ONE of the notable characteristics of the APNU+AFC coalition government is its interest in local communities and local government. The local government elections which took place last month was the second held since the new government assumed office.

The voter turnout was about 40% of the registered voters and this was regarded as low when compared to the national elections over the last 50 years when the average turnout was about 80%. Despite this comparatively low turnout, the elections resulted in a number of very positive features. In the first place, it lit the flame of local government in the rural communities and these communities began to again be conscious of their local problems and felt renewed hope that these problems would be positively addressed and solved.

It re-established the cycle of local government elections which had been absent for over two decades and it is now most unlikely that these elections will ever again fall into desuetude. Most importantly, the entire political establishment had an awakened interest in local government and committed themselves to fundamentally solving local problems, since the achievment of political success at the national level became clearly linked with political success at the local level.

In time-honoured Guyanese style, we always try to go back to the genesis of issues and accordingly went back to the beginning of local government in Guyana, which was a proud and interesting one. It began with what is known to historians as the “Village Movement.”
When final emancipation of the plantation slaves came in 1838 with the end of the Apprenticeship System, the now freedmen, most of whom were born in the colony– though among them there were still a fair number of Africa-born– decided to leave the plantations and set themselves up in a life of freedom and independence. The decision to leave the plantation was not an easy one, since it was fraught with the risk of being hurled into abject poverty.

In the plantation there was a level of economic security which they would have to renounce. And also, the savings they had painstakingly made from the very low wages they received during the Apprenticeship System and the money accumulated from the Sunday Markets which the slaves were permitted to conduct, could all have been lost in trying to buy and develop land. Yet, they courageously took the challenge.

Fortunately, just at this time, many plantation owners were convinced that with the emancipation of the slaves, the economy of the colony would be irretrievably ruined and so they abandoned their estates. It was these estates that the freedmen who were moving away from their plantations were able to buy as co-operative ventures.

The first estate which was bought was Northbrook on the East Coast of Demerara which was renamed “Victoria” in honour of Queen Victoria during whose reign the Emancipation Act was passed. Victoria Village celebrated its 179th Anniversary last month and was the first such village the freedmen had established.

The freedmen were far more talented than anyone, least of all the planter class, would have suspected. They immediately began laying out the streets, house lots, cultural and educational centres, drainage, and farming lands. And in a short while they built their homes and began farming. They performed a revolution of creative and cooperative self- help.

Other villages began to immediately follow in their footsteps. President David Granger who is a historian in his own right understood how important a part these villages played in the economic and social development of 19th century Guyana and realised that the ethos, approach and techniques of economic and social development which these freedmen used could be resuscitated in modern Guyana and with modifications, used in creating a better life for all. He has therefore emphatically declared that village and rural development in all its facets is now an important part of the policies of the APNU+AFC government.

At the 179th Anniversary celebrations of the establishment of Victoria Village, Hon Basil Williams, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, was guest speaker. In his address, Mr Williams touched on the reasons for the success of the Village Movement and the creative life it had evolved and manifested. It was on the basis of these achievements and the spirit which infused them that President Granger proposed to build the new local government policy.

Mr Williams, in his address, recaptured the flavour of life in these villages: “African-Guyanese established homes, farms and economic enterprises in these villages. Households maintained kitchen gardens, farms produced fruits, ground provisions and these products were sold in the markets. Micro-businesses such as bakeries, clothing stores, retail shops, cottage industries and parlours mushroomed.

Artisans, including blacksmiths, tinsmiths, painters, carpenters, cobblers and joiners honed their trades within the villages. . . The imperative of working together to provide common services spawned human and communal solidarity; villages developed a spirit of oneness. Everybody knew everyone else; they supported each other in times of distress and sorrow. They practised self-help and worked collectively for the benefit of the community. Elders were respected. People helped one another. These are the values around which community life should be revived”. We fully endorse government’s local government policy and the spirit infusing it.