Dear Editor,
PERMIT me the opportunity of responding to an article published in the Stabroek News on Sunday 2019.09.01 titled, “Perilous bridges, risky roads make travel a threat in South Rupununi”.

The article unfairly criticised the regional administration, and by extension, the government, over the state of the infrastructure in that part of the region, without even soliciting a response in relation to the claims being made. The reporter could have made a simple call to the Regional Office in Lethem, which would have provided them with a clearer insight which would have resulted in a balanced report. Failing to hear the other side, the reporter did a dis-service to the paper.

Editor, the regional administration is always cognizant of the importance of inter-community links, and has, since 2015, been engaged in ensuring that infrastructure serving that purpose is of the highest quality.

As it relates specifically to the bridge between Maruranau and Shea, which is featured in the article, I find it quite deceiving, since that photograph was taken on the day that the bridge collapsed, some five weeks ago. I have attached an updated photograph that was taken five days ago, on Sunday 2019.09.01, the same day that the article was published. Stabroek News, in publishing my response on Friday September 6, 2019 attached a note from the editor, falsely claiming that the photo was taken on August 24, 2019.

The point is, had the reporter done due diligence, it would have been found that works were already ongoing to rehabilitate the bridge. When the administration was informed of the collapse of the bridge, instructions were passed immediately to the contractor rehabilitating a road nearby to effect repairs. That work was delayed by two weeks, due to the incessant rains at the time. Work began in earnest as soon as the rains eased.

To further demonstrate our commitment to inter-community links, we had to completely build a bridge that was suspiciously burnt to the ground just before the rains started in April. That bridge linked Yupukari, Fly Hill, Quatata, Katoka, Semoni, Kaicumbay and Marakanata to Lethem. Failure to re-construct that bridge would have resulted in the more than 7,000 residents of those communities being cut off from Lethem and further afield.

The Councils of Nappi, Hiowa and Parishara contacted the regional administration to lend assistance in constructing a bridge connecting their villages with their farmlands. The bridge was being done by self-help. The regional administration rented an excavator to assist the villages, and in the process opened up the connecting 2km road to enable usage by vehicular traffic. That is the depth of our commitment.

To understand that commitment, one has to first understand the state of the region’s infrastructure as at May 2015. Most of the infrastructure was of poor quality, and they quickly deteriorated when the rains came.

Presently, the administration, in collaboration with other agencies, is in the process of rebuilding infrastructure. Some cases in point:

There are over 60 sanitary facilities in schools and Health Centres across the region that were never connected to any water source. We are now fixing those facilities, under the watchful eye of GWI. This begs the question: Why were these facilities constructed without access to water? They were completely useless.

In most villages, wells drilled had failed because of faulty construction of both wells and trestles. These are now being fixed with assistance from GWI.

The road network was not spared from the slipshod syndrome that permeated prior to 2015. Presently, the road network is being redone, with great assistance from the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs. However, there will always be roads that would not be able to withstand the torrential rains, and these will have to be repaired after the rains would have abated. That is the nature of the Rupununi.

In this regard, regional engineers have been scouring the region to ascertain the extent of the damage, in an effort to have those roads and bridges repaired. The rains begn in April; it is now September, and they are now tailing off. Some areas will still be inaccessible, and the engineers have been instructed to get to those areas, even if it is by foot. That is the depth of our commitment.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, there is a mechanism that allows for timely information to be passed to the Regional Administration, in relation to the state of infrastructure, among other issues.

Along the corridor referred to in the article lives three RDC Councillors. They are Douglas Cassimero and Petronella Michael of Aishalton in the South Rupununi; and Violet Cyril of Katu’ur Village in South Central Rupununi. They are all PP/C Councillors.

They all have motorcycles, or at least have access to such. Not on one occasion did they report on the state of the infrastructure mentioned in your article. That is their job, which is the purpose for which they were elected; to ensure the orderly development of the region.

One may want to question their motive of not reporting on the infrastructure, since they had to have been so aware. Nevertheless, officers in the field and alert residents of the respective areas did what these Councillors failed to do.

Again, in addition to breaching a basic tenet of journalism by failing to provide the regional administration with an opportunity to respond, a disservice was done to the region.
Yours sincerely,
Carl Parker,
Regional Executive Officer
Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo