– among big plans of new Bartica Town Council, says mayor

CAPACITY- BUILDING for councillors and members of the Bartica Town Council and green sensitisation are among top priorities outlined by the Bartica Town Council during their first statutory meeting last week.

Mayor Gifford Marshall explained that Bartica is still a relatively new municipality and council members are also new to their various roles. He said whatever the council does will have an impact on Bartica and its people.

It is against that backdrop that the council agreed to conduct training sessions with facilitators from the Ministry of Communities and other resource personnel; this is to ensure that they are fully equipped to successfully fulfil their mandates.

“Most of the persons who served on the first council are out, and we now have basically a new council, with only four persons reappearing. So, we want to improve our service to the people of Bartica; thus, we believe capacity-training is of utmost importance,” Marshall said.

In addition to capacity-building sessions for the leaders, the team pointed out the need for continuous sensitisation of Barticans on the green initiative, so that they can have a full understanding of the vision and the roles they have to play.

“We would have struggled over the last two and a half years with getting the residents to understand the vision, understand what “greening” is all about, and the direction in which the council is moving. Unfortunately, when persons hear the term “green,” they think of a political party or they think about just planting trees. So there is need for us to have greater sensitisation for our people, because we need all of the residents on board with taking good care of our environment and improving the aesthetics of the township,” the mayor stressed.

He said the council is introducing renewable energy, among other green programmes to the town and there is need for residents to buy into these projects, and as such, sensitisation will be key in this area.

The mayor also posited that two other main target areas on which the new council will be focusing are education and event tourism.

“Education is the backbone of our society, so we want to build on that and ensure that the people’s capacity is built as well, so we will continue to invest in education. Another area we see the municipality benefiting significantly from is event tourism. We have envisioned that event tourism can give us a major boost. With religious organisations and even secular groups coming to Bartica to host various activities, recreational activities, and we can offer a very good package of overland tours to waterfalls and a number of other sites,” he said.
The council will assume responsibility for managing the 2019 Bartica Easter Regatta. This, Mayor Marshall believes, can be used as a tool to improve their tourism package and a platform to promote and sensitise persons on “greening.”

“There are a number of initiatives that need to be unveiled and will be in due time. We assure the people that infrastructural developments will continue, as well as other sectoral developments. I am confident in this new council, the vision and ideas brought to the table are nothing short of exceptional and overtime, the people will see our plans and promises be fulfilled,” the mayor said.