By Svetlana Marshall

“BIGA is no match for the APNU+AFC,” Bartica Interim Management Committee (IMC) Chairman Gifford Marshall has said.The Bartica Green Independence Alliance (BIGA) is one of the groups challenging the APNU+AFC Coalition in Friday’s Local Government Elections in the emerging town of Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). According to critics in Bartica, BIGA, which is being led by former Region Seven Chairman Holbert Knights, is proving to be a major challenge for the ruling coalition.

But during an interview with Guyana Chronicle on Saturday, Marshall brushed aside this assertion. “BIGA is not a threat to the APNU+AFC,” he opined, “and I don’t even see it being a threat to the People’s Progressive Party.”

Marshall is the Leader of Team Integrity – a local group contesting the Local Government Elections under the umbrella of the APNU+AFC Coalition, in all nine constituencies in Bartica in both the First-Past-the-Post and Proportional Representation (PR) components of the elections.

“Our history will show that Bartica was failed by Barticians,” the IMC Chairman added, but declined from disclosing the names of the perceived failures.

SELF-INTEREST
According to Marshall, “Several individuals had an opportunity to develop Bartica, but instead of fostering growth within the community, they pursued their own interest.” He said that, unlike those individuals, the APNU+AFC coalition, at the level of the IMC, has been transforming all the sectors of Bartica, in keeping with President David Granger’s vision to transform Bartica into the country’s first ‘green town’.

“When we entered office, less than four months ago, the roads were in a deplorable state; but that has changed, because we would have repaired a number of roads in Byderabo and other areas,” he pointed out.

Marshall added that, for many years, the Bartica Municipal Market had gone without a signboard, but this issue has been addressed with a sign being erected.

“We have restored the monument at First Avenue Bartica. We restored the parks, and within days we will commission the first playground in the West Indian Housing Scheme,” Marshall said, as he pointed to the many projects executed by the APNU+AFC-led IMC.

In addition to those projects, the IMC continues to clear drains and parapets of unwanted vegetation. Garbage bags have also been distributed to governmental and non-governmental

organisations, and garbage receptacles have been installed at key locations.

The Chairman and other local leaders were in discussion on Saturday with the Guyana Water Incorporated’s (GWI) Chief Executive Officer, Dr Richard Van West-Charles, on a possible solution to the challenges facing residents in Byderabo and Five Miles, Bartica. Residents in those areas have been without water for a number of weeks, and GWI and the IMC have agreed to supply those residents with water once per week, using water tanks until a long-term solution could be put in place.

“The changes in Bartica are visible…and as an APNU representative, I am confident that we will win this election, because the residents of Bartica, I am sure, would like to see this progress continue,” the IMC Chairman said.

He added: “Putting aside political interest, putting aside personalities and all other issues, persons will recognise that Team Integrity is the best team to take Bartica forward”.

Knights, on the other hand, had told the Guyana Chronicle that BIGA was formed in November 2015 as a direct response to President Granger’s call for transformation of Bartica into a ‘green town’.

During a recent visit to Bartica, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, and Minister of Social Cohesion, Amna Ally, cleared the air on this issue.

Minister Trotman told residents that in everything in life there is order.

“I accept that there is one Supreme God…and there is one Government; there is one President; there is one party in power; there is one Opposition against the party in power; and if there is any other group standing with that Opposition, it is against the Government,” the Natural Resources Minister said, as he set the record straight.

“Know who you are and what you stand for…” he told residents while stating that there is one vision, one team, and in the end there will be one victory.

“Those who believe otherwise, stand aside; join the forces of darkness, join the forces of division, join the forces of the Opposition, but don’t say that you are with the Government but you are with the Opposition,” Trotman said.

Minister Ally reminded that the coalition’s symbol is the hand in the key, and stated clearly that APNU+AFC is a national coalition with competent representatives in all regions of the country.

“I am proud to acknowledge that our local leaders here are working assiduously to make Bartica a place where you are proud of. Already, you are seeing the transformation of Bartica from what it used to be…,” she pointed out.

She said that while it is a good thing to aspire for power and upward mobility, such aspiration must be done in unity.

“We extended the olive branch, for a little group who call themselves BIGA to unite with us, but it did not happen. But today, I call on all Bartica to unite, because in unity there is strength,” Minister Ally said, while imploring all to join the APNU+AFC.