Withholding funds for IDPADA-G: Govt acted based on numerous complaints from Afro-Guyanese organisations – AG

…says groups willing to join legal proceedings

While a $100 million allocation has been set aside in budget 2023 for the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G), there are, against what is supposed to be an umbrella organisation, numerous complaints from Afro-Guyanese groups that must be addressed.
This is according to Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, who stressed that while the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government is fully supportive of the United Nations (UN) resolution that created the International Decade, the complaints against the local group that receives the funds on behalf of Afro-Guyanese are impossible to ignore.
“The PPP voted in support of this initiative at the level of the United Nations. It cannot be, and it is not in the interest of the PPP, to frustrate this initiative when, at the highest level, at the UN level, it is the PPP that voted to support it. The PPP’s interest lies in seeing this celebration achieve its fruition and its objectives,” he declared.

“When we got into Government, we continued to put money, even in an emergency budget passed in September 2020.
Notwithstanding we were under severe pressure, we approved $100 million for this initiative…we did the same thing in 2021. But we are responsible to the electorate and taxpayers for the manner in which revenue is spent…we have received reports from many Afro-Guyanese organisations across Guyana, and they have a very interesting story to tell,” Nandlall said during his “Issues in the News” programme.
According to Nandlall, these groups have reported to several Ministers, including him, that IDPADA-G has not been including them in the decision-making on how the Government-allocated funds would be used to better the lives of Afro-Guyanese, as per the UN Resolution.
“They have said to Ministers of Government and to me that IDPADA-G was an umbrella organisation that consisted of many small organisations across the country representing Afro-Guyanese. And then when they were told that this money was going to be disbursed to them, their IDPADA-G organisation was then, without their consent, converted (and run by a board).
“And this board of a few began to run the operations, and the other organisations fell away. They were not consulted…and they were no longer 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 this money is being spent,” Nandlall said.
According to Nandlall, these organisations are not only prepared to go on record, but have already approached the court to join the court case IDPADA-G filed against the Government in seeking the restoration of the budgetary allocations.
Nandlall has made it clear that sums of money were budgeted for IDPADA-G in both 2022 and 2023. He said that if Government had not wanted to pay the money, there would have been none budgeted for this purpose.
“They (aggrieved organisations) want to be heard, because they are claiming this current construct calling itself IDPADA-G hijacked their organization and converted it into something that they now don’t know and can’t be a part of. And when we look at the financial statements of IDPADA-G, which the Minister had to ask for, then it is reflected,” Nandlall said.
“$40 million per year are being spent on salaries; $6 million spent on refreshment and meals; and $343,000 on grants. Scholarship and training are (under $2 million) out of $100 million. The running cost of the corporation is $90 million out of $100 million. Expenses are eating up the money!”
IDPADA-G and the Government have been at loggerheads since last year, when Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo accused leaders of the organisation of not passing down the benefits of state funding to the people, and misusing the budgetary allocations. After a series of public exchanges, IDPADA-G Chairman Vincent Alexander filed a $159 million lawsuit in November 2022, saying that Jagdeo’s allegations of IDPADA-G’s funds being misused had defamed him and impugned his character, among other things. He also denied “subverting public funds or using a race of people for self-advancement”.
Last December, IDPADA-G also filed a court case seeking the restoration of its $8 million monthly subvention. The group wants the funds to not only be restored, but also its continued payment until the decade officially ends next year.
In a press release to the media on February 6, 2023, IDPADA-G stated that it was never established with the sole purpose of providing grants to organisations. It explained that it has provided all audited transactions/documents from 2018 to 2021 based on Parliamentary approved budget. (G3)