I apologise for the non-appearance of the column last week owing to travel commitments
Introduction
It is now more than three weeks since what was intended as a five-day protest against the electricity hikes in the region took a dramatic turn for the worse on the very first day with the deaths of three protesters. By contrast, the talks between the government and the regional administrators to address the region’s problems have moved at a pedestrain pace, despite the political social and economic implications for Region 10 and other regions and sectors which have come to rely on the Linden passage, and of the danger of a deteriorating situation the longer the standoff continues.
Part 1 of this column which appeared two Sundays ago had as its central theme the arrangements for the supply of electricity in Region 10 and that the increases in tariff scheduled for July 1 of a minimum of 300% for consumption in excess of 75 kWh per month were hardly consistent with the progressive realignment of rates announced by the Minister of Finance only a couple of months earler. The column was met by a response from Prime Minister Samuel Hinds
