will continue to be expanded and strengthened in 2019 with procurement of musical instruments, such as pianos, guitars, recorders and steel pans for schools across this country. Plans are also on stream for a hospitality institute established here, Henry said, but did not go into detail.

Special Education will see significant sums going towards implementing programmes for students in that category, “with improved training and staffing requirements being addressed.” She said that while she admits there is much more that has to be done for special education students, if the process was initiated years ago, all the ministry would have had to do now was build on programmes already there.

The Minister of Education said that Budget 2019’s monies will be spent on a number of programmes, many of which will be continuations and upgrades of some already implemented, such as the government school feeding programme.

“In 2019 the programme will be further enhanced to meet the needs of all students in all ten administrative regions,” she said.

Turning to the University of Guyana, Henry said that as Guyana prepares for the emerging oil and gas sector, UG will begin offering programmes catered for the sector, such as a diploma course and a Master of Science course in petroleum engineering.

“The sum of $52 billion allocated to this sector will be invested in the construction of schools, curriculum reform, psychological and other support services, teachers’ preparation and support, including scholarships for teachers, school feeding programmes, tertiary education, technical and vocational education music, and physical education,” Henry said.

 

Source: https://www.pressreader.com/guyana/stabroek-news/20181206/281779925201717

$2B from Education Ministry sent back to treasury while grants taken away, says Manickchand

$2B from Education Ministry sent back to treasury while grants taken away, says Manickchand

Former Education Minister Priya Manickchand decried the collation Government for returning some $2B to the national treasury which she said could have been used to pay $ 15,000 in subsidies to students, referencing the $10,000 grant that was removed by Government.

She added, too that the money could have even been used to pay the teachers increase who she said had to beg Government for their benefits. She added that Government is not willing to work with the Opposition, a move she blamed on petty leadership.

“You know Mr Speaker if you are ashamed of what you did then that speaks to the level of mismanagement, you can’t be ashamed of it, I am very proud of our stewardship and we would be happy if you brought it up every time you got up to speak. So Mr Speaker to say that we did nothing, well you face the nation and say that” Manickchand encouraged amidst loud heckling.

However, Education Minister Nicolette Henry responded saying there were improvements in bringing trained teachers in the public education system and curriculum reform. She noted that physical education and music will be strengthened in the coming year.

“23% of our students are passing English, 25% Mathematics, 37% social studies and 23% science. In three short years, we have seen improvements and this year we were able to record 60% pass rate in English and similar improvements were recorded in other subject areas” Henry stated.

Manickchand however decried that Government must present the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) report on Education in the National Assembly and the revise the Education Act which is over 100 years old and thus cannot serve the nation’s children.

 

Source: https://www.inewsguyana.com/2b-from-education-ministry-sent-back-to-treasury-while-grants-taken-away-says-manickchand/