High Court orders govt to pay 2022 monies to IDPADA-G

Last Updated on Wednesday, 24 June 2026, 21:02 by Writer

The High Court on Wednesday ruled that the Guyana government was wrong to stop financing the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly-Guyana (IDPADA-G) without first informing the entity, and said outstanding monies for October, November and December 2022 must be paid.

Chief Executive Officer Olive Sampson told Demerara Waves Online News that prior to the end of the funding that her organisation was getting about GY$18 million.

She noted that the monies are needed to settle debts.

“Although there is no evidence to support either 28 substantive or procedural legitimate expectation regarding the payment of the subvention by the government to IDPADA-G or International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana Country Coordinating Mechanism Inc., the applicant, IDPADA-G and by extension the applicant should have been notified before the cessation of the subvention,” said Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire, who heard the case.

She said there was no contract between IDPADA-G or its incorporated entity International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly–Guyana Inc and the Guyana government for the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent.

Justice George-Wiltshire, who is now Chancellor of the Judiciary, said the orders sought by the applicant are refused.

She ordered that there be no order as to costs since the International Decade for People of African Descent Assembly – Guyana Country Coordinating 29 Mechanism Inc., the applicant, was not the proper party to institute this action and its substantive claims were found to be without merit.

IDPADA-G had moved to the court in 2023 to challenge government’s decision to cease funding and instead disburse funds to several organisations directly on the grounds that over GYD$500 million disbursed so far had not reached a large number of African Guyanese.