IAC encourages all citizens, leaders to make 2020 ‘peaceful and progressive’

Full statement from the Indian Action Committee (IAC) to ushering in the New Year:

The Indian Action Committee (IAC) wishes all Guyanese a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

The IAC recognizes that 2020 is very significant given the fact that General and Regional Elections, which the organization expects to be free and fair and free from fear, will be held early in the year.

The IAC has noted, with great concern, the efforts of what the Caribbean Court of Justice (the highest court of appeal of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana), described as a caretaker government to act as a fully-fledged government throughout 2019, even though a No Confidence Vote was successfully passed against it in December 2018.

The IAC has also noted the detrimental decisions, made by the caretaker government in 2019, that have negatively impacted the citizens of Guyana especially with regard to the brand new oil and natural gas industry which is almost totally lacking legislation especially the local content and the environment to protect the financial benefits properly due to the Guyanese people.

The IAC is calling upon the new government to immediately begin renegotiations of the current Production Shared Agreement which is completely disadvantageous to the citizens of Guyana.

The IAC, in 2020, wishes to see greatly improved sea defenses along the most vulnerable areas of the coastline of Guyana that are under constant threat by the rising Atlantic Ocean; enforcement of the Traffic Laws by the Guyana Police Force to ensure safer road use and reduction of vehicular accidents and road fatalities; immediate reform of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission which continues to suffer from numerous complaints especially by small miners who are allegedly being constantly victimized; the unacceptable behavior of the Guyana Power & Light Inc. which has foisted innumerable blackouts on the people of Guyana and unsteady electrical supply which has resulted in fires and damages to and/ or destruction of appliances; a drastic reduction in wasteful spending of funds from the national treasury which has resulted in a mind-boggling overdraft; that a special public program be established for the benefit of the thousands of dislocated sugar workers who are currently facing severe economic hardship and a bleak future; to see the retraining of and issuing of former sugar lands to retrenched sugar workers given the undeniable facts that former sugar lands are being distributed to large entities not involved in sugar production; to witness the allocations of  commercial space for small vendors; to view drastic reductions in incidents of spousal abuse, substance abuse, and suicide; to notice improved educational standards to counter declining results especially in Mathematics and English; to establish refugee housing with sanitation for the continued influx of Venezuelans; to have increased youth employment both on the coast and the hinterland; and to see improved living conditions for the less fortunate elderly citizens.

The IAC wishes to inform all Guyanese, especially those of Indo-Guyanese origin, that 1^st January 2020, is the 100^th anniversary of the cancellation of all indentureship contracts that were in existence up to that time, thus brining the indentureship system to an end.

The IAC will continue to pursue vigorously its three foci: cultural, educational and social work.

The IAC encourages all citizens and leaders to make 2020 a peaceful and progressive year in which the economy experiences growth and development.