– PM, five ministers in Region Nine to lay out development plans

By Alva Solomon
GOVERNMENT plans to ensure Lethem and other Region Nine communities benefit from accelerated development, as plans are afoot to convert the problematic Linden/Lethem road into an all-weather roadway.This is according to Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo, who led a team of government officials to the border community Saturday on a weekend outreach. The Prime Minister was accompanied

by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon; Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Minister of Social Protection, Volda Lawrence; Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix; and Minister within the Ministry of Housing, Valerie Patterson.
The high- level team met with residents at the Tabatinga Ground, on the outskirts of Central Lethem where scores of residents from nearby and from the outskirts of the community converged to interact with the government team.
The Prime Minister told residents that the Rupununi has received very good allocations in this year’s budget. He said that there are many streets, roadways, bridges and other forms of infrastructure which will be given attention in this year’s budget.
“In fact, the Minister of [Public] Infrastructure has told me that as soon as the first budget [2015] got out they have started to repair the bridges and fix some of the bad spots from Linden to come up here,” he noted. He said the government expects to push the Brazil road this year to convert it into a perfect all- weather highway and this will bring economic benefits to the region.
“I want you to know that our government has placed great emphasis with linking up Guyana with South America,” the Prime Minister added, noting that he attended the MERCUSOR conference in Paraguay recently and the government has discussed that it can move Region Nine into the direction of development faster if it links with the South American countries for investors to develop industries and create jobs in the border community at Lethem.
“So there are great plans for you in this region”, he noted, to loud cheers from the residents.
He said the outreach demonstrated that the government is interested in reaching out to citizens.
He said while the government wishes to listen to the complaints of residents, at barely nine months since it took office, it has been a feature of government to reach out to the people.
“We want to establish in Guyana what is called an open government partnership,” he said. He noted that the government is open and it cannot makes the strides it wishes to do if it did not have the partnership of the people.
He said the meeting Saturday was open to anyone to speak with the officials from various ministries and that they would give an open ear.
He noted that the government has established early into its term, a system of meeting the people, noting that he has appointed five persons to liaise with residents of five areas and his office. He said a similar contact will be established for the Lethem area to look into issues such as birth certificates.
“I’m here and looking still for a representative of Region Nine “, Nagamootoo noted, adding that the person will communicate with his office in the city. He said too that the issuing of passports in the region is being actively pursued.
He said the last nine months have been challenging for the government , noting that it may not have achieved as much as it wished last year . However, he said that for the first time in over 25 years, a $230B budget was presented in January.
“We are now presenting in the parliament two budgets within five months, because [in] the first one we didn’t get to fulfil all the promises that we had made during the elections,” he said , noting that this year’s budget was drafted early in order for the government to carry out its mandate.
Waiver for gun licences
Meanwhile, residents of the region and other hinterland communities may benefit from a waiver on the rates for gun licences. Government announced in this year’s budget that the fees would increase.
Nagamootoo said that he spoke on the issue of hunting and gun licences with Minister of Public Security Khemraj Ramjattan and Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Sydney Allicock.
Regional Chairman Bryan Allicock reminded the residents that it was the first occasion that six ministers of government were present in the region at once.
He said that the people of the Rupununi are a special people and he noted that the region is always leading in development. He said the new government has provided an opportunity to advance more, noting that he was happy that the government is concerned about the infrastructural development which is needed in the region.
Radio Lethem
Meanwhile, Radio Lethem, the community’s first radio station is expected to be on air later this year and plans are afoot to broadcast in time for this year’s Golden Jubilee celebrations to mark Guyana’s 50th Independence anniversary on May 26, this year.
Prime Minister Nagamootoo noted that since he was Minister of Local government in 1995/96 that the issue of a radio station being established at Lethem to serve the community was on the table. The project was announced during the budget debate two weeks ago.
Dr Rovin Deodat , who is working on the project, noted that it was one of the dreams of many to hear Lethem on the air, with the technology and the personnel and programmes to support such a venture. He said the project can be done, noting that it can be done as quickly as possible. To this end, he announced during the meeting that it would be able to connect to the National Communications Network (NCN) in the city.
Meanwhile, Nagamootoo and the government officials stopped off at Annai, where they met the loved ones of those who perished in a fatal accident two weeks ago. The Prime Minister said that the government officials, including Ministers David Patterson and Winston Felix, looked at the roadway and discussed what levels of safety can be implemented on the roadways at Annai in light of the recent accident.
The team of officials is expected to travel to areas around the region this weekend to discuss issues affecting residents.