Some young men see visions and achieve them with prudent counsel

THE youngest Chairman of a National Democratic Council (NDC) that Guyana ever had is Mr. Jimmaul Bagot.

He was born 22 years ago in the village of was Beterverwagting (BV) on the East Coast of Demerara to Dianne Elizabeth Birkett and Calvin Birkett and is the brother of three sisters.

Chairman Bagot, as he is now known, so far has lived all his life in BV, where he attended the Primary School; he then qualified for the Bladen Hall Multilateral School, after which he pursued a Bachelor’s Degree at University of Guyana, graduating with a BSc at the age of 21.

This young man came into the spotlight in 2016 after he contested the Local Government Elections (LGE) as an independent candidate and against all odds, won a seat on the Beterverwagting/Triumph NDC. At that time he was only 19 years old.

Continued development
Chairman Bagot made major developmental impacts in his village and among then was pushing for the construction of roads in his constituency. He was also instrumental in the commissioning of the Sir Donald Jackson learning and Resource Centre.

Clearly recognising his potential and drive for the continued development of his community, as well as for other communities, he was encouraged to run for the top position of chairman, under the banner of the APNU+AFC. He did so willingly and came out victorious. He and his team of young and energetic peers managed to gain eight of the 18 seats, with the others being shared between the two other contestants.

Chairman Bagot, in an exclusive interview, told the Pepperpot Magazine that some of his plans for the BV/Triumph community have already begun to unfold. He stated that within the past three years BV has benefited from about five major roads renovation and construction. He said that specifically Market Street, Hendricks Street, National Walk, Surat Drive, as well as the BV main road – leading up to the Hendricks Street have all been done over. He posited that further roadworks will be continued from Hendricks Street, going downwards into Plantain walk.

Ministry of Public Telecommunications
“The Sir Donald Jackson Learning and Resource Centre is an E-Governance project, which is considered as a major infrastructural project that has been undertaken in the village of BV. This project was named after a former speaker of the Legislature of Guyana, who was a villager and also considered to be a major player within the community,” the chairman relayed.

He added that the resource centre was commissioned a few months ago and houses 35 computers; further explaining that the Ministry of Public Telecommunications provided free Internet and opened an ICT Hub as part of the resource centre. “However, we have not been opened for about three months now due to the LGE, as well as funding for the building,” he noted, saying that in the previous council he was pushing for the council to stand the cost of paying someone to work at the centre part-time, but has not been successful thus far.

“However, now the table has turned with me being at the helm of things here, now that am the captain of this ship I will make every effort to ensure that I am able to get things done to benefit of all the residents of our beautiful communities; both the young and old… I will now push for us to hire someone and pay that person or persons to open the centre and keep it open every afternoon,” he assured.

Chairman Bagot said that the services will be free and it will benefit everyone living in the BV/Triumph community, but persons outside of the area will have to pay a small fee. Adding that the NDC will give priority to school-aged children, university students and other young people, especially those who are studying and may gain directly from this service, he offered.

“And to add the icing to the cake, I am currently in talks with officials from the ministry of the Presidency to bring the STEM programme to the centre,” he added.

Major sports facilities
He said that another major project which the NDC intends to embark upon, with works starting as soon as March is the construction of a basketball court. This is as a result of a $7.7M grant from the Ministry of Communities. This grant is going to go towards the construction of a basketball court with solar lighting and a pavilion to compliment it.

This BV/Triumph playground, he said, is in response to the cries of the youths in the community for better sports and culture facilities. In this regard, he said the NDC is hoping that there would be sufficient funds left over for the construction of a multi-purpose parking lot within the playground, where they would also be able to set up table tennis facilities for use by villagers.

“Preserving the pride of our community”
Chairman Bagot said that in addition to sports and multi-purpose facilities, there are plans in place to use this year’s subvention towards the rehabilitation of a community centre – to rehabilitate and expand it.

“This particular community centre is like a monument to this community. A lot of the older folks would stop me on the road and they would tell me stories about the community centre…it brings a feeling of nostalgia when they talk about this community centre,” he stated.

He said that the previous councillors were suggesting that the centre is broken down and rebuilt in the playground. However, the Chairman said that he does not quite agree with them and think that it can be resuscitated.

“The reason is that it is like a monument in our community – 20, 30, 40 years ago the centre was the pride of the people of the community and I want to preserve it,” he reiterated.

RAID project
The Rural Agricultural Infrastructural Development (RAID) project is also another major project in which the BV/Triumph community has benefitted. He mentioned that currently, the works are moving at ‘a little slow but sure pace’ but indicated that there is already a commitment from the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) that they will start the clearing some lands soon and that they will work with the farmers they have.

He assured that though slow at start, the project will not fail – “we will see it through; we will work with whatever farmers we have now and I am optimistic that other farmers will come on board once the project starts and the MoA have already notified us that they have all the necessary resources for the BV/Triumph community and we would like to come in on this project,” added that the RAID project offers much scope for the people, he added.