…gov’t ministers urge Indigenous population

THE A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government should be given an opportunity to complete the good work it has started, Minister of Social Protection Amna Ally said as she interacted with residents of St. Ignatius, Quarrie and Nappi on Friday, when the government rolled out a massive Ministerial Outreach in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).

As she addressed more than 200 residents under the St. Ignatius benab, Minister Ally said in under four years, the APNU+AFC government has made significant strides in the areas of education, infrastructural development, health, agriculture, information and Communication Technology (ICT) and women and youth employment, among other critical areas.

“I want to ask you, St. Ignatius, to give this government a chance to continue along the track of development. We need to complete what we started,” Ally told the residents to a loud round of applause. She said while the coalition government does not believe in holding onto power, it believes in providing services to the people regardless of their geographical location within the country. The Social Protection Minister, who is no stranger to St. Ignatius, said that it is the intention of the coalition government to provide that “good life” to all Guyanese in keeping with the vision of President David Granger.

In pointing to the developments in the education sector in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) district, the minister said it was not so long ago that the APNU+AFC government commissioned a 30-seater bus in Lethem to transport children to school. Fifty children were also presented with bicycles. While these gestures may seem insignificant in the eyes of some, it is significant for the children of Lethem and neighbouring communities such as St. Ignatius and Nappi, who in the past had to trek miles, sometimes during hard weather conditions, to reach their schools. Additionally, schools have been built in some villages, while others have been repaired and upgraded to include modern technologies.

Ally said an investment in education is an investment in the development of the country, and government will continue to focus on human resource development.

“We believe in our young people, we want to educate them, we want to have more doctors and nurses and people in high offices; so one of our focus is to advance our work in education,” the Social Protection Minister told residents.

She said while the previous People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration had handed out $10,000 cash grants, but it finished within days and before parents knew it, their children were faced with the same issues they had prior to the grant. According to her, the solutions being provided to children and their parents in the area of education and social services, are long term.

Turning her attention to women and youth empowerment, Minister Ally said the Ministry of Social Protection has been implementing the Sustainable Livelihoods and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Programme. Ally said this year, Region Nine would see an intensification of the SLED initiative with a number of young, promising men and women in the line-up to benefit.

According to her, the Social Protection Ministry has already received business proposals to the tune of millions of dollars. The economic ventures, she noted, will see persons being financially empowered. In Moco Moco and Aranaputa, entrepreneurs who have already gotten their projects approved, are operating block-making machines to meet the demands of the growing construction industry.

“If you are empowered and you can make money then you will have that good life, a better life,” Ally assured the residents. The SLED programme is just one of the many programmes and projects in place that are empowering the young people of the country.

“With Guyana less than a year away from first-oil, the opposition has become even more power drunk and has as its mantra, greed, but it is the intention of government to transform the lives of the people,” Ally said. “Give this government a chance to continue along the track of development,” she implored the residents.

Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes, who ever so often frequents the Rupununi, told residents that the region has experienced explosive developments in the area of ICT as in the case of other parts of the country in keeping with the vision of President Granger.

Under the stewardship of President Granger, laptops were given to teachers under the One Laptop Per Teacher Programme to aid in the execution of their studies and duties. But the Granger administration did not stop there, Hughes said, noting that the government took a decision to provide internet access to all the government buildings and within schools.
“So we have connected almost 350 primary schools and secondary schools, and also we connected the teachers’ training college, the school of agriculture, and all these different places. Then we recognised in many places, citizens don’t have the opportunity to have internet at their homes, and so we decided to establish ICT hubs,” Minister Hughes detailed. Last week, the Telecommunications Ministry opened the 172nd ICT hub.

When the PPP administration exited Office in May 2015, it left the people of Guyana with a failed $1.3B fibre-optic cable project. Minister Hughes said the project was intended to provide citizens with more telephone and internet services, but it never materialised despite a hefty investment. Today, in the case of Lethem and neighbouring communities, both the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) and Digicel Guyana have towers in place. To complement the services being provided by those telephone giants, the APNU+AFC government has moved to rehabilitate a tower which was left languishing with all its batteries and solar panels since 2012. Within weeks, the National Data Management Authority will launch the tower to provide additional internet service.

“I am happy to say the guys finally got that tower up and working and we got new batteries, which means over the next couple of weeks more places right here in Lethem and the outskirts, will be able to have better internet access,” Hughes said to loud rounds of applause.

Minister Dawn Hastings-Williams and Region Three Regional Executive Officer (REO) Jennifer Ferreira-Dougall, Toshao of St. Ignatius, Denis Benedick and Deputy Toshao of St. Ignatius Muacir Baretto, were among the officials present. Minister Ally and team presented the residents with farming equipment, sports gear and in the case of Baretto, a motocycle to enable him to carry out his duties.