Speeches in the National Assembly

APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSION OF INQUIRY TO INVESTIGATE THE INCIDENCE OF ILLNESS AND DEATHS IN THE BARIMA-WAINI REGION OF GUYANA
Minister within the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development [Mr. Whittaker]: I must, from the very inception, point out that it is well known, perhaps not by some, by many that our Government has not paid mere lip service to article 24 of our Constitution. We have been, continually, ploughing more and more resources to fund programmes and project to provide the required infrastructure, medical equipment, medicines and, very important, the trained medical personnel across the 10 administrative regions of our country so that our people can enjoy this right which paragraph one of the motion referred, the right to free medical attention.
I say to this National Assembly that it is a large measure, due to the presence of these health facilities and services at Kaituma, that we were able to take aggressive steps to diagnose and treat the illnesses to which the mover of the motion referred. I need to take the National Assembly through a chronicle of events which will allow Members to see the types of efforts, the types of interventions we have made which allowed us to arrest illness within relatively short period of time.
It did start in an Amerindian village called Sebai in a creek; it started with isolated cases. Our health workers, and there is, at least, one at every health post, are trained to diagnose what has become a common illness especially in hinterland areas and especially in those areas where there is a hype of mining activities.  That health worker was able to diagnose, as he normally does, and to treat what started as isolated cases. As there began to be marginal increases that health worker made contact with the Port Kaituma Hospital and that is where the first bit of collaboration begun. To speak of the absence of collaboration is totally inaccurate. The health worker contacted the Port Kaituma Hospital where, in fact, there are a doctor, a medex and two health workers. The persons were referred there and they were treated. The surveillance continued; it started in January. It was not March when the big team arrived, but it started in January.  As the youthful, dedicated community health worker continued the surveillance work, assisted by teams from the Port Kaituma Hospital, they began to see what could be termed as arithmetic progression, in terms of the numbers and it is at that stage that Georgetown began to assemble to put together a team. At the regional level, there were the village people with their health worker, there was the hospital, there was Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), there were a number of people from the business community, there were concerned miners; they were all onboard helping with what was essentially a communal activity.
It will be correct to say that our response at both the regional and national level, once we got the required information, was immediate, extensive, coordinated and effective.
The team set out to do, ab initio, what any COI would set out to do, and that is - I do not want Mr. Williams to believe that he has a monopoly over those Latin words - it sought answers. That is what the team sought to do, to seek answers. We were with the people from the start. We have always been with the people and  to speak about the people feeling abandoned, our indigenous people in the villages do not ever feel abandoned, and even those who were referred to the hospital. I forgive the Member for that statement which was made.
I wish to posit that my friends on the other side have a history of wanting to enquire into the wrong things and into wrong happenings. They did not deem it necessary, as they should have, to enquire into the electoral frauds of the 1970s and 1980s.Those needed an inquiry. They did not deem it necessary to enquire into the mass suicide on Guyana territory where hundreds of foreigners died and that is right in the same area, six miles away from Port Kaituma. They did not want that.
Mr. Speaker: You have had two inquiries away from health. Dr. Ramsaran dealt with malaria, which is still in health, but you have gone to mass suicide. Let us, at least, stay in health.
Mr. Whittaker: I am coming back. Nor was there a COI to determine the mysterious death of the eminent Guyanese historian, Dr. Walter Rodney. I am glad that our Government has decided that it will have such an inquiry. Whilst they take shelter under the denial syndrome we of the PPP have determined... [Interruption from the Opposition Members.] Mr. Speaker I would like to continue.
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Members, the Hon. Minister has had three strikes and he will not be venturing down the road of  Mr. Satyadeow Sawh or any other unsolved crime or mystery in this country. I would like Minister to please curtail your arguments to the motion at hand. You have had some liberties there.
Mr. Whittaker: Could I get back those 45 seconds?
Mr. Speaker: You will.
Mr. Whittaker: Our Government has determined,  indeed very quickly, that our resources will be better spent discerning the causes of the illnesses at Port Kaituma, mitigating the factors that give rise to the illness and the consequential deaths in  the three instances while simultaneously we treated those affected by the illness. I ask that the House weighs and compares the semantics of the motion against the immediate practical interventions which have allowed for the same determinations and in a more timely and efficient manner.
The motion speaks about credible reports in the second WHEREAS clause. What better creditable reports could the Guyanese people get than that provided by our team of doctors, epidemiologist, headed by Dr. Edwards, medex, environmental health officers, community health workers and the support of our regional health services and our Civil Defence Commission. These are persons, most of whom know the region, know the people, know the culture. These are persons who have some attachments to the region and its people, and who care for the people and would always want to get to the bottom of the issues, committed men and women with relevant knowledge, skills and experienced, armed with historical data, established and proven methods of responding to health crisis. That is why their response was immediate, transparent and effective. It came at a time when the symptoms were very prominent, not emanating from an inquiry three months later. It came from the facts that were obvious at the time.
