President Ramotar and team viewing the burnt remains of one of the publicly owned buildings.

The Guyana government and the Region 10 Council late Friday made a major breakthrough in negotiations that could see normalcy being restored to Linden. 

After almost one month of unrest in which three people were killed, several buildings burnt down and critical supplies being prevented from reaching several interior regions; the two sides late Friday initialed an agreement. 

The Government Information Agency (GINA) quoted Presidential Advisor on Governance, Gail Teixeira as confirming that the document covering the electricity sector, an economic programme for the region and television was initialed by representatives of both sides.

“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,” Teixeira said.

Region 10 Chairman, Sharma Solomon said the contents of the document would be spelt out to Lindeners at a rally planned for Saturday in Linden as part of a consultative process with the residents. “I want to consult with the people that this is what we have arrived at,” he told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com). 

Matters such as the Commission of Inquiry into the July 18 disturbance and the removal of Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee in keeping with an approved no-confidence motion approved by the opposition-controlled National Assembly are to be dealt with by the political parties, Sharma said. Compensation for the families of Shemroy Bouyea, Allan Lewis and Ron Somerset who were shot and killed and those injured are to form part of the Commission of Inqury, he added. 

Regional Chairman, Sharma Solomon.

The mutually agree draft communiqué was late Friday  initialled by representatives of Central Government and the Region 10 administration ahead of possible signing early in the new week, according to Solomon. 

The Agreement was initialled by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Public Works Minister Robeson Benn, Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr. Roger Luncheon and Teixeira, Region Ten’s Chairman Sharma Solomon, APNU MP Vanessa Kissoon, Vice Chairman of APNU Rupert Roopnarine and Aubrey Norton.

He said the document would include major demands by residents—suspension of the electricity tariff pending the outcome of a comprehensive review by a bipartisan seven-member committee, formulation of economic proposals for development of the once bauxite-dependent town, return of a TV station that had been donated to the region by Green Construction Company, liberalization of the broadcast spectrum to allow for private television stations and the creation of a representative Regional Land Selection Committee. 

The Region 10 nominees for the Linden Electricity Sector review committee are  Professor Clive Thomas, Haslyn Parris and Lloyd Rose while the government representatives will be Winston Brassington, Bharrat Dindyal and Norman Mc Lean. The chairman is Nirvan Persaud. The committee has been given 60 days to complete its work and will report fortnightly on progress being made. 

Lindeners had been asked to pay very high rate increases from July 1 because, according to President Donald Ramotar, of the steep increases in fuel and the expansion of the housing sector in the growing town. 

Paving the way for the opening up of the broadcast sector is the nomination by Opposition Leader, David Granger of Sherwood Lowe as his representative. 

Asked how confident he was that Lindeners would accept the agreements that have been brokered during three weeks of talks, the Regional Chairman was upbeat that they would reflect residents’ demands. 

“I think the people are aware of the things that will satisfy them and I think that is what we are going to give to the people-the things that over the weeks that they would have said and we would have consulted on with them to say is satisfactory enough for them to come off the streets… to allow the situation on the ground to change,” said Sharma, a political freshman. 

Linden has for several days now been saturated with soldiers and police who have so far cleared major roadways of huge obstructions such as felled trees, old vehicles and burning tyres. There is still a pocket of resistance in Wismar that top security officials hope will wither away with fruitful political negotiations. 

Traders, miners, tour operators and residents in Regions 7,8 and 9 have been all crying out about the adverse impact of the protest. Limited amounts of food, fuel and other necessities are trickling into some areas through the more expensive Bartica-Potaro route via the Essequibo River. Domestic airlines have also increased the number of flights to several interior locations. 

While vehicles are moving around freely, Linden’s commercial heart in Mackenzie remained a virtual ghost town as most small and large businesses remained closed for one month now. 

President Donald Ramotar’s visit to Linden was greeted with a lukewarm response- a poor turnout at a meeting at Watooka House and boos of “murderer, murderer” by small numbers of residents on a number of roadways. In other instances, under tight military security, he warmly interacted with other attentive residents.