Cabinet to Be Briefed Next Week as PM Urges Fact-Based Debate

Prime Minister Briceño noted that the government is focused on separating fact from speculation, adding that any decision taken must be guided by national interest, regulatory oversight, and accurate information.  Meanwhile, Minister of Public Service, Governance and Disaster Risk Management, Henry Charles Usher, indicated that Cabinet is expected to be formally debriefed on the acquisition next week. Usher acknowledged that while the issue has generated widespread public debate, he agrees that a better approach could have been used in how the matter was initially rolled out.

Henry Charles Usher, Fort George Area Representative: “I think that it certainly needs more consultation, it needs more discussion and we need to look if the telecom provider is saying that the market is not available for more than one provider, then we need to see why and we need to get all the information. So to say, oh it has to be a monopoly, it has to be competition, until we have all that information we won’t be able to give an informed answer. I’m certainly somebody in favor of competition, that’s something that I’ve always advocated for but it might be that economies of scale it might be that the market is just not there for more than one provider but we need to see that information before we can make a decision. I think that everybody needs to be able to get the information. Certainly at Cabinet we are supposed to get that information next week, I’m hoping, and then that information needs to be broadcast in the best way possible, you know not saying that you have to give everything out there, but you have to be able to say, okay this is a background, this is the policy reason for doing what we’re doing before we take that next step. I’m prepared to listen to what is being presented and for cabinet to make a decision based.”

Usher also addressed claims of secrecy surrounding the negotiations, insisting that proper procedures were followed and rejecting assertions that the process was conducted behind closed doors.

Henry Charles Usher, Fort George Area Representative: “Well, you guys in the media do a good job of letting things out way before anybody else gets it. So I think that could it have been better? Sure. I mean, there’s always a better way of doing something and hindsight is 2020. But the fact is, let us get it right now. Let us get the information and then we decide on the way forward. Well, board decisions are done in confidential matters. That’s a board and they make their decisions confidentially. I don’t think that it was something secret because it was out there in the public already. But the deliberations at any board level, that’s done in a confidential way and they make their decisions based on those deliberations. You asked me if there could have been a better way. Sure, I think that we could have had more information come out. We could have had more consultation. I think now is the right time to get that information and we move forward.”

Minister Usher said that Cabinet’s forthcoming briefing will allow ministers to fully assess the details of the proposal and contribute meaningfully to the decision-making process.