FROM the young to the old, residents could not stop praising the government’s “Meet the Public” outreach coming to the township of Bartica, as they braved early morning showers and flocked to the Cenotaph Square to speak of their concerns, get help with their issues, or make suggestions about what further developments they would like to see in the municipality.

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) under the Ministry of Communities (MoC), the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, and Ministry of Natural Resources were some of the busier booths that were visited on Tuesday-the opening day of the two-day event.
Some persons came alone, while some made it an outing with family members. Others came in groups representing their communities. Many were satisfied with the responses they received even while looking forward to seeing the different agencies follow through with their words in the coming months.

“We welcome this move very much. Talking on behalf of myself and other Barticians we would appreciate if this can be an annual something. There are so many people with issues, but because you don’t have the means to go to Georgetown or travel about to get your stuff done. So we really welcome this move,” expressed 38 year old Rajdai Sumrah, who was out at the event with her young daughter.

For her she believes the top concern of her fellow community residents is the issue of housing. Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan explained that the housing issue was being addressed with the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) in the process of sourcing lands for housing developments.

Another concern for Sumrah is street dwellers and the risks they pose. “We don’t really have crime that much here, but the streets need to be cleaned, not only garbage but there are people who are a nuisance, one and two people and we need to get them off the streets,” she said. The “Meet the Public” event is an initiative launched by the government in 2016, which aims to take government to the people. Over the years thousands of citizens have utilised the outreaches to have their concerns within their respective communities highlighted and addressed.

The initiative usually sees ministers and other officials from all of the varying government Ministries taking part, as well as key agencies that come under their purview. The initiative is particularly praised in far flung areas, where it is usually expensive and or tedious for citizens to travel to the city to have their issues addressed.

“This is a very good gesture and a very good opportunity for the residents of not only Bartica but the entire Guyana because never have we had something like this before in previous governments. In the previous governments you have to go behind them but this shows that there has been a change and indeed the government wants to keep in contact with the people and want to know what is the people’s concern,” expressed 58 year old Judith David-Blair.

“I know that this government is very much interested in seeing Guyana moving forward and I know they will do their best to see us go forward as a country.”

Fifty-one year old Dawn McCulluch also enthusiastically praised the initiative. She was at the event looking into concerns about getting her house lot. “I am so excited about this venture because there is so much going on that I’m really glad that the government decided to reach out and gather information and see how they could help us out in this community, we are lagging in some area, for example with housing,” McCulluch said.

Many called for event to become an annual one in the township. “It is really good that the government chose to do an outreach like this, what they need to do in a tenure of a government that we have one of this every year. It says you’re coming to meet the people for those who can’t come to meet you. It’s a good opportunity [for citizens] to go and meet and see everyone that could make the decisions on issues that we have problems with, so I think it’s really good what they have done here today,” shared businessman Michael DosSantos, owner of the St Michael’s Private School in Bartica.

Also a miner, DosSantos’ main visit to the outreach was a stop at the Ministry of Natural Resources booth. Despite coming during the late afternoon as the booths were packing up, the officials were kind enough to still accommodate him and DosSantos was very grateful for their friendly nature. “It’s more or less in relation to the mining lottery.

I think it was one of the fairest of mining lotteries that I have seen that they’ve done. But while it is good that we were able to get the blocks. Unfortunately the location in which these mining blocks are is difficult to access for small scale miners… some are only accessible by air and it would take $10 – $15 million to get to location. Those persons there said they will take up the issues with GGMC and make suggestions. I only hope that those things will be looked at in a timely manner,” DosSantos said.

The outreach was more than just about visiting the booths; while the adults attended to business several school children came out to the event to get a chance to meet and interact with their Ministers, and the Ministers were all too happy to indulge their young citizens, and signed a few autographs. “I was so excited,” gushed an excited nine year old Labron Mendonca, an aspiring football player, who was very happy that he and his friends got a chance to meet President David Granger and Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo. He later also met up with Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.