The International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana (IDPADA-G) and the Guyana Government are close to a breakthrough as mediation over the reinstatement of subvention continues.
The pro-Black rights group had brought a lawsuit against the government after the administration stopped funding following allegations of corruption levelled against the IDPADA-G’d top officials.
The Chief Justice (CJ), Roxane George subsequently asked for the parties to engage in mediation and they agreed.
Lawyers for IPADA-G, Nigel Williams and Dr. Vivian Williams before the CJ on Friday were able to get the state to agree to two matters: 1) the government should, as a matter of principle, support the decade for people of African descent; and 2) that support should manifest itself by way of the reinstatement of subventions. The proposal of this matter was provided to the government but were not discussed in open court.
Guyana Standard understands that settlement discussions were held on Monday. At Friday’s hearing, the Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, who was out of the country, informed the court that he did not have the opportunity to fully review the proposal and asked for an additional two weeks to finalize that process.
The settlement discussion took place on Monday and it lasted for over an hour. During that time, Two common grounds were agreed upon, as stated earlier. The modalities of disbursement are still worked out.
Guyana Standard understands that the group is owed $64M from August last year to March 2023.
The matter is to be heard again in two weeks.
