Five months after the general election, opposition candidate Irfaan Ali has been declared and sworn in as Guyana’s president.

The declaration came from the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) on Sunday afternoon following a meeting of GECOM Commissioners and Chairman Claudette Singh.

Following allegations of vote tampering, a recount and a lengthy legal battle, the election commission declared Mr Ali the winner on Sunday and he was sworn in hours later.

Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield also submitted his election report today, using the figures obtained during the national recount, and it showed the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes.

Granger’s A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) received 217,920 votes. A coalition of smaller parties received a combined 5,214 votes.

His rival, outgoing president David Granger said that while he respected “the lawful consequences” of the announcement by the elections commission declaring Mr Ali the winner, he would take the allegations of electoral fraud to the country’s supreme court. He also appealed to his supporters to remain peaceful.

Ali called for unity saying that “there is only one future and that future requires a united Guyana, that future requires a strong Guyana”.

He also said that he would be naming his cabinet soon and promised “a government that is accessible and one that will be more than willing to share with you information as we work on building our Guyana in the interest of all”.

Ali and ExxonMobil

The election was the first to be held after the US oil giant Exxon made one of the world’s biggest discoveries of oil in deep waters off Guyana’s coast.

The discovery could put Guyana among the world’s top oil producers and is expected to massively boost its economy.

Guyana’s government could generate around $4.4 billion in oil production revenues by 2028 from Payara, one of 16 ExxonMobil discoveries on the country’s deep-water Stabroek block if the original startup date of 2023 for that project were kept intact, Rystad said.

One of the main topics of the presidential campaign was how to use the windfall from the discovery. However, Ali and his party have been critical of the contract the outgoing government signed with Exxon saying it was not favourable enough to Guyana.

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interCaribbean Airways promises reasonable airfare prices with its new connecting services between Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, and St Vincent

Lyndon Gardiner, founder and chairman of interCaribbean, said that the fare would not be the exorbitant cost passengers have been putting up with, and complaining about, for decades.

“Our prices are going to be very palatable, you can’t get a good service for cheap, it just does not exist when it comes to air service. I think we are going to be reasonably priced. We are not going to have the kind of exorbitant prices you’ve seen in the marketplace pre-COVID-19.”

He further explained that the decision to come to Barbados was strategic because of its ideal proximity to other islands, the number of extra-regional flights primarily from North America and Europe the country attracted and the added incentive of the Government’s pro-business approach.

The airline based in Turks and Caicos is expected to touch down in Barbados tomorrow, joining several other airlines picking up the slack as the regionally-owned LIAT remains grounded with financial woes.

Gardiner added rather than island-hopping, interCaribbean would be using Barbados to streamline its operations with an efficient hub to get the most out of the economies of scale and that would include routing people through the hub.

Lower ticket prices

Gardiner said regional governments were taking note of the travel industry and looking for ways to reduce taxes since prior to COVID-19 taxes on tickets were more than the airfare and will work together to bring down ticket cost for the consumer.

“We think because there is lower ticket cost it can add up to more people travelling, so with more people travelling, obviously, you go back to having economies of scale and that is a win-win situation for everyone.”

The airline will initially have a schedule of six flights a week from its fleet of ten 30-seaters and two 50-seater jets with flight in the morning and afternoon.

The airline is looking to serve 13 destinations and to exceed the number of destinations served by LIAT out of Barbados by launching flights to its bases in the Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos which cover the northern and western Caribbean.

Prime Minister Mottley welcomes interCaribbean

interCaribbean is warmly welcomed by Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley.

“Barbados is fortunate that Inter Caribbean has been chosen as its southern hub with a view to expansion and the establishment of headquarters in the future. Inter Caribbean has been operating in the northern Caribbean for almost 30 years but under different brands.”

Mottley also said that the government will cooperatively to review the tax regime to stimulate regional travel.

“As I said earlier this week, we will work cooperatively to review our tax regime to stimulate regional travel. In this, I know our late Prime Minister Mr Owen Arthur will be smiling from wherever he is, for he strenuously supported the need to review fees and taxes as an impetus for renewed regional movement of our citizens and residents. It is my fervent wish that the final agreement for a regional bubble for air travel will be completed and started within the next two weeks so that we can leverage the minimal risk posed by moving within those countries of ours whose incidence is extremely low.”

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