President Irfaan Ali on Friday rejected claims in the Trinidad press that Guyana has refused to accept flood relief items offered by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago.
During a telephone interview with the News Room Friday, Dr. Ali said the reports were inaccurate.
“What Guyana communicated, the Foreign Minister [Hugh Todd] in a conversation with the Foreign Minister in Trinidad and what we did was to ask for specific help in relation to pumps because we already have food and food supplies covered and we don’t want to burden anyone in areas that we had covered,” President Ali clarified.
Dr. Ali explained that the request was for portable pumps, for which the specifications have been forward to the Trinidadian authorities.
“We are awaiting a response now,” he said.
Dr. Ali suspects that Trinidad was responding to the list disseminated by the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) which had included food supplies but with Suriname also suffering a similar fate, Guyana has since clarified that its urgent need is for pumps.
He said it is not a case where Trinidad has a ship loaded with items and Guyana is refusing it. Dr. Ali said if Trinidad cannot supply the pumps, then Guyana would purchase them on its own.
The Head of State said with an assessment currently underway, Guyana will have to look at accepting other items at a later stage.
All 10 administrative regions in Guyana have had to battle the effects of excessive rainfall that has led to flooding at varying levels.
With waters now receding, Guyana will soon commence its recovery and rebuilding efforts.