What is it that the Commission of Inquiry will do or can achieve that the team, to which I just refer, did not achieve? What is the basis for the appointment of a COI? A COI must be the final option when all others have failed. In any case, a COI has to be resourced. Have we sought to think of that? Let us use those very resources, since  we already have the facts, we already know the causes, to implement the recommendations of the joint technical team, as it is contained in this document - they are condensed into 12 such recommendations - that worked in the region to provide the answers we sought, because that is what it delivered. It delivered the answers we sought. What are the causes? Which are the communities affected? The team ultimately came out on top of the issue. Lest it be felt that the team merely glassed over the communities, spent a few hours or a few days and left. Let me say in the process it conducted an assessment in all the affected communities, and even those contiguous, met with and interviewed..., held community meetings, visited and inspected the living conditions and the environment in which the people lived. Of course, it conducted public awareness meetings and sensitisation sessions with the residents of the affected communities. Whilst it was doing all of that it was also engaged in providing relief to the victims. Again, I ask, what is there that a COI, three months after, will bring out or determine that this team did not? 
The team determined that as a result of multiple environmental health hazards, which plagued the residents of the affected communities, in some instances, of poor hygiene practices by some residents, in some instances, of the upsurge of mining, garbage being thrown or washed into the waterways used by some for cooking and drinking, especially during the rainy season, that is a perennial problem all over. What I am pointing out here is that any COI, going out there, will find the same thing. Some pit latrines are not properly constructed by residents and in some instances situated close to or over the waterways were all contributing factors to the several hundred persons who were treated for gastro-enteritis.
That there were only three deaths, which is deeply regretted, is attribute to the urgency, the diligence and the efficiency with which the medical team went about discharging its duties and responsibilities. As old people say, “give Jack he jacket”, let us give those people our praise because they worked. Again, I ask of  the Members,  what is it that a COI, three or four months later, can do that this experienced and committed team of medical and technical personnel can do who went to Port Kaituma and surrounding areas did? What is it that the COI can do? The evidence that the medical people were looking for were there, evident in February and March...
Mr. Speaker: Hon. Minister, if I could ask a question. Since this motion was put in, has that evidence been shared with the Opposition? If, in fact, there is a reported findings and recommendations, has that been shared? You are saying what more... If the Opposition was not even aware that there was an investigation leading to a report then you cannot fault the Opposition because it was not brought in. In fact, you seem to be armed with a report that the Minister of Health did not even referred to. Go ahead though.
Mr. Whittaker: I could only say that the Opposition Members were not proactive enough and they did not go with enquiring minds. It suits them now, because we are in the season of COIs, to bring it. The appointment of a Commission of Inquiry, at this point in time, would only serve to duplicate efforts and waste resources. [Interruption from the Opposition Members.] I am going to offer you the recommendations of the high-powered medical/ technical team that went in there.
These resources could be better used to implement the recommendations of that team, that included some of the best medical personnel there are, including representations from sectors such as GWI, some of the most senior officers there, including the Civil Defence Commission that helped with logistic arrangements, including the Ministry of Health, including the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development which had its people on the ground from the very inception. At this point in time, I would like to point out that, quite apart from what I have said, the team’s outreach, its activities were not just confined to the communities, it reached out into the schools, it reached out to the children in the primary and secondary schools, educating them on the dos and the don’ts, it reached out to the team of teachers because we expect that the teachers will be part of any programme to bring awareness to our children.
The 12 recommendations of this medical team include, among other things, education and sensitisation of residents, community outreaches, distribution of flyers – it had started to do all of those things - at health posts, at hospitals, at schools, distribution of water purification tablets, oral dehydration solutions and bleach, continuous monitoring and evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the interventions, the assignment of additional environmental personnel. The environmental health officer has been moved from Mabaruma and that officer is now posted in the Matakai subregion to complement the efforts of the two environmental health assistants, the doctor who is at Port Kaituma and the one who is at Matthews Ridge and other personnel who are there. Efforts are being intensified in respect of solid waste collection and in this regard   Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) has been engaged, the business people have been engaged who, we understand, are responsible for most of the solid waste that is dumped in the canal and we are taking measures to reduce and, ultimately, stop these dumping activities.
Let us not ponder to up unsubstantiated views and erroneous conclusions. Let us ensure that the recommendations of the team that spent many weeks on the ground, interfacing with people in their own environment... Let us look at these recommendations and see how we can work to support them. I believe that that is the way to go. Whatever resources we have, spend it that way to implement... I dare say that the COI could not come up differently in terms of any kind of recommendation.
Thank you. [Applause]