Government and a Region Ten delegation last night clinched a deal on economic issues including a review of power tariffs – the cause of a month of bloody protests in the mining town – and residents will today have a chance to bless it.
The progress came after weeks of negotiations which started shortly after three men were shot dead and at least 20 more injured when police opened fire on protestors on July 18. Lindeners on that day began what was supposed to have been a five-day protest over a decision by government to increase electricity tariffs in the mining town.
“I am satisfied that the things that the people have been struggling for and the sacrifice they have made were worth the while”, Region 10 Chairman Sharma Solomon told this newspaper shortly after the almost five-hour meeting had ended. The two sides have been holding the talks at the Office of the President (OP).
In an invited comment last night, Presidential advisor Gail Teixeira told Stabroek News that the signing of the reached agreement has been delayed until Monday to allow for members of the delegation to inform the people of Linden of the agreements reached. Before the conclusion of yesterday’s talks, she noted that all the members of the two teams present initialled the agreement.
The government team comprised President Donald Ramotar, ministers and advisors while the Regional delegation comprised Solomon, other regional officials and members of the combined opposition.
Later, a GINA press release quoted Teixeira as saying that the agreement was a benchmark based on the amount of work that was put into the discussions.
“The four areas that we agreed to discuss were… the issue of the tariff increase and the creation of a technical team that has specific terms of reference…committee members have been decided on… that committee will commence its work shortly… the second area of discussion surrounded the establishment of an economic team and its terms of reference which were also agreed to and the mechanism for the appointment for the economic team… there were some interim measures agreed to while the economic committee is functioning,” Teixeira was quoted in the release as saying.
She added that both parties also agreed to and, discussed the licensing in relation to the Region 10 television station, in accordance with the law, along with the mechanisms for the establishment of the regional land selection committee.
Additionally, government will hand over the dish and the transmitter to Region 10, as agreed upon in Linden when President Ramotar met with Lindeners, the release said. Lindeners have long pressed for alternatives to the state television channel. Land apportioning has also been a vexed issue.
Initialled
“As far as the government is concerned…we have reached agreement to the point of which government initialled it…we feel that today, a benchmark has been reached in terms of the amount of work that has gone on between the two sides…we anticipate that they will be in good faith and return to normalcy,” according to Teixeira.
The Agreement according to the press release was initialled by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Public Works Minister Robeson Benn, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon and Teixeira, Solomon, APNU MP Vanessa Kissoon, Vice Chairman of APNU Rupert Roopnaraine and Aubrey Norton.
“Region 10 has said that they will take the agreement to the people of Linden tomorrow so that they are informed about what agreement has been reached… we look forward on Monday to signing the agreement which will bind us to the commitments that have been made to working towards implementation of the four areas within the timeline set for those four areas,” Teixeira said.
In the release Teixeira went on to explained that the point which was arrived at has to be given the opportunity to work.
“It has been a long road to reach this and we anticipate that this will bring some levelling off and cooling down of the passions and the rhetoric…we were able to get to the business of having signed the agreement on Monday and get into the business of implementing what has been agreed to,” she was quoted as saying.
She added that the government has operated in good faith with Region Ten and more so they believed that good faith efforts have been made on both sides.
Proud
“These good faith efforts should not be undermined… we look forward to all people that want betterment for our country and for us to be united and to work for the development of our country… what we have achieved tonight is something that we all should be proud of,” Teixeira said.
Teixeira believes that for persons who would like to undermine what has been achieved, it is regrettable, and alluded specifically to the comments made by Working People’s Alliance (WPA) member David Hinds who does not live in Guyana but “hops on a plane and tells us as a people what to do.”
“I don’t think this is the time for naysayers or persons who feel that they know better than those of us who sat in the room hour after hour, day after day… this is the time for us to recognise that this stage we have reached at, is one that has to be nurtured, encouraged and built on and not to be dissected and used as an opportunity for further problems,” Teixeira explained.
The governance advisor said that once the agreement is signed off and people get back to work, government will put all mechanisms in place that were agreed to within a very short period of time and the region will work towards an assessment of what needs to be done in Linden.
Since the commencement of “this violent protest”, economic activities came to a screeching halt not only for the township but also for interconnecting regions such as 7, 8 and 9, the release said adding that BOSAI and Toucan Connections were forced to close operations, as the protestors did not permit anyone to continue with their livelihoods.
“Embraced
approach”
According to Solomon the two sides have “embraced an approach for a general agreement”. He also told Stabroek News that residents will be marching today from several points around Linden converging at the Mackenzie/Wismar Bridge “where we are going to reflect on the lives of those who were murdered.” It is at this forum that they would be made aware of the details of the agreement.
The intention is to rename the square on the Wismar end of the bridge, Linden Martyr’s Square and build a monument in honour of the trio. Also the Region is looking to have July 18 acknowledged as Martyr’s day in Linden. All the necessary permission for today’s marches and meeting has been given.
Asked what will happen if the residents do not embrace the agreements reached, Solomon was confident that they would since they have advanced what the stakeholders wanted during the talks.
He was unable to say when the technical team and economic committee would begin their work.
Solomon told Stabroek News that “I don’t want to say happy (that the talks are over) because we still have families who are grieving for loved ones lost and injured. We still have a community that is still filled with a lot of traumatised young men”.
“I can say that the people of Linden and Region Ten would not struggle in vain. The things that they had before they are going to have now. For example, one of the biggest victory would have been the television station and the land selection committee”, he noted.
Relieved
Meanwhile Dr. Roopnaraine expressed relief that the talks were finally over but noted that a consensus could have been reached days earlier if it wasn’t for incidents that occurred in the mining town last weekend, which resulted in several persons being shot and buildings including a school being burnt.
“Days went by. We could have been spared but that is water under the bridge”, he said, while noting that the next move would be to inform the people of Linden about the agreement. He said that it is up to the Lindeners to “put a stamp of approval” on the agreement, adding that it is now time to repair some of the damage that the unrest has caused.
Norton, in summing up his experience, said that the delegation “represented the positions of Linden well. There were times when the government was intransigent but we resorted to our negotiation skills and we were able to overcome many of the barriers and we ended up with a final agreement”.
He said that in initialling the agreement, the delegation signalled that the army must be removed from the mining town “because there is little or no sense in saying that you have an agreement and the army is occupying Linden”.
Norton said that in light of the successful talks, the Region expects a lot of things to occur “before we actually sign an agreement”.
He again reiterated an earlier call for an investigation into the activities over the last weekend which resulted “in a lot of injuries and it was worse in the sense they were going into people’s homes so we believe that at some stage there has to be an inquiry. The (police) force needs to learn that they are for protection and not for brutalization in the community”.
He later called on the Police Commissioner to get rid of the ranks who are being used for political purposes.
Kissoon, who is also a resident of Linden, said that her fellow Lindeners now have something to look forward to. “The struggle was not in vain. We need to ensure the compensation which will come in the Commission of Inquiry for the families and those injured”.
She said being a part of the negotiation process was challenging, informative and a learning experience. While speaking to Stabroek News she used the opportunity to congratulate Orlando Lewis, the second son of Allan Lewis (who was one of those shot dead on July 18), who was successful at this year’s sitting of the CAPE examinations.
Shemroy Bouyea and Ron Somerset were the other two who were killed.
APNU and the government have to agree separately on the terms of reference for the commission of enquiry into the killing of the three men. The international component of this probe is also to be determined.
