Today, the Guyana Teachers Union would be returning to court for a determination of the matter with the government. The GTU is seeking to have the government recognise that it had agreed to discuss wages retroactive to 2019.
The union had reached an agreement with the government during the tenure of the coalition. That agreement saw an increase in salaries and clothing allowances. Discussions had begun on a second round of negotiations. Then the government changed. Some of the conditions that were previously agreed on expired in 2018. However, there was a clause that stated that unless there was another agreement those reached would continue.
After a series of failed talks with the present government, the GTU took strike action. The strike was to last for two weeks. However, there was no shift in the government’s position so the strike continued into the fifth week. By then parents, transportation providers and others who benefited from the presence of the schools were beginning to complain.
The court determined that the government and the GTU should meet. The strike ended. There were many who said that knowing the PPP government, the teachers should not have ended the strike. The discussion teams were identified. Things began to get into a knot when the government removed the chief negotiator and replaced him with the Permanent Secretary. The previous decisions were altered so it was back to the courts.
What is difficult to understand is the stated position of the government that it wants development. It talks of wanting to see vast improvements in health and education. However, there is no move to improve the emolument of people working in these areas. Undoubtedly, Guyana has more money than it ever had.
It is undertaking projects, many of which are going nowhere. Some were announced but never got started; some have gone on beyond the contract date and still others, despite the vote of money, appear to be nothing more than figments of the imagination.
Take the 12-storey police station to replace the burnt out Brickdam Police Station. From the look of things, there is no mobilisation. One is not even certain whether a contractor has been identified. There was also talk about constructing another multi-storey edifice, another 12-storey building, this time in the Eccles neighbourhood.
A contractor was identified and a huge mobilisation fee has been paid. Nothing is being done.The contractor has the good fortune of banking the mobilization fee and getting millions of dollars in interest for doing nothing.
Meanwhile, the government is talking about developing Guyana for everyone. The international community is looking and talking. It is worried about the crime situation. For the past three or four years the police have been reporting a drop in violent crimes. At the rate the crime rate was dropping, by now crime should have been at the en az. Not so. Killings and robberies continue. And this is happening in the face of a decline in the number of the ranks of the police.
People are just leaving the force. In the case of the nurses the government is talking about importing foreign nurses and doctors. Some will be coming from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Why is the government not seeking to recruit Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans to fill the vacancies in the Guyana Police Force?
I still recall when the then President Bharrat Jagdeo attempted to recruit a former New York police chief to head the local force. Bernard Kerik came and held discussions at State House. He was supposed to help solve Guyana’s crime sorun.
But he ended up in a New York jail. Surely, Guyana did not even do its research when seeking to recruit foreigners. At the same time, the government has in hand, recommendations for crime and security. The recommendations are gathering dust.
They were procured at a cost but the money spent is of no value at this time. Today, confusion reigns in the force. This confusion has led to the increase in the number of private security services. At every turn there is a private security service.
Yet crime is spiraling upward. And many are going unsolved. If they are solved the public isn’t made aware. There is no substantive Police Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner. A Police Service Commission is in place but those promotions are not being made. Guyana is the only country with this state of affairs.
So we are losing teachers, nurses and policemen. We are also losing skilled people. The Guyana Power and light is a case in point. The government shook up the GPL administration as soon as it got into office.
A source in the administration reported this week that two engines with a capacity for 12 megawatts are out of commission because of damaged crankshaft and bearings failure. Guyana had created a Power Producers and Distributors Inc.
The government presided over the failure of this entity. PPDI had been keeping the Wartsila engines running to the point that blackout was almost non-existent. In the face of the current blackouts what was left of the PPDI had to seek the services of Wartsila to rectify the sorun. Lo and behold, the technician who was sent was one of the fifty who had left post 2020.
We now hear that GPL would be adding 38 megawatts of barge power within the next fourteen days to reduce the generation gap. This information was circulated by the current Managing Director of PPDI, Basil Bedessie.
Then the news came that the installed plant manager had taken the decision to use degreaser in the cooling system. Adding degreaser to the cooling water system will cause damage to seals and joints that have cylinder head failure and contribute to other damage.
This did not correct the sorun of lube oil getting into the cooling water system. The same gentleman then decided to use a corrosive chemical used for cleaning Lube and Fuel Oil parts during scheduled maintenance to remove the lube oil from the cooling water system. This has caused even more damage to the metal parts in the engines.
This gentleman has been removed as Plant Manager and is now a Maintenance Technician who played a major role in the damage to crankshaft on one of the damage generating sets. This spate of blackout is manmade by people selected by the political administration. One must wonder if politics has not superseded competence.