NACTA Poll shows overwhelming support for DEA Office, AML Bill and LEAD Project

Dear Editor,

An opinion poll conducted by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) in July found overwhelming support for; the establishment of a US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Office, passage of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Bill and implementation of the revamped US Leadership and Democracy (LEAD) project.

Voters are very pleased that the US and Guyana came to an understanding in implementing the LEAD project to help strengthen democracy and working together to fight drug trafficking. However, some voters complained about US arrogance and bullyism to get its way on the project. The poll also revealed that crime and economic issues (high cost of living) are the leading problems impacting the nation.

The poll was conducted to determine peoples’ views on issues related to national development. The survey interviewed 580 voters to yield a demographically representative sample (43 per cent Indians, 31 per cent Africans, 16 per cent Mixed, nine per cent Amerindians, and one per cent other races) of the population.

The poll was conducted in face-to-face interviews by several polltakers and was coordinated by Vishnu Bisram. The results of the poll were analysed at a 95 per cent significance level and a statistical sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points was found. Sampling results based on subgroups (such as Indians or Africans alone) have a larger sampling error.

NACTA, a New York-based group, was founded by Dr Latchman Narain, Vassan Ramracha and other educators – all of whom were involved in the struggle for free and fair election in Guyana. NACTA has no affiliation with any political party.

Several NACTA members were involved in polling in Guyana prior to the 1992 elections and subsequently throughout the Caribbean. Messrs Bisram and Ramracha, for example, have been conducting surveys internationally for 25 years.

Asked whether they support the establishment of a DEA Office in Guyana, 81 per cent said yes, eight per cent said no, and 11 per cent offered no response.

Asked if they support the proposed anti-money laundering bill, almost everyone answered in the affirmative with only 14 per cent saying no. A large majority of the respondents (63 per cent) feels the opposition parties should pass the bill with 20 per cent saying no, and 17 per cent not offering an opinion. Many say failure to pass the legislation would impact negatively on the economy.

Asked what is the most important problem facing the nation, 29 per cent said crime, 19 per cent high cost of living, 17 per cent poor governance issues and corruption, and six per cent drug trafficking and the remainder said other issues like health, ethnic relations, education, infrastructure, power sharing, lack of cooperation among the parties, etc.

Yours truly,

Vishnu Bisram