Scrutinizing such works will not be new to Allen who has been on the Port Kaituma Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) for the PNC since 1994, but feels that as a parliamentarian he will be able to achieve more, especially with the new dispensation in the National Assembly.
“It is all about the people; they come to me and I listen and I always try to help, and I will continue to do this. Regardless of who they vote for once there is a problem I will listen and do my best to get help,” Allen said in a recent interview with the Sunday Stabroek.
- Richard Allen
While he has not yet been assigned a specific area to focus on in parliament, Allen said that for a number of years the condition of the roads had been a problem. He said that owing to the system, those roads which come under the NDCs cannot be repaired until the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) gives its approval.
The Port Kaituma resident said that only last week he was engaged in a discussion with residents who were concerned about a 2010 contract given to a contractor to repair a section of road. “Millions of dollars was paid to the contractor and not one square foot of road was done,” he said.
Allen said he questioned the Regional Executive Officer for the region about the issue and he was told that the money had been returned to the Consolidated Fund. Allen said he indicated that this could not have been so since an official had signed a document stating that the work had been satisfactorily done and the contractor had been paid.
“So those are issues I want to address, and I would want investigations to be done throughout the region,” the new parliamentarian said.
Allen told Sunday Stabroek that only recently he organized the residents to support a move to repair a section of a road in the area, and they received great support from the Manganese company which lent their equipment, while residents with trucks were given fuel to transport the material.
However, in order to reach the road they had undertaken to repair, they had first to travel on a part of the road which the contractor had supposedly rehabilitated in 2010. At one point the state of this road involved too much risk for the residents who refused to allow their trucks to be used because of the damage they were sustaining.
“That is one section of the road that the [official] said was done satisfactory; we would like to know what happened to that money, millions of dollars was paid.”
Of concern too for Allen is the fact that whenever contracts are awarded it is always to people outside the area who bring in their own workforce.
The new parliamentarian is also concerned about the shortage of staff in the region’s schools, and said that the headmistress is the only teacher at the Mathew’s Ridge Nursery School and she was recently appointed a regional councillor. Parents are concerned therefore that whenever she has to attend meetings the school doors would be closed.
Some of the school buildings also need repairing he said, while on many occasions the region does not weed the school compounds.
Parliamentarian
“Being a parliamentarian means that I am privileged to sit on committees, to sit with the government ministers and I will attempt to ensure that the region’s concerns are addressed,” Allen said in the interview.
He observed that monthly reports are sent to the various authorities on the issues that need to be addressed but on many occasion nothing is done.
“Now that I am there [in parliament] to represent the region I would ensure that these matters are raised right up at the top. Because a lot of time you would hear ‘I didn’t receive a report,’” Allen said.
He also is very concerned about the high rate of teenage pregnancy in the region and the many reports of sexual assault, none of which are being properly investigated by the authorities.
Allen is not new to the world of politics as he has been actively involved with the PNC for over twenty years.
He said he sees politics as a “way of reaching out for the people because the only way your voice is heard is through the political arm.”
Allen went on to say that he has encouraged residents to call him any time of the day or night, as they need “someone to listen to them.
“Once you give a listening ear to people they feel comfortable, you don’t have to tell them anything more you just sit down and listen and they feel comfortable.”
Born in the village of Vergenoegen where he also grew up, Allen said he was always a very outspoken person. After school he joined the Guyana Youth Corps in 1972 and later moved on to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).
In the army he was involved in training and was later sent to do an arms and ammunition course, but he left the force in 1980 with the rank of corporal.
While in the youth corps he met the late Shirley Field-Ridley who he said had a great impact on his life.
“She [Field-Ridley] shared some very important stuff with us and some of the things have stuck with me and that encouraged me to go ahead and be a representative of the people,” he said.
Allen recalled that he also worked alongside the late Town Clerk Fitz Melville, who told him he could be a good leader but he must stand up for what he believed in.
“Those words remained with me,” he said.
Immediately after the army Allen said he became a Christian and went into the pastoral ministry, “and then I had some domestic problems and then I branched off from there and moved into mining.”
When Allen left the church he was an outreach pastor for the Assemblies of God Church and he said this has also helped to drive him to assist people.
He believes that it is the pastor and politician in him which continue to motivate him in his work to help others.
He has made the North West his home since 1989 and now lives at Port Kaituma. He is no longer a miner as for the past five years all of his energies have been channelled into political work and helping the region.
Allen is the father of five but is now divorced.
