…Arawau Village gets $800,000 presidential grant

MEMBER of Parliament, Mervyn Williams, and team on Friday last continued the administration’s initiative of ‘Bringing government to the people’ during a visit to the village of Arawau, located about two hours’ drive from the Kumaka waterfront, Mabaruma, North West District.

Residents of Arawau Village eagerly awaited the arrival of the MP who, upon arrival, listened to their concerns and offered appropriate responses to their issues. The meeting was held in a local church building. Williams, who is also adviser to Vice-President and Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, assured residents of his government’s support and urged them to form Co-op Societies to better develop their community.

After listening and responding to concerns of the members of the community, Williams presented to the residents a cheque of $800,000 under the Presidential Grant scheme. The funds will be used for the clearing and drainage of land for agricultural purposes. The villagers were most surprised and happy to be the recipients of the gift.
Meanwhile, following the meeting, Williams told the Guyana Chronicle that it is clear that the residents have some issues which the government will address immediately. He said central government is deeply concerned about services not reaching to the residents and projects that ought to have been completed are lagging.

He said the Regional Executive Officer has committed that before the end of June, medical outreaches will be conducted in the village with special focus on pregnant mothers. Williams observed that residents have not had a medical visit to the area for some time now.

Williams said he also updated residents about the prevailing political situation, correcting what he said were some of the misinformation being propagated by the opposition. “People were under the impression that the government was illegal and so I had to set the record straight that the Court of Appeal has nullified the no-confidence motion and that we are awaiting the final court decision from the Caribbean Court of Justice.”

Williams said too that he assured the residents of the high-level commitment given to the nation by President David Granger that his government will respect the ruling of the CCJ. He said too that in the ensuing period, government has sought the advice of the Guyana Elections Commission regarding the conduct of elections and has also recently provided the financial resources for it to undertake house-to-house registration and also adequate funding for it to run off any possible elections. “So we have matched our words with actions and everything now hinges on the CCJ,” Williams related.

He said the outreach in Region One is a continuation of what has been happening across the country. “Government continues to do its work taking services to the people regardless of where they are…”

In another community – Sacred Heart, Williams said residents had some concerns mainly in the education sector. He said residents were promised a boat and engine, but these have not been delivered. Williams however said that in recent days, the regional tender board approved the purchase of boats and engines and he is hopeful that the community would get what was promised to it.

The sum of $3.4B was approved for Region One’s (Barima-Waini) Regional Administration in this year’s budget. Under the Education capital programme for 2019, the sum of $151.2M was approved for rehabilitative work to the Port Kaituma Primary and Secondary schools and extension of White-Water Nursery School. The sum also caters for the construction of sanitary blocks at Waramuri, Port Kaituma and St John’s Primary schools, and the construction and enclosure of living quarters at Unity Square and Manawarin.

Some $21.9M was also budgeted for school furniture and equipment, including equipment for ‘smart’ classrooms, desks, benches, cupboards, tables, chairs, racks, fire extinguishers, musical and sports equipment at several schools in the region. $15.7M was also allocated for transportation. The money caters for boats and outboard engines at Moruca, Barama, Pawaikuru, and St Nicholas, Waramuri and Santa Cruz Primary and Santa Rosa Secondary Schools among others.

In the area of Health, $101.1M was allocated for the completion of a x-ray room at Pakera District Hospital and staff quarters at Mabaruma; construction of a maternity waiting home at Santa Rosa, health training complex at Mabaruma, health post at Parakese, and incinerator at Kwebana; enclosure of living quarters and upgrading of central duct system at the Mabaruma Regional Hospital and the provision for hot water baths. An ambulance will also be purchased for the Kumaka District Hospital at a cost of $14M.

For public infrastructure, $45M was allocated for the construction of bridges at Thomas Hill, Mora and Rincon roads and Kamwatta; $50M for the construction of roads at Burma and Hosororo Hill and $9M for culverts at Wauna Scheme. Twelve million will also be expended for electricity distribution network at Waramuri. Meanwhile, under agriculture, the sum of $20M was earmarked for the establishment of a food processing facility at Mabaruma.