THE chairman and vice-chairman for the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) of Kwakwani, Region 10 were sworn in on Thursday at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) in Linden by Regional Executive Officer, Gavin Clarke.The chairman elected is Merna Adrian, while the vice- chairman is Kelvin Daly. They are both councillors representing the A Partner for National Unity+ Alliance for Change Coalition.
The swearing-in came after intervention from the Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan, following a tie at internal elections held last December.
The tie occurred since one of the APNU+AFC councillors voted in favour of the independent group Kwakwani United for Progress (KUFP) when the position of chairman was being contested.
There were originally seven APNU+AFC and five KUFP councillors on the NDC, but during the elections, both groups received six votes. Two APNU+AFC councillors tied for the Vice-Chairman position. They were Carl Liverpool and Kelvin Daly.
Competing for the chairmanship were Merna Adrian of the APNU+AFC and Juanita Leacock of the KUFP. Adrian and Daly served as councillors in the previous Council and told this publication that the minister deemed it fitting that they return to serve in the same capacity.
Chairman Merna Adrian said she plans to work to the best of her ability for the community and she is proud of what the Council achieved under her chairmanship in 2016.
“In 2017, we have a lot of plans, drainage, road projects and other small things that we plan to do since we are looking at great development for Kwakwani,” she said.
Vice-Chairman Daly, in an invited comment, told Guyana Chronicle that the NDC is seeking assistance from the RDC as development will only come through collaboration. He said the community is in need of help in many areas.
“Our community is in a dying state, we really need some strong councillors to get our community going,” he posited.
Daly highlighted that some of the major challenges are in public infrastructure, including drainage and roads. While these are paramount, the schools and hospital are also in need of assistance.
He said the community is grateful to the Ministry of Infrastructure for allowing the Council to garner 31 per cent of the funds from the communities crossing barge. This, he said is used to pay workers and to take care of other necessary expenses. The Council also receives a subvention of $3M from Central Government, which is used towards community projects.
