….Prime Minister elated with citizens’ response at public day event

PRIME MINISTER Moses Nagamootoo has deemed the massive multi-ministry outreach—‘Bringing Government to the People’– a success, as thousands of Guyanese, eager to interface one-on-one with their ministers, turned out.

These individuals, many of whom showed up at the Square of the Revolution on Wednesday long before the starting time, also met with Permanent Secretaries; heads of agencies and other officials specialising in a cross range of fields.

“It has been a day for the people,” Prime Minister Nagamootoo commented during his visit to the site. “This is people’s day. They would’ve come out here and met their ministers [and] would have spoken to various ministers of government and various government departments on their concerns. There’s a very active interaction here between people who have a problem and have a need, who want to speak to a government official either for advice or to find a solution,” the Prime Minister told this newspaper in an invited comment.

He highlighted that the ministerial outreach is nothing new as, when the government first took office three years ago, it began conducting open days to “touch base with the common people.” “You shouldn’t force people to come to the government; the government must go to the people and you should have decentralising of functions; you should have a spread out in the rural as well as the hinterland areas of government services…this government has really set an example of the devolution of authority; the decentralisation and the taking services to the people,” Nagamootoo said.

Meanwhile, Vice President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock referred to the event as “refreshing” and as something that is necessary to truly bring the Government to the people. “While we might not have been able to satisfy everyone, I think the day was short but we got a lot of work done especially in the housing area and natural resources.

Generally, all the Ministries here were occupied and, I think, what may have to happen is that we will have to keep this on a more regular basis; reaching out to the other Regions; spending more time with the people even taking Cabinet into those areas so that we get a feel of what is happening on the ground and advise on how things can be done better for everyone,” Allicock said.

Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, commented: “I’m very happy that we pulled this off. It was on the schedule from since 2018 but with the pressing issues that we faced with the Opposition’s no-confidence motion and the spin off effects, we couldn’t have one.”

He expressed pleasure with the magnitude of the outreach sharing sentiments that a similar outreach to other Regions may soon be necessary. “To our surprise, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), they’re demanding that we go to Region Six in this fashion. The people of Region Six said this to us and we will be in Region Six in a similar fashion to bring government to the people and we’re happy that the people reacted in the manner they did today,” Sharma said.

Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton also expressed his appreciation for the event and its large turnout. “I think that was an excellent opportunity for persons to come and get their problems solved or at least aired almost immediately,” he said.
“I was informed of situations that have been existing– which concern my Ministry— for some time, even before we came in to the Administration. But we were able to arrive at some conclusion and resolve problems. If it’s necessary, I think we should repeat the whole process again.”

All Government Ministries were present in their numbers on Wednesday while other accompanying Departments including Citizenship; Housing; Public Information and Public Service. Agencies attending included the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC); Guyana Water Inc. (GWI); Guyana Power and Light (GPL); Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC); Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA); Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC); Mayor and City Council (M&CC); National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and GO-INVEST.