THE Regional and General Elections today are touted as the most important in post-Independence Guyana, and Keña Melville, a Guyanese who lives in Trinidad and Tobago is not missing the occasion to exercise her franchise.

She has returned home to vote.

“I voted for the first time in the May 2015 election,” Keña Melville said, adding that “My vote was important then, and it is important now because, as a citizen, I feel satisfied knowing that I have the power to decide and elect persons to serve in government.”

For the past five years, however, Melville has been living in Trinidad and Tobago. She went to the Twin Island Republic and pursued her undergraduate degree at the University of the West Indies (UWI), and subsequently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Relations. Now, she is seeking employment and hoping to commence post graduate studies in September of this year.

Though part of the expansive Guyanese diaspora that stretches all across the globe, she has always paid attention to the developments at home and remained cognisant of the power of her vote. It is for this reason she has travelled home to vote.

“To me, my vote or rather my voice is worth catching a flight for,” she affirmed. “I love Guyana, and I would like to see her prosper; therefore, using my vote is just one way in which I can contribute to that prosperity.”

Moreover, voting, whether at the Local Government elections, or the Regional and General Elections, is a choice made to select the best political leaders to guide another period of development for Guyana, which is currently preparing for a massive increase in its revenue stream owed to the discovery of large oil and gas reserves offshore. It also represents a choice, according to Keña, to choose those leaders who represent her and her personal interests.

Most importantly, perhaps, for Melville, is that this vote also means that she is actively participating in securing a good future for even the generations after her, including, but not limited to, her baby cousins and her own children.

While Guyana’s elections are characterised by a great degree of tribalism, Keña related that she always had the freedom to choose her own political parties. On a national level, she remarked that Guyanese should be happy that they live in a democracy where they have the ability to exercise their franchise freely, and elect whoever they decide is the best person for the job.