THE Region 2 administration is badly in need of heavy-duty machinery for the drainage and irrigation department and sea defence because when there is a breach, the region incurs millions of dollars to hire machinery from contractors. 

In the past, there were many machines in this region, such as combines, draglines, bulldozers, graders, lorries ,rollers , excavators, etc. and a workshop to repair and maintain these machines. Today this region is without a dragline to dig the canals and the wide road trenches, the same can be said for the drainage and irrigation department, there is no bulldozer to grade and maintain the rice farmers’ dam to improve the levels of production.
The sea defence had an engineer and a full crew of workers and maintenance work was carried out round the clock to protect the sea from coming inwards,with many Essequibians being employed on these projects. When Dr Cheddi Jagan assumed office in 1992, he assured us that he would continue on the same path. We, in this region is faced with the reality of some 60 percent below the poverty line,40 percent jobless, brain drain, and a lack of institutional administration capacity
All the projects are being contracted out and only a few Essequibians are being employed with these contractors. The contractors have milked Region 2 of much of its resources with shady works. This is the classical debt trap whereby the more we pay the more we owe. These contractors have been taking too much of our scarce resources. We must return to the days when government will have a minimum say of employment and the reasons we advance for adopting one or another position must be how it affects the Essequibians, and not whether it is considered to be for or against the interests of the government.
We need to know what skills the people in our region have and whether they are being fully utilised; who is in need of training or further training; how we can make use of the social arrangements in our region for productive activities; what natural resources we have and how we can organise to make beneficial use of them. We need to identify and evaluate the administrative and management systems which we have. Are they adequate for the purpose for which they were set up? Can they be improved? Can they be made to contribute maximally to the development effort?
When we are fully aware of the facts; when we have identified and assessed the economic potential of our region; when we have given thought to ways and means of making the fullest use of this potential, then we would have geared ourselves for the task of liberating and developing the productive forces. The knowledge and insights gained from evaluating our assets would compel us to formulate a programme of action designed to achieve a four-fold objective,to make better use of the investments we already have, to increase the links within and between productive sectors, to increase our productive capacity generally and to develop a sound technological base.
But here we are speaking of selling off our jobs to private contractors and creating unemployment for the majority of Essequibians.Some people in the government are very aggressively advocating divestment of some areas of drainage and irrigation department, road maintenance, sea defence department etc.
Our people must take a dispassionate look at this issue and not be overwhelmed by those who take such a position, whether from an ideological standpoint or because their friends and families stand to gain.

MOHAMED KHAN