DURING  Cabinet Outreach to Region 5 last Friday, Minister Frank Anthony invited comments from the Union/Trafalgar communities and let loose a floodgate.
What is an apparent bugbear of the PPP/C administration is that community developmental initiatives programmed under the policy planning of Central Government are often stymied, either intentionally or unintentionally, by the laxity of regional authorities within the governmental construct. The deliverables many times fall short than projections and the funding provided and/or available.
President Jagdeo has gone on record for denouncing the “tin gods” who adopt a superior attitude to residents of communities, and who shirk the work assigned them at the expense of the tax-paying public.
And this was reiterated by feisty 74-year-old Seton Downer, who railed at the regional authorities for neglecting the communities, contending that they only did hasty work on surface appearances because of the impending Cabinet Outreach.
Ashton London, Supervisor of the MMA, came in for a severe tongue-lashing from the senior citizen for only “riding around on the motorbike without going out in the fields and doing the job.”
Among the concerns aired by the residents were issues of water, lights, and roads that were badly done by contractors.
Mr. Seton requested the Minister to facilitate a reduction of electricity charges and a waiver of the toll to cross the Berbice Bridge, because they need to access healthcare at the New Amsterdam Hospital and their pass for public transportation is invalid because there is no longer public transportation available to them.
He also expressed his concern at the lack of street lights from the western half of No. 30 to Onverwagt, which is MMA area.  According to the old gentleman, the poles and wires are already there awaiting the injection of energy for the street lights to function.
George Robin said the area in which he lives was promised electricity since 2006 but until now his home is in darkness.  According to another resident, the amount GPL is asking for in order to install the approximate 8 lampposts and wiring to access electricity to their neighbourhood is prohibitive as families living there are very poor people, with many single mothers.
Everyone railed at the MMA supervisor because the Authority had built a bridge to the cemetery to transport the body of one of their own, a Mr. Primo, then removed it after the man’s funeral.  Residents contended that the need of a bridge there is pressing and the MMA should not have removed the bridge that they had built.  The Minister promised to speak to the MMA chairman about constructing a permanent bridge to the cemetery.
Mentioning several residential economic activities driven by Government working in collaboration with the people, which include poultry and saltfish projects, and a contract to nurture mangrove seedlings, the residents said these activities were severely constrained because of insufficient water supply.
Although the main roads are excellent, there were complaints about the quality of work done on the inter-connecting streets.  They also requested additional roadworks done to connect the main road to 5 acres of aquaculture farm being established aback of the community.
Drainage is another problem, and residents complained of the blockage of the access to the canal in front of the CDC office.
The MMA supervisor again came in for flak as villagers say the sluice attendants are not properly trained and the operation of the pumps are compromised as a result, which creates drainage problems in the community and the farms.
In response, London said  MMA took over responsibility of the area from the NDC with effect from 16th August and has since planned developmental works in three phases:  Phase one would be the cutlass phase, where manual labour would be used to clear drains and parapets et cetera;  phase two would entail the use of machinery to do heavier tasks; while phase three would deal with new streets and drains.  He informed the residents that it is a process in transition and changes would soon be evident.
Carlos Rodrigues, Project Development Manager of GWI, said the Ministry was aware of the problem and that initial assessments had already been done.  He promised that although the project had not been estimated for in the budget, incidental projects such as these that surface after the budget estimates have been presented, are prioritized according to criticality after preliminary assessments have been done, and that GWI would seek to execute these projects using their in-house stores that were provided through funding agencies.
About the roads, the Minister – who visited the areas discussed after the meeting, as well as the aquaculture project and farm to get a first-hand view, promised to speak with colleague Minister of Transport and Hydraulics Mr. Robeson Benn on the issue.
One burning issue that engaged everyone’s interest is the problems facing young people of the community.  The Minister advised that those who receive good passes at the CXC examinations should go to UG, because this is real empowerment, and for those who don’t but want to develop skills, even those who dropped out of school, the Kuru-Kuru tech voc training programme could provide skills training.
He informed them on the availability of student loans, which only have to be repaid after the student has graduated and obtained a job. When the villagers expressed surprise that these programmes were on offer and none of them knew about them, the Minister introduced to them the Youth and Sports Officer assigned to that Region, Barrington, and he was soundly upbraided for not doing his job well by making residents aware of these youth empowerment opportunities.
This lack of awareness on choices available to school-leavers necessitates school welfare officers, who could work with communities and parents so as to encourage a holistic approach to youth development and empowerment.
The Minister arranged, on the spot, for entry exams to be conducted for those desirous of tech-voc training at the Kuru-Kuru facility.
He also promised sporting gear, especially for football teams and a trophy for an inter-block competition; as well as a coach to assist with training.
The women also clamoured for facilitation of a domino club and competition and the Minister laughingly complied, also promising a trophy for a domino competition.  Lloyda Angus, President of the Community Development Council, was immediately appointed captain of the CDC domino team.
During Cabinet outreach, Ministers fan out to hear the concerns of residents of various communities, after which their subsequent reports are considered in Cabinet for possible resolution of the problems that surface during the engagements with residents of respective communities visited.
Last Friday’s Cabinet Outreach concluded at Bath with a presidential meeting, after which President Jagdeo interfaced with the people, who shared their concerns with him.