“Jook fuh Jook” – Granger says to Guyana revoking Work Permit US Employee

By Fareeza Haniff

The Guyana government revoked the work permit it had issued to Glenn Bradbury, who was tasked with implementing the contentious USAID funded Leadership and Democracy (LEAD) Project by the United States government.

The government is not in favour with this project. At a press conference on Friday, May 02, Granger said that he regrets the action taken against a “friendly country.”

“We feel that the Lead Programme was working to the benefit of young people in Guyana because it started to provide information, particularly on the upcoming Local Government Elections.”

Granger added, “We did not have any other involvement in LEAD other than education and we felt that the limited engagements we had were beneficial to young people and the withdrawal of the programme will hurt the ability of the young people to comprehend a very complex electoral system and to participate fully.”

When asked about the implications as a result of the government’s action, Opposition Leader said, “My own feeling is that the government will have to pay a price for terminating the work permit of Bradbury. In diplomacy is jook fuh jook.”

Government spokesperson, Dr Roger Luncheon told reporters during a press briefing earlier in the week that the revocation of the work permit was based on the “immigration laws of Guyana being offended by Mr Bradbury and his actions in Guyana.”

The United States Government in response had stated that “LEAD is designed to benefit the Government and people of Guyana through the promotion of understanding and consensus-building within the National Assembly; greater citizen engagement with Parliament; civic education on local government and greater civic engagement among women and youth.

“The LEAD project implements the objectives described in the USAID Assistance Agreement for Governing Justly and Democratically, reached between the United States government and the Government of Guyana in 2009.”