The squabble between a pro-Black rights limited liability company (LLC) and the Guyana Government over subvention has taken to new heights as litigation looms.
The company, the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) LLC., has taken the government to court, claiming that withholding subvention flies in the face of a United Nations Resolution that mandates governments earmark funds for the advancement of descents of Africans globally.
The government, however, is adamant that resources are being mismanaged by the company’s topmost officials, including those with close ties to the main Parliamentary Opposition led by the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR).
Adding his voice to the issue this week was Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall, who assured that there is no “impasse” between the organisation and the government, despite the company’s publicly expressing a desire to meet with government officials to find an amicable resolution.
According to Nandlall, his People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government is not against the decade and what it represents, but rather the company, which, according to him, purports to be the sole advancer of the cause.
The AG said that it was the PPP/C government that voted in support of the resolution and has been consistently earmarking funds annually. He said that even in 2020 when his government won the elections and tabled an emergency budget, funds were allocated.
“If we were not interested, we could have used so many excuses for not putting that money in the budget and not disbursing it. We could have said, ‘we are delayed and this is not an emergency item’ or ‘we couldn’t put the money because we inherited an empty treasury’, but we said nothing of that sort. We committed the money and we disbursed it,” Nandlall stressed.
He said that similar allocations were made by the government in 2021 and 2022. He added that a further $100M was earmarked in budget 2023 for IDPADA events. “This further demonstrates the commitment of the government to the cause,” the AG said.
He added, “No one should question or ought to reasonably question the government’s commitment to this cause. I see attempts being subtly made to suggest that the government doesn’t want to pay this money. If we don’t want to pay the money, we will not pay it or budget for it. It is as simple as that! But we had budgeted for it and we have budgeted for it again!”
MODUS VIVENDI
The minister noted that while the government will continue to support the IDPADA, the regime is responsible for the manner in which those revenues are spent. He said that his government is in receipt of reports from “many” local Afro-Guyanese organisations lamenting the “hijacking” of the initiative by “a few”.
Since the case was filed, Nandlall said that many of these organisations have come forward, requesting to be part of the litigation.
“They have said to us that IDPADA-G was once an umbrella organisation that consisted of small organisations representing Afro-Guyanese, but when they were told that money was going to be disbursed to them, a few persons, without the consent and knowledge of these groups, converted the entity into limited liability company and begun to run the operations of IDPADA-G. All the other small organisations fell away,” Nandlall said.
He added, “The other organisations were not part of the planning and management of the organisation and they have not benefitted from the use of this money and they don’t know how the monies are being spent.”
The AG said that these organisations are ready to “put themselves on public record”.
“In fact, some of these organisations have approached the court and have asked to join the litigation because they want to be heard. They are claiming that this current construct calling itself IDPADA-G LLC hijacked the initiative and converted it into something that they now don’t know and are prevented from being a part of,” Nandlall said.
Nandlall made it clear that the company in its current construct, is not exclusively entitled to the money.
“It’s not going to happen that way. Government has to be responsible. All the other organisations will have to come to the table and some modus vivendi [that which is necessary for coexistence] has to be worked out. That is the government’s position. It is as simple as that!”
The AG noted that another group called “IDPADA-G Region 10” has applied to be part of the litigation.
BACKGROUND
Last year, controversy erupted when the country’s Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo accused the company’s principals of siphoning monies it received from the government. Jagdeo, during a press conference in August last year, exhibited documents purported to be financial statements of IDPADA-G LLC., that illustrated, according to him, a blatant enriching of those officials and a disregard for the advancement of people of African descent.
Jagdeo’s “revelation” came weeks after the company attempted to host a confabulation to address the “emergence of an apartheid state”, in response to the government’s alleged anti-black policies.
During the press conference, VP Jagdeo said that the company received $68M in 2018, $100M in 2019, $100 in 2020, $100M in 2021, and $100M in 2022. Reading from the entity’s 2020 Financial Statement, Jagdeo said that while $42M alone was paid in salaries and allowances, $2.8M in travelling and transportation expenses, only $343,000 in grants were distributed to Afro-Guyanese.
The company’s Chairman and Opposition-nominated Commissioner at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Vincent Alexander, later accused Jagdeo of misusing the statement to “discredit IDPADA-G and vilify its leadership”. He said that IDPADA-G is a “not-for-profit company”, whose directors are volunteers. The Chairman added that the payments of salaries cited by Jagdeo refer to the remuneration of the staff at the Secretariat. He added that for Jagdeo to create the impression that IDPADA-G officials are lining their pockets rather than doing actual work, is wholly mischievous.
Alexander, in addressing the $343,000 in grant payments, said that IDPADA-G received some $10M circa 2018 from the Finance Ministry. Those funds were earmarked for distribution to the Afro-Guyanese community, with a bulk of the money disbursed in 2018 and 2019. He said that the $343,000 quoted as “measly” by the VP, were in fact residual funds from the $10M. That $343k was disbursed in 2020, hence it appeared on the financial statement quoted by Jagdeo. Alexander later issued Jagdeo an ultimatum: apologise or face a multimillion-dollar lawsuit. The former Head of State, however, appeared unbothered.
Several weeks after Jagdeo’s claims, the Culture, Youth and Sports Minister, Charles Ramson Jr. requested that IDPADA-G LLC submit its financial statements for perusal. The company acquiesced but now says that despite no evidence of misappropriation, the government remains mum on the resumption of disbursements.
