I have had the honour and privilege, on many occasions, to meet and talk with the Region Six, Regional Chairman, Comrade Zulfikar Mustapha while we were both Field Secretaries of the Guyana Agriculture and General Workers’ Union (GAWU). I was always moved and deeply touched by his soft spoken voice and the way in which he expressed his beliefs, whether he was discussing political affairs or his love for Berbice and issues that impacted on the working man and woman.
Zulfie’s success as a Regional Chairman for Region Six was due in no small measure to the way he presented himself. He told me that for a Regional Chairman to give proper representation to the electorate, he should be fully aware of working class conditions and problems; have a thorough knowledge of the theory and practice of these problems and place special emphasis to solve his problems immediately.
Zulfie’s personal manifesto since he became an administrator dealt with many changes which I greatly admire, agriculture, education, housing, medical services and infrastructures. With respect to development, he saw the completion of the majestic Berbice floating bridge, industries, a new state-of- the art hospital at New Amsterdam, one at Port Mourant, industrial and technical development. According to the Regional Chairman, there is no magic formula or blue-print for achieving success in developing our economy and Berbice. Success will be earned by the constant and strenuous application of commonsense and physical energies to solving the numerous problems which will inevitably confront him on the way.
He said to me that success will not come on easy terms! He is well prepared for a long, difficult and often dangerous struggle in which he will, of necessity, meet with setbacks and disappointments. But given his genuine commitment to the cause for his Region, he will win out in the end. For his cause is worthwhile; it is nothing less than a struggle to liberate his Region from the shackles of poverty and its brutish indignities to a brighter future.