Cabinet's sector performance review favorable
- Dr. Luncheon
Guyana Chronicle
January 3, 2004
GINA -- CABINET at its last meeting on December 30 reviewed the performances of various sectors, including statutory legislative, public sector investment programmes, security and the political spectrum.
This is according to Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon at his post-Cabinet media briefing held yesterday.
Particular recognition by Cabinet was given to the agricultural sector for the efforts made in laying the groundwork for access to the European Union market for Guyana's products; the financial sector for reformed legislation, the trade and investment sector for the Bills that are slowly winding their way into Parliament to deal with investment and the overall attitude to governance that has seen important pieces of Constitutional legislation begin enacted to effect Constitutional Reform, Dr. Luncheon said.
"The Cabinet view these performances with some appreciation," he added.
In relation to the Public Sector Investment Project, Dr. Luncheon noted that targets that were both local and foreign-funded were achieved on the macro scale.
He also noted that tremendous work was done in the infrastructure sector at airports and roads. In the local Government sector billions of dollars were spent on improving civil works and strengthening the system of governance under the Urban Development Programme.
In the industrial sector "the year has been graced with few but not any significantly-charged industrial relations difficulties. Apart from the earlier industrial action taken by the Guyana Teachers Union, within the Public Sector, industrial action has been few and in between," Dr. Luncheon said. He added that incidents in the Private Sector were also very few.
The Security sector however, was challenged, with criminal activity being increased using more sophisticated methods.
The Administration's response was a collaborative effort involving the Police and Army with the Government giving policy and material support.
"Those interventions have led to the situation that graced us over the last two quarters of 2003 and it was a marked improvement," he said.
On this note, Cabinet viewed with much dismay the up surge of domestic violence in Guyana, especially given the fact that women are mostly the victims. This issue Dr. Luncheon noted, will continue to attract the attention of Cabinet in 2004.
In the political arena Dr. Luncheon noted that within the ambit of the Constructive Engagement "the political engagement has seen greater efforts being made at all levels to enhance the political process and give greater content to engagements between the Governing Party and the Opposition.
"It is the position of the Administration that those efforts have borne fruits and the Parliamentary democracy is somewhat better preserved than in previous years and there is indeed a likelihood that the situation will continue to improve in 2004," Dr. Luncheon said.