Cabinet to meet at GDF H/Q for next three months – Harmon
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The Cabinet is meeting and will continue to meet at the headquarters of the Guyana Defence Force. This was confirmed yesterday by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
Minister of State,
Joseph Harmon
Harmon said that this is being done to allow much needed repairs to the Ministry of the Presidency. The Minister said that Cabinet agreed that Camp Ayanganna was the fittest location at which secure and confidential meetings can be held.
Harmon said that repairs will be needed to be done to many parts of the Ministry, including the fence, walkway and guard hut.
“As soon as we came into office, we had to do a tremendous amount of work in this complex to bring it to the state where we are. This room, for example, in which we are sitting, is not what it used to be. It was something else before and we fixed it… rehabilitated it to make it comfortable for us all,” said Harmon.
The Minister said that the room in which Cabinet meetings are held will also be repaired.
“Those of you who attended the swearing in ceremony earlier, for the Commissioners of the Public Procurement Commission, will recognize the air condition was on and off. It is old. It needs to be fixed and we have to fix that, and it is not just for the members of cabinet, it is for the Guyanese public at large who have to do business here in Guyana.”
Harmon said that the room at which Cabinet is held also facilitates the handing over of credentials from foreign envoys “we have to ensure at all times that this country’s image is at its best.
Harmon said that the works to be done were identified very early in 2016 and became part of the ministry’s budgetary allocations for this year.
WHY GDF?
Harmon said that Cabinet carefully considered the best location to be used for the time. The Minister noted that meetings of the Cabinet have to be kept in a secure location.
“We would have recognized an Act called the Freedom of Information Act which was signed and assented to by Bharrat Jagdeo in 2011—this is the same gentleman who is talking about Cabinet being here and there.”
Harmon said that the Act he cited provides for the security of Cabinet, the security of documents that have to deal with Cabinet and it exempts any cabinet document from public disclosure, unless it is specifically cleared by the responsible Minister.
“And so that section of the Act is very elaborate and it provides a sort of protection of Cabinet discussions, Cabinet documents and Cabinet decisions. Whenever Cabinet meets to discuss the business of the people, it has to be in a place that is secure. It has to be in a place where the conversations or the discussions of cabinet cannot be easily picked up on, or understood, or learnt by anybody else who is not entitled to receive that information,” Harmon explained.
He acknowledged that some in the media had questioned the government’s decision not to use the Arthur Chung Convention Centre (ACCC). In this regard, Harmon reminded that the ACCC would be closed from December 4 for about four months. He said that since the Cabinet room rehabilitation would take place over a similar period, the ACCC was ruled out.
Harmon said that the government examined several options and the safest option was the Officers’ Club at Camp Ayanganna, which provided all the facilities needed for Cabinet to meet and to discuss matters of national importance in a secure place. He also noted that using this location will not cost the government much.
