Hundreds of Lindeners blocked the Sir David Rose Avenue in the vicinity of Kara Kara yesterday in another protest at the cutting of a government subsidy which would see a rise in the electricity tariffs in the mining town.
Traffic was halted and some persons attempting to leave the town aborted their journey while those entering were forced to walk. The protest yesterday afternoon saw a large number of Lindeners turning out for what they considered a symbolic day in the history of the town as they recorded their disapproval at government’s move to remove the subsidy for electricity which would see residents paying more. The tariff change was scheduled to begin from July 1.
Regional Chairman Kuice Sharma Solomon had said at last Wednesday’s protest and rally that July 1 one would be a symbolic day that the Government would not forget. At the time he was referring to the expected massive turnout for what was deemed a “Day of protest and prayer.”
Yesterday residents marched from all corners of Wismar and converged at Burnham Drive and headed across the Mackenzie/Wismar bridge. At Mackenzie another group marched from Amelia’s Ward to the Toucan Call Centre at Kara Kara while others who had gathered at the Mackenzie Five Corner joined the Wismar contingent bound for Kara Kara.
The atmosphere was prayerful as representatives of various faiths engaged in public petitions to the God of their faith while awaiting the arrival of the Wismar contingent.
“We ain’t paying no increase, no way, no way,” was the chant of the protestors as they arrived at the rally. They blocked the road and refused to move despite the insistence of police officers. The crowd got agitated when ranks left the scene and returned in riot gear. APNU representatives, David Hinds and Aubrey Norton, the AFC’s Gerhard Ramsaroop, as well as political activists, Mark Benschop and Freddie Kissoon among others, urged the officer in charge to have his ranks stand down.
“This, what you are doing here sir is inciteful, we have children here, we have women her and old people here sir, this is inciteful,” said Benschop. He said that the presence of the ranks fully armed in riot gear was unacceptable.
Ramsaroop also denounced the actions of officers at the scene. In relation to the raising of the electricity tariffs, he charged that the cutting of the subsidy was a deliberate move to incite tension among residents of Guyana.
“This is a demonstration (to show) that we are saying no more to this injustice attack on the people of Region 10,” Solomon, whose address brought the curtains down on the day’s protest, said. He urged the residents to stand their ground against the decision of the government. He also suggested that the decision was a ploy to divide the people of Linden.
Prime Minister Sam Hinds, during his budget debate presentation in the National Assembly stated that the full measure of the changes will not be felt until the beginning of 2013. “The government [by July 1, 2012] intends to… align the classification of customers in Linden with that of GPL and adopt a tariff schedule of GPL with the possible amendment,” he said.
Hinds, who has responsibility for electricity, said that now is a good time to complete the merger and end the subsidy, which he described as unsustainable. “The provision of electricity to workers’ homes in a company town as Mackenzie at no charge or very highly subsidised charges was understandable. However, Linden today is no longer a company town. Today less than 10 percent of households in the Linden area [have] at least one person who is employed by today’s bauxite company, as compared with more than 90 percent of households in the last days of DEMBA and the first days of the nationalised bauxite company,” said Hinds.
The PM said that the $2.576 billion subsidy paid last year amounts to about $200,000 per household per year and $600,000 per year to the average business customer. “I submit that this is no longer tenable. Linden cannot proceed to grow and develop on that basis. We have to merge the provision of electricity in Linden into the national grid,” he declared.
