Cabinet outreach in Berbice…
– giving hope, building lives with a message of progress for all Guyanese
TRAVELLING along the East Coast and Corentyne Highways in the fresh crispness of a beautiful Guyanese morning, one can only be struck anew at the fulfillment of a promise heralded on the 5th October, 1992 with the ‘Dawn of a New Era’.

Indeed it was!
Pre-1992, the decay in the country was overwhelmingly manifest in the devastated infrastructures and the apathetic disoriented peoples, as well as homes. Some of their luxurious ‘mahals’, abandoned to termites and thieves as a despairing, hopeless Guyanese people ran away en bloc from a tyrannical, destructive, murderous dictatorship. Guyanese were living corpses preyed upon by despotic vultures who bled the people and country dry of hopes, resources and happiness. They killed dreams and destroyed lives – literally and figuratively.

Today, everywhere there is evidence of hope, homes and communities reborn. The beauty of homes nestling amid luxuriant blooms, foliage, massively branching trees and lush vegetation of various species of flora bordering the roadways aerates of our country a land of incomparable abundance.

At the various venues where the President met with his people during a Cabinet outreach he led to Berbice yesterday, the major problems in the land seem to have already been resolved by this caring administration, so much so that many of the issues raised by residents were minor, easily-resolvable, petty matters, while the major ones were already being addressed.

However, one of the major issues that every community complained about is the quality of service delivered by contractors and heads of institutions, but the President assured the intention of Government to address this peculiar cultural habit by putting penalties to those who do not deliver, or deliver inadequately on their mandate.

He explained that, despite massive expenditure by government on capital works in every sector, delivery of service is often found severely wanting, leading to derailment of the Government’s development programmes, because often times the people are deprived of the full benefit of government’s initiatives for people wellness and development because of the lax administration and ineffective, inefficient implementation.

President Jagdeo challenged residents to take responsibility for their communities, citing the need for volunteers to contribute, in organised ways, by ensuring the systems and facilities provided by government function to optimum capacity.

Alluding to his administration’s message of progress for all Guyanese people – across every divide, the President related that his and other governmental functionaries international agenda had fructified in expanded opportunities and markets for Guyana and products of Guyana, especially in the area of agriculture.

He addressed the concerns of residents of Black Bush Polder, who expressed some level of dissatisfaction at the pace at which their community was being developed, by explaining that the imperatives for enhanced national development were being addressed in a holistic fashion because every community has needs, all of which have to be prioritised on a scale of urgency and a ratio of ‘greater’ need as a consequence of financial and other constraints.

He, however, enumerated some of the developmental initiatives that have impacted beneficially to Guyanese communities nationwide and gave his assurance that every need of the Guyanese people would be eventually addressed.

The President told the residents of Black Bush Polder that the access road to their community has been earmarked for a $1.4 billion all-weather upgrade.

On the issue of the prevalence of suicides in the region, President Jagdeo expressed impatience when this was ascribed to lack of options for productive occupation by one person.

He made reference to people living in Konashen and other hinterland areas, where there is lack of electricity and other amenities and where even little babies have to paddle a distance of approximately 14 miles a day to acquire an education.

Guyana’s President explained the vagaries detrimentally impacting the sugar industry but outlined the several initiatives that have been invested, including infusion of massive amounts to restore this vital sector to its former glory days.

He told farmers that agriculture encompasses several areas and that, because of constrained resources, there has to be equity in resource distribution including vital water.

By and large, residents seemed very satisfied with the on-the-spot, spontaneous decisions taken by the President to offer some degree of immediate relief to their problems, with the promise of long term solutions to be addressed subsequently, with many persons expressing the wish that the President’s term in office be extended indefinitely.