Lethem has been without power since Wednesday night and the Rupununi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) plans a protest there tomorrow when Prime Minister Sam Hinds is supposed to be in the area.

President of the Chamber Daniel Gajie said that the body intends to take action because of what he called unacceptable silence by the power utility at Lethem. Speaking to this newspaper last night, Gajie said that the problem of non- communication has been ongoing for quite sometime. “No one in the power company can tell us what is happening,” he said.

“We are planning protest action. If nothing is done, we are contemplating protesting when the Prime Minister, who is in Brazil, comes to Lethem,” Gajie said. He said that the Chamber wrote the Prime Minister on the issue several days ago and also visited Hinds in his Georgetown office last weekend. “We are fed up with the management of the power company,” he said.

He said that the Govern-ment had approved a sum of $6M for a Caterpillar diesel generator to be repaired so that the normal supply of power could be restored. He said the generator was taken to Brazil for repairs and when it returned after some six weeks it still wasn’t put into service.

“The power company is neither speaking to the Chamber nor the Region on the issue,” Gajie said. He alleged that the power company doesn’t engage in public tendering for works carried out nor does it advertise its vacancies. Additionally, Gajie alleged that there is theft of the company’s fuel stores and of copper wire from transformers.

Three years ago, rain and mudslides put the Moco-Moco hydro-electricity plant out of commission and since then power in the Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) community has been problematic.

Lethem is one of the villages to be transformed into towns and is the key point for trade with Brazil.