…Region 10 residents capitalise on ministerial outreach

RESIDENTS of Region Ten (Upper Demerara-Berbice), on Tuesday, took full advantage to speak face to face with their Ministers about various concerns and even got on-the-spot solutions to some of their problems as government rolled out another of its series of community outreaches in Linden.

Water for all

Several tents and booths were set up, opposite the Wismar Market Square, to facilitate attendees. The Guyana Chronicle spoke with both residents of the Region and visiting officials to find out their take on the outreach. Present was Guyana Water Inc. (GWI)

Managing Director, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, who told this newspaper that the exercise provided an opportunity for the company to be apprised of communities with water supply issues. “The President has spoken of the inequities and this is part of the process of helping us to identify some of those communities which we don’t know of to begin to provide access,” he said.
Van-West Charles noted that that some areas to receive assistance in this regard are: Prosville; riverine communities in the Region and the last phase of Amelia’s Ward.

Speaking of the latter, he said: “We just submitted for a new well in there so we are trying to ensure that we move everybody as quickly as possible to 24/7 water supply.” Not too far away, Ministers of Social Protection Amna Ally and Keith Scott were seated interacting with a steady stream of residents who came by the ministry’s booth.

Ally stated that the ministry dealt with issues regarding transportation for school children; labour; land; birth certificates and more. “We’ve had a steady flow of people wanting to have their issues addressed. We’ve been able to offer solutions; we’ve not been able to solve all because, for example, we can’t find a bus today for today. But we will look at it, of course. All in all the exercise was a good one,” she said.

At the outreach site, the ministry also handed over two sewing machines to a 30-member Community Policing Group (CPG) Women’s group from Moblissa.

“The Moblissa community is trying to establish a sewing programme whereby the women of the community formed a group and they were requesting machines to sew school clothing and other stuff to sell so that they can use it as a form of income,” APNU Campaign Member Damuka Ngqondo explained. Following a visit by a representative of the ministry to the community, the concern was relayed to Minister Ally who organised for the donation to be made at the outreach.

Over at the well-represented Ministry of Education booth,
Permanent Secretary at the Ministry, Adele Clarke, stated that most of the inquiries made at the booth were about jobs in the education sector.
Clarke noted that one person indicated an interest in supporting the ministry in remedial work for students of depressed community through an organisation which deals with the challenge for young women.
“That person was advised to submit a proposal and then they’ll come in to us and we’ll discuss further on how we can have collaborative effort in assisting those persons,” she stated.

Community challenge

Nearby the entrance of the set-up, Patsy Alvin all the way from the Rockstone community was waiting to speak with a minister about the communication challenges in her area. “We don’t have signal. When you want to call somebody you have to come out here at Linden. So we’re hoping to speak with them and I am happy that they are here,” she said.

Leaving Ministry of Natural Resources booth after speaking with Minister Raphael Trotman, small scale logger from Kwakwani, Wayne Harris, was happy that he was given a listening ear. His challenge was with the National Logging Export Policy which he stated only allowed for logs to be exported out of the country, using the names of concession that the logs came from which is affecting small miners. “As such, many of the markets overseas do not want to deal with small loggers. They prefer to deal with big companies because they have financial stability and a fixed location,” he explained. “I spoke to Minister Trotman and he was very welcoming and I am glad that he took the time to listen to my concern and he did tell me that he would get some of the details from the Guyana Forestry Commission and that he would make contact with me within a month so I’m pleased with that,”

Meanwhile, Senior Land Administrative Officer for Region Three at the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GLSC), Loisel Hutson, stated that many persons came with applications for agriculture lands. Over at the Ministry of Health, several persons were taking advantage of the presence of health officials to air their concerns.

“I am a diabetic and I go to the clinic but sometimes you don’t get the medication. Another thing you don’t get is the blood sugar strip. That strip and the machine are used to check your blood everyday but if you don’t have a machine you have to wait another month and a half when you go back to the clinic and by that time you don’t know how high or low your sugar is,” Maurice Barker who had just finished speaking with Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence related. He added: “They said they would look into it because a lot of people are diabetic and they face that same challenge.

Speaking with the newspaper later, Minister Lawrence said that most of the persons who came to her were part of the health sector but seeking means to improve their level of service. “The number of persons streaming into the booth has been very consistent today,” she said, adding” most of the persons who came are persons who are already in the health sector…with inquiries in terms of how they can upgrade themselves in the profession and what is it they need to do.”

This, she said, was very welcoming for the ministry as it means that the quality of health provision in the Region will improve as persons are willing.
She also dealt with matters relating to medical issues and medication delivery. “I think that today has been a real positive day,” she said. “I think the public is very satisfied with the representation of their issues from the Ministry of Public Health and the information that we were able to share with them.”