By Tajeram Mohabir

WITH Local Government Elections (LGE) just weeks away, and Region Two gearing up for the long-delayed occasion, APNU/AFC representative Mark McLean is urging residents to “take a stand for development.”Currently the Chair of the Anna Regina Interim Management Committee, Mr McLean is contesting for a seat on the Anna Regina Town Council. Originally a member of the People’s National Congress (PNC), the businessman has spent more than 30 years of his life on the Essequibo Coast.He told the Guyana Chronicle that he grew up on the Essequibo Coast, and has first-hand knowledge of its problems, particularly of the challenges facing the La Belle Alliance/Richmond area, from where he hails.

McLean, also a counsellor, said that over the years there have been earnest attempts at development in the region, but much more can be done. Drainage, he said, has for years been a serious problem in the region, and the attempts made to fix it have been piecemeal at best.

A situation that has existed for the past couple of years, the IMC Chair said, is that when it rains the township of Anna Regina gets flooded. He said that situation never previously existed. He thinks that the heart of the problem is poor drainage and dereliction of duty by regional officials.

McLean said that, in many areas in the township, persons have built stop-offs (earthen bridges) with either no pipe through them or with pipes as narrow as six inches, or sometimes four inches in diameter. In some cases, he said, it is difficult to identify the trench from the road.

“When it rains a bit heavy, (there are) problems in the town, (because the rainfall creates) a sad state of affairs. The town is flooded out, and the situation (becomes complicated), as many of the trenches are not clean, allowing for the smooth passage of water.”

If elected, Mr McLean said, he would be in a better position to address the problem of poor drainage; encroachment on reserves; and unemployment, suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, which are worrying problems in the region.

SEVERELY FLAWED
This businessman is contending that the way the region has been handling the problem of suicide is severely flawed.

“We don’t need vigils to address suicide; what we need to do is to get resource persons out in the fields, go house-to-house and meaningfully engage social support organisations; not sit in the office and wait on people with problems to come to you. This is a lazy and uninspiring way to address a serious matter, which is a national problem,” a passionate McLean said.

He said that, given the number of persons on the Essequibo Coast who have become victims of the scourge this year, the region should, as a matter of urgency, set up a suicide hotline to respond promptly to the depressed.

McLean also plans to initiate small agro-processing projects by tapping into donor funding to generate employment among the poor and vulnerable in the township. He is urging residents to put their community first, and vote on issues, and not party loyalty.

READY
Over at the PPP office at Anna Regina, former Region Two Vice Chairman, Vishnu Samaroo, who now serves as supervisor of that office, said the oldest political movement in Guyana will launch “an all-out campaign.”

The PPP is contesting all five of the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and the municipality in the region. He said the PPP’s List of Candidates submitted on January 26 had some minor errors, but those errors have been corrected, and the party is ready to face the electorate.

Mr Samaroo said party members contesting for places in the NDCs and municipality will shortly put their manifestos to the people, and will be ramping up public and bottom house meetings.

He said some of the burning issues facing the region include low and slow payments to rice farmers, lack of irrigation water, and the generally poor shape of the rice industry.

“The PPP has never wavered (in its commitment to the people), and will continue to champion the cause of the people,” Mr Samaroo said, as he criticised the decision of House Speaker Dr Barton Scotland to turn down a motion to debate the state of the rice industry in the National Assembly.

According to Samaroo, the Speaker had ruled that the issue was a private matter, but Samaroo’s opinion of the ruling is erroneous. The Speaker had ruled that although the matter is one of national importance, it did not fit all the criteria to be considered as being of urgent national importance.

The PPP had asked that the issues facing the industry, as stated in the motion, be treated as a matter of urgent national importance, and had also expressed public disagreement with the Speaker’s ruling.

Mr Samaroo said the loss of the Venezuelan market has contributed to the reduction in prices farmers receive for their rice, and some millers have capitalised on this situation and have refused to pay farmers a decent price for their paddy.