…Rohee calls project ‘the real justice for
THE Ministry of Local Government and the United Nations Development Programme yesterday launched its Community Development Programme and Houses of Justice Facilities in about 20 communities across the country in a move that is geared to better bring services to the people and enhance local democratic governance.
The communities are Bagotsville, La Grange, Stewartville, Uitvlugt and Zeelugt/Tuschen in Region Three; Ann’s Grove/Two Friends, Bee Hive/Clonbrook, Foulis, Paradise, and Victoria in Region Four; Bush Lot, Hopetown, Trafalgar/Union in Region Five, Alness/Ulverston, Palmyra/No.2, Sheet Anchor/Cumberland in Region Six; and Canvas City/Half Mile, No. 58/Great Falls, Wiruni, and Wisroc/Block 22 in Region Ten.
Speaking at the launch at the Guyana Pegasus Hotel, Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee, delivering the feature address, said, “Today we are creating another space in our country for the dispensation of social justice. To some people, social justice is a rather vague term, without meaning, unless there is something in it that means something to people and provides them with an opportunity or a service to make them move on with their lives.”
“These House of Justices or Houses of Justice will represent a popular dispensation of justice that will see the application of new and innovative forms of this justice for all. Now when I say justice for all, I mean justice for all in the real sense, not the justice for all that we see on TV. Maybe this House of Justice programme will see an end to that justice for all because we will, in the true sense of the word, be delivering justice to all, not electronically, but in actual life,” Rohee said.
The minister said that for many people, the justice they seek on a daily basis, on many matters, is not the justice that is necessarily dispensed in a courtroom. He said what they need is a listening ear, consolation or advice, and these are what the House of Justice will give to the people who seek their services.
“Those in authority must come down from their ivory towers and deal with the people on the ground,” he said. “Some of these people hide from people who have problems to solve. They wake up in the morning at six o’clock before the people come out, and they return after six pm when the people already at home, so people don’t see them, but they claim to be exercising authority over the people; and it is these people who the common people seek out for justice; and unfortunately, some of these people who should be dispensing justice cannot take criticism,” the minister said.
“These Houses of Justice, in our view, based on the experiences and examples we have seen in Latin American countries, such as Colombia, are the places where these officials are expected to be seated, representing the various ministries which will be partnering with the Ministry of Local Government to provide a service to the people,” he said.
He noted the Houses of Justice are expected to cater to the deficiencies in the formal system. He said that the persons who serve in the Houses of Justice are expected to serve the interest of the people and not serve themselves.
“The Houses of Justice are not being established to create another rung in the bureaucracy, because bureaucracy sometimes frustrates, and many times, kills,” the minister said. “If this works, it means that Guyana would have gone a far way in enhancing governance at the local level, throughout the length and breadth of Guyana,” he said.
He said the aim of the Houses of Justice is to reduce the length of time it takes to obtain a particular service and also to reduce the cost to the consumer for that service.
“There is a section of the media that has no interest in initiatives of this kind,” he said, urging all the participants to go back to their respective communities and “spread the gospel” about these Houses of Justice.
“I think the overwhelming majority of our people will recognise this initiative as a welcome [one],” he said, adding that it complements some of what is being done in the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Citizen’s Security Programme.
UNDP Resident Representative, Chisa Mikami, explained that the project is a part of the UNDP’s Enhanced Public Trust and Security Initiative. “It is a fairly sizeable democratic governance project which is funded with support from other donors, like the UK Department for International Development (DfID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the European Union.”
“UNDP is responsible for its implementation together with our partners. The project has several partners, including the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport; the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security; and Non-Governmental Organisations. The project’s main focus area is twofold: youth employment, empowerment; and livelihood and promoting social cohesion and community dialogue. Our mandate in local democratic governance project is to support government and community members, promote peace and reconciliation at the local levels,” she said.
“We support consensus-building at the community level [to promote trust],” the UNDP (ai) said.
Nigel Dharamlall, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, said that the EPTSI project is one that fits “snugly” into the mandate of his ministry. “It brings improved governance and community driven actions into the mainstream, [with] local people taking ownership of their development,” he said.
“The project takes account of the economic conditions of our villages: unemployment, standard of living, the social conditions, domestic violence, child abuse and a host of other things,” he said.
Marlon Fraser of the Hopetown Support Group, one of the project groups, expressed his appreciation to the UNDP and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development for selecting his community to be a part of the project. “We have identified illiteracy, drug and alcohol abuse as some of the social ills in our community. Our project has this component and we intend to have a library and [offer] computer training, because we realise that the world is advancing in technology and many in the community are not necessarily interested in furthering their technology skills. We think computer training is one of the key components. We also have numeracy and literacy training as one of the main components of our project,” Fraser said.
“We intend to target two often marginalised groups: youth and women. So a part of all our training programmes will include youth and women. We also expect to develop our community centre ground. We are really happy that we came on board with this project because we have begun to dream; and after this collaborative effort with UNDP and Ministry of Local Government, we will be able to further continue this work,” said Fraser.
All of the communities that are a part of the programme also received desktop computers through the funding that the project provided to them.