Dear Editor,
In response to the letter captioned “Members of this Water Users Association were not democratically elected” (07.01.03), we firstly will put this aspect of the national drainage and irrigation programme in perspective so that public opinion will be properly informed.
Background
A Pilot Programme to establish an institutional framework for D&I management and to establish, develop, strengthen and make WUAs organizationally and financially sustainable has been underway since August 2003, with support from the IDB. On June 23, 2004 the IDB approved the Agriculture Support Services Programme (ASSP) loan to Guyana. This approval signaled that the necessary preliminary conditions, including the setting up of WUAs, had been established by the GOG to formally begin implementing the ASSP loan. The ASSP is a US$25 million project which aims to rehabilitate D&I facilities, reform and strengthen the D&I institutional structure, enhance agricultural production and increase incomes in rural areas covered by the project.
Current Status
Nine WUAs were established in three Regions of Guyana in 2004 as follows: Canals Polder, Vreed-en-Hoop/La Jalousie, Den-Amstel/ Fellowship/ Blanken-burg, Vergenoegen/ Naamryk, Golden Grove/ Victoria, Cane Grove, Black Bush Polder, Lots 52-74 Villages and Crabwood Creek.
Each WUA is governed by a General Assembly of 20 to 40 members who are elected every two years from sub-divisions within a WUA’s service area. Routine WUA governance is accomplished by a 7 or 9 member Management Board elected by the General Assembly. WUAs hire staff to carry out their routine management functions.
The nine pilot WUAs have all registered under the Business Names Act and all have established bank accounts in the WUAs’ names. Each WUA is established and regulated by a Constitution and a set of By-laws which have been approved by the respective General Assembly.
Each of the WUAs received a start-up grant in 2004 of between one and two million Guyana dollars to renovate office space and purchase basic office equipment and furniture.
Each WUA now maintains an office in its service area. Most WUAs have hired an accountant or office manager to run their office.
Each WUA has signed a Delegation Agreement with the NDIA which authorizes it to operate secondary D&I facilities belonging to the Government in a defined area, provide D&I services to all water users within this area, and to collect fees for D&I services from each water user served.
The nine existing WUAs have already been given authority to collect D&I rates from farmers they serve by the NDIA through the Delegation Agreements it signed with the nine WUAs. This fee collection authority, in turn, was granted to the NDIA in the new Drainage and Irrigation Act of 2004, which has been passed by parliament and approved by the Office of the President.
Beginning in late 2004, the NDIA began awarding small O&M contracts to established WUAs under which they maintained some of the canals and drains within their service areas. This canal maintenance was previously fully carried out by RDCs and NDCs, supported by NDIA funding. The contracts have been enormously helpful to the WUAs in giving them operating experience, overhead funding, and credibility with local farmers and serve as a means of training for the subsequent takeover after rehabilitation.
Canals Polder
Constitutionally, the Canals Polder General Assembly of 32 members, 16 from each Canal, was due for new elections. This process started since June, 2006 but due to some hiccups, mainly the call for separate WUAs for each Canal, it was prolonged.
Response 1
The 16 representatives for each Canal were elected at various localized estate meetings. The meeting of December 16 was called specifically to elect the 7-member Management Board. The invitation for members of the community to attend the elections was meant, ironically, to allow observation of the democratic process.
Response 2
The Constitution and By-Laws of the Canals Polder WUA do not require any specific gender distribution in its General Assembly or Management Board.
Response 3
The major delay of the elections was caused by calls by some members of the community for separate WUAs for Canal#1 and Canal#2. This matter has now been resolved.
Conclusion
We are thankful for the concluding observations by the letter writer.
1. The Ministry of Agriculture is very committed to mounting an intensive information campaign in the nine WUA service areas of this relatively new drainage and irrigation policy in order to garner the widest support.
2. The Canals Polder WUA was given only two small contracts for maintenance of a few secondary drains in 2006. The bulk of D&I responsibility still remained that of the RDCs and NDCs and the central NDIA.
3. Since 2003, some 60 meetings were held in the Canals Polder on aspects of the ASSP. These were advertised by written invitations, loud speakers and by bell-ringing (a tradition in the villages). We regret that the letter writer was not aware of this continuous process.
Yours faithfully,
D. Shiwsankar
Institutional Specialist
National Drainage and
Irrigation Authority
Ministry of Agriculture
