RESIDENTS of Region Three (Essequibo Islands/ West Demerara) who have witnessed equitable improvements in their communities by the coalition government will leave race voting in the past knowing that the government works in the interest of all Guyanese.
This is the prediction of Region Three Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Information Officer, Ganesh Mahipaul, who gave the sentiments on Tuesday, based on his observations over the years.

Mahipaul said that while the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and Alliance For Change (AFC) coalition did not garner the majority votes in the Region at the 2015 elections, there is a high chance this will change in the new elections.

He has hinged his projection on the basis of significant levels of development which have taken place in the Region, just over a period of four years.

“In the next election, the optimism is there for the APNU/AFC to win a majority. This optimism was not conceived out of speculation but from commitments given by communities and clusters of people that saw, for themselves, infrastructural improvement, educational upliftment of young people specifically, better health services delivery and agricultural improvements in Region Three,” Mahipaul said.

“People in Region Three saw with their naked eyes communities that did not support the APNU/AFC in 2015; they saw that these very communities benefitted from improvements.”
He listed “excellent road” improvements in Tuschen, Phase Two and Leguan Island while, in Zeelugt Sugar Welfare Scheme, he listed “excellent road, light and water”.

“Bridges were built; schools were rehabilitated; the salaries of public servants were increased; NDCs have become fully functional and autonomous. No longer [do] NDCs have to run to the Minister to get a simple signature if they want to spend a $100 or $200. They are autonomous and these are improvements in people’s lives,” he said.

Some $6.3 billion has been allocated to the region for this year which represents a $943.5 million increase from the 2018 budget allocation.

Last year, in the Region, the monthly salary of sweeper/cleaners employed by government agencies saw a second increase to $64,200. $11M was expended to transform the main access road in Leonora to a fully asphalt concrete structure; the Lookout High Park community received $1. 3M for the development of sport through the Visionary Adolescent Youth Club and a $10M Health Centre building was commissioned to provide basic medical health services to residents of Leonora, Edinburgh, Stewartville and Uitvlugt.

Meanwhile, for Wakenaam, salary stability for security guards, improved facilities at the island’s Health Centre and the refurbishment of roads island-wide are other improvements in the pipeline.

In Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo, the drainage and irrigation problems which affect farmers are being resolved while 38 participants of the Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) Programme in Region Three have recently received $1.9M for business development.

While every concern raised has not yet been addressed by the government in its few years, Mahipaul is certain that when residents move to place their votes, they will no longer be motivated by the race politics pushed by certain political parties.

He stated: “We are confident that at the next election, the majority is going to go towards the APNU/AFC because people have seen that they were not neglected. It is clear that people are now interested in getting their issues addressed and not race voting.

It is very clear in Region Three that race voting is no longer going to be the pattern of voting as would have occurred in the past. They have recognized that the APNU/AFC is a multi-racial coalition; a coalition that embraces all ethnicities and is the best political organisation for our country.”