Gov’t accelerating decentralisation of public services
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, speaking with officials at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board at the Berbice Government Outreach on Tuesday
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, speaking with officials at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board at the Berbice Government Outreach on Tuesday

MINISTER of State Joseph Harmon on Tuesday reiterated the government’s position on pushing for the decentralisation of services and the empowerment of local authorities as he addressed participants and officials at a Government Outreach at the University of Guyana’s Tain Campus in Berbice.

Harmon and several other government ministers had booths of their respective ministries set up so as to give persons a chance of meeting one-on-one with them and and other public officials and air their concerns. Harmon reminded his audience that the day’s event was all about taking the government to the people. “This exercise is part of us taking public services from the office to the place where people reside,” he said, adding: “And this has been on our programme since we came into office [in 2015]. We have actually decentralised several government offices.”

Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin (right) meeting with some of the persons who attended Tuesday’s Government Outreach in Berbice (Photos by Adrian Narine)

He said that “with the introduction of the new township, we have decentralised government services, and where we cannot establish offices, we bring offices from Georgetown to them. So that’s what we are doing here. Here in Berbice, we just set up an office of the Lands and Survey Commission, and soon we are going to open a Passport and Immigration office.”

Minister Harmon told his audience that the Berbice leg of the government outreach was the third of its kind to be held for the year, with the first being held in Region Nine (UpperTakutu-Upper Essequibo) in the Rupununi, followed by their second in Georgetown last month, which saw thousands of persons in attendance. The outreach is being coordinated by the Ministry of the Presidency.

When done with his booth, Minister Harmon toured those of the other ministers where he spoke with his colleagues and other officials. Dealing with housing matters, the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) was one of the more popular booths of the day, while the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) also saw its fair share of visitors, each of whom had issues to be resolved.

Amputee Le Roy Rose was one of the attendees at the outreach who was satisfied that he got his matter resolved. He left the NIS booth happy that he was able to have an issue affecting his pension addressed. Rose, who turned 60 in February, had done his paperwork to begin receiving his NIS pension, but there was an issue with his contribution for a particular year.

In 1997, Rose was on leave from the Guyana Defence Force (GDF),when he started a new job at another company, and as such ended up making two payments for those months he was on leave but still working at another job and it was stalling the process. He was happy that he was able to get the issue resolved.

“I am very happy that they cleared up all the doubts I have, and they told me that within a week time, I should check with them,” Rose said, adding: “I have attained the age of 60 in February, but since last December I filled out all the necessary forms. They said the earlier the better. After getting no response I decided to come.”

MORE ICT HUBS
Meanwhile, interest in establishing even more Information Communication Technology (ICT) hubs and having small businesses registered with the Small Business Bureau were some of the matters dealt with by the Ministry of Telecommunications and Ministry of Business. Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) currently has some 40 ICT hubs that were set up by the National Data Management Authority (NDMA), accounting for a small number of the overall 174 hubs currently in existence across the country.

Minister of Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes (left), interacting with some visitors to the government outreach on Tuesday

The goal of the ICT hub programme, however, is to have some 426 hubs established across the country within the next few years. ICT hubs are part of a community-managed programme started in 2016 by the NDMA, whereby interested communities apply to have the facility established. The NDMA provides both Internet service and computer devices, while the organisation applying is tasked with getting a building and setting it up to house the hub. An ICT Hub Management Committee is put in place and trained by the NDMA to oversee the facility. The hubs are all opened to the public. Most of the ICT hubs were initially established in government buildings; however, the programme has been extended to now include non-governmental organisations.

At the MoB booth, Public Relations Officer, Cordell McClure noted that getting small businesses registered with the Bureau remains a challenge. As such, the agency was happy to see persons turning out for application forms to register their business. “The fact is that there are a number of businesses that aren’t registered with the bureau and the challenge now is that there are a number of businesses that are still to register, but that want to benefit from our programmes,” he noted.

The Small Business Bureau was one of a number of agencies under the MoB that were at the booth. Also present was the Department of Consumer Affairs, Consumer Affairs and Competitions Commission, Go Invest and the Guyana National Bureau of Standards.

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