Dear Editor,
I AM writing in response to a letter published on November 13, 2025, by Annette Ferguson, which highlights that the APNU+AFC Government should receive credit for Guyana’s recent aviation success, particularly regarding Guyana scoring 80.12 per cent in the 2025 ICAO Aviation Security Audit.[1] Please extend the same courtesy to publish my response to Annette Ferguson.
To provide context for my letter, Ferguson’s reaction arose from Guyana achieving an impressive score of 80.12 per cent in the recent International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Aviation Security Audit, significantly exceeding the global average of 72 per cent. This marks a remarkable achievement and a substantial increase from the country’s previous score of 62.90 per cent in 2016 under the same audit. This was a press release issued by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority on November 5, 2025.
I am appalled that Annette Ferguson, a former Minister of Government who oversaw the GCAA, did not take the time to understand the basic distinction between aviation safety and aviation security, as her letter clearly shows. She spent her entire letter discussing safety compliance when the GCAA press release is about Guyana’s achievements in aviation security.
Ferguson did not mention the 2016 aviation security audit result under the APNU+AFC Coalition Government, which she is free to claim credit for. Instead, she seeks praise or recognition for the 80 per cent score in aviation security. The score of 80 per cent reflects PPP/C’s outstanding, impressive, and transformative work.
Her appeal that “it is misleading for the current PPP/C administration to claim sole credit for the Authority’s recent 80 per cent compliance achievement. The progress being celebrated today is a direct result of the policies, investments, and reforms initiated under the Coalition Government.” is dishonest at best.
Unsatisfied with her limited understanding of the subject, she thoroughly enjoyed herself by highlighting a series of unrelated projects related to aviation security regulatory oversight, sometimes confusing service-provision areas with regulatory matters.
From her letter, I inferred that Ferguson does not understand the type of ‘audits’ conducted by the ICAO under the Coalition Government, for which Guyana scored 64.4 per cent in 2016 and 76.54 per cent in 2020, respectively. Those ‘audits’ were ICAO Coordinated Validation Missions. An ICVM is designed to address corrected deficiencies identified in previous audits, in this case the 2007 audit. In other words, the scores in 2016 and 2020 were based on the 44.4 per cent which Ferguson is seeking to discredit. Both of these ICVMs were also conducted at Guyana’s request.
I oversaw Guyana’s preparations for the ICAO Safety Audit of 2024. As minister, I took the time to understand the scope and requirements of the audit. I also made an effort to understand the two types of ‘audits’ conducted by ICAO for States’ Safety Oversight System. Here is the difference:
“an ICAO audit is a comprehensive, initial assessment of a country’s aviation safety oversight system, while an ICVM is a follow-up activity focused specifically on verifying that a country has successfully corrected deficiencies identified during a previous audit…simply put, an ICVM is not an audit, but rather a follow up on-site activity to validate progress made by Member States in resolving safety oversight deficiencies identified during a previous audit” (source: https://www.icao.int/usoap/frequently-asked-questions-about-usoap[2]).
I wish to inform Ferguson that this distinction was presented in the National Assembly in May 2024 during the debate on the amendments to the Civil Aviation Act 2018.
The May/June 2024 ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Programme (USOAP) audit was a comprehensive safety audit of Guyana’s entire safety oversight system. Starting from zero, Guyana scored 63.41 per cent in the audit, surpassing its 2007 audit result of 44.4 per cent. And at that time, Guyana’s score also surpassed the last four ICAO audits conducted in the South American region.
With her usual misinformation, Ferguson stated in her letter that
“in 2018, ICAO honoured Guyana for its outstanding progress in aviation safety oversight and compliance with international standards. This recognition followed Guyana’s achievement of over 60 per cent compliance under the USOAP-representing a significant improvement in regulatory performance and safety management systems (ICAO, 2018). The award, presented during ICAO’s 75th Anniversary Regional Safety Oversight Awards in Toronto, Canada”.
Ferguson misled the editor and the public by claiming that Guyana received an award at the ICAO’s 75th Anniversary Regional Safety Oversight Awards in Toronto, Canada. The fact is that Annette Ferguson, as minister, personally collected the award on behalf of Guyana, but it was not at this imaginary event. Instead, the award was given in 2017 at the ICAO World Aviation Forum in Abuja, Nigeria, from 20 to 22 November (source Guyana Chronicle online edition of December 20, 2017: https://guyanachronicle.com/2017/12/20/guyana-awarded-strides-aviation-sector/[3]).
In conclusion, Ferguson and the opposition operatives must be informed that the investments in aviation made by the PPP/C administration from 2021-2025 surpass those of the APNU-AFC Coalition during 2015-2020 by a considerable margin. The results at the GCAA and the aviation industry are directly linked to these investments.
And indeed, the record speaks for itself, but Annette Ferguson and team are checking the wrong records!