GIVEN the small population inhabiting the vast landmass of this country, major services for the people tend to focus along the main centres, mostly the capital city of Georgetown, although these days, more and more services are branching out to the rural towns and regional hubs. But Guyanese populate far-flung corners of the country, too, with villages in remote areas along the borders with Venezuela, Suriname and Brazil, and deep in the Rupununi, the Abary, Upper Berbice and Upper Demerara Rivers, and along inland Essequibo and the Pomeroon, along with scores of other areas. Given the relatively small size of the Guyanese population, one tends to forget that this country is geographically as large as England, with a vast stretch of forests, savannas, rivers, and mountains meandering across the landscape, and with inhabited villages scattered through most of it.

It is, therefore, opportune to start considering the extension of services and development programmes to reach Guyanese wherever they reside and make their livelihood, no matter how remote the location.
News broke yesterday that the New Building Society (NBS) has reduced its interest rates for housing mortgages, and that the government has increased the mortgage ceiling for low- income house ownership. Guyana is a shining light in the world, and a leading exemplar of housing its citizens, with the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government making affordable housing for the middle class and poor its flagship star of excellence. President Ali’s programme to develop 50,000 house lots for citizens within the next five years is a commendable initiative. How could citizens, even in far-flung villages in the hinterland, benefit from these State programmes?

Apart from the NBS with its admirable programme for low-income, affordable housing to the Guyanese nation, other key services would open great opportunities, and pave the way for outlying and rural development, were they to reach into the nooks and crannies of every community across the Guyana landscape.
Villages along much of the hinterland still exist mainly on subsistence farming, hunting, and, in some cases, art and craft. Lifting these areas to operate their own socio-economic engine would be a wonderful boost to the lifestyle and livelihood of the people who live there, and even open these areas for the participation of the wider society. Places like Moruca, Santa Mission, Mabaruma, and along the Mazaruni River offer tremendous possibilities to enterprising Guyanese, apart from miners and the few souls who venture out for hinterland adventures.

Were, for example, the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) and a reformed Institute of Private Enterprise Development (IPED) to join the NBS in a national programme of outreach to offer every Guyanese their services, either as a package deal or in separate initiatives, the country would feel the quickening pulse of socio-economic activity seep into every corner of the national terrain.
The IAST has always played a somewhat reduced role than its inherent promise and its potential. But, over the years, quite a bit of ground-breaking research has gone on at the Institute, albeit not much of it becomes commercialised. Were the IAST to make its services available to citizens, and even roll out its technological breakthroughs and research findings to the public, either in enterprising partnerships or as a public service or as a commercial activity, licensing its intellectual property to businesses, for example, what a wonderful avenue would open up for citizens to access top-level breakthrough ‘tech’ and research ‘info’.

Then, if the IPED model could come in to provide funding for innovative ventures across the country, even in remote hinterland villages, with maybe a State-backed guarantee instead of holding assets and collateral from poor families that are working to emerge from a subsistence lifestyle to be productive citizens contributing to the national economy, what a sturdy structure would exist all across the national terrain for Guyanese everywhere to home in on the opportunities available so easily to city folks. This country has all the structures in place to become a great nation, with democracy on firm footing, with dynamic economic foundations in place in Go-Invest and the Private Sector Commission and the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association, and a refined banking system. However, much of it serves the coastal plain, with scant reach into far-flung communities.

As national development ramps up, opening accessible channels for ordinary people in every corner of the land to be able to tap into necessary structures and resources and systems to build their own piece of the Guyana dream would be a great service to the people.
Imagine if a farming family in Katoka Village in the Rupununi, or Agatash aback of Bartica, or Capoey in inland Essequibo could tap into the resources of the NBS, IPED, and IAST, and, for sure, the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI), how much different their future would look.
Guyana’s population is in the unique situation of occupying a South American landmass, unlike its Caribbean neighbours. In Caribbean island nations, the population exists within easy reach of the centre of the country, and services could afford to be centralised and located in the main city.

In this country, however, one must take into consideration the far-flung hinterland and remote villages in the development agenda, and definitely this is something that the government is fully aware of, and is working to include in the national development fabric. Lethem, Linden, and Corriverton and Parika, for example, are receiving State attention for key government services. One of the challenges is transportation and communication to easily access inhabited remote areas. However, a national consciousness and relevant policy framework to incorporate the services of organisations like the NBS, IAST, IPED (or a similar model) and NAREI as embedded pillars within every Guyanese community, maybe as extension arms of Local Government, would go a far way to provide a level playing field for every Guyanese to participate fully in national affairs.