Linden/Region 10 ripe for development

THIS newspaper has been carrying coverage on Linden/Region 10: its resources, the people’s successes in various fields of endeavour, and their opinions. This region has, within recent years, been in the news for several reasons. Notably, within the last five years, people have come to associate it with a level of militancy at the political front to advance its self-determination.In this quest, the people, in 2012, were able to cause the Donald Ramotar Administration to agree to a menu of measures that included developing an Economic Plan specifically to meet the needs of the community; returning the community-based television dish, and addressing the region’s energy needs.

The major communities in Region 10 — Linden, Kwakwani and Ituni — where bauxite is produced, have seen socio-economic development -– as did the nation — with the mining of this mineral. However, significant increases in global fuel prices in the 1970s adversely impacted the bauxite industry, and society at large. The hard decisions made in the industry impacted the workers and communities’ livelihoods. The trade unions and employer were forced to re-negotiate agreements, thereby seeing the minimisation of benefits such as housing, education, and health services.

In the 1980s, the Desmond Hoyte Administration entered into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme known as the Structural Adjustment Programme, and identified the main productive sectors — bauxite and sugar — to be privatised. To realise this, the Hoyte Administration employed a foreign management company (MINPROC) to prepare the Linden Mining Company (LINMINE) to attract investors.

With the ascension of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) to office in 1992, the privatisation of bauxite was pursued to finality, the result of which created another adverse impact on the workforce and communities. With privatisation came the laying off of 100 percent of the workforce, and an end to the workers’ Pension Scheme and other benefits.

Probably in a show of recognition of the deleterious consequences, the Bharrat Jagdeo Administration talked up the benefit of diversifying the region’s economy, notably that of Government’s intent to make it the country’s industrial corridor. This was never followed through with needed governmental support in infrastructural and other forms of development. In the meantime the region’s economy continued to slide, bringing further negative consequences.

When, in 2012, the Government sought to increase electricity tariff in Linden, the residents challenged it, mainly from the standpoint of non-involvement in the decision-making, the likely impact it will have on the community, and the people’s inability to pay. A stand-off between Central Government and the people, supported by the Regional Government, saw weeks of public demonstration that was not without incident. The manner in which the Ramotar Administration initially dealt with the issue, and its treatment of the people, also attracted criticism from the then opposition and wider society.

Apart from bauxite, Region 10 has natural resources such as sand, clay, gold, diamond, an array of springs, and vast savannahs. In the area of human resources, it is known for its large pool of competent artisans. This region, specifically Linden, has always been identified as the gateway to the interior and the path of further access to Brazil; of which the potential for trade should not be ignored, nor should its impact on the regional and national economies, and the strengthening of South-South Cooperation. Evidently, the region is not without resources, and should those be properly utilized, it could redound to the growth and development of its people and the nation as a whole. What is proving to be absent is the needed financial investment that would see these resources being used for productive endeavours.

The APNU+AFC Administration is placing emphasis on sustainable development by diversifying the economy. This approach to development continues to be met with support from major stakeholders, local and external, who have been calling for such for some time now. Region 10 — given its resources, access, the capabilities of its people, and present economic deprivation — is ripe for a developmental model of such a sort. Doing so could only contribute to the much needed economic explosion that awaits the region and Guyana at large.

And given that the 2012 Agreement has the input and support of the required stakeholders, its activation and implementation would not only set a positive precedent in the nation’s politics, but also put Guyana on a sure footing to strengthen and deepen our economic and political democracy.

Observation of the people’s self-determination pursuit leaves no doubt that, once provided the needed support, they can succeed.

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